INTRODUCTION
Opening Statement: In Luke 15, Luke gives a series of three parables in response to the criticism of the scribes and Pharisees that Jesus received unbelieving people and even ate with them. Evidently, His love and vulnerability attracted lost people from all classes and lifestyles. He was bringing them to a meaningful relationship with God. These were people who had no regard for the Torah or for religious traditions. Jesus had made it clear that He came to save people like this, not self-righteous people (Luke 5:27-32; 14:21-24). Seeing the many needy people around Him who were lost and recognizing the criticism coming from the religious establishment who were also lost, Jesus told three “Parables of Lostness.” He talked about lost sheep who needed a shepherd; about a lost coin that had value and needed to be put back into circulation; about two lost sons who needed to encounter a compassionate father’s love.
Transition: Today, our focus is on the third of these stories – lost sons who encounter the most compassionate Father you’ll ever read about in the bible.
Title: The Parable of the Prodigal Father: A Parable of Extravagant Love
Definition: “Prodigal” means extravagant, lavish, unrestrained, and even to the point of being what some would consider being wasteful. Watch the father in this story. Rivet your attention on him. Observe his actions and reactions. Listen to him. Feel his heart break. The spotlight is never off him. He is at the center stage the moment the curtain goes up. The two sons are but supporting characters. He speaks both when delivering his eloquent lines and when he silently waits in the shadows. In his actions and reactions, you’ll find our prodigal God who lavishes love and undeserved favor on both of his lost sons hoping to bring them home. It was the father who threw himself into the prodigal land of extravagance and unrestrained love for his sons. His love knew no limits, his forgiveness no boundaries, his joy no restraint.
Illustration: So watch the father. I remember attending an NBA game in Indianapolis in 1998 when the Bulls played the Pacers. I decided that I would watch the great Michael Jordan the entire game regardless of where the ball was on the floor. He played an important role even without the ball because he set up the other players. In this story, watch the father. His two sons will have the ball, but don’t take your eyes off of the father.
Question: Who is the father in this story? Jesus was hoping that you would ask. The father is God…and He is a Prodigal God!
Recitation: Luke 15:11 Then Jesus said, “A man had two sons. 15:12 The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate that will belong to me.’ [Unable to wait, he selfishly demanded an early inheritance (an inheritance before the father’s death. In so many words, “Drop dead Dad. I want what’s mine.” However, it’s not just the boldness of the son that’s remarkable; I love the approachability of the father. What must the father have been like for a younger son to approach him and even ask for such an outrageous request? If the father had been anything other than approachable, he would have never asked! There’s no hint of harshness. There’s no suggestion of a rigid dictatorship at home. He was a good father. There was no reason to want out. In fact, the father was wise beyond his years and his wisdom is seen in the fact that he never tried to stop his son. He wasn’t possessive with his love for a son who was old enough to make his own decisions. Sometimes, you have to allow a child to learn the hard way. God does this with us. We can simply choose to take what God has given and walk away and break his heart and squander all that he has given to us on selfish, wasteful living. God lets us do that, if that is what we want. Or, we can receive God’s generous gifts of life, ability, and family in due time and then give them back to God in the form of a life-commitment to honor, serve and fulfill our true purpose in life.] So he divided his assets between them. [What a generous father he was!] 15:13 After a few days, the younger son gathered together all he had and left on a journey to a distant country, [He wanted to break away, to taste life to the full, to be his own man. Staying at home would cramp his style and he would lose out, missing the best the world could offer. What was there for him on the farm when the excitement was "all out there", just for the taking? Yes, we’ve heard that before. If we haven’t done it, we’ve probably thought of it! I’ll bet that walking down that road, he thought, “Man, I’m finally free. Free of the endless chores. Free of getting up at the crack of dawn and working until long after the sunset. Free of milking the cows, tilling the fields, cleaning the stables, and all the other endless chores around the farm. His future looked carefree. He had plenty of money in his pocket and no responsibilities. And for some reason I’m thinking of the Rolling Stones hit, “I can’t get no satisfaction.” This is where he was at.] and there he squandered his wealth with a wild lifestyle. [What would we do in a strange city with plenty of money where anything was permissible because nothing mattered?] 15:14 Then after he had spent everything, a severe famine took place in that country, and he began to be in need. 15:15 So he went and worked for one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. [To a Jew, being sent to the field to feed pigs would be an insult, since pigs were considered unclean animals (Lev 11:7).] 