THE PARABLE OF THE FORGIVING FATHER
Luke 15:11-32
Key Verses: 15:31,32
“‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.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.’”
Today’s passage is Jesus’ third parable. This parable shows the heavenly father’s unconditional acceptance and joy toward a sinner’s repentance. It is often referred to as the parable of the prodigal son. But as we pay attention to the story, the main character is not the son, but the father. The word “father” is mentioned 12times in this passage. It is the father who waits patiently for his son to return home. It is the father who welcomes his son with forgiving heart. It is the father who pleads his older son to join the celebration after kind talking. May we get near to the heart of God through this passage.
1.The younger son’s repentance(11-20a)
As the story begins, a father has two sons. The younger son says to his father, “Father, give me my share of the estate.” Usually an estate is divided among children after the death of the father who owns it. So the request was highly unusual, demanding and no grace in his words.
Imagine what the father must have felt. Whatever the reason, the younger son decided to separate himself from his father. He didn’t mind breaking his father’s heart only if he could be free to live as his own man. Father could have yelled at him, “You do not know what you are asking for. I know you will fail.”But he didn’t, instead he divided his property between his two sons. Father respected his son and recognized his freedom of choice.
Look at verse 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 sold off all his property and land that he had received for his inheritance and changed it to cash. He bought a Kawasaki Ninja ZX model motorcycle and drove far away from his home.He passed the border and entered an another country. He shouted, “I am free, I am free at last!” There, he squandered his wealth in wild living. The word “squander” is “dieskorpisen” in Greek which means “to scatter or disperse.” Virtually, this young man threw his cash into the air in wild living. He held parties everyday taking drugs, alcohol andgambling. Heenjoyed a pleasure seeking and care free life with prostitutes in the distant country. One day he woke up to find that his wallet was empty and his bank account zero.
Look at verse 14. “After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need.”When he had no money, all his fun buddies deserted him one by one. Things went from bad to worse. Severe famine hit the whole country causing great recession. The unemployment rate was so high. He could not get a job. He persuaded a local farmer to hire him and the man sent him to supervise feeding pigs. He became a shepherd for pigs. Pigs roll around and even sleep in their own excrement and smell quite awful. This was the most dishonorable work for a Jew, since pigs are unclean animals.
Look at verse 16. “He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.”He was really hungry. Maybe he began to fight against the pigs over the pods. As he rolled around in mud, he felt he had become a pig. He hit the rock bottom. What a degradation! He degraded himself from a privileged son to an animal man longing for the pods.
Once, this younger son yearned for the life in the distant country where his father could not reach. He must have a big dream to live a wonderful life with the money he had. But this distant country turns out to be the land of famine, poverty and hunger where only fleshly desires remain. This is the vivid picture of man’s reality without God.
Here the distant country symbolizes a different world where there is no God’s reign. People in the distant country means sinners who alienated from the life of God. When the younger son left his father’s home, he was alienated from God. He was like a cut flower in a vase. He looked alive at first, but dying gradually. When we leave God out of our life for the sake of human freedom, we end up gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature. There is a saying. “There is no place like home.” Here our true home is God himself- the father’s house. When we are in God, we are safe and happy.
Look at verse 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!” The son’s plight finally hits him hard as he realizes how far he has fallen. When he hits the rock bottom, suddenly he remembered his life at home. Then he began to think of his father. Even his father’s hired servants have plenty of food. He remembered how his father treated his servants and how happy they were under his father’s care and protection. He rediscovered the new image of his father and home. A great desire to go back to his father began to spring up in his heart.
Look at verse 18,“I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.”The struggling son acknowledged that he first sinned against God. God came to his heart for the first time. He knew that he forfeited all rights to sonship and inheritance. It was better to be a father’s hired man than remaining in the distant country. So he set out to go back to his father’s house. He got up from his place. He turned toward his father’s house and began to walk that direction. It was a long way to go back home since he was far away from home.
While walking he sang hymn “Jesus, I come” “Out of my shameful failure and loss, Jesus I come; Jesus I come, into the joy and light of Thy home, Jesus I come to Thee. Out of my sickness into Thy health, out of my want and into Thy wealth, out of my sin and into Thy-self, Jesus I come to Thee.” May God let us turn our way toward God—our true home.
2.Father’s forgiving love (20b-24)
Look at verse 20b. “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.”This is the climax of this parable. The father spotted him first while he was still a long way off. This shows that his father was waiting for him every day, looking for his son’s return. Only thing that his father could do was to wait for his son to come home. When he saw his son in the distance, he was filled with compassion. Although his son broke his heart and made him very sorrowful, when he saw him, he forgot past bad memories and pains that his son had left.Instead, he only felt the pain in his son’s heart- shame, humiliation, sorrow and anxiety. The father’s heart was pounding. The father began to run to his son while his son was moving his heavy steps slowly toward his father. Then he threw his arms around him and gave him a big hug and kissed him.
