Text: Luke 15:11-32
Text
Introduction: This parable has been described as the most beautiful short story in the world. As you read it and, hopefully, reread it,
keep in mind that Jesus’ critics had just complained that he was way too
friendly with sinners. The story he told in response to that criticism is one filled with
insights into human nature but, more importantly, it is filled with insights
into God’s nature.
*************
Allow me to picture this father as a
man with a snowy white beard, a widower with two sons. His older son, Jacob, would rise before dawn
and begin his chores, never failing to do what his father might ask. His younger son, Zeb had to be called several
times in the morning and when he his father gave him a chore, the old man could
never be sure it had been done.
The situation may have caught the
neighbors’ attention. Perhaps the couple
on the next farm talked about it from time to time. The husband would say to his wife, “You
know, I was watching that young Zeb out plowing the other day and he didn’t get
much done.” His wife might have added,
“he’s sure not like his brother Jacob.”
“No,” the husband says, “it’s a pity our poor neighbor doesn’t have two
sons just like Jacob.”
Now, I can easily imagine the farmer
in Jesus’ parable having neighbors who felt that way. They would have wished that their friend’s
younger son had been just as good as his older brother. In whispered tones,
they would have talked about how, unlike his older brother, the younger son was
so “prodigal,” so wasteful. They would
have hardly been surprised when they learned the younger son had headed off to
a “far country.” There he would prove
just how wasteful he was.
But, actually, Jesus’ story was
about two wasteful sons. There is
the prodigal who strays and the prodigal who stays. Jesus has something to teach us through both
sons. We focus so much attention on the
younger son that we often have only a few comments to make about that older
son, but the wastefulness of the older son was just as tragic as the
wastefulness of the younger son—perhaps even more so.
In fact, let me remind you that
Jesus was in controversy with a band of critics who were just like that older
brother. Luke begins the chapter with
that encounter.
Now the tax collectors and "sinners" were all
gathering around to hear him. But the
Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners
and eats with them."
Jesus’ stories in this chapter were
told in response to their attitude. And
he caps his story-telling with a parable in a parable about this wasteful older
brother.
It’s likely every church has
prodigals of both types. If you were a
prodigal who strayed and returned, you know who you are. Self-recognition is not so easy for you
prodigals who never left home.
But it’s important to know because
you can deprive yourself of the Father’s greatest blessings by this spiritual
wastefulness.
So, let me ask you several questions—diagnostic
questions—to determine if you might be one of these other prodigals.
I
HAVE
YOU EVER WASTED
AN
OPPORTUNITY TO
CELEBRATE
THE JOY OF ANOTHER’S FORGIVENESS?
Look at how the story of the younger
prodigal ends. The younger brother was
welcomed home with reconciliation, restoration, and rejoicing. Herbert Lockyer has said that the feast
“indicates the joy of a forgiving God over a forgiven man and the joy of a
forgiven man in a forgiving God.”
A loving brother ought to have
rejoiced over the homecoming of his brother, but he didn’t. He can’t even bring
himself to call him his brother; instead he refers to him as, “this son of
yours.”
Some Christians and some churches
are just like him. They are in no danger
of hearing the charge made against Jesus made against them, in no danger of
being described as the friends of sinners.
What creates that kind of
hardness? There might be several reasons
why people don’t forgive. Fear: You’re
afraid forgiveness might suggest an indifference to morals or open the way to
further misuse. Pride: You’re convinced of your moral superiority so
why do you need to forgive. Envy: You never got to taste the forbidden fruit
this person has gorged on and forgiveness seems like letting them get away with
it. Anger: You’re so angry over what
this person has done that forgiveness is out of the question. Power:
As long as you withhold forgiveness you have power over the offender.
Let’s get personal. Are you angry, indignant, or dismayed at the
presence of returned prodigals in your church?
There may be someone you’d be surprised to see in heaven, is there
someone you’d resent seeing in heaven? Important
test questions.
