Have you lost anything recently? Where did you find it?
Sometimes I lose sermon scripts. Sometimes I lose important phone numbers. In my line of work, that is reasonably important, and not just for me!
Is it in my back pack? Is it on my messy desk? Well, who would know? Is it on my office floor? My bedroom, in the car? Does my wife know where it is?
It’s easy to tip over into accusations in your sheer panic. Did Rory use it for scissor practice? Did anyone clean it up?
And often, where is the thing I lost? It is right where I left it. It is so close, yet so far away.
That’s often the way, isn’t it, when you’ve lost something? It is so close, but it might as well be in a far off country.
This parable in our bible is called by the editors ‘The Parable of the Lost Son’. The headings are not part of the bible, they are just put there as helps and aids by our translators. And that is a good description of what a third of the parable is about[1].
But as we have seen, Jesus is actually speaking this parable with two groups in mind. Look with me at Chapter 15 verses 1 and 2
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.” (NIV)
Here we see two groups. We see tax collectors and sinners on the one hand: notorious sinners, unpopular, immoral, typically fraudsters and loose women, the type of people about whom A Current Affair and Today Tonight might run exposes. And we see Pharisees and teachers of the law, on the other hand. Here were good, self-respecting icons of the community. They were moral, upright, churchy people. For us, the were the equivalent of judges or ministers or members of the Order of Australia. Mums would want their boys to grow up and become one. They were well respected contributors to society.
Jesus spoke this parable with these two groups listening. He actually speaks three parables to them in a row. This parable is preceded by The Parable of the Lost Sheep and the Parable of the Lost Coin first. But this last one addresses both groups. So we read in verse 11.
There was a man who had two sons. (NI.V)
And these two sons represent the two groups that are listening to Jesus.
Probably many of us are familiar with the story. Jesus first tells us about the younger son, the famous 'Prodigal Son'. This son asks for his share of the estate. It is a strange request, akin to perhaps a teenager coming up to a parent and saying, “Look, I know I’m in your will. Could you just hurry it up a bit. I can’t wait until you’ve shuffled off. I’ve got a life to live now. Give me what is mine NOW!”
I’m sure if any of us heard those words, we would be shocked beyond words and cut to the heart! It is the equivalent to saying, "Dad, I wish that you were dead and I had your money. I would prefer your money to you!"
I remember seeing the ad on TV some time ago about a 14 year old boy who divorced his parents. I didn’t see the story, but you’ve gotta say, no matter how poor your parenting, that would have to cut to the heart.
But what is amazing about this Father, is that he actually gives the Son what he wants. “You want this? OK, off you go. It’s yours. You are free to go off and live your life."
I don't think I could do what the Father in the parable does.
It’s dangerous to ask for things, isn’t it? Because sometimes we get what we ask for!
And the life the younger Son lives is well described as prodigal. Like English soccer hooligans in Europe, or Aussies behaving badly in Bali, this Son is doing what he would be ashamed to do in his own country. He doesn't want his mum and dad to see him. So he goes off to a far country. There he squandered his wealth in wild living. Well, this is a bit of a euphemism. The big brother won’t pull any punches, however. H.e went off and spent the inheritance on prostitutes.
But such a life style simply cannot continue. It was a money bonfire. And eventually it ran out. And then famine struck, in a land far from home. And when the money runs out, so do the friends that the money has bought. The younger Son is all alone, doing the worst job imaginable for a Jew. The way you think of rats or cockroaches, this young man would have thought about pigs, Yet here is the youngest Son at rock bottom, feeding pigs, and coveting the inedible pods they feed on.
We would not be unjustified in saying ‘he had it coming’, wouldn't we?
But it was then that this spoilt adolescent grew up. As he lay in the manure of the just consequences of his behaviour, in verse 17 he 'came to his senses.'
"Look, there is still hope! Why should I die! I will go back to my Father."
And he prepares a little speech which we can read in verse 18:
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. (NIV)
And he gets up and goes.
Friends, this is what the bible calls ‘repentance'. 'To repent' is to confess our sinful stupidity and our unworthiness to God our Father, and to ask for mercy and forgiveness, that we might be taken back into God’s family.
When things are worst, the younger Son realizes his folly. And often that is the way with us. But he also knows his Father. He knows it is not too late to try and pick up the relationship which he once spurned.
