In the Name of the Father and
of the Son and of the Holy Ghost +
Today’s parable is now known as the parable of the Prodigal
Son. Son? As in only one? There’s not just one son in our story today,
there’s two, two sons who wander away from and despise their father… two sons
who are richly forgiven and welcomed by their father. You see, the focus of this parable isn’t
really upon either son – but upon the Father, the Father and his great,
overwhelming, indeed, prodigious love, love for his two wicked sons.
And yes, I did say two wicked sons. Both sons in this story are troublesome and
in the wrong. To begin, the younger son. And the younger of them said to his father,
“Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.” Think just how insulting this would be. Dad, I can’t wait for you to die so I can
inherit stuff, just give it to me now.
And we know what this young son does – he runs off, he blows it on wine,
women, and song. And the way the story
goes, it doesn’t seem to take him too long.
Think about that – burning through half of a rich man’s life’s work in
just a short time. Must have been
wild. Must have been wretched and
wicked. So we see that this younger son
is off base, we get that. But what about
the older son – in reality he’s just as bad.
Oh surely he’s not that bad! He stays at home, he works hard, isn’t he a
good kid? When the older son hears that
his brother has come home and there is a celebration, what does the older son
do? But he was angry and refused to go in. The older son runs away too – runs
off the fields. Then when his dad comes
out to “entreat him” – to beg him kindly to come back in, this older son tells
his dad off. “Look, these many years I have
served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young
goat that I might celebrate with my friends.
But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with
prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!” Do you see just how wicked this son is? Think about this – he snubs family, snubs his
brother. If I had snubbed my family like
this, my mother would have tanned my hide.
And then consider how he talks to his father. “Look”.
Those are fighting words. And
then he brags – I’m wonderful – but you dad, you are mean and unfair and you
never gave me anything, not even something to share with my friends – not only
do you treat me unfairly but you make me look bad in front of my friends too. Do you see how lousy this older son is
behaving – I mean, this is nasty rebellion – this is a guy dressing down his
father simply because his knickers are in a bunch because his brother got some
attention.
They are both lousy – and at least the younger son has the
good grace to recognize this fact.
Granted, he doesn’t realize it until he’s broke, stuck feeding pigs –
and for Jewish folks, who thought pigs were unclean – this is about as low and
bad and nasty as a job as you can get.
So you have the younger son who is wild, could care less, and hits
bottom and realizes he needs help. You
have the older son who is prideful in himself, who is hateful, angry, and
mouthy, just completely willing to dress down his dad. I feel bad for the father in this text – both
his sons treat him like dirt. The one
says, “I wish you were dead” and the other says, “You’ve never done anything
for me, all you make me do is work.”
But what does this father do? When the younger son comes home, does he make
him slave away in the fields? Does the
father become the cruel taskmaster the older son accuses him of being? No.
Before the younger son can even apologize, can even start to beg, the
father sees him coming and runs to meet him.
In Jesus day they wore tunics – they basically wore robes, dresses that
went down to mid-calf. He had to hike up
his hem over his hips and run. It would
have been a spectacle, an embarrassment.
Dignified men didn’t run, and they certainly didn’t run to meet lousy no
good brats like that younger son. But
with joy, without concern for his own pride, the father runs to meet the
younger son. What love!
And then, there is how the father deals with the older
son. Here this father hasn’t seen his
younger son in who knows how long. And
we know the father is so excited, so overjoyed to have this younger son
back. But then he hears that the older
son, his other son, is upset. So what
does he do? He leaves his younger son’s
party, leaves the son whom he hadn’t seen in who knows how long, and goes to
see this older, pouting son. And when
the older son is vile to him, lambastes him unfairly and unjustly, what does
this father do? Does he give him the
back of his hand? No. Out of his great love for the older son, he
speaks kindly, he speaks gently, he seeks to restore the love between brothers
and remove this brother’s hate. Do you
see how this father is prodigious in love, how he is overflowing with love for
both his wayward children, how he is patient and kind with them?
The point of the parable is that this is precisely how God
is with you. Consider again for a moment
the two sons, for they are pictures, images of how we ourselves might fall into
sin. You have the younger son, and he is
greedy, he falls into gross sin, he could care less. That happens.
