“Homeward Bound”
In the United States today, it is estimated that between one and two million teenagers run away from home every year. Of course, there are many different reasons why these children choose to leave their homes. Many are simply the products of very dysfunctional families, they leave seeking some sort of peace they are not able to find at home. Some are problemed children who are basically shown the door by their parents or caregivers, and still others are lured
away by rebellious peers.
In our childhood, it’s quite safe to say that most of us, at one time or another at least entertained the thought of running away from home. I remember one day when my daughter was six or seven years old, she threatened to pack her things and run away. It seemed that the many stringent rules of behavior that we so strictly enforced became much more than she could tolerate.....obviously, we were way out of touch with her very mature and very independent personality. So, on the grounds of these irreconcilable differences, she was ready to test the waters of total independence......at grandma’s house.
So, being the good parents that we are, we patiently listened to our little girl’s concerns and threats. And then we took her to her room where got down a suitcase and began to help her pack. As she looked at us with a most puzzled expression on her face, it didn’t take long before she was taking her stuff out faster than we could put it in. Thankfully, she didn’t have to actually run away from home in order to realize that there is no place like home-- that is if your home is a house filled with people who love you--especially people who love you unconditionally.
Did you ever run away from home or seriously consider it? Chances are that if you did, a large part of the reason was because you were tired of being under the oppressive yoke of your parents. Perhaps you thought that you knew much better than they as to what was best for your life. All of the chores, rules, curfews, telling you who you could hang out with, and the nagging about your schoolwork was probably more than you could bear. Maybe it seemed to you that your parents placed these rules and restrictions on you just because they liked to assert their authority, but it surely didn’t occur to you at that time that all these things were done out of love. Although granted, many times, out of necessity it had to be “tough love.”
This morning, we are going to look at what is probably the most famous parable of Jesus recorded in the scriptures. As we study this very profound parable together, I’ll ask that you pay very close attention because I can guarantee that you will be able to identify with at least one of the characters in this story. And if we allow the Holy Spirit to work in our hearts, we will find ourselves at least slightly changed by the message interwoven in this parable of The Prodigal Son.
Most people, if asked to summarize this parable, would probably say that it is a story about a son who once had a good or right relationship with his father, but for some reason he ran away. But, after a while in the real world, he finally came to his senses and went back home to a father who welcomed him. And we tend to believe that this message is intended to encourage those Christians who once had a good relationship with the Lord but have, over the course of time, drifted away. If this is the extent of the lesson you have gleaned from this parable, I hope by the time you leave here today, you will carry with you much more than that.
Nearly all of the parables of Jesus consisted of two lessons; these lessons I like to refer to as the “there and then” and the “here and now”....... because many times these stories are applied to a particular group of people back then, but maybe they apply to a similar yet different group of people today. You see, the word of God is still living and active and is just as relevant for us now as it was for those who lived in the time it was first recorded.
Here is the parable in it’s entirety: Luke 15:11-32
“11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. 13 “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. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. 17 “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! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.’ 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.
21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 “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. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 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 goa
so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
31 ”‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 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.’”
I told you earlier about most parables having a dual meaning; this one indeed has two lessons, but today because of time restraints, we will focus not so much on the “there and then” but rather we will seek to understand the much more relevant “here and now.” And we will began our lesson with the father. You know, I believe that this parable was actually mis-titled because as we read from the beginning to the end of the story, we find that the main element being
disclosed is the unconditional love of the Father. Instead of the Prodigal Son, maybe it should have been entitled; The Loving Father.
Anyway, the story opens with the younger of his two sons making a very strange request. He wanted his share of his father’s estate now! It appears by his words that he believed that it was his by right and he wanted to collect it at that very moment. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the young man wasn’t planning on hanging around long enough for his dear old dad to die. Chances are that he was tired of living his life under the care and guidance of his father and had been biding his time until he could leave.
Although it was almost unheard of for a man to activate his will while he was still alive, this particular father, out of wisdom and out of love for his son divided up his estate and gave the young man what he wanted.. only to watch him leave with it.
It is at this point that we realize that the father here represents God, and that the young man standing there with his hand out and his walking shoes on represents you and me. How often have we taken from the father’s hand as if we somehow have a “right” to the many blessings and provisions that He freely gives. How often have we taken for granted the beating of our hearts or the breath from God that gives us life? Yet somehow we fail to even acknowledge Him as our Father, and like the prodigal, we desire to flee from his presence-- striving to be free from His “control.”
What? You never thought of yourself as a prodigal son or daughter? I can assure you that at one time or another in your life, maybe even now, you fit that very description. If you think that I am totally and completely wrong, I challenge you to keep listening with an open heart and open ears.
