Everyone is familiar with the story of the prodigal son that Jesus told.

The youngest son, who lost everything in his pursuit of a life of indulgence, reaches a point of self-realization. Overwhelmed by a sense of unworthiness, he decides to return home, ready to embrace a life of humility as a servant, no longer as a prodigal son.

The Father sees the son a ways off and runs to greet him. He welcomes him back as a son and throws a party, and the elder brother gets mad. I am sure we are all familiar with this story.

But it is interesting how I never hear anyone ask what the father was doing all that time the son was away.  The elder brother reveals what he had been doing. He had been faithfully working.

We know the father did not run after the son; he did not track him down and continue giving him more while he was in that state of riotous living. So what was the father doing?

The father was doing what was his to do, staying on course with his own calling and affairs. Had the father stopped doing all that was his and gone after the younger son, there would have been nothing for the son to return home to.

The father was not there to feed the son when he had gambled everything away.  He was not there to clothe the son when all he had left was one set of clothing.  He was not there to put a roof over the head of his son when the son had no place to go.  The father had to stay on course with what was his to do.

Did this mean the father lacked compassion?  Absolutely not!  The father obviously loved the son and longed for him.  He had to have been looking in the direction of the road leading home in order to see the son returning.  In other words, although he wasn’t a rescuer of the son and had to go through the heartbreak of missing him and not knowing whether he was well or in bad shape, the father loved the son dearly and longed to see him.

Sometimes, compassion has to let things play out without interference, knowing that God has a way of bringing a prodigal to the end of themselves.  Had the father gone and rescued the son prematurely, the son would never have reached the desire to come home truly.  He might never have come to his senses.

Had the father tried to keep the son at home to start with, the son in his heart would not have been home, and that would have complicated things for everyone.  Interestingly, in the story Jesus told, the only character who did everything right was the father.  The only character with the proper compassion and love was the father.  We see exhibited in that role the wisdom, patience, and love that allow time and distance to do their part in softening a heart.  In other words, the heart that suffered most was the heart of the father the entire time.  The father was willing to suffer in order for the son to realize he was loved, what his place was, and what his purpose was.

Prodigals do not need our best human attempt at rescuing them. Once they return, they need to be welcomed and loved, no doubt. Could it be possible that a premature rescue attempt can do more harm than good?  It’s not easy to behave like the father in that story and keep doing what needs to be done, which is one’s responsibility.  But real compassion does the difficult things that can be misunderstood as much as it does the ones that will make it popular.  Real compassion truly has the best interest of the other person in view at all times.