A Father’s Love

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

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: “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 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.

“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 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.’”

Justo Gonzalez tells a story in his commentary on our scripture about a man who went to a movie by himself one Saturday evening. He purchased his ticket, got some popcorn, and found the perfect seat just in time for the previews to begin. But just as the feature film was beginning, the man saw the MGM logo with the big roaring lion. He realized he had seen this movie before, so he got up and left.

You’ve heard this sermon before. In fact, today’s scripture, commonly referred to as the Parable of the Prodigal Son, is among the best-known of all Jesus’s parables. It is also one of the most frequently depicted parables in the fine arts, including the famous painting by Rembrandt. All of this is for good reason. This is a great story.

So yes, you have heard this sermon before, but yet you haven’t. Like the man who saw the MGM logo and assumed he had seen this movie before, I’m probably going to go a different way than what you are used to hearing. And if I don’t I think that’s okay as well, because you can never go wrong when speaking on God’s love and God’s grace.

The first thing that I want to point out this morning is that this scripture isn’t all about you. This scripture is about God and how God relates to his people. You may very well relate to one group or the other in this parable, but first and foremost, this is a parable about God. We see this in the way that the lectionary includes verses 1-3 and then jumps ahead to verse 12. Verses 1-2 say, “Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, ‘This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.’”

Jesus, God in the flesh, the fullest revelation of God, is spending his time with tax collectors and sinners. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law have a problem with this. Remember that the Pharisees weren’t necessarily bad people, but they were very meticulous in their keeping of the Torah. These tax collector and sinners were not. They were at the other end of the spectrum, and because the tax collectors probably collected money for the Roman government from both Jews and Gentiles, they were likely unclean. So Jesus, by virtue of eating with these people, was also made unclean. And even if he wasn’t rendered unclean by association, it would appear that Jesus was approving of their actions by sharing a table with them.

This is the setup for the next three parables, all of which involve looking for something that was lost. There is the parable of the lost sheep, where the shepherd loses one of his 100 sheep, and leaves the other 99 behind to search for the one that wandered away from the flock. The next is the parable of the lost coin, where a woman loses one of her 10 silver coins. She then turns the entire house upside-down searching until she finds it. Each time, Jesus explains that God celebrates when what was lost is found. The story is clear, these tax collectors and sinners are lost, and Jesus is seeking them. And those who are lost are just as important as those who have not wandered away.

Then comes the third and final parable, the Parable of the Prodigal Son. Others have suggested that we give this a different name, perhaps the story of two sons and their father, or even the parable of the prodigal father. The word prodigal simply means that someone spends freely and perhaps recklessly, without giving forethought. And the father does indeed give in a prodigal fashion.

Either way, we know the story. Jesus starts out by saying, “There was a man who had two sons.”

The younger son decides to do the unheard-of, and he asks his father for his portion of his inheritance while the father is still alive. For some reason, the father grants his request, and the younger son sets out to see the world. The words Luke uses are very intentional. This son squandered his share of the inheritance, the NIV says on “wild living.” Use your imagination.

The money soon ran out, and the son had to find himself a real job. He ended up feeding pigs, an unclean animal in the Jewish tradition. The younger son was starving, and was tempted to eat the pig slop to offset his hunger.

Finally, when it seemed as if all was lost, he decided to swallow his pride (pig slop is best served with a side of pride) and ask his father for a job. He knew he had done wrong by his father, so he rehearsed all the way back just what he would say. Verses 18-19, “I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’”

I imagine him running over this with every mile he walked. Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you…”

But then the unexpected happens. The father, who surely represents God, sees his son approaching from a distance. Perhaps he looked out over those hills each and every evening since his son has left, hoping to see him return. And today is the day that he does. This older, respected man does what would have been unheard-of in that day and age, especially by a man of his social status. The father runs to meet his son. He doesn’t care what others think, he doesn’t mind their snickers and giggles. He runs to meet his son.

The son tries to get out his rehearsed lines, but the father interrupts and says in verses 22b-24a, “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 mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.”

A lost sheep, a lost coin, and a lost son.