The scriptures tell us that, after he received his share of the estate, the son “set off for a distant country.” Now this is very characteristic of a modern-day prodigal; people who think they can manage their lives better without interference from God. The “here and now” prodigals that Jesus is referring to are people who, when they stumble upon someone talking about God or religion in general, they see just how fast they can make an exit. And like the prodigal of the story; they try to put as much distance as possible between them and their Father.
So the father, whose heart is no doubt broken, stands on the porch and helplessly watches as his youngest son disappears over the horizon not knowing if he would ever see him again. Brothers and sisters, every human being ever conceived is a child of God......whether they claim Him as their father or dwell in His household or not. And make no mistake, His heart aches for every single person who chooses to live outside of His kingdom. Because He knows that those who choose to walk away from Him are in eminent danger of being devoured by Satan.
Jesus doesn’t tell us how long he was gone; maybe a few months or even several years, but we are told that he totally wasted all of the wealth that he had inherited. He was no longer surrounded by those who he thought were “friends” because he had no more money for them to help him spend. The fine clothes that he left wearing were reduced to dirty rags and the shoes on his feet he probably either sold or traded for food.
By the way, this is where the parable gets it’s title; the word prodigal actually means “wasteful” or “one who mis-manages money or assets.” Surely this youngest son was indeed a prodigal son. He wasted all that he inherited
from his father and within a relatively short period of time, he found himself destitute and in need. So, he was forced to hire himself out to a “citizen of that country.”
Paul tells us in the letter to the Romans that we are either slaves to sin, or slaves to righteousness. I believe that the citizen that the prodigal hired himself out to was representative of Satan because surely he will send us immediately into the mud and muck of everything that is unclean or ungodly.
Have you ever reached that point in your life-- have you ever had a “pig wallow” experience? Where you were spiritually pitiful, poor, blind and naked. A certain time in your life when you found yourself flat on your face with no apparent way up? The Apostle Paul reached that point probably more than once; he says in Romans 7:24; “O’ what a wretched man I am! Who shall deliver me from this body of death?”
At that point in his life Paul was struggling with his sinful nature but finding himself completely unable to conquer it on his own. But then he, like the prodigal son, remembered that he didn’t have to make it on his own because in verse 25 he says; “thanks be to God-- through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Remember, here is a man who spent years trying to destroy the Christian movement, fighting as it were against God Himself! But despite the damage he did to his father’s household, Paul knew that he would be welcomed back, and he knew this because He knew his Father, and he knew the Father because he had met Him in the person of Jesus Christ.
And you know, as the prodigal son sat there taking a hard look at himself and the way he had treated his own father, I’m sure Satan desperately tried to make him think that it was far too late to be sorry...for his transgression was more than could ever be forgiven. And Satan would have easily convinced him, had the son not known first hand the extent of his father’s love. So with a broken and contrite spirit the boy decides to make his way back home, repent of his sin and ask that he might be received back as a hired servant. Because in his mind, he knew he was no longer worthy to be called his father’s son.
Brothers and sisters, this is by far the most pivotal point in any prodigal’s life. As it was with the young man in our story, so it is with us. Even though every human being is a child of God, our Heavenly Father will in no way force us to dwell in His household or His presence against our will. I for one don’t think that the prodigal son is a message solely to those who were once “in the church” or once “good Christians” and then for some reason left. Why? Because if the son had a “right relationship” with his father, he would not have left in the first place.
The author of Hebrews says this in 6:4-6; “4 It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of
the coming age, 6 if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.”
Now this particular passage is the source of much debate among Theologians today. But I, for one, believe that it holds a substantial amount of face value for us today. But one thing that I want to make clear is that, if you happen to be someone who was once in church and thought you had been converted but have since “fallen away”, you need not worry that this passage is telling us that there is no hope for you-- that it is impossible for you to be reconciled to God. Because maybe you were like the prodigal son in that you didn’t really know the Father before because if you had, you would not have left. And if, like the prodigal son, you have a desire to repent and go to your Father, then you are in no danger of being cast away. For Jesus tells us in John 6:36 that “anyone who seeks to come to Me , I will in no wise cast out.”
No doubt that it was a long and agonizing trip back for the prodigal son. I’m sure he wondered as he headed towards home how his father would react to his return. He knew that by law he could have been given the death penalty for it says in Deuteronomy 21 that a rebellious son should taken outside the gates and be stoned to death. But this son knew his father better than that, in fact with every step he took, he realized that it was his father’s unconditional love, and not the hunger in his belly, that was drawing him back home. In Jeremiah 31:3 God says; “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with loving kindness I have drawn you.”
Like the prodigal son, many of us waste the countless blessings and riches that He so generously gives to us--we spend what we have hoping only to get more. Isaiah 52:2 says; “why spend money on what is not bread; why labor for that which cannot satisfy?” It is only when we realize that the Giver is much more valuable than the gifts that we lift ourselves up out of the pig stigh of hopelessness and begin our journey home.
