Luke 15:1-3, 11-32
To put our lesson in context, as is typical, Jesus finds himself teaching the crowd that follows him from place to place which, on this particular day includes a group of Pharisees and Scribes, the teachers of the Law. As we have talked about, groups like these shadow Jesus almost all the time. They are there to see what they can do to diminish and undermine the ministry.
Our lesson today starts with the Pharisees criticizing not the message that Jesus is giving but rather the company that he keeps, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” They didn’t like the fact that Jesus was welcoming tax collectors and other bad, disreputable people when they came to hear what he was saying. “Such a disgraceful thing this Jesus fellow is doing! We certainly wouldn’t do such a thing! We’re better than that!”
You see the Pharisees and the scribes didn’t approve of what Jesus was doing and who he has been with. So, Jesus proceeds to tell them a series of parables in which they ought to see that, instead of grumbling, they really should be rejoicing with him! If heaven rejoices over lost sinners being found and brought back home, then why are these guys are grumbling?
That then is the message of the three parables in Luke 15; we know them as; the Lost Sheep, where the shepherd leaves the 99 sheep go to retrieve the lost one, the Lost Coin where the widow loses one of the ten coins that she received on her wedding day, and she turns the house upside down to find the one lost coin. Then finally the parable that we will focus on, the Lost Son, more commonly known as the Parable of the Prodigal Son, which is our text this morning.
But I would suggest to you that there is more spiritual depth to this story, certainly Jesus spends a lot more time telling. Perhaps a better title for this lesson would be the “Lost Sons and the Gracious Father” because the point of the parable is the amazing grace of a father in dealing with two lost sons.
In our text the morning, the story starts out: “There was a man who had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ This was clearly an unusual request, especially within the context of the Jewish culture. Normally the estate of the father would be divided up amongst the sons of the family, only at the passing of the father.
But in this case, it was his wonder lust and the restlessness of the son’s heart that drove him to make his outrageous and offensive request. He said to his father essentially, “Why aren’t you dead yet? Your value to me is in the stuff that will be mine one day, not in you.” Certainly, within the context of the Jewish culture, if there was ever a son who needed to be put in their place, it is this one.
But the Gracious Father ignored the offense, he divided his property between them (2/3 for the older son as was tradition) and allowed the second son to leave the work still needing to be done at home and give the son the space and time to work out his restlessness. Despite societal and cultural norms, the son received what he asked for. The father did what no father would do, he willing to endure the agony of rejected love.
As we know, the younger son, the prodigal, ran away as fast as his feet would take him. He ran off the find what his heart desired, to satisfy the wanting and restlessness. He tried everything his desires could think of. It seems nothing slowed down the desires. He kept trying, kept searching, kept digging that hole deeper and deeper, until he had to look up to see rock bottom. The treasure that his father handed over to him was gone. He watched his fortunes fade as he plodded along, the hunger as strong as ever, the wanting unabated, unsatisfied, still driving him on. Until knee deep in pig slop, he came to himself.
Finally, when the money is all gone; the wanting changed, the restlessness subsided, the wonder lust ended. The scripture says, “He came to himself”. Instead of wanting something unknown and indescribable, he wanted something he knew all too well, something he had previously experienced.
He found himself many miles away from where he started, yet he finally knew what he wanted, what he had already had and had thrown away: safety, security, and a Gracious Father to protect and provide for him. He knew he was no longer worthy of it yet even a sample of what he had would be better than this, and he was content with that. He would take the punishment, suffer the indignity, because he was done with restlessness.
So, he made the long journey back, leaving his restlessness behind, looking for a Gracious Father that would welcome him back despite the disrespect and disobedience that drove him away and separated him from the Gracious Father to begin with. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming and felt compassion, he ran and embraced him and kissed him.”
We see that the Gracious Father had been eagerly waiting for him and watching for his return with the love that only a father can give. He does not make the son come crawling back or publicly humiliate him. Instead, the father humbles himself! It was undignified for a man of means to run in public, yet that’s what this father does. In a self-emptying demonstration of fatherly love, he runs out to greet this son who had disobeyed and disrespected him. In the warm welcome he gives his wayward son, we see the tenderness and forgiveness of this gracious father. “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.’”
Now, we remember the rest; the great celebration that is offered up by the Gracious Father for the return of the prodigal. The best robe, the ring, the best shoes! He sacrifices the fatted cow, the one that they have been preparing for a great celebration, maybe even for the wedding of the eldest son. There is to be a celebration, the son that once was far off and lost has returned to his father! Everything was good in the world, right? The lost has been found, but oh wait I promised two Lost Son stories.
Remember the other son, the one that stayed and did what was required of the father. He stayed and worked and tried to honor the Father. That day he had been in the field, and as he got to the house, he heard the music and dancing. It is a great celebration for the son that left, who has returned. The oldest son became angry and refused to go in. In retrospect if the youngest son was lost many miles from home, the oldest was lost even while living at home. The older son, too, dishonors his father. By refusing to go in, he causes him public shame.
Yet once again the Gracious Father humbles himself and goes out to see his son. The father does not berate him but begged him to come in and join the celebration, but he refused and said, “I’ve slaved for you all these years and you never gave me anything.” Never? Um, wait a minute. Look again. Verse twelve: “He divided his property between them.” The older brother could have had his too. Every day, it could have been all his. Everything could have been his, double his brother’s share. But he never claimed what was his! He never accepted the fortune that could have been his. His bitterness, his jealousy, his anger at his brother and his Gracious Father kept him from claiming it.
The story that Jesus tells us shows the prodigal eventually changing his ways and coming back to the Gracious Father, yet it does not tell us that the older son ever “came to himself” as the other did. What a shame, that close to the Gracious Father and the treasure that would be his, so close and yet so far, never claiming the promise that would be his simply for by the act of claiming what the Gracious Father was willing to give! Friends the gift is ours for the claiming!
Hear the Good News my Friends
The Gracious Father reaches out to all people, all lost souls, the ones that seek what they desire in far off places with wild expectations or ones that stay close to home to mind the master’s business. Yet the challenge of redemption and salvation is not so much what we had done in the past but whether or not we are willing to accept the promise that is right there in front of us, offered to us, promised to us by our Gracious Father.
And this is where the parable applies to us today. Today God is reaching out in gracious love to us, to all his lost children, both runaways and stay-at-homes. Have you been the younger son, wasting your life away in a far country? Then come to your senses and come back home. Or have you been like the older son, slaving away, in your own mind at least, slaving away here in God’s house for these many years and thinking that God owes you more then what you are receiving in this life?
In either case, God doesn’t want a slave, he wants a child. He wants to bless you with exactly what you have been offered eternity walking streets paved with gold. Friends it is your choice, claim what is yours despite where and what you have been or reject what you believe is not good enough. Dear Ones, today receive God’s love and rejoice in his grace toward all his lost children. Claim the spiritual and eternal inheritance of your Gracious Father and spread the Good News to the world around you! Amen.