One of the best-known parables in the New Testament is Jesus’ story of the Prodigal Son. These verses are some of the most favorite passages in evangelical Christianity as well as in popular “folk” attraction to the Bible. It would be hard to find a pastor who has not preached from this passage in Luke 15 at least once in his career. Like all parables, it seems clear on first hearing or reading. But Jesus Himself said that He spoke in parables so that though seeing, people would not see (Matthew 13:13). In other words, they would think they “got” the point. But more careful attention would reveal that they didn’t “get” it after all.
And that’s true with this parable. It sounds simple enough. The younger son did what we all should do: come to our senses, regretting our errors, and return home to the Lord. But that ignores the significance of the older brother, which we later discover was the one to whom Jesus was pointing the proud self-righteous Pharisees. And we should realize that Jesus didn’t tell parables to show us how to be the “heroes” of the story, celebrating the fact that we have done the right thing in repenting and turning to Jesus.
But when we look more carefully, we discover that the parable uses the two brothers to point to the Father. He’s the “hero” of the story. Both brothers were “lost” and prodigals in opposite directions. Neither really wanted the father; they just wanted the father’s “stuff,” his riches. The younger son rejected the father by running away from him and living a self-centered life of sin, disobeying what the father would wisely have wanted him to do, and then returning, fearing that the father would reject him for his disobedience. The older son rejected the father by refusing to come in to the banquet to share his father’s joy, resenting the fact that the father would not reward his obedience. Neither wanted the father; each just wanted what would make him happy.
It’s the father who stands out as the “hero” as we see him offering love to each son, despite the two opposite ways they had each turned away from the father, one by total disobedience (“I don’t deserve your love”) and the other by total obedience (“I deserve your love”). With the first son, Jesus described the father earnestly, patiently watching for his son every day, scanning the horizon in hopes of seeing him returning, and then running to the lad (something undignified for a man to do in those days), hugging him, and calling for a banquet to celebrate his return. With the second son, Jesus described the father as broken-hearted that the son would remain outside the celebration, and went out to find him and urge him to come in and join the rest of the family.
When this passage is preached, how can we resist singing “Softly and Tenderly, Jesus is Calling” as the concluding hymn for the service. It is frequently used at the conclusion of a service to encourage those apart from Jesus to “Come home.” Both words and music were written in 1880 by Will Lamartine Thompson (1847-1909). He was born in East Liverpool, Ohio, on the Ohio River northwest of Pittsburgh. The youngest of seven children, his father, Josiah Thompson, was a successful merchant, manufacturer, and banker, as well as a two-term member of the Ohio state legislator. His mother, Sarah, was devoted to social and charitable work. Will graduated from Mount Union College in Alliance, Ohio in 1870 and then went on to pursue musical studies at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston and in Leipzig, Germany.
He married Elizabeth Johnson. Their son, William Leland Thompson, born in 1895, was known by his middle name. The built a large hilltop mansion on Park Boulevard in East Liverpool. The house still stands and is known locally as “The Softly and Tenderly House.” He donated large tracts of land to the city for public parks, stipulating that no alcohol would be permitted on those grounds.
He began composing in his teens even before graduating from high school, going on to write popular songs in addition to numerous hymns, which he introduced as a member of the Church of Christ. He said, “No matter where I am, at home or hotel, at the store or traveling, if an idea or theme comes to me that I deem worthy of a song, I jot it down in verse. In this way, I never lose it.” In addition to “Softly and Tenderly,” most hymnals today include his 1904 hymn, “Jesus Is All the World to Me.” His earliest efforts to find a publisher were unsuccessful. He once sent a packet of four of his songs to a publisher, asking for $100. The publisher wrote back with a counter offer of $25, which Thompson declined. He eventually opened the W. L. Thompson Music Company in East Liverpool. By the 1880s, it was one of the most prominent and successful of such businesses in America. Thousands of music teachers and musicians ordered sheet music, instruments (including pianos and organs), and other supplies from his store.
He later founded a music and publishing company in Chicago. Thompson turned out to have considerable business acumen, in part due to his father’s influence and in part due to his undergraduate business degree. He frequently marketed his music by sending copies to various minstrel shows, which were popular at the time, and he may have paid some of them to sing his music (a legitimate form of advertising). He quickly became successful, and was known as the millionaire “Bard of Ohio.” He wrote one of his most popular songs, “Gathering Sea Shells on the Sea Shore” in ten minutes. It sold 246,000 copies!
