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June 20, 2010
“The Father of Two Lost Sons”
Luke 15: 11 - 32
Sunday, June 20, 2010
As you can tell from the banners that hang in our sanctuary today, Vacation Bible School will start tomorrow. This year we will be teaching the children some of the Parables of Jesus. In honor of that I am preaching on a parable today and another one next Sunday. Today is also Father’s day, so today I am preaching about the Parable of the Father with two sons, or as it is often called, the parable of the prodigal son, found in the 15th chapter of Luke.
The 15th chapter of Luke could be called the chapter of the lost. It contains 3 parables that tell about items that are lost. The first parable is about a man who had 100 sheep and lost one. The second parable is about a woman who had ten coins and lost one. The third parable is about a man who had two sons and lost one. You may have noticed that there is a sort of reverse progression in these parables. The lost sheep is 1 of 100, the lost coin is one of 10 and the lost son is one of 2.
All of these parables share the same outline, to a point. In each the lost item is searched for and when found or returned there is a party to celebrate the lost being found. That is where the first two parables end, but there is a second part to the third parable, the one about the father of the two sons.
In the first 3 verses, Luke reveals why Jesus told these parables. Jesus had been receiving some criticism from the scribes and Pharisees about his welcoming of and eating with tax collectors and sinners. The Pharisees and Scribes believed that sinfulness was contagious and that those who attempted to be holy and pleasing to God should not have contact with sinners. Since all contact with sinners and tax collectors could not be avoided, they were to wash after being with them, and they were never to eat with sinners, tax collectors, or gentiles.
We know from the gospels that Jesus did not live that way. He proclaimed to be holy and to be able to show others the way to holiness, but he did welcome all who would come to him, regardless of who they were or what they had done.
In order to justify his behavior in this matter, He told these 3 parables. In these parables, he tried to get his critics to see those they considered sinners from a slightly different angle. Sinners and tax collectors did not have to be permanently cut off from God. They might someday be found and restored to God. And when that would happen, God would celebrate and have a party to rejoice over their return to Him.
Jesus also wanted them to consider that the sinners who were now associating with Jesus may have already returned to God by coming to Jesus. If that was the case, they should not be criticizing him, but they should be rejoicing in the return of these sinners to God.
Jesus made this point particularly noticeable in the third parable, the one about the man with two sons. We of course know this parable as the parable of the prodigal son. I prefer to think of it as the parable of the father of two sons.
This parable is one of the most detailed and fully developed of all of Jesus’ parables. But many of the details are missed by those of us who have never lived in the middle east. So this morning, having studied some writings of those who have a much better understanding of Middle-Eastern culture than I, I will attempt to shine a little light on this wonderful story.
There was a man who had two sons. They were obviously Palestinian Jews. The father was also evidently well to do. He had possessions and fields and day laborers and servants. He would therefore have been a well respected man in his neighborhood.
But his youngest son wanted his share of the estate before his father died. Under the Old Testament statutes governing estates, the share of the youngest son was already set. Under Jewish Law, the estate would be divided into one share for each son and an extra share for the firstborn son. So in this instance, the estate would be divided into thirds and the youngest son would receive one third of the wealth and property of the father. Except that in this case the father was not dead. There was no provision for estates to be divided before the death of the father. It was occasionally done at the request of the Father, but for a son to make this request would have been a tremendous insult in a culture where insults to one’s parents could be punished by death.
Nevertheless, the youngest son was bold enough to make the request. This was tantamount to saying “All I want from you is my share of your estate.” I don’t care if you live or die.”
The Father granted the son’s request and divided his estate between his two sons. The older son was also given his double share but the father was still allowed to live in the house and run the older son’s share of the estate. All of the neighborhood would have known that the estate was being divided and why. They would lose respect for the father who could not better control his sons.
The youngest son went away. He did not want to be in the vicinity of his father or brother. He went to a foreign land and wasted all his money in what the bible tactfully refers to as Dissolute living.