I believe that it is absolutely necessary to read these three stories of lost and found together, as each one tells a different aspect of God’s grace. If you read just the story of the shepherd leaving the 99 to find the one lost, you might assume that God only cares about those who have wandered away. But read that alongside the story of the lost son, and the father stays and cares for things back home. If you only read the story about the lost coin, you might assume that God is the only active partner in this relationship, that God searches for us and finds us, and we are simply passive bystanders in this story of God’s redemption. But when read together with the story of the lost son we find that we do in fact have freewill. God searches for us, but God also lets us wander. But in allowing us to wander, God is showing his love for us because true love cannot be forced upon someone. Read together, we see that God loves those who stay behind, and God loves those who wander away. Read together, we see that God searches for us, but God also waits for us because God doesn’t force us to have a relationship with him. There is one consistent aspect of these stories: when and if we return, when and if we are found, there is much celebration.

That’s the MGM lion; that’s the part that you’ve heard before. Now it’s time to see something new.

I always encourage you to read the text in its original context. If we back up one chapter, we find teaching from Jesus labeled by the NIV as “The Cost of Being a Disciple.” In this story we find Jesus telling a story about building a tower and going into battle. Who would start building a tower without making sure that they had enough money to finish it? Who would enter into battle without first knowing what their odds of winning are? Jesus’s point is that following him, being a disciple, is not easy. Or, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer is known to say, discipleship is costly.

But when we talk about discipleship being costly, someone is going to say that we are preaching a gospel of works. And I’m okay with that, because I believe the gospel is filled with works. There is a better way to live. But the gospel isn’t just about being forgiven for your sins. That’s grace. Grace is a huge part of the gospel, but not the gospel in its entirety.

So when I ready chapters 14 and 15 in order, I come to the conclusion that discipleship is costly, but grace is free. It is there for the taking. All you have to do is turn back to the father, and he will meet you right where you are and restore you to good standing. He will place a fancy robe on your shoulders, give you a ring with the family emblem upon it, and kill the fatted calf to throw you a party.

No, grace isn’t cheap. Grace is free. Discipleship is costly, but grace is free.

The story continues. Of course there is the older brother. He has been the steady one, the one you can count on. When the younger brother took off, the older brother stayed home. He probably had to do more work in his brother’s absence. He had more responsibility. In fact, where is he when he hears the commotion back home? He is out in the field, working. Just like he was the day before, and the day before that, and the day before that. And I think he had good reason for being angry.

Consider that the father never even bothered to send someone out to find the older brother while he was in the field working. It is the older brother who needs to ask a servant what is going on. “There’s a party going on, your brother is home. Didn’t anyone invite you?”

I get this brother. Not only did this brother get stuck with more work, but he also has probably seen his father struggle for the last however many years. I’ve said before, and I’ll say it again, you can hurt me, and I’ll forgive you. But if you hurt someone I care about, that’s a lot more difficult.

The brother is mad for several reasons, but I assume he is mad because the father just offered the younger brother, not cheap grace, but free grace.

It is pretty clear who the older brother represents. He is the Pharisees and the teachers of the law. They have been putting in the work, and now these tax collectors and sinners are swooping in and enjoying the grace of God.

The brother expresses anger over the father throwing a party for the younger brother, while he has worked his fingers to the bone and got bupkis to show for it. I think a good paraphrase of the father’s response would be to say that the father’s outpouring of love for the younger brother is in no way meant to suggest that he loves one brother more than another. The celebration simply follows the theme throughout this chapter: what once was lost is now found. And when it is found, there is reason to celebrate.

I come back to the idea of calling this parable by another name. Surely, the younger brother is a prodigal, spending money quickly and in high volumes. But this is also the story of a prodigal father. The father in the story is a prodigal because he spends extravagantly, perhaps even excessively. This is true of his money, but also of his love. The prodigal father holds nothing back, killing the fatted calf and throwing a party.

As I said in the beginning, we can surely identify with one of the brothers. Perhaps you have experienced the extravagant love and grace of God when you were lost. Or maybe you have been like the older son, and lived along side this extravagant love all your life to the point that you almost forget that it is there. Maybe like the older son, or the pharisees, you feel uncomfortable with the extravagant love shown to the sinners around you. But remember, you aren’t at the center of this parable. This is a parable about the love of God. And our God is a prodigal God who pours out love and grace when we don’t deserve it.