Luke
15:1-3, 11b-end (NRSV)
1Now all the tax-collectors and sinners were coming near
to listen to him. 2And the Pharisees and the
scribes were grumbling and saying, ‘This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with
them.’ 3 So he told them this parable:
The Parable
of the Prodigal and His Brother
11 Then Jesus said,
‘There was a man who had two sons. 12The younger of them said to
his father, “Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.”
So he divided his property between them. 13A few days later the younger
son gathered all he had and travelled to a distant country, and there he
squandered his property in dissolute living. 14When he had spent everything,
a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. 15So he went and hired himself out to one
of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. 16He would gladly have filled himself with
the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything.17But when he came to himself
he said, “How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare,
but here I am dying of hunger!18I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him,
‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; 19I am no longer worthy to be called your
son; treat me like one of your hired hands.’ ” 20So 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. 21Then the son said to him, “Father, I
have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called
your son.” 22But 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. 23And get the fatted calf and
kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; 24for this son of mine was dead and is
alive again; he was lost and is found!” And they began to celebrate.
25 ‘Now his elder son was
in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and
dancing. 26He called one of the slaves
and asked what was going on. 27He replied, “Your brother has
come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back
safe and sound.” 28Then he became angry and
refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. 29But 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.30But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your
property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!” 31Then the father said to him, “Son, you are always with
me, and all that is mine is yours. 32But 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.”
My text is Luke
15.20:
20So 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.
I love the way
that William Barclay breaks with convention in his heading and changes the
focus from prodigal son to loving father. It is not without reason
that this is one of the greatest short stories in the world. McBride suggests
that this is ‘… one of the most touching and exquisite short stories in the
pages of world literature … a story that speaks of the boundless mercy and
understanding of God.’
Under Jewish
law, a father could not leave his property as he wished; the elder son got two
thirds and the younger one-third (Deut 21.17). It was also not uncommon for a
father to divide up his estate before he died if he wanted to retire. But there
is nevertheless a certain heartlessness in the request of the younger son in
this story as we read in verse 12: “Father, give me
the share of the property that will belong to me …” because, in effect he is
saying: “Give me now the part of the estate I will get anyway when you are
dead, and let me get out of here!” The father did not argue, probably because
he did know that if the son was going to learn anything, it was going to be the
hard way – so he gave him what he requested. In no time, he had squandered it
all and was reduced to feeding pigs – a task that was strictly forbidden to any
Jew because their law stated: “Cursed is he who feeds swine.”
Verse 17 is
wonderfully unselfconscious and easily missed but a wonderful blessing – “When he came to himself …” Barclay, in
his typically insightful manner comments:
“… Jesus paid sinning mankind the greatest compliment
it has ever been paid … Jesus believed that so long as a person is away from
God, they are not truly themselves; they are only truly themselves when they
are on the way home …” (adapted)
Contrary to my
earlier theological thinking, it seems as though Jesus did not believe in total depravity; he never believed that such a
thought could do true justice to our uniqueness and specialness in the sight of
God. There is always something there even though it is heavily shrouded when we
are found in sin.
The son decided
to return home and plead to be taken back even as one of the lowest ranks in
his father’s household, one of the hired servants. And he prepared an eloquent
speech he was going to give to his father.
This is so
important. Barclay explains: It is all too easy to gloss over the need for
acknowledging sin and true repentance. It is clear that repentance was integral
to our Lord’s message. Not to challenge sin is to do humankind a great
disservice. To let people think that the
way they are living – if it is contrary to the ways of Christ – is okay – it to
leave them in a state when they are not truly themselves; it clouds the path to
‘home’ and people are not given a fair chance to reach their fullest potential,
because they remain lost.
The father
could not wait to receive him and broke in before the son could even request to
be a servant. The gifts the father gave the son are rich in symbolism: cloak – status; ring – authority; shoes –
freedom (remember the spiritual: “… all
God’s chillen got shoes …”).