I fail this test when I fail to
understand that those whom God calls son or daughter I ought to call brother or
sister.
II
HAVE
YOU EVER WASTED
OPPORTUNITIES
TO EXPERIENCE
THE
FULLNESS OF JOY AVAILABLE TO YOU?
There’s something remarkable about
the older brother’s complaint. Did you
see it? “You never gave me even a young
goat so I could celebrate with my friends!”
Who knew he was the party type?
The father’s response to the
complaint is important because it reveals the real tragedy behind this older
brother’s attitude. Jesus pictures the
father as saying, “Son, if you have had no joy through your relationship with
me, the fault is yours. The resources
for your joy have always been available.”
Look at the son’s attitude toward
his work, he saw it as slavery. His
father saw it as a chance to be together.
The son missed the point. He
thought they were just raising cattle; they were really building a family.
Sometimes we Christians miss
opportunities to know God’s joy because we miss the point. We spend our energy building a church
building and forget to build the church.
We chose to debate the nature of our salvation instead of celebrating
the reality of our salvation. Then we
complain that we don’t seem to have the same joy the early Christians had.
Let me make one more point about
this party. As the older son approached
the house “he heard music and dancing.”
This was no quiet get together; it was a blow-out. When the father planned this party he wasn’t
thinking of having just a few intimate friends over to welcome the younger son
back; his idea was the more the merrier.
This fits Jesus’ picture of the heavenly Father. He wants as many as possible to participate
in that eternal party. He wants the joy
to abound.
Do you lack joy in your faith? Whose fault do you suppose it is? Have we missed the point?
III
HAVE
YOU EVER WASTED
THE
OPPORTUNITY TO
BETTER
UNDERSTAND THE NATURE OF YOUR FATHER?
Haddon Robinson stresses an element
of this story which we might easily miss because we come from a different
culture. Jesus says the father “ran to
his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.” That display—especially the running—would
have been considered beneath the dignity of a venerable Jewish senior
citizen. He had made a spectacle of
himself—all because of that wayward son who came home.
We can just imagine the elder
brother’s reaction when he heard about that.
You see the elder brother failed to understand the real nature of his
father and, because of that, he failed to understand what his father really
wanted.
The Old Testament prophet Micah
speaks to this point. In his day the
people thought God wanted more and more religious activity. In reality, God wanted something else. Listen to what the prophet says:
and bow down before the exalted God?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
with ten thousand rivers of oil?
Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.
Micah’s words were a profound
revelation about the nature of God. God
is less concerned with our overt acts of religious behavior than he is with our
inward attitudes. If we really got that
it would transform everything. God wants
our societies known for justice for everyone.
God wants our interpersonal relationships to be marked by the mercy God
wants us to show our brothers and sisters. (This is the mercy the older brother
denies his younger brother.) God wants
our religion to involve a joyous fellowship that reflects a true view of him, ourselves,
and our forgiven brothers and sisters.
What if that elder brother had not wasted his opportunities to discover
more about his father’s nature, what would he have learned?
He would have learned it is the nature of the father to extend gracious
forgiveness.
He would have learned it is the nature of the
father to seek reconciliation for his children.
He would have learned it is the
nature of the father to invite all his children to celebrate the joy of being
part of the family.
The elder prodigal’s story begs the
question: How well do you know the
Father?
CONCLUSION
In describing the wanton behavior of
the younger son or the callousness of the older son, we can forget that the
“hero” of this story is the Father.
The Father who is always ready to
throw a party for a returning child.
The Father who always wants all his
children to be at the party.
The Father who insists the party go
on even if some refuse to celebrate.
If you’re like the younger son, God
waits for you to return.
If you’re like the older son, God
pleads with you to enjoy the celebration that comes from knowing him and being
part of his people.
The festivities are about to begin.
Do you need to heed God’s
invitation, “Come home?”
Do you need to heed God’s
invitation, “Come in?”
