Lent 4 Luke 15:1-3, 11-32
March 10, 2013
Jesus told many stories – parables- to help us understand spiritual truths. This chapter of Luke has three: the stories of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son. They are some of our Savior’s best-known, best-loved, most comforting parables. The people who heard them could relate so well. Many were the “lost causes”, people whose livescould never measure up to the standards of the religious elite. Some had sinned so badly and so often that they felt beyond God’s love and mercy, and the pious church leaders reinforced that thought by holding them at a distance.Jesus’ parables drew the outcasts into God’s arms by telling them how much he cared about them, wanted them, and was looking for them. What the indignant and the self-righteous didn’t realize, however, is that Jesus was talking to them, too. They were just as lost as the sinners they condemned. Yet God cared about the self-righteous people, too. He wanted them, too. He was looking for them, too.
The last story in these “parables of the lost and found” has often been called, “The Prodigal Son”. But the main character in the story is not the son who ran away. The focus is really on the father. His great love and compassion for both of his sons is amazing and unforgettable. So I suggest that we could also callthis parable, “A Story of the Father’s Love”.
Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”3 Then Jesus told them this parable: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.
Right away the younger son gets under your skin. Ungrateful.Demanding.Self-centered.Arrogant.Immature. Couldn’t wait to get out of the house and on his own. Couldn’t even wait for his father to die.“Give me my inheritance now, Dad.”We can almost see the pain on his father’s face. He knew his son. He knew where this was going. Yet he didn’t force him to stay.
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.
With a wad of cash in his pocket and the vast playground of the world before him, the young man heads out for greener pastures. Free to live his own life and make his own decisions. Free to do whatever his heart desired without someone looking over his back. If this were our day, we’d say that the first thing he’d do was buy a set of “hot wheels” with a great sound system, a bunch of hip clothes, and move downtown where the action was. Every night was party time, and there you could be “somebody”. Home and dad and everything he’d ever known were the farthest thing from his mind.
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.
We all saw that coming, didn’t we? All at once it was all gone: his bank account, his luxury apartment, his fly-by-night friends. With his piggy bank dried up, the young lad began to experience something he’d never known before: insecurity. The sand under his feet washed away, and he was falling into a deep, dark pit. He was homeless, penniless, and all alone for the first time in his life. Times were hard. Foodwas scarce and pricey. All he could find was a lousy job with lousy pay and no benefits. Even the pigs he fed were eating better than he was. Worst of all, nobody cared what happened to him.
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! 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 servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father.
When you slide out of control, eventually you’ll hit bottom.For this young man, at the bottom was where he first realized his father’s love. For the first time in his life he was forced to look at himself, and what he saw was ugly. Now it was clear how much his father had provided for him from the time he was born. Now it was obvious how much his father had cared for him and protected him. When he was home with Dad he never knew what it was to be in need. His life was safe and secure. And now had he thanked is dad? He’d torn out his heart, kicked him in the teeth, and threw away the life he’d so carefully guarded for his son. How could a son have done such a thing to a father who had loved him so much? How could he ever face him again? Yet it was that very love of his father that brought him to his feet and took him back home, eyes to the ground, licking his wounds, wanting nothing more than to say,“I’m so sorry, Dad! I’m so ashamed of what I’ve done, and you have every right to be ashamed of me, too! I brought you nothing but disgrace and heartache. I don’t blame you if you want to disown me as your son, but dad, please. Please don’t turn me away. Please hire me. Let me at least work for you.”
“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.
If there were any parents standing around listening to Jesus that day, there probablywas not a dry eye among them. If you are a parent, you know why. No matter what his son had done, he was his son, and he was back safe and sound. That’s all that mattered!His sonbarely had time to say, "I'm sorry – please forgive me" before his father was hugging him and smothering him with kisses. As his son watchedtears of joy running down his father’s cheeks, he may have heard him whispering in his ear,“Oh son, I know you’re sorry! I know you’ve seen your sinand felt its terrible consequences. I so wanted to spare you all this, and I could have lost you forever. But my boy, you’re back- alive, safe, and sound, and that’s all that matters! Oh my son, of course I forgive you! I am your father and you will always be my son. I will always love you.My home will always be your home, and everything I have will always be yours!”
This is a story of the father’s love, and in telling it Jesus’ heart was reaching out to all of us with the far deeper love of the heavenly Father. This is a story that describes God’s love for us, and it’s also your story and mine. We don’t have to go to a distant land and squander our life with wild living and then hit our bottom. We were born squandering our life! We were born far from God! We were born just as rebellious and self-willed as that lost son, and God literally tells us that we were “dead in [our] transgressions and sins.” (Ephesians 2:1) But there was a day when your heavenly Father took you in his arms, put his name on you in baptism, called you his child, and smothered you with hugs and kisses. That was a day of rejoicing in your own heart as you learned “how great is the love the Father has lavished on [me], that [I] should be called [a child] of God. And that is what [I am]!”(1 John 3:1)That was aday of celebration in heaven because you were lost but now you were found; you were dead, but now you are alive! That celebration has been going on for you ever since and will continue forever in heaven!
Yet as long as we remain in this world of sin, coming back home will bethe ongoing story of our lives. Every day our sinful hearts look out the windowand long to play with the world again. And sometimes – many times – we do. Every time, sin always ends up the same:shame, guilt, loneliness, and sorrow.Yet the memory of our Father’s love brings us back to him again and again.Onehymn writer captures it with these words: “How well you know my griefs and fears Your grace abused, my misspent years; So now to you with contrite tears Christ crucified I come.” And each time the reception our Father givesus is just as warm and joyous as the first time: no lectures -no “I told you so” - no“Don’t ever let me catch you doing that again.” Justopen arms full of undeserved forgiveness. And Jesus assures us,“I tell you, there is rejoicing inthepresenceoftheangelsof God over one sinner who repents”…every single time!
Until we’ve realized the depth of our sin,we can’t realize the depth ofour Father’s love. So thank him for those painful moments where he shows us our sin! And then, when we know the depths of his love, we’ll be eager for others to have it, too.May the Lord keep us from the sin of the other son, who could only see his brother’s sinsand nothow much his brother neededhisfather’s love. May we then join theparty that the heavenly Father throws for others – the same party he’s been throwing for us! - and join the celebration for every lost son and daughter who repents. Amen.