Dining With Derelicts, Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
Scripture
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: Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them. "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. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. "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! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: 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.' 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.” The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' "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. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate. "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.’”
Introduction
What is the “job” of the Christian? Is it to serve on boards of the church? Is it to regularly attend the worship service? Is it to tithe and support the local church financially? Is it to read the Bible and pray? To all of these: YES!
All of these are true. But, they are the outgrowth of the central and core principal of the Christian life. “Our job is to love people we don’t have to love.” (Keith Miller quoted in Men of Integrity.)
We don’t have to love one another! Many people live in isolation; not loving other people. Many people live in seclusion; not knowing how or who to love.
Others live so completely unto self that the only love they have is the love of self, the love of pleasure, the love of money, or some other idolatry. We were made to love. It is central to our created humanity.
We were made to live in connection: in covenant with God and one another!
“A true Christian is a sign of contradiction—a living symbol of the Cross. He or she is a person who believes the unbelievable, bears the unbearable, forgives the unforgivable, loves the unlovable, is perfectly happy not to be perfect, is willing to give up his or her will, becomes weak to be strong ... and finds love be giving it away.” (Joseph Roy, Leadership)
Transition
This morning our focus will be on the way that Jesus loves the unlovely and commands – invites – us to do the same. The key sentence in today’s Scripture reading? “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them…”
In Luke chapter 15 there are 3 parables strung tightly together; the parable of the lost coin, the lost sheep, and the prodigal son. This chapter has one constant theme that Jesus is driving home to his audience, to us; God’s love for outcasts and sinners. God’s love is not contingent upon our goodness.
If anything, the New Testament presents Jesus loving the unlovely and rejecting the pious, the self-righteous, the upright; because of their pride and conceit. The central thesis: God loves outcasts and sinners. So should we!
Exposition
Upon examining this passage of Scripture, some key principals about the love of God jump off of the pages of the Bible. The story of the prodigal son is one which is familiar, even to non-Christians. It is interesting that many of the major biblical themes are commonplace in American society.
The Church has had such a wide and far reaching influence on this society since its inception that many biblical stories are a part of the fabric of mainstream idiom, literature, and thought. Stories like the prodigal son, Noah’s Ark, Adam & Eve, the betrayal of Judas, and a host of other biblical accounts are at least familiar, even if many don’t know fully of their origins, to most people.
It is for this very reason that great care must be given to the consideration of any such passage. Our familiarity may, and often does I would suggest, leave us wanting for application and genuine meaning. Familiarity, in this case, fails to cause great understanding; it easily leads to blind obscurity.
Learn to see this parable differently. In our constant focus on self, we usually consider only the prodigal son. This passage is most often taught as the premier text which tells sinners that it is never too late to repent; never too late to return to God, our Heavenly Father, who waits longingly to forgive.
“For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!” (Romans 5:10 NIV)
This aspect is completely accurate, but it is not the whole story. I said to you last week that God’s primary concern in the universe is not our temporal or earthly comfort. His primary concerns are not the myriad of things with which we distract ourselves in this material, physical, life.
God’s primary concern in this world is not even the salvation of sinners. Jesus did not die on the cross solely or even ultimately so that you and I could be forgiven of sins or that we could spend eternity in Heaven with Him.
All of these aspects of the Christian message are true! There is more to the story! The Gospel secures our happiness and peace but that is not its ultimate aim.
Through faith in Jesus Christ, according to the Grace of the Father, by the work of the Holy Spirit regenerating our souls, we do find forgiveness of sin and life eternal. This is true but it is not the end, nor the foundation of the Gospel.
This may sound strange to you. If it does it is because in the modern era preaching has become far too saturated with notions of human happiness to the exclusion of God’s holiness. Modern pulpits are filled with the power of positive thinking to the exclusion of the glory of God!
We have traded the glory of God for the goodness of my emotional status.
The parable of the prodigal son is about the son, yes, but not primarily. What of the other brother, the one who stayed? Why do we so seldom consider this man?
Why do we so often portray him as evil? If we are honest, we have to admit that there is a little bit of the other brother in all of us who are religious. The other brother in the parable represents the Pharisees of Jesus day.
