This is the fourth week of the Lenten season and in the Scripture we are about to look at one of the most famous parables ever taught by Jesus. And, when we look at this parable we will, at this time, only be looking at the first half of the parable.
As we start to take a look at this incredible parable we need to remember that Jesus has set His face to go to Jerusalem where He knows that He will be betrayed into the hands of the Jewish rulers and the Roman occupation forces and that He will be put to death in obedience to His Father’s will as a perfect sacrifice for our sins.
In this portion of Scripture Jesus is being criticized by the Jewish religious leaders of the day who were upset that He, a rabbi, would associate with those whose lives were full of sin, and, He would even go so far as to eat with them which would make Him ceremonially impure. This disgusted them.
In response to the grumblings of the religious leaders Jesus tells three coordinated parables. The first being the parable of the Lost Sheep, the second being the parable of the Lost Coin and the third being the parable of the Lost Son or the parable of the Prodigal Son.
Luke 15:11-24a
“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 servants 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 servants.’
“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.’”
Now, the parable continues on into another section that deals with the response of the older brother. But, today, let’s take a look at this first section and see a tiny portion of what it has to say to us.
As Jesus went along there were crowds of disciples who followed Him and they were just absorbing every word that He would speak. In addition to this, many of the disciples or followers in the crowd were those who were looked down upon by the religious rulers of the day because of their vocation and their sinful lives.
We can see this in
Verses 1 and 2 of the 15th chapter where it says
“Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, ‘This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.’”
Before we can understand anything about this parable we need to know who the Father is. The Father represents God the Father. Now, this can lead to a huge amount of misunderstanding and distorted images of God if you have had a particularly bad father.
You might have had a father who was extremely strict and the only emotion he was capable of was anger and whenever you broke any of his rules you would suffer.
He might have been the type of guy who would say, “If I ever catch you taking a shower that lasts longer than 47 seconds again you’ll have to take an ice cold shower for 7 hours and then dry off by rolling in the snow naked! Do you understand me?”
In that case you might struggle with seeing God the Father as anything other than a celestial tyrant with a bat waiting to bash you over the head if you do anything wrong.
You might have had a father who used the “I’m your buddy, I know it’s not your fault.” approach to parenting.
For instance, if he was called to the principal’s office because you had duct taped your teacher to a chair, rubbed salt in her eyes and strapped dynamite to her back, he might accuse the teacher of assigning too much homework and stated that his perfect son only cracked under the stress of the situation.
In that case you might see God as an overindulgent being who is willing to overlook anything that you might do in this life with the hope that winning the grand prize of having you in heaven will improve the conditions there.
It’s like seeing God the Father in one of those fun house distorting mirrors, the only thing is, that it’s not fun at all.
You see, what I’m really trying to get at here is that when we see the God the Father in the Bible we need to let the Scriptures define His character and characteristics and we need to jettison any incorrect images that may appear in our minds because of the imperfect, earthly fathers most of us have had.
In this Scripture we see a beautiful image of God who is a loving Father, desiring a loving relationship with us and yet not trying to force us into that relationship.
Now, we see in verses 11 and 12 that
“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.”
This son came from a family that actually had an estate that could be given. They were not servants or slaves. They actually owned property and had servants who worked for them.
Most sons would usually have enough courtesy to wait for their father to die before asking for their inheritance, but not this young man. He wanted it now!
Now, here’s something we need to think about. This young man had a good home, a loving father, good food, good clothing and most likely a good amount of work to do in order to be a contributing member of the family.
Do you think that he just woke up one morning and decided, “Hey, I’m going to demand my inheritance from my father, leave home and go have myself a good old time?” Do you think that happened? No.
Perhaps ideas started developing in his mind when some travelers passed through bringing stories of exotic and sinful places.
Perhaps it was when they would go into town on their periodic trips to buy supplies and sell their produce and livestock and he would see the “forbidden fruit” of the world and it looked oh so good.
He knew that his father would never allow such activity on the home property, yet, he may have kept the thoughts rolling over and over in his mind until he came to the point where he was willing to go so far as to demand his inheritance and leave his home.
