Last week the text
for my message came from the parable of the prodigal son, and I realized that
it needed to be broken into two parts, so this morning will finish this
message.
First, let’s read the
parable once again –
11 And He said, “A
man had two sons.
12 The younger of
them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to
me.’ So 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
impoverished.
15 So he went and
hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into
his fields to feed swine.
16 And he would have
gladly filled 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 So 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 celebrate;
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 celebrate.
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 could 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 pleading with 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 young goat, so that I might
celebrate with my friends;
30 but when this son
of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you killed the
fattened calf for him.’
31 And he said to
him, ‘Son, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours.
32 But we had to
celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.’”
Ernest Hemingway wrote a short
story titled The Capital of the World. At the beginning of the story Hemingway
recounts a popular Spanish tale about a father who had and a son named Paco, a very common names in Spain.
According to the story, Paco rebels against his father, using hate-filled words
as he tells his father he doesn’t need him, that he wants nothing to do with
him, and that he wished his father was dead. He packs up his belongings, walks out the door, and declares
he is gone forever.
Paco is always on his father’s
mind, wondering if he is well or if he has fallen onto difficult times. He fears he may want to come home but
believes he can’t because of what he said to his father.
The worry became too much for the
father, and he travels to Madrid, where Paco declared he would go. Once in Madrid he walked into the
offices of the city’s newspaper and places an ad that read – Paco, meet me at Hotel Montana, noon
Tuesday. All is forgiven. Signed, Papa.
It
was just before noon on that Tuesday morning when Paco’s father approached the
Hotel Montana, where the police were trying to manage a large crowd at the
hotel entrance. The father sees a
familiar head in the crowd and yells Paco! When he yells out the name the heads of
hundreds of young men, all named Paco, turn towards him.
There are so many
people for whom the parable of the prodigal son becomes the metaphor in their
lives. They are people who want
their broken relationships to be healed.
Last week we covered
the first point in the message, so this week I’ll cover the second and third
points.
2. The younger son wanted to find “the good life”, when he
already had a good life.
Doesn’t this parable
read like a teaser for a reality show? Last week, we left dad
mourning his younger son, who had wandered off to the big city in search of
excitement and the good life. This son, along with his older brother, had
formed an alliance to get their father’s money. That alliance is starting to crack
as the younger son, now broke and destitute, has returned home. Will the younger son get immunity and
get to stay? And will the older son hear his father say “you’re still hired” or
“you’re fired”? Stay tuned as we continue our next episode of The Unreal Life.
This sad, broken,
dysfunctional family is, unfortunately, reality for too many people.
One of the sad parts of
this story is everyone hearing the story can see what was coming for the
younger son, except for the younger son. He knows everything, of course
(anybody ever been that way?), and is blinded by his belief that he is soon to
grasp hold of what he thinks is a good life.
The younger son fell
for an illusion of what constitutes a good life. The illusion of what
constitutes a good life is just as deceptive today as it was when Jesus told
this parable. We are so inundated with images of the so-called “good life” that
beckon to us. It is the siren call of a promise that far too often holds a very
different reality.
It was a harsh
reality for this young man when his money ran out. Gone were all the friends
that were there for him when he had money and could afford to be the life of
the party, gone was the high living, and he was reduced to being envious of the
food he was feeding to some pigs. This was really hitting the bottom for this
young man, to come to the point of being envious of a pig’s life. Coming from a life of some measure of
privilege – not to mention that as a Jewish man he shouldn’t be around pigs – Have
you ever seen pigs eat? We raised pigs on our farm when I was young and I can
remember carrying the buckets of slop to them. It’s not a pretty sight to watch
pigs eat. Just how hungry and desperate do you have to be to reach this point –
he longed to fill his stomach with the pods
that the pigs were eating (verse 16). You have to be very, very hungry and very, very desperate to
desire the food of pigs.
This young man
certainly learned some lessons, and one of those lessons was that when all of
his new friends left him and he was all alone he had a father who still loved
him. Whatever he thought he wanted out of life, he already had what he really needed,
although it took him a lot of pain to learn that truth.