Earlier in the passage the Pharisees are gossiping and accusing Jesus of wrong doing because He “eats with sinners and tax collectors.” In effect, they were saying that He is not trustworthy because rather than being religiously pious and judgmental like them, He took the substance of His relationship with God to mean that He ought to love radically.
In eating with sinners, the unchurched, the idolatrous, the traitor co-conspirators with the Romans who were the tax collectors, Jesus got His “hands dirty.” Upon seeing the return of his brother, the prodigal, the son who stayed was outraged!
His anger was in some ways justified, wasn’t it? Why do you lavish him with gifts and have a banquet in his honor? What about me? I have been faithful? When did you ever get so excited about my never having left?
These are good questions. The Pharisees asked similar questions, wrapped up in their accusations. “Look at the supposed Rabbi who eats with sinners! His friends are not holy or even religious. His friends are prostitutes; sinners; traitors.”
The Church is sometimes rather Pharisaic as well, isn’t it?
When I lived in Yuma, Arizona the city had undergone a major renovation project in the downtown area. New restaurants had been built. A large fountain had been put in. The movie theatre had been completely renovated. It was very beautiful and, after Christina had moved to Minnesota in preparation for my departure from the Marine Corps, I would occasionally spend time there. Routinely I would hear the preaching of representatives of one particular local ultra fundamentalist church. These folks would rail away at passersby; accusing them of being sinner sin need of repentance, on their way to hell. They were somewhat of a local regularity and most people knew of their antics. I recall a local minster in town telling the story of how he once asked one of them what they would say to a prostitute. The reply from the street preacher was that if she did not repent she would be cast into hell. His reply to her was that if Jesus, the master were here, He would more likely take her into a restaurant, eat with the sinner, and offer to her a better way; the way of repentance, eternal life, hope, love, and healing from the brokenness of her life.
While it is easy for us to point fingers at such misguided, condemnatory, judgmental, and ineffective methods of evangelism, what about us?
It’s easy to point the finger at the other brother, at the Pharisee, who rather than rejoicing in the repentance of a lost sinner and at the love of the Father who facilitated the restoration of the son, cast judgment.
What about us? How do we respond in similar situations? When we see someone at church who has not been in a long time, do we rejoice at their presence? When we hear of someone turning their life over to Christ, do we celebrate with the Angels in Heaven at the wonder of their salvation?
Or, do we take pleasure out of saying, “it’s about time they got their life together… like me.” At the end of the day, though, the parable of the prodigal son is not ultimately about the prodigal son or the other brother.
It is not ultimately about the sinner who was lost or the Pharisee who judged. It is chiefly about the father who dared to love radically! It is about the father who abandoned pride, the hurt of his son’s disobedience and lack of appreciation, and ran to meet his son, to welcome him home, to shower him with love and grace!
The Scripture says that “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.” (Luke 15:20 NIV)
Repentance is not the primary theme of the Gospel. God’s grace is primary. Our happiness is not central in the universe; the Glory of God; His love us central. The story of the prodigal son is primarily about Father!
It is He who has ran to meet us! It is He who has showered us with grace and mercy; ran to meet us; forgiven us; prepared a feast for us. Why?
Because the primary aim of God is to glorify Him and He is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. (John Piper) God has set His affection upon us and loved us unconditionally, according to His sovereign will and sovereign purposes! It is not we, who by our coming, secure forgiveness.
It is He, by His grace, which covers us, adopts us, loves us; showers us with mercy!
Conclusion
There is a kind of crystal called Labrador Spar. At first sight, it is dull and without luster; but if it is turned round and round, it will suddenly come into a position where the light strikes it in a certain way, and it will sparkle with flashing beauty.
People are like that. They may seem to be unlovely, but that is because we do not know the whole person. Everyone has something good in him or her.
We don’t get to choose who comes into our doors. We open our hearts to Christ and His plans for us. We open our doors the masses and pray that God will draw in who He desires, according to His purpose for us. He sends whom He will send because it is He who draws them, as He has drawn us, by His prevenient love.
Then we, like Christ, can be accused by the Pharisee, of dining with derelicts; fellow derelicts, likewise in need of grace; mercy; love. The greatest way to experience the love of God is to become a conduit of it. What is the job of the Christian? It is supremely to look like Christ. Let us continue to be a people who welcome fellow sinners to the table of grace; to the glory of God! Amen.
