In the Wrong Shoes
Luke 15:25-32
I had draped two new pair of sweatpants over the side of the red, plastic shopping cart as I approached a display of items at the end of a row in Target this week. There was a younger couple standing there already, and I can only assume they were registering for an upcoming wedding because they had one of those scanning guns in hand and were trying do decide which item to scan next.
I didn’t really want to reveal what I was there to purchase, so I pretended to be preoccupied with the items on the next shelf until they left. It seemed like it took them forever, and I had plenty of time to consider how silly I was being for waiting. When it came to the sweatpants, I didn’t care about the people walking by as I searched for what I wanted. Why was this any different?
When they finally left, I was free to browse the selections of their bathroom scales. There were about eight to ten models, but it took me about ten minutes to make a selection. Each scale seemed to have a different set of options. While all of them claimed to measure your weight in pounds, some of them could measure body fat by sending a small electric pulse through your body. Not only that, supposedly they could measure your muscle mass, your body’s hydration level, your BMI reading. What does that even mean?!
I started to wonder if there was a scale that could tell me the latest sporting news or information about the weather. Ultimately, I made a selection, completed my purchase, and arrived home ready to tackle my new goals. Last week I joked, tongue-in-cheek, about New Year’s resolutions; but, to be honest, I made some and my health was near the top.
What was my problem? Why was I so self-conscious about picking out a bathroom scale? Some of you are probably think I’m being foolish, but I really wanted some privacy as I examined the scales. Unfortunately, I know exactly why I needed a little elbow room. When I stand on the scale, I’m not happy with what it has to say.
Out of all of the options available, I made certain my scale wasn’t one of those talking scales. The last thing I want is for my children to hear this piece of metal coughing and shouting, “Get off…I can’t breathe!”
The reality is I need to make some serious changes in lifestyle. When my wife married me eleven years ago, I was over 100 pounds lighter. (I don’t think this is what she had in mind when she wanted me to become a greater man.) Not only am I not happy with what the scale has to say, my own doctor is in on it and has encouraged me to take action.
Because we’ve just come through the holiday season, I probably
wasn’t the only one who approached the scale with much fear and trepidation this past week. There are just times in life when we don’t like what the scale has to say. Our story, today, deals with a different sort of scale—the scales of justice—but it contains a character who is outraged by a terrible injustice that has taken place…an older brother who doesn’t like what the scale has to say.
In verses 28-30, we hear his plight, “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 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. But when this son of yours, who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’”
To be honest, at first glance, I can completely understand the older brother’s frustration here. My parents had two boys, and I’m the oldest. Are there any other oldest siblings here today? Life was rough for us, wasn’t it? I won’t even begin to touch the debate about whether older or younger siblings have it better or worse, but it is clear in this story that the older brother had lived a life that appeared to be much more obedient—that honored his father more than his younger brother.
Last week we talked about the fact that the younger brother essentially wished his father was dead…he just wanted to make away with whatever material gain he could garner from his father. He blows it all in a matter of a few days while the older brother remains with his father with likely twice the chores.
As we looked through the lens of the younger brother who really blew it, this story was one of great news. It was so refreshing to read about the character of the father who released his son; who received him back; who restored him to a position of honor, authority, freedom, and sonship; and who rejoiced and threw a huge party. What great news for those of us who have found ourselves a long way from home and in need of the father’s forgiveness.
But what about this apparent injustice that is being done? Here is the loyal, faithful, obedient son working hard but feeling neglected and unrecognized. It hardly seems fair. The scales of injustice appear to be tipping heavily in favor of the younger brother. Does that bother you at all?
Mr. Merv Grazinski of Oklahoma City purchased a brand new 32-foot Winnebago motor home. On his first trip home, having driven onto the freeway, he set the cruise control at 70 mph and calmly left the drivers seat to go into the back and make himself a cup of coffee. Not surprisingly, the R.V. left the freeway, crashed and overturned. Mr. Grazinski sued Winnebago for not advising him in the owner’s manual that he couldn’t actually do this. The jury awarded him $1,750,000 plus a new motor home. The company actually changed their manuals on the basis of this suit, just in case there were any other complete morons buying their recreation vehicles. I can hardly read the paper when such injustices are being done:
• A customer was awarded $780,000 in a suit against a store owner after tripping over her own, out-of-control child;
• A car thief was awarded more than $74,000 in a suit against a motorist when the thief’s hand was crushed as he tried to steal the hubcaps on an occupied, moving car;
• A burglar received a $500,000 award against a home owner when the thief became trapped in the garage of the house he was robbing;
• A man was awarded $14,500 in suit against a dog owner despite the fact the injured man provoked the dog (which was chained and fenced) to bite him by entering the yard and shooting the dog repeatedly with an air rifle;
At first glance, this story in the fifteenth chapter of Luke seems like it could be found in the same category. It’s a great story when we’re looking through the lens of the younger brother; but if we’ve been a part of the church for any length of time, that’s not where we’re found in the story. Unfortunately, this is a story where I realize that I’m in the wrong shoes…the shoes of the older brother.