15:16 He was longing to eat the pods the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. [These pods would have been the sweet bean from a carob or locust tree. They were commonly used for fattening pigs, and were also used for food by poor people. Sin promises so much more than it can deliver on. There’s nothing worse than being in a pigpen. Used and abused, the text says…] 15:17 But when he came to his senses he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have food enough to spare, but here I am dying from hunger! [Famine hits; the money runs out; and he’s left asking the question “Why in the world am I living this way?” It is God’s goodness, not just man’s badness that leads us to this place of repentance.] 15:18 I will get up and go to my father and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 15:19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired workers.”’ 15:20 So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way from home his father saw him, and his heart went out to him; he ran and hugged his son and kissed him. [This is the only time in scripture where we have the picture of God running to someone. “He fell on his neck,” an idiom for showing special affection for someone by throwing one’s arms around them. The picture is of the father hanging on the son’s neck in welcome. Several suggestions can be offered as to why the father ran. Undoubtedly, he loved him. But there’s another reason. According to Deut. 21:18-21, he should have been stoned to death. If they were going to stone him, they were going to have to hit the father too!] 15:21 Then his son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 15:22 But the father said to his slaves, [So the father interrupts his well rehearsed confession.] ‘Hurry! Bring the best robe, and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet! [Tokens of sonship, not servanthood.] 15:23 Bring the fattened [grain-fed] calf and kill it! Let us eat and celebrate, [In the ancient world, preserving meat was more of a challenge that it is for us with large freezers. When guests came, an animal was killed that could be eaten by the guests. If another family came, it would be appropriate to kill a chicken. If two families came, they might kill a duck or goose. If more came, a goat or lamb was killed. The killing of a fatted calf was done only if the entire village was invited.] 15:24 because this son of mine was dead, and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ So they began to celebrate. [Instead of a funeral, there was a feast! And don’t you wish the story ended there. But Jesus said a man had “two sons.”] 15:25 “Now his older son was in the field. As he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. 15:26 So he called one of the slaves and asked what was happening. 15:27 The slave replied, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he got him back safe and sound.’ 15:28 But the older son became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and appealed to him, 15:29 but he answered his father, ‘Look! These many years I have worked like a slave for you, and I never disobeyed your commands. Yet you never gave me even a goat [he didn’t even get goat meat, much less a fatted-calf.] so that I could celebrate with my friends! 15:30 But when this son of yours [not “my brother”] came back, who has devoured your assets with prostitutes you killed the fattened calf for him!’ 15:31 Then the father said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and everything that belongs to me is yours. 15:32 It was appropriate to celebrate and be glad, for your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost and is found.’”
Observation: These three stories have been pictures of the heart of God. The first story pictured people who are lost through ignorance like a sheep, grazing from one thing to the next. The second story pictured people who are lost in our own families due to carelessness and apathy. Too many people are like coins who have dropped out of the circulation of the church. Finally, the third story pictures people who are lost, both as a result of their rebellion and bad attitudes. The prodigality of the Father is focused in several startling ways in these stories. But the most startling act of extravagant and unrestrained love is the way in which the Father responded to the two prodigal sons when he realized that both of them were estranged from his Father-heart. Both sons were lost. The younger son who left home was obviously lost. The older son who never left home was also lost, but in a more subtle way. And the father pursues them both.
Key Word: Extravagant Father Love meets two different PEOPLE in the same PLACE (he left the house for both of them) but with two different OUTCOMES.
OUTLINE
Extravagant Father Love Meets the Younger Son
The first son was obviously lost. He was described as being in a “distant country.” Apparently the Father was hopeful that his son would return home someday and often would cast a glance down the road just to see if today would be the day that the family could be back together again. When he saw him, he began to run. No amount of dignity could stop him. There was no reserve on his love. There was no period of restitution discussed. He did not keep him at a distance until his son measured up; until there were some guarantees that his son would not take advantage of him again. The son was not even able to give his well-rehearsed confession because the Father was there so quickly! This initial embrace was followed by lavish, symbolic assurances of affection and sonship, i.e., a robe, a ring, new sandals, and a feast – all of these things speak of being restored as a son, not a servant as he requested! How God loves lost sons who return home! Do you recognize yourself here?
