Today, we complete a three-week look at one of the most famous of all of Jesus’ teachings – The Parable of the Prodigal Son. This is a story that badly needs rescuing for many, if not most, stop the story when the younger son returns. But Jesus continues the story to an unfinished conclusion.
This isn’t the story simply of the Prodigal Son but it’s the story of Two Sons and a Father.
Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” (Luke 15:1-2)
11 And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. 13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. 14 And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.
17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ 20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.
25 “Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ 28 But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, 29 but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ 31 And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’” (Luke 15:11-32)
We’ve been looking at Jesus’ trilogy of stories in Luke 15 for past several weeks. Jesus tells a series of three stories about three items that are lost: a sheep, a silver coin, and a son. While Jesus offers three stories, yet He considers them just one “parable” (Luke 15:3). There’s a connection between all three and Jesus wants us to see this connection. In all three stories, Jesus is trying to get across a new idea that shocked the religious world of His day. And here’s the shocker: Jesus radically redefines what’s wrong with each of us. This Parable can be likened to a lake because it is remarkably clear spot where you can see all the way to the bottom of the gospel itself.
The Story
The two shorter stories of the lost sheep and the lost coin set the stage for the longer story where Jesus tells the story of the lost son. This longer story has three major characters involved in it: the father and his two sons, an older son and a younger son. The story itself plays out in two acts – the first act sees the younger, rebellious son run away and return. While the second act – sees the older, rule-keeping son stay close to the family home and fume. And all three characters reveal their character from the very start. We know the younger son by what he asks for…
… the father by what he does…
… and the older son by what he refuses to do.
Today, we look at the second act of Jesus’ story – the angry reaction of the older brother.
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I want to ask three questions to better see this older, rule-keeping son.
1. Why’s He So Mad?
2. What is Sin, Really?
3. How Do You Know If You’re a Pharisee?
1. Why’s He So Mad?
The rule-keeping older brother was angry because his family was happy. Precisely, it was joy his father felt that angered him. The older son is angry that the father is throwing a feast because the younger son is back. Last week, we witnessed the young, single brother take off to 6th street in Austin where he spent his father’s inheritance. The younger brother is the one who runs away to find himself while the older brother finds fulfillment in the conforming the moral standards of his day. It’s the younger son who throws off the expectations of his family… … where society’s expectations of him chafe him. While the older son stays on to run the family business. One son is known as the bad son while the other is seen as the good son. The wild child has come back from squandering 1/3 of the family’s money when the oldest son hears the sound of music as he approaches the house from a distance. It’s an anonymous young boy in verse twenty-six, a servant, that tells the older brother and us what’s happening inside the home. The older brother has been angry since the younger son left for Deep Ellum: “The audacity to ask our father for his inheritance while our dad is alive.” The younger brother might as well said to his dad, “I wish you were dead.” This older brother is simply expressing what everyone else was feeling.
Think of this: what if the first person to meet the younger brother was the older brother. To really see his anger in all of its fury: think of the twist in the story had the older brother met the younger brother before the father. Think of the anger that would poured out his mouth: “You have a lot of nerve showing up here.”
The Father’s Acceptance
No doubt part of the older brother’s anger is directed toward his estranged, younger brother but more of his anger is now directed to his father. How could the father accept the son? Look again at the older brother’s anger as expressed to his father in verse twenty-nine: ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. “Your son gets a fattened calf but I haven’t got so much as a goat!” Meat wasn’t the normal dish that people in Jesus’ day ate – it was too expensive. But the father “put out all the stops” on the party. The father received his wild-child of a son back with full privileges – he’s given the best clothes, jewelry, new shoes, and a big meal. Why is the brother fuming in anger? Because the only celebration the stingy older brother was where everyone celebrated his accomplishments.
Doppelgänger
You know what a doppelgänger is, right? A doppelgänger is your look alike, it’s your double. The word doppelgänger is a loan word we take from the German language and it literally means “double-goer.” It’s someone who physically resembles you – maybe a family member. The real problem for us is that the Pharisee is a doppelgänger for a Christian. The Pharisee is the doppelgänger because he obeys much of the Bible’s commands. It’s deceptively close and many, if not most, people don’t distinguish between the two. The difference is what motivates the real Christian is different than what motivates the Pharisee.
The Happiness of the Shepherd and the Woman
You need to keep in mind that Jesus has told three stories with a single connection. He tells the stories of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son so they build on one another. And here’s at the end where we need to focus on the connection. When the shepherd found his lost sheep, he was so happy he called his friends and neighbors together to celebrate (Luke 15:6). And when the woman found her lost coin, she was so happy that she called together her friends and neighbors to celebration her lost treasure (Luke 15:10). And now that the father has found his lost son, he has called together his friends and neighbors to celebrate. But standing outside of the house there’s a middle-aged man pacing the yard with his arms crossed. You see, Jesus placed the Pharisees in the story as the older brother and they’re not flattered. Instead of being happy, the older brother is angry because he didn’t get the extravagant dinner. His anger shows he didn’t care anymore for his father than his brother did.