Let’s revisit the Scripture:
(vv. 1-2) 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.” THEN Jesus told them this parable:
SO He told them this parable (NASB)…And he spake this parable unto them (KJV)…The Message says, “Their grumbling triggered this story.” This entire parable is not some random section of Jesus’ teaching; it was told for a reason.
There were two distinct groups of people in the crowd. There were people who sincerely sought to follow God with all that they had. They had devoted their entire lives to understanding the Word of God and to teaching other what it meant. These were the teachers of the law and the Pharisees. The other group was a group of immoral people. From the text, we can only know that there were tax collectors and “sinners,” but there are plenty of other scriptural references which reveal Jesus’ reputation for hanging out with some pretty rough people…sinners, tax collectors, and prostitutes. If you remember, last week I mentioned that in this culture, to eat with someone was to accept them completely.
We may think that we don’t have a problem with Jesus’ actions here, but I think we would be far more shocked by a modern parallel to his example. Can you imagine if you woke up tomorrow, grabbed a cup of coffee, sat down at the kitchen table, opened up the newspaper to find a photograph of Pastor Jason and Pastor Scott reclining at a dinner table laughing it up with people who were notorious embezzlers and prostitutes…or even worse…New York Yankees? You can’t tell me that the phone in this church office wouldn’t ring.
I have no doubt that the people in my own congregation love me dearly and have supported my family in ways that just blow my mind, but if I was in the photograph, I know the phone in my church office would ring.
Hopefully, most people would give us the benefit of doubt and assume that we were ministering to them…they still might call but only to be sure that they have no reason to worry. Realistically, some would make up their minds and want to know when the next board meeting is.
In this passage of Scripture, we find people who are confused by the habits of Jesus, and they begin to inquire. Can you blame them? I can’t. After all, this is the same Jesus who claimed to have the authority to forgive sins…the same Jesus who Peter confessed to be the Christ…the same Jesus who traveled around healing people and teaching from the prophets with authority like nobody else they had ever met. In fact, right before this passage in Luke 15, we find Jesus talking about the extreme cost of following him—of being his disciple.
The very guy who says that in order to follow him a man must hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—even his own life if he wants to follow Christ is the same guy who just moments later is kicking back with people who they personally know have cheated them in order to make themselves rich. It’s only natural for the religious leaders to be confused by this…so Jesus tells them this story.
He tells of the sheep…who foolishly wanders off and is found again. He
says that just as we rejoice over finding one lost sheep there is even greater rejoicing over a lost soul.
He tells this story about a coin in which, sentimentally speaking, a woman loses part of her dowry…if you can imagine your wife finding her wedding ring and then finding it and rejoicing…he says the celebration in heaven over one lost soul is even greater.
He even shares this awful story of a lost son…one who wishes his father were dead and deliberately walks away from him. Some scholars have suggested that the story of the lost son was a common story in which the son left his home and tried to return but was denied by the father and the family. The moral of the story is that if you leave family, you’re on your own. These scholars suggest that Jesus shocked his audience by changing the ending and revealing that the father would never turn his back on his children. “So they began to celebrate…
(vv. 25-32) “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
“The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 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. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
“’My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 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.’”
Just as last week the father saw the lost son while he was still a long way off, our story continues this week with the older brother returning from his work able to hear the bass thumping from the party music while he’s a long way off. He finds out what’s going on, and he’s upset. He’s not just upset; he’s angry, and he refuses to come join the party.
The father can’t understand; the only one who should have any reason to be upset about the news of the prodigal’s return was the fattened calf! By refusing to go in and forcing the father to come to him, we now find the older son committing a cultural no-no. And yet again, we find a father deeply committed to his children, willing to ignore social protocol in order to come out and plead with his son…one translation says that the father “begged” him to come in.
“Look!” the son begins. In all his wisdom, he feels the need to boldly call his father’s attention to some facts that he has obviously overlooked:
• I have remained with you ALL these years...I never left!
• I’ve been slaving for you…this isn’t easy work!
• I’ve never disobeyed you…
• But you have never even let me have a little goat to celebrate with my friends…
“His attitude shows that his years of obedience to his father had been years of grim duty and not of loving service” (Barclay, 206). He continues:
• But when this son OF YOURS “His attitude is one of utter lack of sympathy. He refers to the prodigal, not as my brother but as your son” (Barclay, 206).
• …who has squandered YOUR property with PROSTITUES comes home… (We never hear about specifics until now. Earlier in the parable, it just mentioned that he wasted the inheritance in “wild living,” but the bitter heart of the older son takes delight in revealing the gruesome details.)