My bible says in verse 20 that “ while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him.” So we understand by this that the father hadn’t in any way shape or form forgotten about his wayward son, rather he had been constantly scanning the horizon in hopes that one day he would see the form of his son in the distance coming home.
Again, in this parable, the father represents God the Father and in this verse we see something that we will not see anywhere else in the scriptures; God “running”--the one time I can recall in all the bible where God “was in a hurry” and all because a sinner had come to repentance and was heading home!! Praise God that this is true, not only for the prodigal son, but for every sinner who repents; as soon as we make that first step, God doesn’t walk....but He RUNS to meet us!
The father ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. What a welcome home for a spoiled brat that took advantage of the love and generosity of his father!
The son began to give the speech he had practiced the whole way home but all the father needed to hear was that he was repentant--before he could get anymore out about how he didn’t deserve to be a son, but was asking only to be a hired servant...... the father stopped him. He covered his dirty and ragged garments with the best robe, he put a son’s ring back on his finger and sandals on his bare and bruised feet.
Of course, the best robe that the father placed on his son, covering his own filthy garments, represented the robe of righteousness which, in itself represents Christ’s righteousness that abundantly covers our sins and transgressions. And the ring
that the father placed on his finger was an unmistakable sign of son-ship.
And after the son is properly attired so that he will not be disgraced in the sight of the servants, the father shouts to one of them to “kill the fatted calf and let us have a feast! For my son was once dead but is now alive!
I can imagine that at about this time in the parable, the Pharisees and other self-righteous listeners were totally lost, thinking that this is not how the story should go--the father should have put the son to death rather than making him the guest of
honor at a special banquet!
It is here that Jesus tries to enlighten them about their own spiritual condition. Remember that the older son in the parable was out in the fields working when he came home to hear the music and rejoicing. When he found out what had happened he became very indignant. In fact, verse 28 says that he “refused to go in.”
One of the reasons Jesus told this parable was in answer to the mumbling and complaining of the Pharisees because Jesus welcomed the “sinners and tax collectors” and ate with them-- even told them that they would be welcomed in the kingdom of heaven. These self righteous spiritual leaders thought that if Jesus really came from the Father, He would have nothing to do with these undesirable and unworthy heathens. You see, the older brother represented the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law in Jesus day. They believed that their self righteousness earned them a place in heaven and they despised common sinners who had the gall to seek God’s favor. Through this story, Jesus was tenderly trying to show them the error of their ways- hoping that they would see that their disapproval of God’s mercy and their self righteous mentality was keeping them out of the kingdom of heaven, which by the way, was represented by the feast.
In the parable the father pleaded with the older son to join the feast... and through this very parable Jesus was pleading with the Pharisees to humble themselves so that they too might enter the kingdom of God. I don’t know, but maybe it was this very parable that initiated the conversion of Nicodemous, Joseph of Arimathea and a number of other religious leaders of the day.
But that’s who the elder son represented in the “there and then”, who does he represent in the “here and now?” Well he represents the professed Christian who boasts a self righteous attitude. Someone who looks down their nose at “common
sinners” believing that those rebellious heathens truly deserve to be consumed in the fires of hell. And the elder son even represents many Adventists today who believe somehow that their keeping the Sabbath, not eating pork or wearing jewelry will, if
ot get them into heaven, at least earn them a more honorable position there.
May God have mercy on us when we believe, if even for a second, that the kingdom of heaven is ours by right! That somehow through something we’ve done, we can walk through those pearly gates into the New Jerusalem wearing a robe of righteousness spun by our own good works.
Brothers and sisters, the only way to enter the kingdom of heaven is the way the prodigal son came home. We must realize that we have been wasteful of the treasures that God has given us because every moment that we live outside of Jesus is indeed a terrible waste.
Do you feel as though you have never completely given your life to the Lord? As you look back, do you feel as though you have in some way kept a distance from Him--maybe like the prodigal son, you’ve been living your life as YOU please,
but now realize that life outside of Christ is no life.
Today, on behalf of our Heavenly Father, I am urging you to come home. Don’t waste another second wondering if you are saved or not because chances are that if you don’t know, you are not. No matter how great you think your transgression may be, or how far you have traveled from home....God is anxiously watching -- scanning the horizon for the distinctive form of his wayward child coming home. As we sing together our closing hymn ; “Lord I’m Coming Home” # 296, won’t you make that decision to leave the comfort zone of your pew and come to the altar. And remember, when you make that first step, your heavenly Father is going to run to meet you there and He along with all of heaven will rejoice because a son or daughter of His was once dead but now is alive again!
