(Note:
This blog entry is based on the text for “The Prodigal Father”, originally
shared on March 24, 2022. It was the 201st video for our YouTube
Channel, Streams of Living Water (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB7KnYS1bpHKaL2OseQWCnw), co-produced with my wife, Rev. Sally Welch.)
The parable of The Prodigal Son is one of the most inspired works of literature in the world. It’s also a testimony to the extravagant love of God. It could be called the parable of The Prodigal Father. Today, we’ll find out why.
Last time, we looked at the first part of
the parable of The Prodigal Son. We heard that “p prodigal” means excessive,
wastefully extravagant, spending money recklessly, lavish. It has the same root
word as “prodigious”, as in “President Taft had a prodigious waistline”. A
“prodigy is someone who is exceptionally talented.
We learned that there is always a way back
to God. Last time, we learned how. Today, we are going to find out why.
The parable is introduced in Luke 15:1-3,
15 Now all the tax collectors and
sinners were coming near to listen to him. 2 And
the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes
sinners and eats with them.”
3 So he told them this parable:
Now we jump over two
parables, the parable of The Lost Sheep, and the parable of The Lost Coin, to the
parable of The Prodigal Son, starting in verse 11. Spoiler alert! All
three are about something precious that can be lost, and what the Pharisees
(and a key person in the parable) see as God’s prodigal generosity in finding
it, so much so that the latter parable could also be called the parable of The
Prodigal Father.
Let’s catch-up.
We learned, in Luke
15:11b-20a, the first part of the parable, about the younger of two sons
who goes to his father and asks for his inheritance. Immediately. So that he
can have a good time while he’s still young. And the father agrees! What would
you have done if you had been this father? This is the first taste we get of
the father’s prodigal generosity.
The son travels to a
distant country and blows through the money on what the Bible calls “dissolute
living”, life without morals or restraint. He gets wasted. Literally. And then
the money runs out.
He’s alone, and he takes
a job feeding pigs, who eat better than he does. He remembers that his father’s
hired hands have plenty of food, and to spare, so he decides to go home to
repent and to ask his father for a job. Not to be his son again, but just to
eat. He knew that he had no right to be called his father’s son anymore.
The parable continues with Luke 15:20b,
20 So he set off and went to his
father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with
compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him.
Here’s the second sign of
the father’s prodigal generosity. Grown up men don’t run in most cultures. It’s
undignified.
I studied in Rome,
briefly, on the way back from a semester in Israel when I was in college.
Jogging, or running, outside of a track was just starting to be popular in the
United States. Some of the guys in our student group and I would run outdoors
when we had some free time, and people would look with astonishment that someone
who was not a child was running outside and wearing running shorts in public.
Little kids would point and laugh as we ran by. We looked ridiculous to them.
The father forgot all of
that. He laid aside his dignity and composure to run to his son when he
saw him return. He was not filled with disappointment or bitterness; he was
filled with compassion. He put his arms around him. And he kissed him, a
common form of greeting among close friends and relatives.
The son tries to get out
the speech he had prepared, but he doesn’t get very far, starting with verse
21,
21 Then the son said to him, ‘Father,
I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called
your son.’ 22 But the father said to his slaves,
‘Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his
finger and sandals on his feet. 23 And get the
fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; 24 for
this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ And
they began to celebrate.
I played drums in jazz
bands in college and seminary, mostly. One of the tunes we played was a
standard, “The Return of The Prodigal Son” by tenor saxophonist Stanley
Turrentine. I guess you could say that it’s a medium tempo mix of blues and
joy, the sorrow of the son and the joy of the father. But it sounds like a
strut. That always bothered me because that’s not how the prodigal son
returned. He returned with his life in tatters and his head hanging low.
But he couldn’t finish
his repentance speech before his father was organizing the “welcome home” party,
making the son the honored guest, presenting him with the symbols of his status
as a son. And they began to celebrate!
But not everyone was
happy. The parable continues with verse 25,
25 “Now his elder son was in the
field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and
dancing. 26 He called one of the slaves and asked
what was going on. 27 He replied, ‘Your brother has
come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back
safe and sound.’ 28 Then he became angry and
refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. 29 But
he answered his father, ‘Listen! For all these years I have been working like a
slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never
given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. 30 But
when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with
prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!’
The older brother was
angry. His father was throwing a huge party to celebrate the prodigal son’s
return. The older son wouldn’t have it. He’d been the rock steady one. He’d
done everything that was asked of him, and he never got even a little shindig,
much less a big celebration. He doesn’t even refer to the prodigal son as his
brother. He only refers to him as “this son of yours”, who had devoured the
father’s property with prostitutes.
The fatted calf was reserved
for major events, like an honored guest, a wedding, or the birth of a child. The
fatted calf was the best of the best the father had to offer. It was an extremely
generous gift. It was an expression of excessive love from the prodigal father.
The older brother refused
to join the celebration.
His father didn’t begin
to ask him to come in. He began to plead with him to come in. More prodigal
generosity from the father.
He loved the older
brother, too, and wanted him to know that the relationship with the family that
the father had given him was still valued. And notice that the younger
brother’s actions are not without consequences. We see it in the conclusion of
this parable, starting with verse 31,
31 Then the father said to him,
‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 But
we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has
come to life; he was lost and has been found.’”
The father tells the older son that all
that is the fathers is the older son’s. It’s not going to be divided again with
the little brother.
But something precious has been restored. A
relationship. The prodigal son is referred to as “this brother of yours” and the
father gives the reason for the rejoicing: “this brother of yours was dead and
has come to life; he was lost and has been found.”
The relationship with the father has never
changed for either son; he loved them. The prodigal son could live like it
didn’t matter, but the reality of it was still his because it wasn’t his to
deny.
We are created for a living relationship
with the one true living God. We reject that relationship and go to the far
country of self-indulgence, personal pleasure, indifference, and the acceptance
of the world. But God never gives up on us. There is a way back. God has made a
way in Jesus Christ at the cross.
What far country are you in today? What far
country is someone you know and love in today? What far country is our culture
in today?
Many liturgical churches have sung a Gospel
Acclamation during the season of Lent that is different than the one that is
sung the rest of the year. It comes from the middle part of Joel 2:13,
and it goes,
Return to
the Lord, your God,
for he is gracious
and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in
steadfast love,
Who do you identify with in this parable. I
think that Jesus wants us to identify with the prodigal son, to know that we
need a savior, and that God, in Christ, gave His life on the cross to be our
Savior.
God, the prodigal father, continues to love
us excessively and has shown us God’s grace by paying the ultimate price on the
cross. He welcomes repentant sinners. Our debt is marked paid in full! We live our
lives life in response to that love, freely given.
God, with all the hosts of heaven, rejoices
when one sinner remembers who they are and repents and turns to God and lives. There
is always a way back. God makes a way on the cross.
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