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Introduction
Read Passage
Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them.
"Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
"When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' So he got up and went to his father.
"But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
"The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'
"But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate.
"Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 'Your brother has come,' he replied, 'and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.'
"The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, 'Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!'
"'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.'"
Firstly, let's look at this passage within the context of the whole of Luke.
Book of Luke
Who is writing?
Luke - well educated doctor. Contemporary and companion of Paul. Also writer of Acts.
Who to?
Theophilus. We don't really know who this is, but he's clearly a believer and the letter is intended for a wider audience of believers, as well as to be used to teach of God's kingdom to non-believers.
When?
Not known exactly, but it is shortly after the first eye-witnesses of Jesus' ministry.
Why?
Luke tells us! He has done careful investigation in order to write an orderly account of events so that Theo (and his other readers) will be certain of what he's been taught.
So it's a rigourous piece of historical research by a well-educated man intended to help people have certainly about the life and teachings of Jesus.
Immediate context of Luke 15
Jesus teaches this parable during his 3 years of teaching and healing ministry before his death on the cross.
Healing sinners:
Anointed by sinful woman (Chap 7)
Healing demon-possessed man (Chap 8)
Healed a crippled woman on the Sabbath (Chap 13)
Pharisees (devoutly religious people) were criticising Jesus for hanging around with sinners and outcasts and healing on Sabbath (13:14)
Jesus' response is to show God's heart for the lost, the unclean and the unworthy. He told the Pharisees to invite the poor, lame and blind to eat with them (14: 13).
Chapter 15 starts with a criticism of Jesus by the Pharisees because he was hanging around with sinners [Read 15: 1 - 2]
Jesus then told 3 parables about being lost to expose the Pharisees' self-righteousness and hypocrisy. They show how much God cares for each individual and that Jesus' mission was to seek and save the lost.
The Lost Son [15: 11 - 32]
This parable illustrates what God is like and what relationship with him should look like. Jesus wanted the Pharisees to see a parallel between the older son and themselves to expose their judgementalism and lack of understanding about God's love.
The father in the parable represents God and the two sons represent 2 groups of people with different responses to God's love - the 'sinners' and the Pharisees. It shows 2 ways to be lost: rebellion and religious rule-keeping, so we'll look at each - and the implications of each - in turn.
(1) Younger son - rebellion
Representative of the 'sinners' that Jesus was ministering to.
v 12 Asking for inheritance - effectively saying he wished his father was dead. He had a complete lack of love and respect for his father and just wanted what he could get out of him so that he could get on with living exactly as he wanted to. Took everything he had and went off. Wasn't just a few possessions in a red and white hanky on a stick. Took everything. Wanted to be free of parental responsibility and wasn't intending to come back.
It's interesting that the father agreed to this request. The father realised that he couldn't force his son to stay at home and be obedient so he let him go, with the hope that he would one day return. God is like this with us - he has given us free-will so that we can decide how to live our lives and will never force us to love him. We can choose whether to rebel or not.
v 13 Doesn't go into details about the 'wild living' but we can use our imaginations. (See v 30 - although the older son might have been exaggerating because of bitterness). Bearing in mind as well that Jesus is drawing a parallel between the younger son and the 'sinners' he was ministering to, we can surmise that the 'wild living' Jesus had in mind would have included activities like sleeping with prostitutes, drunkenness, lying and cheating.
v 15 Ended up descending to the lowest of the low - feeding pigs. My 3 year old niece loves pigs - they're the highlight of her trip to the farm, but in Jewish tradition, pigs were ceremonially unclean animals so were about as far as you could get from holiness and purity. This emphasises the extent to which the son had rebelled and become an outcast and how far away he was from his father. It would have also provoked an extremely strong reaction in the Pharisee listeners who would have probably felt quite disgusted at the thought of what the younger son was doing.
v 18 The son is in dire straights. He has run out of money and he's the lowest of the low. He comes to a point where he recognises what he had when he was at home with his father and so decides to return.
v 19 Prepared speech is very telling. He recognises that he doesn't deserve to be called a son because of his rebellion and prepares to ask his father to accept him back as a hired servant.
v 20 Father's response is overwhelming. He has clearly been hoping and praying for his son's return as he spotted him from a long way off.
He ran, which a man of his position would never have done - undignified. Not only that, but he hugged and kissed the 'unclean' son who had spurned his love and dishonoured the family. [Imagine the queen taking off her crown, hitching up her skirts and running out of Buckingham Palace to hug a homeless person.]
The wider community and the Jewish listeners would have expected the son to be in disgrace and maybe even to be stoned for the shame he'd brought on his father. They would have been truly shocked by such a public display of outrageous affection.
v 21 - 22 Son isn't even able to get all of his prepared speech out as father is so keen to celebrate his son's return. There is no penance to pay because the father has already forgiven the son. The robe, ring and sandals all confirm his identity as the father's son - they were signs of honour and authority. Shoes were also only worn by free men, not slaves who would have been barefoot. The fattened calf was for a special occasion. [Best bottle of bubbly]
It is really important to note that the father accepts his son back with full 'son' status. There's no way he'd want him to be a hired man - he is a member of the family with all the privileges that brings.
v 24 He was dead, but is alive. He was lost, but is found. Obviously he wasn't literally dead, but this emphasises the wider implications of this parable: That those who rebel against Father God cut themselves off from the source of life. The only way to be made alive again is through God's forgiveness through Christ.
