The Prodigal Son
(Prodigal means , reckless or wasteful or even as taken from the bible one that returns to a warm welcome)
An older preacher told the story of a young man who wanted to be a preacher at their church. This young man had great potential but had never been to Bible College. Because he had such potential the Church Committee invited him to come over to their church for the interview. The committee chairman asked, "Son, do you know your Bible?"
The young man said, "Yes, pretty well." The chairman asked, "Well why don’t you give us a short sermon to see how you go? The young man said: “What about the story of the Prodigal Son?" Perfect they said.
"The prodigal son went down to Jericho by night and he fell upon stony ground and the thorns choked him half to death.
"The next morning Solomon and his wife, Gomorrah, came down the road and had compassion on him and poured some oil on his wounds and gave him a little wine for his stomach. And they put him on their donkey and took him down to the ark for Moses to take care of. But, as he was going through the Eastern Gate into the Ark, he caught his hair in an oak tree and he hung there forty days and forty nights and he became very hungry. But the ravens brought bread to him and fed him as he sat by the brook Kishon.
"The next day, three wise me, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego came by and carried him down to the boat dock and took him on a ship to Nineveh. And as he approached that great city he saw that wicked woman Delilah sitting on the wall. He said, "Throw her down, boys, throw her down." And, they said, "How many times shall we throw her down, seven times?" And he said, "Nay, but seventy times seven times." And so they threw her down four hundred and ninety times. And she burst asunder in their midst and all her bowels gushed out and they picked up the fragments thereof. They picked up twelve baskets of the leftovers. Then the men on the wall asked him “in the resurrection whose wife shall she be?"
The Committee chairman suddenly interrupted the young minister and said to the remainder of the committee, "Fellows, I think we ought to ask the church for this young man to be our minister. He is awfully young, but he sure does know his Bible!"
Luke 15:11-32
11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
13 “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. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 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.
21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
22 “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. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 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. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 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.’”
We all know this story so well- so much in it! The story is not only about this prodigal son and is as much about the father and the older son as well. In fact it’s also about us!
The first thing I want to have a look at is the relationship of this younger son with the father.
When a father had an estate like this, it would be passed on from generation to generation to ensure the family and importantly the family name survived and were cared for and that their legacy continued. This happened when the father was too old to carry on or he died. So asking for this inheritance before time was throwing that all aside and was highly disrespectful. Just look at how this prodigal son talks to his father.
“Father give me my share…” that’s really disrespectful! It shows a lack of love for the father. And further he has no concern for how the father will look after himself once he has lost his estate. Its quite selfish. But why does he do this? Let’s have a look at that and as we go through these points let’s just look and see what we see of ourselves in this, because its these sort of things that take us to places we shouldn’t be. However if we can identify some of the problems, hopefully we can remedy it before it gets messy and we also end up in the pigs pen. So why does the prodigal son do it?
He wants independence at all costs. We actually promote this today- self- sufficiency. Our mentality is “In this day and age I have the knowledge, the wisdom, the qualifications and the strength to accomplish anything I put my mind to. Who needs God?” The bible warns about this
Isaiah 31:1 Woe to Those Who Rely on Egypt
31 Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in the multitude of their chariots and in the great strength of their horsemen, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel, or seek help from the Lord.
He is impatient- he wants it now! More and more these days we expect instant gratification. “I had to wait 10minutes for my cappuccino the other day!” We have become impatient with service standards, impatient with other people and even when God does not answer our prayers in our time frame, we begin to ask why? Do you know there is a gap of about 400years between the Old and New testament when God was as far as we know largely silent to man? But that does not mean He was not actively present in the world!
And so the younger son wants what the father has- now. We are not only impatient but we are living in this entitled generation, where what took an older generation 30-40 years to get, people want it now- property cars, possessions of one kind or another. Contrast this with the people Paul was writing to in Hebrews- I want to be more like this!
Hebrews 10:34 NLT
34 You suffered along with those who were thrown into jail, and when all you owned was taken from you, you accepted it with joy. You knew there were better things waiting for you that will last forever.
You can only do this when you have an “eternal view”
The prodigal son had no respect for authority. This is clear by how he speaks and what he wants. For me this lack of respect of parents, elders, police, the law, of property etc is one of the root causes of the problems we have in society today. That’s exactly why we are in the same pig pens that the prodigal son was in. And if you have ever been in an actual muddy pig pen- I have – its not a good place to be.
There is discontent for what he has. Unfortunately we all sometimes take what we have for granted and don’t realise just how blessed we are. We- I, need to thank God every day for the wonder around us and the many many blessing bestowed upon us each and every day. An attitude of gratitude can not only change your life but is pleasing to our Father. Being content starts off when you begin to appreciate all the goodness that is arounds us- you just need to look for it.
If we feel discontent, or feel distant from our Father, or feel impatient about what’s happening in your life or feel you need more to make your life complete or more enjoyable, then you are getting an idea of the forces that drove the prodigal son into the pig pen!