It seems that the young son had the same goals as the late relief pitcher for the Phillies, Tug Mcgraw. Tug was asked what he would do with his millions and supposedly responded, “I’ll spend most of it on women and whiskey, the rest I’ll probably waste.”
The young son’s money ran out and a famine came and he found himself working for a Gentile tending his pigs and he was not allowed to eat any of the pigs food. So the swine were better off than he was.
For a Jewish man, this was as low as he could go. So, as Jesus said, “He came to himself” The Greek word Luke uses here is a medical term denoting one waking up after passing out. The young man came to his senses and realized that his father’s day-laborers were treated better than he so he decided to go back and work as a day-laborer for his father.
He even rehearsed a speech to give to his father acknowledging the error of his ways and asking to be a day laborer. But he never got to make the speech.
The father saw him coming and ran to him. You have probably never seen an older middle-eastern man run. The reason is they don’t. They wear robes and it is not dignified to run in a robe. Dignity is of the utmost importance to a middle eastern man. But this man surrendered his dignity to run to his son. It may be that the neighbors might insult the ingrate son who now tried to return to the Father. So the father ran to his side to welcome him and walk him the rest of the way home.
And he threw a party. At the party, the meat that was served came from a grain fed calf, one that had been raised and fed for a previously unspecified special occasion.
The son was given a ring and sandals, those were signs of a free man and a son.
But not all were happy. The older brother was out in his fields working. When he got near the house he heard the party. He asked one of his servants what was going on. When informed of His brother’s return and the celebration in his honor, he was furious. He refused to go in to his own house as long as there was a party there for his brother.
The father went out and begged him to come in. The son complained that he had never been treated so lavishly and yet he had never left.
Did you notice that this parable has no proper ending? It closes without telling us whether the older son went into the party and greeted his brother or whether he continued in his anger and threw both the brother and their father out of his house.
That is because on the day that Jesus delivered the parable, the ending had not yet been revealed. Remember, this parable was told because people had criticized Jesus for welcoming and eating with sinners.
On that day, the younger brother who was lost and then found represented the tax collectors and sinners who were coming to Jesus. Notice that in the way Jesus addresses the insulting behavior and debauchery of the younger brother he does not try to apologize for it or explain it away. The younger son had insulted the father and wasted his inheritance on a sinful lifestyle. The tax collectors and sinners had also insulted God by not obeying Him and had wasted their spiritual heritage as Jews by living sinful lifestyles and betraying their nation.
In coming to Jesus and in being welcomed by him, they were on their way back to God, or had already come back. Through Jesus, God was extending his forgiveness to them.
The older brother represented the Pharisees and Scribes and others who did not want Jesus to associate with sinners. They thought that whatever value the sinners had had at one time had been forever destroyed by their sinfulness and rebellion against God. Jesus informed them that God still loved the Sinners and that God rejoiced when one of them repented of their sins and returned to God.
I think the man in the parable had two lost sons. One was openly rebellious and sinful. The other was just as lost to the father but his lost-ness was less obvious because he stayed home and did not openly rebel against the father. But he did not really love the father. He served the father as if he were a slave. He served and honored the father without Joy and without displaying the forgiveness that was characteristic of the father.
Most of us have at some time been one and then the other of these sons. We have insulted God and wasted or used for evil what he has given us. And most of us have been resentful at the forgiveness God extends to those who have angered and hurt us. And most of us have been angry and resentful of God at one time or another.
We have all been lost to God at one time or another and perhaps some of us still are. We need to thank God for his forgiveness of ourselves and others and welcome others as brothers and sisters in Christ once they have returned to God through Jesus.
And on this father’s day we need to understand that in this parable, God is setting an example for earthly fathers. All fathers and mothers need to put aside our own pride and the need to justify our opinions and forgive our children when they insult and harm us and themselves. We need to be forgiving and waiting for their return. And we all need to pray for earthly fathers and mothers that they will follow God’s examples of forgiveness as they raise their children.
Pastor David Horner
Faith Presbyterian Church
West Lafayette, IN 47906
Posted by faithpres at June 20, 2010 01:29 PM