What a glimpse we have here into the heart of God!The father runs to meet his lost son. The father does not demonstrate this love in response to the son’s confession or new behavior. Rather, before any confession could be heard, the father pours out his love on his son. The immense joy in welcoming back his lost son overshadows the sorrow that has gone before. The son most likely expected harsh rebuke, but instead he received undeserved compassion and love. It was the moment that grace changed his heart. The father embraces his son who was still full of pig smell. It is the picture of God’s grace.
John Newton wrote in his hymn- “amazing grace” “It was grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relived. This grace has brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.” The apostle Paul said in Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this; while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Marvelous grace of our Lord Jesus exceeds our sin and guilt. The blood of the Lamb was spilt on Calvary’s mount for undeserved sinners. God’s grace is greater than all our sins.
The son felt compelled to apologize to his father. Look at verse 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.’”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. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of min was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found. So they began to celebrate.” The robe covered his beggar’s garments and made him look like a prince. The robe hid all the filthy and dirtiness underneath. The ring was a sign of being an heir. The sandals are also a symbol of wealth. The young son thought that he lost his identity as the Father’s son and begged his father to make one of hired men. But the father restored him as his son.
In the same way, God accepts sinners as his own precious children through Jesus Christ. 1John 3:1 says “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” Romans 8:15b says “The Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father’”Godcovers us in a robe of righteousness by washing our sins through the blood of Jesus. God gave us the right to become children of God through faith in Jesus. We are no longer slaves of sins. We are precious children of God. God adopted us to be his own children.
Our God welcomes sinners with big hugs and kisses as we come to Him. Our God is the forgiving God remembering our sins no more and restores our identity as his children. Our heavenly father’s embracing melts all our sins and makes us new. He runs to sinners who are repenting and coming home. God runs to embrace us although we are filthy and dirty in sin. This is the heart of God. As we run to God, He will run faster than us with his arms wide open. May we run to God the Father and be embraced in his big arms. May we experience true restoration in our father’s bosom.
3.We have to celebrate (25-32)
The older brother came back from the field. He heard music and dancing as came near the house. When he found that there was a celebration for his younger brother’s return, he became very angry and refused to go in. The story of the prodigal son begins with the younger son away from home and his older brother staying at home, but it ends with the younger son home and the older son refusing to enter the home. What an irony it is!
So his father went out and pleaded with him. “Let us go in, my son, please!” But the older son refused to go in like a stubborn goat. 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.” So far, the older son was obedient, dutiful, law abiding and hardworking. Outwardly, the older son seemed fine staying quietly at his father’s home. But inwardly he was a resentful, proud, unkind and jealous person. He was also expressing his self-righteousness.
The real problem of the older son was broken relationship with his father. He said “slaving for you.” It did not sound like a love relationship between a father and his son, but a relationship between a slave and master. He was staying at his father’s house, but living with a slave mentality.
He complained not receiving even a young goat from his father. But when the father divided his property between 2 sons, the older son received 2/3 of his inheritance while the young son only received 1/3. We wonder why he did not use his property anytime for the events for his friends. He didn’t really know the father’s broken heart or his father’s joy. Most of all, he didn’t know who he was- the father’s son. The older son was a lost son at home. What a tragedy it is for him to be lost at home!
Look at verses 31-32. “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 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.’”The “Message” version translates verse 31b as follows. “Son, you don’t understand. You’re with me all the time.” Yes! The older son didn’t understand the father. It is such a privilege to be with his father all the time.
Staying at the father’s house is important, but staying with his father is more important. Restoring the relationship with the father and enjoying it forever are the most important. Getting to know the father’s heart is our utmost joy and happiness becausewe are the children of God in Christ.
Once I talked with one of my colleagues in my work place. She asked me “how are your children?” I answered “My little kids make my life busy, I still have to pick them up, washing, feeding, doing homework, playing and so on until they go to bed.” I asked her “how is your child?” She answered “small kids, small problems, big kids, big problems.” Her point was that all children have problems either big or small.
The older son’s unexpected response really broke the father’s heart. The father must have heartache toward both sons because of two different problems. But the father embraced both of them in his bosom forgiving and persuading. To the father, all children are very precious. He loves them as they are. God does not show partiality toward his 2sons. Whoever we are, no matter what we may have done, he still loves us. And he keeps his arms open to welcome us.
Jesus said in verse 32.“But we had to celebrate and be glad.”God wants sinners to join the heavenly feast of welcoming sinners. God wants us to participate in His joy. There are heavenly feasts going on. And we are invited. The party starts the moment we come to father’s house and extends into eternity. Jesus told the Pharisees 3 parables in a row with the same point. Jesus wanted them to know the heart of God.
Once some of our members presented a song “Come home!” at a conference. “You’ve been running searching for something, but you’re looking in a place you don’t belong. But it’s never too late. You can’t out run grace. No mercy doesn’t care what you’ve done. So come home. From the shadows, from the wrong roads, from the darkness, from the unknown, to redemption, something beautiful, to a new hope, to a new home. So come home.” God sorrows when his children leave away from him. But God rejoices over his children coming back home. God welcomes sinners with unconditional love and clothes us with glory. Let us run to the father’s house and restore love relationship with Him.
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