Looking for What’s Lost, Part II
Luke 15:11-32
Continuing our study of Luke, we find ourselves in Chapter 15. I want to invite you to be turning there. We previously looked at the first part of this chapter. Jesus was being criticized by some of the Jewish leaders because he was eating and drinking with “sinners,” with tax collectors and other “bad” people that the Pharisees would have nothing to do with.
Jesus responded by telling three parables. We saw before the first two of these parables: the parable of the shepherd and his sheep and the parable of the woman and her coins. Today we will look at what is possibly the most famous of Jesus’ parables: The Prodigal Son.
But first, a test! (I hope you studied)
Where does the term “prodigal son” come from? It doesn’t appear in the text. Where did we get this name?
a. The King James Version
b. The original Greek text
c. The Latin Vulgate Bible
The answer, of course, is C. This ancient translation of the Scriptures was the first to use the term “prodigal” to describe the son in this story. Which leads us to our second question:
“Prodigal” describes the son because it means...
a. Ungrateful
b. Wasteful
c. Runaway
The answer is B. The son was first called prodigal because of the way he wasted his father’s money. Now, in modern English, prodigal has come to mean one who runs away. But that’s because of this story.
This has been called the “greatest short story of all times.” Let’s take some time to look at it in detail.
Luke 15:11 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.
Being that there were two sons, according to Jewish law, the older would have received two thirds of the property and the younger one third. It was not unheard of for the father to give the inheritance away during his lifetime, but it was certainly insulting for the youngest son to ask for it. It’s like saying, “Your only worth to me is what you can give me.” And look what the son does...
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.
He took everything. This was not: “I’ll go make my fortune and return.” This was “Thanks for everything... I’m outta here!”
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.
It’s interesting that God doesn’t always have to directly intervene in our lives for us to feel the consequences of our sin. That famine affected everyone, yet the younger son was hit especially hard because of the way that he had squandered his money.
The pig was considered to be an unclean animal to the Jews, unclean in that it defiled the person that touched it. It was forbidden for Jews to herd pigs. The younger son had sunk about as far as he could go.
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.’
The boy decides to humble himself and return to his father. Yet he does not even ask to be a slave, for a slave in that time was considered to be part of the household and would in some ways be a burden to his owner. The boy asks to work for daily wages, not asking for any obligation on his father’s part.
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.
The image that this gives is that the father was waiting and hoping and praying that his son would return. He sees him while still far away and RUNS to meet him. There is no attitude of “Well, look who came crawling back!” The father is overjoyed at his son’s return.
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.
The father receives the son with honor, with all the marks of sonship. There is no time of probation, no conditional acceptance. The son is instantly restored to his previous position in the family. Upon seeing his father’s greeting, the son doesn’t even dare suggest his idea about being a servant. The father has shown with his actions that such an idea is unthinkable for him.
Here we see a lesson for the “prodigals” among us. If you feel like you are away from God, you need to know something:
GOD IS ALWAYS READY TO WELCOME YOU BACK.
Psalm 103:13 “As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him.”
The image of the father that seeks and hopes and forgives and restores is the very image of God. He is ready to run to you and say, “Look, everyone. This is my child!” He wants to shower you with all the good gifts that a father can give his son.
But let’s not take this parable out of context… Jesus didn’t only tell this parable to explain how God seeks the lost. He also wanted to teach the Pharisees about their dealings with people
Luke 15:25 “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.’
The servant tells the story as something natural and unsurprising. The father welcomed the son home. That’s what everyone who knew this father knew that he would do.
28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him.
Note that the father shows no favoritism. He goes out to seek his older son just as he did the younger. He has two sons that he loves just the same.
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 goat 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.’”
Here we learn some lessons for the faithful:
1. God isn’t “fair” by human standards.
Look at the parable of the workers in Matthew 20. Jesus told of a man who went and hired some men to work all day for him for a certain wage. Later the men hired more men to help and even went out when there was only an hour left in the workday and hired more men. When it came time to pay, the man paid all of the men the agreed wage, even though some had not worked all day. Those who had labored the entire day felt cheated, yet the owner had given them what he had promised. He said, “What does it harm you if I decide to be generous to these others.”
Our human minds agree with those who complained. It doesn’t seem fair. Yet God will not judge based on fairness. He will judge based on mercy. He will always be inclined to be more generous than one might expect.
2. The same grace that saves the prodigal saves the faithful.
The elder brother didn’t get the inheritance because of his work. He got it because he was a son. Surely there were slaves in the father’s household that had worked as hard as the elder son, yet would never receive a share of the inheritance.
We will not be saved because we have earned that salvation. We will be saved by becoming children of God. That’s how we come to share in Christ’s inheritance.
3. The same father’s love that greets the prodigal awaits the faithful. Just as we all need God’s grace, so we are all beneficiaries of his love. He reaches out to those who are far from him and those who are near to him. His desire is that we all draw near to him.
Come to the father. He waits for you.
