The Grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ, The Love of God, and The Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you All. Amen.
Luke 15:11-32; And He said, “A certain man had two sons; 12 and the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me.’ And he divided his wealth between them. 13 “And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country, and there he squandered his estate with loose living. 14 “Now when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country, and he began to be in need. 15 “And he went and attached himself to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. 16 “And he was longing to fill his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating, and no one was giving anything to him. 17 “But when he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger! 18 ‘I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight; 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men.”‘ 20 “And he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him, and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him, and kissed him. 21 “And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 “But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet; 23 and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and be merry; 24 for this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found.’ And they began to be merry. 25 “Now his older son was in the field, and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 “And he summoned one of the servants and began inquiring what these things might be. 27 “And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ 28 “But he became angry, and was not willing to go in; and his father came out and began entreating him. 29 “But he answered and said to his father, ‘Look! For so many years I have been serving you, and I have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a kid, that I might be merry with my friends; 30 but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with harlots, you killed the fattened calf for him.’ 31 “And he said to him, ‘My child, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 ‘But we had to be merry and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.'”
A teenage boy was out shopping one afternoon for some new pants. He purchased them and took them home. Not long thereafter, that same afternoon the 17 year old returned to the store to exchange them. At the store cleric asked the teenage, “Why are you returning the pants? Is there something wrong them?” The teenager said, “There must be.” “There must be!” replied the cleric. “Yes,” the teenager said, “There must be something wrong with them. My mother liked them.”
Sometimes that’s all it takes for a child to do something stupid. If a father or mother approve or disapprove, then the child will do the opposite. It’s the old sinful nature and it’s called rebellion. We see if from the moment a child reaches mobility and comes to understand the word “no.”
The parable of the Prodical Son is the most well known parable in the Gospel inventory. Some have said that the Parable of the Prodical Son “belongs to world literature. . . as a composition which in its exquisite picturesqueness and deep pathos has never been surpassed.” It is a beautiful and relatable story. But it is more than that.
While the parable has been given the title, “The Prodigal Son,” Jesus’s introductory sentence is instructive and it places the main character front and center. “A certain man had two sons. . .” This is a parable about a certain father who had two sons, both of whom become a problem for their father. Both of whom have the same kind of problem– selfishness. It’s just that the selfishness is expressed in two different kinds of ways. One manifestation is repulsive to us and the other more understandable. It’s more understandable to us because it’s the kind of selfishness that we ourselves practice more commonly.
Here’s the context of the parable. In Luke chapter 14 Jesus was at the house of a Pharisee talking about how people try to seek places of honor at a banquet. Jesus “noticed how they had been picking out the places of honor at the table, [He said to them], 8 “Whenever you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him, 9 and the one who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then in disgrace you will proceed to occupy the last place.’”
By Luke chapter 15 Jesus no longer reclining with highly respected religious leaders. He is with the lower end of the social ladder. A crowd is not gathering and following them. In that crowd, there are tax collectors and other well known public sinners.
When the Pharisees see this they are as usual offended. Associating with sinners was religious and culture taboo. The Talmud, the Jews primary book of religious and moral law taught that Jews “must not associate with an ungodly man.” Tax collectors, prostitutes, and others we listed as the ungodly people with whom there was to be little or no contact.
In chapter 15 Jesus walks and stands before both groups. With both groups of people listening in Jesus began His parable “A certain man had two sons.”
The two sons represent the two groups. The younger son (who represents the sinners and social outcasts) approaches his father and demands his inheritance so that he can go and live his life free from the family and it’s expectations. The younger sons is rejecting the life that the father had provided and trained him for. The father gives the younger son his inheritance.
Then “The younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country, and there he squandered his estate with loose living. 14 Now when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country, and he began to be in need. 15 And he went and attached himself to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.” The son pays the price for his sin, rebellion, and stupidity. The younger son ends up doing things that a child of God is not suppose to do– loose living and living among the swine. Jews aren’t suppose to eat pork, let alone tend and feed them.
The younger son hits bottom and comes to his senses. 18 “I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight; 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men.’”
Why does he return? He returns to his father’s home, in part, because He knew his father impart. He saw how his father had treated everyone while growing up. “Even the hired servants have more than enough bread.”