His most well-known work is the classic and enduring gospel song, “Softly and Tenderly Jesus is Calling.” It has been translated into countless languages, and has been featured in a number of films and broadcasts, including “A Prairie Home Companion.” Most enduringly famous was Cynthia Clawson singing the song as background music in the Oscar-winning 1985 movie “Trip to Bountiful.” It was sung by the choir of Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church for the funeral of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The famous evangelist Dwight L. Moody greatly admired Thompson’s music, and used this song in many of his evangelistic rallies. When Moody lay dying, after all visitation had ended, Thompson called on him. He was refused until Moody learned it was Thompson. Then he insisted on seeing the songwriter. According to hymnologist Ernest K. Emurian, Moody is said to have encouraged Thompson by saying, “Will, I would rather have written “Softly and Tenderly” than anything I have been able to do in my whole life.” Moody died soon afterwards while singing the words of that hymn. Thompson became ill during a tour of Europe, causing his family to cut short their travels to return home. He died a few weeks later in New York City.
The idea of Jesus calling sinners to “come home,” is certainly a biblical theme. From beginning to end in the Scriptures, we see God graciously seeking those who are lost, and calling them to Himself. And “He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:24).
- In Genesis, when Adam sinned, and tried to hide from the Lord, we read: “Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, ‘Where are you?’” (Genesis 3:9).
- In the prophets, the urgent plea was extended to a sinning nation: “‘Come now, and let us reason together,’ says the LORD. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isaiah 1:18). “Look to Me, and be saved, All you ends of the earth!” (Isaiah 45:22). “Seek the LORD while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon” (Isaiah 55:6-7).
- During the days of Christ’s earthly ministry, He was still issuing the summons in the words of His soft and tender invitation: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28; 23:37).
- In His conversation with the Samaritan woman, Jesus said that “the Father is seeking those who will worship Him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23).
- In the early church it was the same. The apostles, and those who came after them, called the unregenerate to put their faith in Christ. Their message was: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13). “Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins; and by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses” (Acts 13:38-39).
- In the Bible’s final chapter, the Lord is still seeking those who will turn to Him and be saved. “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely” (Revelation 22:17).
The refrain to Thompson’s hymn powerfully drives home the central message: that God is the father in the parable and is calling all to come home to Him. It is equally true, biblically, and especially in this hymn, that Jesus is in the role of the father in the parable, as He says in Matthew 10:28-30, “All you who are weary, come to Me, and I will give you rest.”
Stanza 1 tells us what kind of God this is who calls us to come home. He doesn’t demand in a harsh tone of voice, but rather “softly and tenderly.” But He is not passive, but is actively “waiting and watching,” just as we find to be true of the father in the parable, scanning the horizon to catch the first glimpse of the returning prodigal. How does He call us? Through the gospel, as in 2 Thessalonians 2:14, “To this He called you through His gospel.” And what are these portals? Perhaps Thompson had in mind the tender invitation in Revelation 3:20, where Jesus stands at the door of the human heart, knocking that we might open and invite Him to come in.
Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling, calling for you and for me;
see, on the portals He’s waiting and watching, watching for you and for me.
The Refrain continues that tone of His calling “earnestly, tenderly.” Surely the “home is His own heart” where weary sinners (prodigals) are invited into His waiting arms.
Come home, come home; you who are weary come home;
earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling, calling, O sinner, come home!
Stanza 2 tells us that we should not “tarry.” How often the Bible calls us to return to the Lord “while He may be found” (Isaiah 55:6) and that “today is the day of salvation (Isaiah 49:8 and 2 Corinthians 6:2). Such entreaties are joined with the warning that if we do tarry, we might find that out hearts may have grown cold and have become hardened (Hebrews 3:15). There is even the caution that if we linger, we might not have the opportunity to receive His mercy and its benefits (Titus 3:5).
Why should we tarry when Jesus is pleading, pleading for you and for me?
Why should we linger and heed not his mercies, mercies for you and for me?
[Refrain]
Stanza 3 tells us again that there is urgency in this call of the Savior. Through successive phrases in this stanza, we sense that urgency in the imagery of time that is passing by, and that the opportunity may soon be lost if we do not respond promptly. “Time is now fleeting” because the days of our lives are numbered (Psalm 90:9-10). Even more dramatic are the phrases “shadows are gathering” and “deathbeds are coming.” We recall also Hebrews 9:27 that “it is appointed unto man once to die, and after that the judgment.” Some hymnal editors have tried to soften these warnings, changing “deathbeds are coming” to “death’s night is coming.” But Thompson’s strong words are needed to jar sinners from their complacency.
Time is now fleeting, the moments are passing, passing from you and from me;
shadows are gathering, deathbeds are coming, coming for you and for me.
[Refrain]
Stanza 4 tells us that there is a powerful motivation for sinners in the fact that these inviting words come from a God of love. Jesus “has promised” “mercy and pardon” “for you and for me.” This wonderful love is most evident at the cross, where Jesus laid down His life to save us from the penalty for our sins (John 3:16). For those who respond, there is the promise of His eternal love with the gift of eternal life (1 John 2:25). And this pardon changes everything, in that “though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow” (Isaiah 55:6-7).
O for the wonderful love He has promised, promised for you and for me!
Though we have sinned, He has mercy and pardon, pardon for you and for me.
[Refrain]
Here is the song as sung by Carrie Underwood, a recording that has become very popular in recent days.