He just seeks to serve his wants, his desires, “I’ll do whatever feels
good” and cares for no one else. That’s one way Satan will tempt us – and that
is a way of pain and suffering. It
breaks us and we fall until we hit rock bottom.
A lousy thing, but how many of us here have had to hit bottom with
something? This happens. And then there is the older son. He’s arrogant, he’s prideful, he thinks so
well of himself – and what does this do?
It cuts him off, it isolates him.
Think about it – everyone else is celebrating together, having a
wonderful time – and he’s off sulking in a field. That’s what pride and arrogance do – if you
walk around thinking you are better than other people, you end up alone. How many of us have been there? Just so sure that we were right and we were
going to tell people about it, and we look around, and we are off by ourselves
because we in our pride were wrong.
These sons show us simple, typical ways of sinning, and the end result
for both of them are lousy. One is down
at rock bottom, the other is stuck off on his own. Those aren’t good places to be. So I will say this – be wary of your desires,
for often they are bad and will lead you astray. Be wary of your pride and arrogance, for that
will lead you to kill relationships and drive you away from people.
And note also how these two sons end up having flawed ideas
of how they relate to their Father. The
younger son messes up twice – first he runs away from his father and doesn’t
care whatsoever. Can we all agree
quickly that running away from God and ignoring Him is a bad idea? But then, even when he has hit rock bottom,
he still is messed up in how he wants to relate to his father. “I will arise and go to my father and say,
‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your
son. Treat me as one of your servants.’” It was good for a bit – you are right young
son, you have sinned, and you aren’t worthy.
But did you see where he goes too far?
Treat me as one of your servants.
He wants to tell his dad what to do, and he wants to work things out on
his own. That’s not the way it
works. He doesn’t get to work his way
back into his dad’s good graces. The
father will have none of it – he welcomes back his son, brings him good
clothes, a ring and good shoes, prepares a feast – all without the son doing
anything.
Dear friends, this is the picture of how God forgives you
freely. God’s forgiveness, God’s
welcoming you back into His family, into His House, to His table and Supper
never has anything to do with what you are going to do for God. Works flow from forgiveness, but our works
never cause forgiveness. God’s
forgiveness is all about His complete and pure love for you. God loves you, plain and simple, and He
desires to have you be with Him, forgiven and restored. He’s not going to make you jump through hoops
first, He’s not going to hold you at arm’s length – rather, when we confess our
sins, God is faithful and just to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. In fact, God is the one who does
everything. It is Christ Jesus who comes
running down from heaven to you, who suffers the embarrassment and shame of the
Cross and the grave so that risen again He might welcome you with open arms to
your heavenly home. This is God’s love
for you.
And again, the older son doesn’t understand how he relates
to his father. He too thinks it is all
about what he himself does – look at how I have obeyed you and you never give
me anything. Listen to what the Father
says, “Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.” Son, how do I give you something when it’s
yours already? I am with you, and
everything that is mine, the house, the fields, the goats and calves, they are
yours already – don’t you see? And the
older son had been so worried about working, about earning his father’s respect
that he failed to see that the father had given him every blessing
already. Now, do you see how this too
can be a way that we misunderstand God?
God is not some cruel taskmaster – it’s not as though we must slave away
and hope that God gives us something.
Has not Christ Jesus our Lord told us that He is with us always, even to
the end of the age? Have we not received
so much goodness from God even before we think to ask for it? This is God’s love for you – for He is with
you, and all that He is, His goodness, His righteousness, His holiness, His
love – this is yours. And the problem is
that so often we get focused on what we in our pride are going to do that we forget,
we overlook what God has given to us already.
But the most beautiful thing is that when we sulk, when we pout – God
comes to us and says, “You’re baptized, you are joined to Me, I am with you
always, and everything, heaven itself is yours now. Remember this, rejoice in this – rejoice in the
good that you have and rejoice in the good that your brothers have.”
This, dear friends, is the picture of God’s love for
you. Love that is overwhelming, love
that is full, love that is complete.
There is nothing left for you to do to earn it – simply rejoice in the
blessings of forgiveness and life and salvation that are yours, for Christ
Jesus our Lord has won us all these things, and He gives them to us gladly and
freely. In the Name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Ghost +
No comments:
Post a Comment