The 2 preceding parables talked about things being lost - a sheep and a coin. The symbolism in all 3 cases is the same - that God seeks the lost and rejoices greatly when they are found again in him.
Implications for us:
(1) Do we ourselves feel that we have run too far away from God to ever come home?
There is no 'point of no return' with God. [30th birthday example. The day before my 30th birthday, I realised that I would never be in my 20s again. It was a 'point of no return'. ]
There is no one who can't be forgiven. God's heart is to reach the lost / unclean and to forgive the rebels.
(2) God rejoices when the lost are returned. He loves it when each individual sinner repents. [Card example - I was once playing cards with a friend and I tried to do that Las Vegas style trick where you squeeze the cards and they fly from one hand to the other. It went a bit wrong and half the cards flew out of the window into the garden, so we spent ages rummaging around in rhodedendrons looking for them. We managed to find all but one of the cards, so we couldn't carry on playing because of that one lost card. Individuals are important!] God values individuals.
(3) We are children of God, not servants (John 15: 15. Gal 4. 2 Cor 6: 18. Rom 8: 15). All the inheritance of Christ and his standing with the father has been conferred on us.
I was at a conference years ago and I heard a song which spoke to me when I was lost and far from God:
"Oh child of God / So dearly loved / Ransomed by the saviour's blood / Called by name / Daughter and Son / Wrapped in the rob of righteousness / Come home running / His arms are open wide / His name is Jesus / He understands / He is the answer you are looking for / So come home running / Just as you are."
(2) Older son - rule-keeping
Representative of the Pharisees to whom Jesus was addressing this parable.
v 28 Such a contrast with the father's reaction. Full of self-righteous anger and bitterness.
Father came out to look for him - loves his elder son too and wants him to be part of the celebrations.
v 29 Shows older son's attitude to his father. Resentful duty - 'slaving'.
'Never disobeyed your orders' probably not true given that he's just refused his father's request to join the party.
Feels as though all his efforts haven't been properly appreciated or recognised because he's failed to appreciate the depths of the father's love.
Contrast to the younger brother who knows that he hasn't been good and appeals to his father's mercy.
v 30 Language used is very telling 'This son of yours' - distancing himself from his brother. You can feel the bitterness as he names the crimes of the younger son. Completely outraged. Grace is outrageous. The younger son doesn't deserve to be welcomed back with such celebration, but the point is that no one deserves God's love. The older son (and the Pharisees) failed to realise that they hasn't earnt God's love and so couldn't stand seeing others being loved even though they'd behaved appallingly.
v 31 'My Son' - Father's love included both brothers. 'Everything I have is yours'.
v 32 The response that the father wanted the older brother to have, and that Jesus wanted the Pharisees to have. He calls the younger son 'your brother', showing that he expects the older son to love and care for him as the father does.
We don't know the end of the story - did the older brother ever join in the party? Jesus has painted the Pharisees into the story and their response to his ministry with sinners would provide the answer to that!
Implications for us:
(1) God loves the Pharisees and people trapped in religious duty too and longs for them to experience true sonship.
(2) Law without love is futile (white-washed tombs etc. 1 Cor 13). Religious rule-keeping isn't enough for a relationship with God.
Pharisees needed to see that they are no better than the rebellious younger son. They needed to see their own failings and come to God in humility. We need to do this too.
(3) We should rejoice with God when rebels return.
It's easy to pray for people we love to become Christians - family, friends, people with shared interests and backgrounds. People who would fit in well at church (and maybe even sign up to a few rotas!).
Are there people that we find it harder to welcome into the Kingdom of God? Are there people who we don't want to be forgiven by God or think can't be forgiven by God? Think about who Jesus would be ministering to if he lived in 21st century Gateshead: Bigg market on a Saturday night; Centre for Life - offering a real reason for living to gay and lesbian people; talking to kids on street corners who are smashing up bus stops because there's nothing better to do; in mental health centres offering hope and love.
Think of the equivalent of feeding pigs - something disgusting, shameful. Think of the person who has done it. Do we want them in the Kingdom of God? Well, God does. If we are to be like him, then we need to love them too.
Conclusion
We can be guilty of acting like either of the sons in this passage, but we can repent and experience relationship with God as it is meant to be. I know I have been rebellious like the younger son. But there are also times that I've forgotten that I don't deserve God's love and I've started to think I'm a pretty decent person. This is dangerous because it leads to resentment of 'unworthy' people being forgiven by God.
Good news for rebels:
You are never too far from God to come home, and when you do there will be a party to celebrate.
So, if you're lost, turn round. Come home running and receive forgiveness as a child of God.
Good news for religious rule-keepers:
You are precious children of God and can't do anything to earn his love because you already have it.
So, if you're lost in religious duty, humbly turn away from self-sufficiency, accept God's love and forgiveness and extend it to others.
So the question for all of us is: Are we going to join the party?
Prayer
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