This
parable should never have had the title The
Prodigal Son, for the son is not the hero; it should be called the Parable of the Loving Father because it
tells of a father’s love much more than a son’s sin. MacBride reminds us of how
the father was so consumed with love for his younger son that he did not even
need to hear the well-prepared speech – he just wanted to forgive and accept
and affirm and welcome his son home. What a beautiful picture of God and the
way he relates to all people. He is not happy with our sin and he does not want
us to sin, not because he is offended by it – but because he knows that it
destroys us and alienates us from true fulfilment and happiness. In ancient times, it was not considered
dignified for an older man to run, but the father is not interested in protocol
or even dignity – just the joy and the love for those who come home.
It
tells us much of the forgiveness of God. According to the parable, the father
must have been watching, hoping and waiting for the son to return, because
verse 20 tells how the father saw the son ‘… while he was still far off ...”
When they met, the son was forgiven – without question.
There
are many different ways of forgiveness. Barclay explains: (i) when it is given
begrudgingly; (ii) as a ‘favour’ (iii) worst of all when there is always some
doubt, no matter how small, that it was not given wholeheartedly and with
sincerity. God forgives us unconditionally! He tells of how Abraham Lincoln was
asked how he was going to treat the defeated southerners, expecting to be told
of punishment and vengeance, but instead he replied: “I will treat them as if
they had never been away.”
God
treats us even better. When we turn away and sin, He, like the Father in the
parable, looks out for us and longs for our return. This is so amazing that I
have to confess that I struggle to accept it while knowing it is true. Can the
Creator and Sustainer of all that there is feel this way about me? Yes –
because this is the message of Jesus
as recorded in the Scriptures.
It is important to be reminded of one of the constituents
Jesus was addressing – the Pharisees – who are portrayed as the older brother,
because they, in their self-righteousness would rather see a sinner destroyed
than saved. Barclay points out that there are certain things about him that
stands out:
·
His obedience to his father had
probably been out of s sense of duty rather than love;
·
His attitude was one of lack of
sympathy: he refers to the prodigal as “… your son …” rather than as “… my
brother …”. ;
·
He has a particularly nasty mind: -
there is no mention of prostitutes until he mentions them. Barclay suggests
that “… he suspected his brother of the sins he himself would have liked to
commit …”
Yet – as LeVerdiere reminds us – the Father relates to the
older son in as generous a way as he does to the younger son. Luke uses the
word the father uses when addressing the older son as teknon – my dear son. McBride explains how this is a parable of a
Father who has lost both his sons: the younger to a far off country, the older
to the ‘… wilderness of his own hostility’; the younger thought he would find
happiness in the new and unfamiliar, only to realize that it was in the heart
of the familiar. The older one remained with the ‘familiar’, but he was ‘… such
a stranger to the love and joy that surrounded him that he might as well have
been in a strange and alien land …’ The younger son experienced a krisis that led him to a kairos, the older son remained unmoved
and so unchanged and lost in his selfishness. The younger son returned home;
the older son remained far from ‘home’. The father wants both sons to come home
and join in the party. Did the older son change? – Did his krisis lead to a kairos?
We don’t know, for Jesus does not say.
Sadly, the world today is filled with younger and older sons
– those whose sin is obvious and those who think they have got it all, and
whose sin is probably not even acknowledged. And God continues to love us all
and longs for all of us to return home. McBride suggests that ‘… perhaps the
story of the older brother is still being told …’
Let us all be open to the leading and guiding of the Holy
Spirit, sensitive to the prompting we so often receive to deal with any sin
that lurks in our lives. Let us realize that our Father is waiting for our
return from the many needless journeys we make taking us away from home to a
place of alienation and loss. Le us set off and go to our father. And we will notice that
while we are still far off, our father will see us and will be filled with
compassion; he will run and put his arms around us and kissed us.
References:
Barclay, W, Daily Study Bible: Luke
La Verdiere, E,
Luke
McBride, D, The Gospel of Luke
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