There is something about his Father that this Younger Son knows. It is not that his Father is a softy, an easy target. No, it is much harder to let your children suffer the consequences of their sinful stupidity, than it is to try and rescue them from the consequences of their behaviour. And this Father has given his Son freedom to sin and come to his senses.
No, it is not weakness that is in the Father. It is mercy and love.
So now we turn to the Father. And while we might say of the son ‘you deserved every last bit and more!’, the Father never does. In fact, he sees his grubby, dirty shadow of a Son in the distance, runs and kisses him, doesn’t let him finish the speech, and wastes more of his own money on him. The robe, the ring, the fattened calf, the coming home party, it’s not the dog house, but the red carpet and the master bedroom! This kindness is not just undeserved but extravagant and perhaps even frivolous. We might apply the word 'Prodigal' to the Father's extravagant celebrations. The Father gives us the reason for his celebrations in verse 24.
For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found. (NIV)
My son was dead to me. He wished I was dead, and he divorced me. But now he is alive. He was lost and is found.
You know, dear friends, Jesus is teaching us about God. What is God like?
All of us were at one time dead to God. We didn’t want relationship with God. We wanted to just live life without the encumbrance of God.
And God gave us what we wanted. He handed us over to the life we wanted to live.
But dear friends, when we return to him, he is generous and kind and open handed. No matter what we’ve become in the far away land, he is still Father to all who return on him, and rejoices extravagantly when a sinner repents. This is extreme, reckless, generosity.
And that is why the tax collectors and the sinners gathered around Jesus. For these people had hit rock bottom. Everything and everyone said about them: "Loser, Epic Fail, Sinner". But Jesus spoke of a God who accepts the worst of sinners. As the apostle Paul said:
Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst. (1 Timothy 1:15 NIV)
So come to the God Jesus tells us about. No sin is too big, too long engaged in, too shocking, that he cannot deal with it. For that is why Jesus came to die: to take the punishment that our sins deserve.
We have seen the Younger Son and the Father. But there is one more member of this family with whom we must deal. For there were two groups listening to this story. And there were two sons. So now we look at the Older Son.
It is easy to feel sympathy for the Older Son. He had been good. He has stayed with his Father, working with him, not plunging into the profligacy of his sibling. He has done the right thing. So we can understand his anger in verse 28. How is this fair? But the most disturbing thing is his view of his Father. Verses 29 to 30:
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. (NIV)
In his anger and jealousy, the Older Son doesn’t seem to see things right. The Older Son sees himself as a slave of his Father. He just doesn’t seem to understand his Father. And there is the irony that the one who claims ‘never to have disobeyed his fathers orders’ now will not even listen to his father’s pleas, to join the celebration.
But the Father pleads with the Older Son just as he rejoices over the Younger Son. Verse 31:
"My Son", the Father said, "you are always with me and everything I have is yours".
My Son, you have me. I am with you, not as slave driver but as father. Do you not understand that?
Moreover, the Father reminds the Older Son of the inheritance that he has not squandered. Everything I have is yours. The Older Son did not miss out by staying with the Father. His inheritance is not wasted, but is still with the Father, unlike the Younger Son.
And so the Father begs the older Son to rejoice with him. This is not just ‘this Son of mine’. This is also ‘this brother of yours’.
Friends, this is a word for those of us who are good or churchy or moral people. We serve on our fair share of beach missions and kids' programs. We are fully involved and give up our time and money for the service of the church and God and his gospel. And this second Son is a warning to us.
We may be so close to God, and it may look like we are with God and part of his family, but we might remain just outside the door, just as the Older Son stayed outside the feast as his father pleaded with him. We might fall into the same bitterness and resentment: resenting the Father’s generosity as a hard taskmaster, and resenting the Father’s celebration over the repentance of sinners. For that is what the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were muttering about.
Friends, don’t be like them. Don’t be like the Older Son. Don’t resent the prodigal’s return, and the Father’s generosity. Because remember, even though the Older Son never left the family estate, we leave the story with him refusing to enter into the joy of his Father. He never went to the far country. But he also didn’t go into the feast, either. This is the danger of the good, moral person. He or she is so close, yet so far away, and never quite realises that the joy of being in God’s family is not what we can get from God but actually having relationship with God as Father.
Friends, we too can have God always with us, being co-heirs with God, and having our inheritance safe with him. There is no higher benefit than this. We are not slaves. We are nothing less than God’s adopted sons, co-heirs with our brother and leader, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let’s pray.
[1] Perhaps ‘A Father and his two different sons’ might be better: Bock, Luke, 2:1306 .