We might expect the father to turn away from such a bitter and hateful attitude, but we still find a loving and patient father who previously restored the vertical relationship between the prodigal son and the father now trying to reconcile the horizontal relationship between the prodigal and the older son.
The father gently pleads, “MY son...you are always with me…EVERYTHING I have is yours…” He doesn’t let the older son distance himself from the younger one…he says, “This brother…of yours…was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.”
When asked what part of the law was most important, Jesus said you could sum the entire law up in the two commands to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love your neighbor as yourself. In this one parable, the father is actively seeking to restore both the relationship between God and man and the one between man and man. We’re never told how the older son responds in the parable, and we’re never told how the Pharisees and teachers of the law responded either. I suppose their response is not nearly as important as our own.
We live in a world where the line between what is right and what is wrong seems to be continually moving. We can’t keep up; and, naturally, we feel the need to protect and defend what we believe to be right and true. The battle isn’t only outside the church; the lines are moving within the church. In some denominations, not only is homosexuality accepted, but pastors who are openly gay are acceptable.
I believe that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and that the way to the Father is through Jesus. I believe that the Bible is our supreme authority and is a lamp for our feet and a light for our path—that Scripture is very clear about many sin-related issues. I believe that God has been the same yesterday, is the same today, and will be the same tomorrow. I believe in absolute truth.
However, I also believe that the Father is actively pursuing the sheep in the world who have foolishly wandered around unaware that they are even lost. I believe that the Father is searching for the lost coins of the world who have been lost through no fault of their own…probably because they don’t yet know the way home. I believe that the Father is even patiently waiting for the lost sons and daughters who have deliberately walked away from Him…who have been more interested in the things of this world than in a life with the Father.
I also believe that there are times when I find myself in the shoes of the older brother, and I think the world is full of people who have been wounded by the church…who may have once had a desire to return home to the father only to encounter the “older brother” before reaching their destination. How are we to navigate this ever-changing journey?
I believe our only hope is to ask the Father to help us see the world in a different light. Our performance-driven nature needs to be overridden by hearts that are hot with holy passion. In this story of the lost son, we are told of a father who ran to his lost son BEFORE he asked for forgiveness…it’s because the father could already see the heart of the lost son.
We see an older brother who is so wrapped up in his own righteousness and his brother’s unrighteousness but the father who still sees a heart that was lost but is now found…a life that was dead but now revived.
Think about this…Jesus never told the Pharisees and teachers of the law that the actions of the tax collectors were acceptable…the father in the parable never tells the older brother that what his younger brother had done was no big deal…Jesus doesn’t say, “To each his own.” He simply looks beyond our actions to the potential that exists in each person…he looks to the heart.
John Wesley is one of the greatest holiness writers I know. When speaking about Christian living, Wesley said, “Christian perfection…is nothing higher and nothing lower than this: the pure love of God and man—the loving God with all our heart and soul and our neighbor as ourselves. It is love governing the heart and life, running through all our tempers [emotions], words and actions. I ask no more. I’m interested in no other sort of perfection or holiness” (Lodahl, 26-27).
We’re often tempted to try to define holiness through behavior…by making lists of appropriate and inappropriate actions. Truly, the Bible is a very good guide for holy living, but Wesley defined holiness as perfect love. The older son in the story claimed to have obeyed all of the father’s commands, but his heart still lacked holy love for his own lost brother.
We can take great comfort from the fact that the father is patient with us when we find ourselves in the shoes of the older brother, but we can grow in our faith by submitting ourselves to God and asking Him to make our hearts like His…to help us see the lost as He does. Read 2 Kings chapter 6...a man was terrified when surrounded by troops from the enemy army, but Elisha was calm and collected. Elisha prayed that God would open the eyes of his servant, and God allowed this terrified man to see that the hills were actually surrounded with horses and chariots of fire. God can help us to see things through a different lens.
G. B. Williamson said, “The unbelieving world can be persuaded only by those whose hearts are hot with holy passion and whose lives give evidence of having been empowered by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The great cause of the present plight of Christendom is that the love which inspires labor for the lost is lacking.”
There is hope today for the lost prodigal sons and daughters. There is hope for those of us who find ourselves in the shoes of the older son. I think this story has been poorly named; rather than calling it The Prodigal Son, it should be called The Loving Father.
As we participate in the holy sacrament of communion this morning, we remember the sacrifice that Jesus has made for all of man…that the father is not willing that one should perish. We not only take these elements representative of Christ’s blood and body as a reminder of what he has done for us, but also as a reminder that he has invited us to be the body of Christ. We’re going to sing a familiar song, and it’s a song often sung to invite the listener to come to an altar for repentance. However, as we sing today, I ask that we sing these words mindful that this should be the message the world hears as we encounter others. If our hearts are hot with holy passion, this melody will be heard…if our lives give evidence of the empowering work of the Holy Spirit, this song will resonate in their ears. Let us not be found lacking of the love which motivates us to seek the lost.