But here’s the reality of the situation. The younger son really didn’t know his father? He saw his relationship to his father like a business relationship. His idea of “repentance” consisted of working out a quid pro quo kind of deal.
He messed up and he was sorry, but he thought he could make the relationship right by working off his debt and earning his way back into his father’s good graces and sonship.
The younger son knows that even as a servant in is father’s house things would be better than living with his own stinking mess. His circumstances had humble him and even broken him but he does not yet understand. He heads home.
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him, and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him, and kissed him.” Then the son does what children of the heavenly Father do when they come home to the house of their Father. He offered his confession of sin. 21 “And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.”
The father welcomes him, not as a servant by as a son, and an heir. But before the son could pitch his business deal about getting hired on as a servant and earning his way back, the father cuts him off and tells the servants to get the finest robe and ring and shoes and put them on his once-dead-but-now-alive son. This is not the welcome the son had expected. This is something much more. “Kill the fatted calf! It’s time to celebration! My son is home!” The son really didn’t know the father, did he?
Having dealt with the first group in Jesus’s audience, that group that had squandered much of their lives rebelling and acting contrary to the children of God they were created to be, Jesus turns His parable to the other group, which is represented by the older son.
25 “Now his older son was in the field, and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 And he summoned one of the servants and began inquiring what these things might be. 27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’”
The older son should have been happy. He should have celebrated along with the rest of the household. His younger brother was dead, but had come back to life. 28 “But he became angry, and was not willing to go in; and his father came out and began entreating him. 29 But he answered and said to his father, ‘Look! For so many years I have been serving you, and I have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a kid, that I might be merry with my friends; 30 but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with harlots, you killed the fattened calf for him.’”
At the start of the parable the older son looks pretty good. After all no news is good news. Nothing bad was said of him until his younger brother returns home. And what does that reveal. Well it shows that the older son was selfish too. But it also shows that the older son saw his father in the same– this was a business relationship built not on the relationship of father and son, but it was a business relationship.
The older son in was more concerned about getting what he believed he deserved by virtue of his work. He even goes as far as to indict his father for neglect– for breaching the spirit of the business contract. He says to his father, “Look! For so many years I have been serving you, and I have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a calf, that I might be merry with my friends; 30 but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with harlots, you killed the fattened calf for him.”
Romans 11:6 has something to say about this kind of thinking. “ If it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, since otherwise grace is no longer grace.”
The older son listed his good works before issuing the demand of privileged treatment. That’s the tell tail sign of a self-righteousness in the service of works-righteousness . He’s been the good son. Yet, from his perspective, his morally challenged brother is the one being celebrated.
“My child, [the father says] you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 But we had to be merry and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.’”
In Luke 15:1-10 Jesus had just told the parable of the Lost Coin and concluded that parable saying “I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” That was not only the concluding statement to the Lost Coin parable, it was the lead statement into the Prodical Son parable.
The Pharisees should have been happy that sinners were coming to Jesus. Their brothers and sisters had been lost and were dead in their sins, but now they were being made alive.
Both sons sinned. The tax collectors and outward sinners and the self righteous Pharisees who think all their work entitles them to better treatment from God.
Notice in the parable though, that the older son does not speak any words of repentance. We don’t know if he goes into the house and celebrates with joy the return of his brother. Jesus’s parable did what it was intended to do. It revealed the true nature of our heavenly Father.
The Father in the parable was the only righteous member of the household. He gave his sons a promise. What is his is theirs. The sons stumbled and fell but the Father reveals His nature as He deals with both. Both are called to repent and when repentance comes the Father and angels rejoice.
So also with us. [God], “reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their wrongdoings against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. . . we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin in our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:16–21)
The Lord God did not kill the fatten calf for us. Our heavenly Father sacrificed the Lamb of God on the cross for us. He has made us sons and daughters, heirs in His household the church. He has forgiven us all our sins, those of self-righteousness and those of more a fleshly kind.
In our Old Testament reading this morning Isaiah 12, the prophet wrote, “I will give thanks to Thee, O LORD; For although Thou was angry with me, Thine anger is turned away, And Thou dost comfort me. 2 Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid.” The Lord God “made Him who knew no sin to be sin in our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
Welcome back home. Your Father and Brother love and forgive you.
AMEN
May the peace that surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen