Proverbs 17:21
He who sires a fool gets himself sorrow,
and the father of a fool has no joy.
and the father of a fool has no joy.
"I bow my knees before the Father, from whom all fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named" (Ephesians 3:14-15). God the Father is the archetypal Father, from whom the idea of fatherhood stems. To belong to the triune family is the greatest happiness for human beings. Thus, the apostle goes on to speak of the other persons of the trinity: "that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God" (Ephesians 3:16-19).
The fool is the person who rejects this incredible calling to dwell in the triune family and be filled with all the fullness of God. Instead he chooses to follow after his own sinful passions, which ravage the soul, not satisfy it (1 Peter 2:11). Even though "the sum of everything that is desirable or excellent is found in infinite measure in God himself . . . [and] whatever excellence there is in the universe, whatever is desirable, must ultimately have come from him,"[1] the fool refuses to bow his knees to the Father.
Jesus masterfully paints the story of the human race as foolish sons in Luke 15, who have given up the delight of the Father's family to venture into a country where true fatherhood, true family, and true satisfaction are not to be found. The prodigal's soul is desolated in the far country. The nadir of his journey away from the father comes when "he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything." There is no good, no love, no true satisfaction, to be found apart from God's Fatherhood and the triune family. Finally, the prodigal comes to his senses: "But when he came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father'" (Luke 15:17-18).
The fool is a fool because he says no to God in order to follow what he thinks is best (cf. Proverbs 9:10; Psalms 14:1). The Word of God is not his rule, for he does not live by every word that comes from the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4). The fool has replaced the Father's word with his own word. He has become, as the tempter said, "like God" (Genesis 3:5), but like God to his own demise and destruction. The world teaches us to follow our heart, but to follow our heart --- our own understanding, our sinful passions, the sovereign self --- is the height of folly. It is to follow the very sin that drove the first couple from the garden away from the presence of the blessed God, who has the fullness of joy in himself.
Our proverb today speaks of a father's sorrow and lack of joy in his foolish son. But human fathers are types of the archetypal Father, who is grieved over the human race, which has foolishly rebelled against him. Therefore, the heavenly Father in his great love initiated a rescue mission, so that the foolish human race might return to him to find genuine satisfaction.
Did you notice the phrase that in the father's house there is "more than enough bread" (Luke 15:17)? Everything we eat has first died. Whether it be animals slaughtered or fruit, vegetables, and grain, which are plucked, uprooted or crushed --- everything we eat dies. In the food chain, it is also true that the greater eats the lesser. But our heavenly Father turns the food chain on its head to give us infinite food.[2]
What does he do? He sends his eternal and infinite Son --- the greater, to die for us ---the lesser, so that we might eat his flesh and drink his blood for infinite satisfaction. The One who is greater comes, not to eat us as we might expect, but dies so that we might eat Him! The infinite One dies for us, so that we might find infinite satisfaction!
But how do we eat the infinite? We eat by faith. We must "arise and go to [our] Father" (Luke 15:18). This involves repentance and faith. As Jesus taught us, there is joy in the Father's heaven when sinners repent and return to him through the Son (Luke 15:7, 10).
But how do we eat the infinite? We eat by faith. We must "arise and go to [our] Father" (Luke 15:18). This involves repentance and faith. As Jesus taught us, there is joy in the Father's heaven when sinners repent and return to him through the Son (Luke 15:7, 10).
What happened when the prodigal repented and believed? There was eating, and there was joy: "And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' But the father said to his servants, 'Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat andcelebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.' And they began to celebrate" (Luke 15:21-25).
We have looked at the heavenly Father, from whom all fatherhood is named. Looking at the archetype helps us as fathers and mothers to see what is best for us and our children. We long for them to know Jesus Christ, in whom alone, we and our children will find full satisfaction and joy. In the triune family we will find the joy and satisfaction our hearts long for.