3. The older son wanted his father’s love and approval, but
he already had his love and approval.
Did anyone ever
complain about a sibling getting more?
Who has ever said he got this, why
didn’t I get one? There is a
lot of petty jealousy in the older brother. But in one way, can’t you see his point? The younger brother goes off, squanders
his father’s money, returns home to a great welcome, while the older brother
stays home and faithfully works with his father, never giving him any problems.
The older brother
feels overlooked and underappreciated, but here’s the truth – he was a prodigal
as well, he just stayed home. And
it’s not like he was doing without – he had the other half of his father’s
money!
It’s not necessary to
wander off in order to be a prodigal. The older brother stayed home, worked
hard, did his duty, but there was still a distance between him and his father.
This brother seemed to nurture a spirit of bitterness, and he was bitter to the
point that he could not share his father’s joy when his brother returned.
What a tragedy, then,
as the father gets one son back and then loses the other to anger and bitterness.
The older brother wanted justice and punishment to be meted out to his brother and
was angry that no one ever made a fuss over him. This brother never learned the
lesson of which Jesus speaks in verse 10, when he says I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one
sinner who repents.
And his father’s love
was right there the entire time.
Listen to the words of the father in verse 31 – “My son,” the father said, “you are always with me, and everything I
have is yours.”
As I
mentioned last week, this parable is the last of three that Jesus tells in Luke
chapter 15. Luke prefaces the
parables in this manner – 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.” Then Jesus told them this parable.” It is in the context of judgmentalism
and rejection that Jesus offers the parable of the prodigal son (and the
parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin). It is Jesus’ way of criticizing the Pharisees – and others –
for rejecting those whom they did not deem worthy of God’s love. Jesus taught a radical, inclusive view
of God’s love, where no one was beyond his love or care. This was in stark contrast to what many
of the religious leaders of the day taught, which was a very exclusive view of
faith. Simply put, they believed
they were favored and loved by God and others were not. But before we are too hard on these
people, let us remember that the older son becomes a metaphor for the
church. Too many times over the
centuries, and still today, the church has sought to be the gatekeeper of the
kingdom of God, deciding who is in and who is out, who is righteous and who is
unrighteous, and who is worthy of God’s love and who is unworthy. The teachings, actions, and ministry of
Jesus were a very direct refutation of what was taught and practiced by the
religious leaders – as well as the attitudes of some churches today – and this
is a lesson we cannot overlook.
The
older son has about him a rigid, joyless sense of obligation, which is the
manner in which some people express their faith. The older brother represents
those whom Jesus accused of rejecting other people, who are also children of
God, because their beliefs told them that those others were not worthy of God’s
love and should not receive it.
Jesus says, at the end of the parable of the lost sheep, that there will be more rejoicing in heaven over
one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need
to repent (Luke 15:7).
I want
to close by making a few comments about the tragedy that took place in Paris on
Wednesday, which saddens all of us, but this parable speaks to such
situations. I would say, first of
all, that when people commit such terrible violence in the name of God it must
be condemned, wherever it happens and whoever perpetuates such acts.
It
didn’t take long for some of the expected voices to pounce on this event as an
example of the failure of religion.
Bill Maher, Sam Harris, and Richard Dawkins, leading the usual cast of
characters, were quick to proclaim that there are no great religions and that religion
and religious people should be mocked and ridiculed.
I find
it very disturbing when people paint an entire group of people based upon the
actions of only a few, and I’ll tell you what is so disturbing about such
comments and attitudes. When you
marginalize and demonize any group of people it is only one short step to
finding justification in treating them in terrible ways. We have seen this time and again in
history, and we have certainly seen it in Europe. But we’ve seen it in our own country as well.
Jesus
knew the dangers of such attitudes, even when we justify them in response to
evil and terrible actions. That’s
why it is so hard to comprehend the depth of the radical love that Jesus
demonstrated to all people. Jesus,
who taught us that we should love our enemies and to even pray for those who
persecute us, was willing to stand up to the hard-heartedness of the religious
establishment and challenge them as misrepresenting God and abusing
people. That’s an amazing message,
and one the world still needs to hear.
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