But all of this is just head knowledge until we can change. So how do we become less independent, less impatient, more respectful of authority, more content? How does that work? Only one way I know- by faith. I heard about this game called faith that a man played with his young daughter. The young child stood on some steps, about 2-3 steps up and he stood in front of her with his hands behind his back. And then he said now jump! And she said to him “Will you catch me?” and he said- “I might”. And then the little girl after some hesitation jumped and he caught her! That is faith, it is not something we think or feel but what we do! It’s that action that is faith. So how does that apply to this situation of the prodigal son? We jump… we start trusting that God will provide everything we need and at the right time. And that leads to contentedness sand it leads to patience. When you jump He will “catch” you at the right time- not before- not too late. We start waiting for God to answer or open doors knowing His timing is perfect and not become impatient. And see what happens! We jump and start trusting the authority structure first in the family and home, then outside the home- and see what happens. We start to look at everything God has given us now, instead of striving to get something. This is faith
Lets now look at the Older sons relationship with the father.
He is just as disrespectful as the younger son was… vs 29” But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you…”
He has a relationship of duty- of works, certainly not of love. When we come to church it is not out of a duty, but out of love and a desire to be with our Father. Any service we do or effort we make can’t be to earn the love of the Father- we already have his love and attention! Our relationship with God is not based on the work we do for God. The older son worked hard to earn that love and respect of the father- we don’t need to.
He feels he is owed something for all that he has done for the father. He says he has “slaved” away for many years, and that he has been a faithful son all this time doing his duty and the father seems to have forgotten about him? Do we sometimes think God has forgotten about us?
But the father says 31 “‘My son,’ …, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.
He also seems to have no love for his brother.
30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
When your heart becomes hardened and you don’t have love in your heart you cannot forgive, either your brother, your neighbour or each other. You cannot rejoice with those that rejoice (Rom 12:15).
Proverbs 28:14 “.. but whoever hardens their heart falls into trouble.”
And as a consequence there was a bitterness that spilled into all his relationships
He had a distant relationship with his father. Not only does he ask the servant what was going on, he refused to go in to the celebration!
27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in.
If he had spent more time with the father I doubt any of this would have happened.
In the end it shows the importance of repentance by the younger son, the younger went further away but got closer to the father and the older never repented and remained distant. If you are not sure what to repent about there is a prayer that you are certain to get an answer to….and sooner than you think. Ask “Jesus is there anything in my life you don’t like”? You will be surprised!
Some interesting learning points about this story of the Prodigal son
Why does God not just simply block our sinful escapades?
I don’t know if there is a simple answer to that, but for some of us the only way we will ever learn humility and understand grace is when we wallow in the mud in the pig pen and then look in the mirror and see our true selves? But ask yourselves the following questions
Who ended up closer to the father, the older or the younger prodigal son?
Who learnt the most about the father, life and themselves?
Who ended up appreciating what they had the most?
Who ended up with the most compassion, grace and humility?
We may not understand God’s ways- but they always work out perfectly!
Sometimes we want something but the timing is not right.
In the case of the prodigal son, he would have got his inheritance had he waited. He wasn’t ready to get that wealth and freedom yet. He felt he was ready for it and needed it, but he was still too immature and he lost it all. The Father knows when you are ready. So how do we know the timing is right? Well first of all don’t force anything. We hand it over to God and wait for the doors to open and that sense of peace that comes from agreement.
Habukkuk 2:1 I will climb up to my watchtower and stand at my guardpost. There I will wait to see what the LORD says
Then finally and to conclude no matter what you have done the Father restores completely. Look what happened in this story, the father runs out to meet his long lost son, he hugs and kisses him and then he gives him his best robe, he puts a ring on his fingers and sandals on his feet. This is what your Father in heaven does for you! No matter if you have been completely “defiled” while in the filthy pig pens of life. Remember Joseph and his multi-coloured coat? A robe represents status, and this father restores this young man completely to the position of a favoured son. He takes off the old dirty robes and replaces it with the new. He does this for you and I too! He takes away the old life and replaces it with something special- a robe of righteousness.
But he does more- he gives him a ring. This ring literally gave you authority on behalf of the family. It carried the family crest which gave you authority in the name of the family. We too have this authority, where we too can call on the name of Jesus, and have the authority in the name of Jesus to ask for what we need. Do we realise we have been given that authority to ask in His name, just as the prodigal son was? Figuratively, we have the signet ring of Jesus!
Then the father put sandals on prodigal son’s feet. Only the slaves and the destitute went around barefoot. And the prodigal son was neither, and nor are we. We are no longer slaves to sin or to this world, we are adopted as sons into the Kingdom of God! In fact in John 15:15 we read
I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.
This is the Father we have, one that runs out to meet us, who hugs us, who restores us, who gives us new robes, who calls us friend, who calls us family!