Extravagant Father Love Meets the Elder Brother
The older son was lost in a more subtle way and the feasting brings this out. Jesus said that the elder son was “in the field” as opposed to the “distant country.” He was responsible. He was industrious. He would never think of squandering his father’s resources. And when he hears the sounds of a celebration and understands that his younger brother has returned home, his mind is filled with questions as he approaches the house. “Why is everyone celebrating? Why are the servants not working? Why celebrate the homecoming of my dumb brother who’s made my Father look like a fool? Why does he get the party? I’ve been here all of this time and never left once, and Dad never did anything like this for me? I’ve been doing this for all of these years and this is what I get for it? He got the calf and I didn’t even get A GOAT!” By the time he reached the house, he was so angry and jealous that he would not go inside. He would not dignify the celebration with his presence because favor and affection was something that you earned. I can hear the older brother’s thoughts: “I’ve earned the right to have a party in my honor. My brother has not earned it, and yet he’s the one receiving it and that’s wrong. I’m not running around for the likes of him.” Whereas the younger brother blatantly had entered the far country, this older brother had drifted into the same place over time inside his heart. He couldn’t forgive. The elder son appears to be, at the end of the story, where the younger one was at the beginning: far away from home, estranged from his father. Some of us have gone into the far country much more subtly. We have not squandered our God-given resources and blessings, but what we have done is that we have wandered from our fullest God-given potential because of bad attitudes or negative thinking or an unforgiving spirit. Do you recognize yourself in the elder son?
Observation: If we look at this story and the other two in the broader context of what Jesus was addressing, we see the point He’s making here. He was bringing people of all lifestyles back to God, i.e., your prostitutes, the immoral, the demon-possessed, your wealthy tax-collectors, your alcoholics, and many who were simply disenchanted with religion who had strayed away. The marginalized in society were finding a place at God’s banquet table because the Savior was finding them and setting them free through forgiveness (this is one of Luke’s themes). But, the religious establishment had a problem with that. They were the ones who had earned God’s favor. It was their system of righteousness that must be followed in order to have God’s favor. Jesus was making friends with all of these unbelievers and they were being brought back to God because they were seeing God’s unmerited favor and grace, but the religious leaders didn’t like it. Jesus’ point: They of all people should have been rejoicing with the Savior! The disenchanted wanderers are finding home again. Rejoice! Instead, they griped and complained. They were sheep that had never left the fold, but their heart was far from the shepherd. They were like a lost coin, still at home, but nevertheless lost and out of spiritual circulation. They were like the elder brother that refused to be a part of the festivities because bitterness and jealousy had slipped into their hearts over time.
Quotation: Instead of “Amazing Grace” the Pharisees, Scribes, and Chief Priests sang “Annoying Grace” (with apologies to John Newton). Here are the first two verses:
Annoying grace, how shrill the sound
That saved a wretch like thee;
I ne’er was lost, I’m always found;
Me, blind? Say, can you see?
Through many damsels, joints and dares
You have already come!
Disgrace you’ve brought; Dad’s gone too far
And welcomed home a bum!
Amplification: When he learned that his oldest son would not come into the party, we see the running, prodigal father again on center stage pursuing him as he had run toward the other lost son. “Come to the party,” He must have entreated. “If you can’t be thrilled over your brother’s safe return, at least come in and share in the joy of a father’s heart.”
CONCLUSION
Observation: The story leaves us hanging. We are never told what the elder brother does. Does he finally go inside and join in the celebration? Does he finally share in the joy? Does he forgive his younger brother and join his father inside or does he stay outside on the fringes of unforgiveness? The door is standing wide open for him and for us too.
Application: Three specific applications as we look into this parabolic mirror…
For those in the “local fields” of the church: Some of you have served God for a long time. He has always loved you. He has cared for you in ways you’re probably not aware of. When he blesses and prospers someone else who is a lot less deserving in our eyes, just remember, he’s loved you all along and all the He has is yours. This is important, because how many people never make it back to the Father’s heart because of us elder brothers in the church or the family who get hardening of the attitudes, refuse to forgive, and impose our own version of spirituality on those trying to return home? Has anyone gone back into the far country from your family or community because they met you at the door first? Imagine what it would have been like if the younger son had met the elder brother on the road home? Check your attitudes toward those who have failed, are lost, or whose behavior we abhor. In this “Parables of Lostness” trilogy, everyone experiences joy, except for the elder brother. The shepherd is happy; the sheep is happy; the friends are happy; the woman who found the lost coin is happy; the lost young son is happy; the father is happy; and the servants are happy. Be careful about nursing personal anger instead of enjoying God.