1. Why’s He So Mad?
2. What is Sin, Really?
Jesus shows two kinds of sinners – one is a law-breaker while the other is a law-keeper. While most retellings of this story focus on the immoral outsider, it’s the moral insider the Jesus has in His crosshairs. You see the older son had also been far away from God but hadn’t left the house. The problem for you older brother types is that you don’t know you’re lost. The older brother stays back home with their parents in the synagogue. The older brother drives their parents to church on Sundays without exception.
Anger - a Window into The Older Brother
His anger than really gives you a window into his sin, doesn’t it? For in his anger, he shows that his moral life was nothing more than manipulative trick so his father would give him want he wanted. The older brother shows us his sin clearly for he wants to tell the father how the robes, the rings, and all that his father owns should be used. “Make him get a job and return to you every penny before you let him through the door,” is the words the older son wants to say. The rule-keeping older son is mad because the father is spending his inheritance. You see, the older brother was motivated for the same thing the younger brother was – his dad’s stuff. The two just went about getting their greedy hands on it in different ways.
What Really Is Sin Then? Again, Jesus is trying to get across a new idea that shocked the religious world of His day. Sinners travel along at least two roads. The first kind of sinner is rebellious and immoral as he runs off to celebrate Spring Break with his friends in Padre Island. While the second kind of sinners go much of their lives virtually obeying all the big commands of the Bible. But both are as sinful as the other because both try to place themselves in God’s place. Both want to have the authority that is rightfully only their father’s. There are two ways you can be your own Savior and Lord: one is to break all the rules and one is to keep all the moral rules. Jesus tells a story of a dysfunctional family, a family where the brothers don’t get along and have little regard for their parents. This is not simply the story of the prodigal son, it’s the story of two sons. Where both sons were sinners but only one realized it. The younger son was a rebel and knew it but the older son is rebel and has yet to realize it.
1. Why’s He So Mad?
2. What is Sin, Really?
3. How Do You Know If You’re a Pharisee?
The older brother type is one of the most unattractive religious people in existence. You know them by their judgmental remarks they make.
Fires in the attic are especially problematic because attics are not commonly used for anything other than storage. Because no one is up there, there’s no smoke alarms up in the attic either. And so when a fire occurs in the attic, it goes unnoticed. Because they longer to detect, they fire become much larger and has the potential for much more damage. It’s only when the fire escapes the roof that the fire is noticed.
The sins of the older brother are like the fire in the attic that goes undetected. There’s at least two “tells” to best tell if you’re operating as a Pharisees.
3.1 Pull Up the Rug to Your Anger
When you avoid cheating by running your business with honesty… When you faithfully come to church when everyone else stays home to watch football… …then you think God owes you an answer to your prayers. It’s when you’re careful to avoid sin that you think God owes you a good life. When hardships come your way, real hardships, the kind that cause you to adjust your career goals, do you get “mad” at God? Look underneath your anger for a moment. Lift your anger up as you would a rug in your home, and there’ll you find the reason for your anger. You’re angry with God for the trails that come in your life because you think God owes you a good life. God owes you the life without hardship because you never left his side. “You, oh Lord God, owe me to answer my prayer, to give me a relatively good life, and to take me to heaven when I die …” It’s when we don’t think we’re getting the recognition we deserve that we become mad. We’re fuming in the front yard when others are elevated and we are overlooked. We’re operating like a Pharisee when tell people to clean up and come to Jesus and the church rather than come and then clean up.
3.2 When Religion is a Grind
The first son comes in and says, “I’m not worthy to be called your son. Make me a slave.” While the older brother, thinks he’s a son and yet, because of his spiritual condition, is actually a slave. When you say, “Just make me a slave,” the father makes him a son. When you say, “I’m slaving for you,” what you means is, “I’ve been obeying you and it’s grind.” Elder brothers obey. Elder brothers pray. Elder brothers do all the right things, but it’s a grind. There’s no joy in it at all. You’re operating as a Pharisee when there’s no adoration of God in your prayer life. You’re operating as a Pharisee when your relationship with God is all duty and no delight.
Notice it’s a story without a conclusion. What happens to the older brother? The second act stops abruptly and you’re left wanting more. Jesus constructed in an unusual way: the story is uneven. Both sinning sons are loved by their father but only one son is reconciled. Where the one son, the bad rebellious son is reconciled to his father, the good, rule-keeping son isn’t. Jesus had pulled the rug up of their anger and shows all the dirt that in was in the Pharisee’s criticism.
The Father
Once again, the father goes out to find his lost son, only this time is the rule-keeping older son. The Father had gone out earlier in the day to welcome his younger son and now he goes out again to beg his older son. All the while he’s humiliated because his son paces back and forth fuming mad in front of the house. But notice this – both boys are wrong but both boys are loved. The Parable can be likened to a lake because it is remarkably clear spot where you can see all the way to the bottom of the gospel itself.
Which Son Are You? Everyone of us is either the runaway rebellious son or the rule-keeping Pharisaical son. Which son are you? You’re left to write your own ending. Which son are you? Are you the prodigal son who’s returned to God only to have gradually turned into the self-righteous older brother? There’s two kinds of people and two kinds of running from God. But there’s only one way home.
