Father’s Day – Stories of God’s People
Luke 15:11-32 June 18, 2006
Intro – Luke 15:11-32:
11Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. 12The 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. 14After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16He 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 men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.’ 20So 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.[b]’
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. 23Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24For 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. 26So 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. 29But 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. 30But 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. 32But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ "
A Great Dad Sets His Kids Free:
This Father’s day, I want to look at what makes a great dad according to this story. The very first thing I notice is that a great dad sets his kids free. The story begins with a horrible request – “give me my share of the estate”. It is a slap in the father’s face, a rejection, a selfish demand. This son is not mature enough to wisely handle the responsibility, and does a terrible job with it; the story says he “squandered his wealth in wild living.” In light of the result, we are tempted to blame the father for giving in to the request, we are tempted to criticize him. Until we remember that in the story Jesus is telling, the “father” represents God. If we accept that representation, we have to see some wisdom in the father’s decision, and I think it is this: he sets his son free, even to make mistakes. That is a hard thing for a parent, but I think it is a part of remembering that our children really are their own persons, able and responsible for making their own decisions, and that even though we do our very best to guide and to teach, there comes a time when we must set them free.
A Great Dad Never Stops Believing:
The second thing I notice is that a great dad never stops believing. Verse 20 says, “while he was still a long way off, his father saw him”. That tells me he was watching, he was hoping, he was believing that the home of love that he had worked so hard to create would be a powerful enough draw that his son would, as the Scripture says, “come to his senses” and return home. For some of you, this might be tough – perhaps your relationship has been strained, and there is great distance between you and your child. Don’t give up! Don’t stop believing! Your child can never go so far that they are out from underneath God’s care, and God’s love. Take responsibility for whatever part you played in the breakdown of that relationship, and keep believing that it can be restored.
A Great Dad Lets Himself Feel:
The next thing is that a great dad lets himself feel. The rest of verse 20 says, “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.”
This is packed with emotion. There is compassion, there is excitement and exuberance, and there is physical affection. There is compassion instead of condemnation – and I think this comes because the father truly did set his son free. He did not harbor bitterness, he did not greet the son with harshness, even though the son comes back understanding that he had rejected his father and was “no longer worthy to be called (a) son”, the father responds with compassion. This father lives in the present, not nurturing the hurt of the past, but instead focusing on what is true today which was this: “this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.”
In this line, the compassion is together with excitement and exuberance. The father runs to meet the son. Now remember, the father does not yet know how the son is feeling – he could be coming back for more money, he could be coming back unrepentant, he could be coming back completely unchanged – the father doesn’t know yet. All he knows is that his son is coming up the path. But he doesn’t wait, he doesn’t believe the worst, he runs to his child. Some of us fathers maybe need to do the same – show our kids how excited we are in them, show them our love, believe the best and run to meet them in their lives and their worlds.
This father shows his love with physical expression. He hugs, and kisses. Dads, our kids need this – they need positive, affirming touch. They need dads that will wrap their arms around them and gently demonstrate their love through positive and affirming touch. Yes, even when they are old enough to leave home!
A Great Dad Gives His Children The Best:
The story continues with the father’s instructions to his servants, “’Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate.” What I notice here is that a great dad gives his children the best. The son gives the start of his “prepared speech”, about how he is no longer worthy, and the father’s response is to yell to the servants, whom he instructs to go and get the very best for his son. The best robe, the ring, the sandals, the fattened calf. The massive, hold-nothing-back celebration. What an incredible picture of forgiveness! It is not reluctantly or grudgingly offered, it is a celebration! Instead of punishment and penalty and penance, there is exuberant forgiveness and joyful celebration.
Dads, here is a pointed question: do your children get your best? Now, in our affluent society I am not talking about material possessions here. Do they get your best efforts? Your best love? Your best time? Your best attention? Do they know that you are excited about who they are, that you celebrate them with joy and exuberance? A great dad, like the one in this story, gives his children his best.
A Great Dad Works For Family Unity:
The last thing I notice about a great dad is this: A great dad works for family unity. In the last part of the story, we see the jealousy and selfishness of the older brother – the “good kid”, who is so ripped off by the father’s welcome of the prodigal that he won’t even go in. Notice what the father does: “28"The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him.”
He didn’t just go out to the first prodigal – that father went out to the second prodigal as well – the prodigal who never actually left home, but whose heart was far from his father’s. And he “pleaded” with him – he talked and listened, and tried to help the older brother understand how important it was to celebrate. His actual words are significant: “31" ’My son,’ the father said, ’you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ "”. He reaffirms his love and dedication with this older son, and that “everything I have is yours”, and then introduces his perspective on why they must celebrate. I’m sure it was a difficult confrontation, but through it we see the father working for family unity.
Conclusion:
For those of you who are fathers, my prayer is that you would find something encouraging and something challenging in this story, that would help you to be the father that God desires you to be.
For those of you who are not fathers, I want to encourage you to take something out of this story that you see or have seen in your father, and if you are able, to pass that along as a word of thanks or encouragement to your father. Let them know; it will be appreciated.
Some of you I know find this a hard day because either you didn’t have a father or you had difficult experiences with your father. To you I give this encouragement – the parable is actually about God and us – and no matter what your experience of earthly fathers, the father in the parable is the picture of who God is to you as your heavenly Father. God is not like the father in your mind, He is like the Father in the story, and He wants you to know Him like that.
One final thing, this one a question to mothers: how do you empower your husbands to be the kind of father in the story? That is a question that I give you to reflect on, to discuss with one another, and to prayerfully seek an answer.