Life was grand! We don’t know what sort of sin he was getting into but he had plenty of it, that is, as long as his money lasted. Then it was gone and he was far from home. A home that he assumed was lost to him forever.
There was no welfare then. You were on your own. No money, no food. There’s some old song that says something like, “Money gone, honey gone. Honey gone, money gone.” And that’s basically where this young brother found himself when his inheritance ran out.
Now, in the nation of Israel the pig was considered to be an unclean animal and that doesn’t mean much to us but to an Israelite the pig was a filthy creature and now this young man is a servant of the pigs! We tend to think of him as a servant hired to feed the pigs but in reality he was a servant to the pigs, preparing and bringing their food to them whenever it was time to eat!
Now, friends, that is exactly where sin will take you! That’s the problem of trifling with sin. Sometimes we just want to play around the edges of sin. It’s often said that you can’t play with fire and not eventually get burnt. We flirt with sin. We give it longing glances.
As it says in James 1:14-15
“Each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.”
When this young man was first enticed by the idea of sin he never thought it would lead him to this condition, to this situation! When he first entertained the idea of pursuing sin while still in the comfort of his family home all he could see was the glory of reveling in the pleasures of the godless world. Now … he’s a servant to the pigs.
But, what does it say in verse 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!”
When he came to his senses! Isn’t it amazing how far down we need to go sometimes before we come to our senses?
That is how the Holy Spirit works in our lives; reminding us of the peace that existed in our lives before we ran headlong into the sin of our earthly desires! We may be gone from home, we may have turned our backs on Christ, we may have destroyed wonderful relationships with our own selfish, sinful actions but the wonderful grace of our Lord, through the Holy Spirit, is there, calling us.
Come home, come home.
God will not force us to come to Him. God will not put a choke chain around our neck and drag us kicking and screaming into His kingdom. In the hardness of our hearts we may have abandoned Him and turned our backs on Him as the prodigal son did and He will not stop us from rejecting Him.
But the same token, when we do finally reach the depths of our sin and we hear the still small voice of the Holy Spirit beaconing us to return He will not force Himself on us.
Thankfully, the young son repents of his sin and decides to return to His father. He could have chosen to stay with the pigs until he died. Some people do that. Their hearts are so hardened and they will not repent and return to God even in the face of their eternal damnation.
But, we have a gentle Shepherd. A Lord who is willing to forgive. One who is waiting and watching, yearning for the return of the lost son or daughter.
As it says in verse 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.”
Tell me, if you are bound in the grip of sin, don’t you long for the embrace of the Father?
Kenneth Bailey, author of The Cross & the Prodigal, explains that if a Jewish son lost his inheritance among Gentiles, and then returned home, the community would perform a ceremony, called the kezazah. They would break a large pot in front of him and yell, “You are now cut off from your people!” The community would totally reject him.
So, when the Pharisees heard the beginning of this parable that is what they expected to happen when the infidel son attempted to return home. But, Jesus came to earth and was on His way to Jerusalem in order to change the ending of the story.
The father, instead of waiting to pronounce a curse on his wayward son was now waiting, watching, longing for the return of his son whom he thought may have very well been dead.
And then, one day, a long way off, he saw someone! A person who walked like his son and was coming from the direction where his son went. And then, the father did the unthinkable! He ran!
In the first century, however, a Middle Eastern man never — never — ran. If he were to run, he would have to hitch up his tunic so he would not trip. If he did this, it would show his bare legs. In that culture, it was humiliating and shameful for a man to show his bare legs.
But the father didn’t care! He ran to his dirty, smelly, starving son and embraced him and clothed him in a clean garment and made a feast for him, a celebration!
You all know your own hearts today just as I know mine. Is any one of us in the pigpen today? Is any one of us flirting with the sin that will one day take us to the pigpen?
Turn around! Come to your senses! Respond to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. God will welcome you home!
(Invitation to come to the altar during the video)
Play the video “When God Ran”
(You Tube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dt9M_QHgapY )
Benediction:
“May our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal encouragement and good hope by grace, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good work and word.”
- 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17