For those in the “far country” of your own lifestyle: It’s time to come home. You’ve squandered God’s good gifts of life and blessing for too long. The lost younger son got up, left his empty lifestyle, and came home. That’s what I’m going to ask you to do today. Everything that you’ve been looking for, you’ll find right at home. The “far country” has taught you misery; home has taught you mercy.
Conclusion: If you’re in some “far country” of rebellion and sinfulness or if you’re coming from the “local fields;” you’ve really never left the home of responsibility and the home of church attendance, but you feel like God has short-changed you and you are refusing to celebrate, to engage in His work of welcoming the wanderers home, then I have a very simply question for all of you: Have you ever been embraced and kissed by God? I have. Often. When I deserved it least and needed it most. Prodigal love comes to those who fail; recognize their failure, and who return home or who choose to go inside to the family room for a new start in life. This parable tells us what kind of prodigal love, approachability, generosity, and affection awaits us each time, every time, we return to the Father from the “far-country” or from the “local fields.”
Invitation: Every journey home begins with a first step. Step out of the pigpen or off of the doorstep. Today, I am inviting you to take the first step. Lost people matter to God…therefore, they matter to us, both inside and outside the church.
The Prodigal Son in the Key of F
Feeling footloose and frisky, a feather-brained fellow forced his father
to fork over his farthings. Fast he flew to foreign fields and
frittered his family’s fortune, feasting fabulously with floozies and
faithless friends. Flooded with flattery he financed a full-fledged
fling of "funny foam" and fast food.
Fleeced by his fellows in folly, facing famine, and feeling faintly
fuzzy, he found himself a feed-flinger in a filthy foreign farmyard.
Feeling frail and fairly famished, he fain would have filled his frame
with foraged food from the fodder fragments.
"Fooey," he figured, "my father’s flunkies fare far fancier," the
frazzled fugitive fumed feverishly, facing the facts. Finally,
frustrated from failure and filled with foreboding (but following his
feelings) he fled from the filthy foreign farmyard.
Faraway, the father focused on the fretful familiar form in the field
and flew to him and fondly flung his forearms around the fatigued
fugitive. Falling at his father’s feet, the fugitive floundered
forlornly, "Father, I have flunked and fruitlessly forfeited family
favor."
Finally, the faithful Father, forbidding and forestalling further
flinching, frantically flagged the flunkies to fetch forth the finest
fatling and fix a feast.
Faithfully, the father’s first-born was in a fertile field fixing fences
while father and fugitive were feeling festive. The foreman felt
fantastic as he flashed the fortunate news of a familiar family face
that had forsaken fatal foolishness. Forty-four feet from the farmhouse
the first-born found a farmhand fixing a fatling.
Frowning and finding fault, he found father and fumed, "Floozies and
foam from frittered family funds and you fix a feast following the
fugitive’s folderol"? The first-born’s fury flashed, but fussing was
futile. The frugal first-born felt it was fitting to feel "favored" for
his faithfulness and fidelity to family, father, and farm. In foolhardy
fashion, he faulted the father for failing to furnish a fatling and
feast for his friends. His folly was not in feeling fit for feast and
fatling for friends; rather his flaw was in his feeling about the
fairness of the
festival for the found fugitive.
His fundamental fallacy was a fixation on favoritism, not forgiveness.
Any focus on feeling "favored" will fester and friction will force the
frayed facade to fall. Frankly, the father felt the frigid first-born’s
frugality of forgiveness was formidable and frightful. But the father’s
former faithful fortitude and fearless forbearance to forgive both
fugitive and
first-born flourishes.
The farsighted father figured, "Such fidelity is fine, but what forbids
fervent festivity for the fugitive that is found? Unfurl the flags and
finery, let fun and frolic freely flow. Former failure is forgotten,
folly is forsaken. Forgiveness forms the foundation for future
fortune."
Four facets of the father’s fathomless fondness for faltering fugitives
are:
1) Forgiveness
2) Forever faithful friendship
3) Fadeless love, and
4) A facility for forgetting flaws
by Timothy E. Fulop
Timothy E. Fulop is Assistant Dean of Faculty, Columbia Theological Seminary
