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by rodliam

Guest Post ::
Location: San Francisco, CA
Read Time: 20 minutes

“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!”

I John 3:1

The idea that God is love is certainly not new with Jesus.  But Jesus added a note of confidence.  He didn’t say that maybe God was love, or that it would be nice if God were love.  He said, GOD IS LOVE – period.  But there is more to the message of Jesus.  He insisted that the Father is crazy with love, that God can scarcely bear to be without us.  The parable that makes this truth so obvious is the parable of the prodigal son, the parable of the loving father.

The emphasis is not on the sinfulness of the son, but on the generosity of the Father.  The son had his speech carefully rehearsed.  It was an elegant, polished statement of sorrow.  But the old man didn’t let him finish.  The son had barely arrived on the scene when, suddenly, a fine new robe was thrown over his shoulders.  He hears music, the fatted calf is being carried into the parlor, and he didn’t even have a chance to say to his Father, “I’m sorry.”

God wants us back even more than we could possibly want to be back.  We don’t have to go into great detail about our sorrow.  All we have to do, the parable says, is appear on the scene, and before we get a chance to run away again, the Father grabs us and pulls us into the banquet so we can’t get away.

Brennan Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel

Encounter 61: The Parable of the Lost Son

Luke 15:11-31

¹¹Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. ¹²The 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. ¹⁴After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. ¹⁵So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. ¹⁶He 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 men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! ¹⁸I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. ¹⁹I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.’ ²⁰So 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. ²³Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. ²⁴For 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. ²⁶So 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. ²⁹But 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. ³⁰But 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. ³²But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ “

Some Observations

• My favorite passage in Scripture today . . . so many beautiful nuances.
• Jesus has just told the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin.  In both instances, the shepherd who lost the sheep and the woman who lost the coin initiate the search and rescue mission – likewise, neither the sheep nor the coin willfully chose to be separated from the shepherd or the woman.
• Here, the younger of two sons of a wealthy landowner asks for his inheritance before his father’s death, all but saying to his father that he wishes him dead.
• The father complies and divides his property in order to provide the younger son his inheritance prematurely.
• This property was not “liquid” in that it could be easily sold, but rather land, crops and animals that would require time and cost to the father to liquidate to give the son his share of the wealth.  Yet the father does so anyway.
• The son takes the booty and disappears into a foreign land, where he squanders all of it on wild living – presumably the usual default stuff . . . sex, drugs and rock and roll.
• The money is soon gone and a famine hits the land; the son is required to hire himself out as a slave to a man that uses him to feed his pigs.
• The son is so hungry and has nothing – he longs to eat even what the pigs have been given.
• He realizes he’d be better off heading home, begging for his dad’s forgiveness, telling him that he is no longer worthy to be called his son and serving as a hired hand.
• In Act I, we have a pretty vivid picture of our own natural rebellion against God.  We demand everything God has blessed us with now for our own selfish purposes and live self-governed lives.
• As the son gets closer to home (but is still “a long way off”), the father sees the son and is filled with compassion for him.  He is on watch for the son’s return.
• The father who has been wronged by the son then runs until he reaches the son, throws his arms around him and kisses him.
• The son starts begging for forgiveness as planned, but the father abruptly cuts him off and yells 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 fatted 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.”
• The celebration begins . . . the son has passed from death to life.
• In Act II, we see Jesus’ image of God as a deeply compassionate father who waits and yearns for the return of the rebellious son; he is a father who does not wait for proper protocol or apologies, but rather is filled with so much desire and compassion for us that he runs towards us as we approach home; he then clothes us in robe, sandals and ring, marking our restoration as full sons and daughters.
• As with the recovery of the lost sheep and lost coin (where there is celebrating in heaven and among the angels when a sinner repents), the father calls for a great feast and celebration.
• Jesus’ description of God does not reconcile with the ornery traffic cop in the sky image tragically held by many people, including some believers.
• As the music and dancing are swinging into high gear, the older son is returning from the field.  He asks the servants what is going on and they tell him that his younger brother is back safe and sound and that their father has called for a celebration.
• The older brother is furious and refuses to go inside.  The father comes outside and pleads with him to join the celebration.
• The older brother explodes at the 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.  But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!”
• The older brother believes that he is justified for doing everything right and is outraged that the party is for the one who has done everything wrong.
• The father calmly responds that everything he has is the older son’s, but that the celebration and joy is warranted – the younger brother who was dead is now alive; he was lost and is now found.
• Recall that when Jesus began telling the parables of the lost sheep, coin and son, he was addressing the Pharisees and teachers of the law who were condemning him for eating with tax collectors and “sinners.”
• Act III brings things full circle and Jesus leaves out any details on how the older brother responded to the father’s pleading – the ball is now in the Pharisees’ court.
• Can they overcome their self-righteousness to be reconciled with a father who is indiscriminate in his grace to even the most rebellious and wayward people, e.g., the tax collectors and “sinners?”
• Henri Nouwen’s book, The Return of the Prodigal Son, is one of the best treatments of this parable I’ve read (highly encourage reading it).
• Nouwen observes that each of us is very likely a mix of the younger rebellious son and older judgmental son; we rebel against God in many ways, yet find it very easy to discern and critique the sins in others that we don’t struggle with.
• Jesus indicates that the father wants both to be reconciled to him.  Just as he embraces and takes back the younger son, he pleads and reasons with the older son to join the party.
• Jesus is extending a graceful olive branch to the Pharisees here (and the Pharisee inside each of us as well).
• Nouwen also notes that this parable is more about the father than either the younger or older son.  It is the father who acts and initiates action to reconcile both sons to himself, with deep love and compassion for both.
• Nouwen’s ultimate conclusion is that Jesus points to our very call and purpose in life.  We are not to remain immature sons after our reconciliation with God, but to take on his attributes as the loving father.
• All of Jesus’ teaching supports this idea.  We are to become “compassionate as the Father is compassionate,” full of love, grace, mercy and a deep desire to see the restoration and redemption of those around us.
• We are the ones called to extend the arms of God’s embrace, put our healing hands of blessing on the shoulders of broken people, clothe them with a redeemed identity in Christ and set the festive table of celebration.
• That is Jesus’ mission – it must become that of his disciples as well (that’s us).  What a high calling!
• Nouwen’s book has meant a lot to Sara and me as we have struggled with not being able to have kids.  It is so clear that we can be – and are called to be – used by God to be fathers and mothers to many around us, regardless of age, desperately in need of hands of God’s blessing and restoration upon their shoulders.
• Praise God for the immense joy that this calling brings and the “life to the full” that our response, even very imperfectly, provides.
• Jesus packs the entire gospel into this short story in perhaps the most potent form ever conceived.  No sermon ever preached can rival this.
• I John 3:1 from above: “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!”
• Living in this reality, may we experience the same joy and amazement contained in John’s two exclamation points today . . . in our gratitude, may God use us to pour out his blessing, healing and restoration on those around us.

Wisdom

“The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.”

Proverbs 18:10

A Prayer

“I cried out to God for help; I cried out to God to hear me.  When I was in distress, I sought the Lord; at night I stretched out my untiring hands and my soul refused to be comforted.

I remember you, O God, and I groaned; I mused and my spirit grew faint.  You kept my eyes from closing; I was too troubled to speak.  I thought about the former days, the years of long ago; I remembered my songs in the night.  My heart mused and my spirit inquired.

Then I thought, ‘To this I will appeal; the years of the right hand of the Most High.’  I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.  I will meditate on all your works and consider your mighty deeds.

Your ways, O God, are holy.  What god is so great as our God?”

Psalm 77:1-6, 10-13

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