The Ungreatful Brother

As you know in our morning worship we have been talking about parables of Jesus. Troy and Randy asked Justin and Greg to tackle one of Jesus’s Parables in about 30 minutes. Well, they have asked me to tackle three parables so I’m assuming that means that I have an hour and a half to tackle these three parables. So let’s get right to it.

Theses three parables are found in Luke 15 so please be turning there. For all of you who may be anxious let me reassure you that we will not be going an hour and a half because what we are going to see is that all though there are three separate Parables they actually all have the same meaning.

So with that let’s dive right into these three parables.

Luke 15:1–3 ESV

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” So he told them this parable:

Its very important that we don’t over look these two verses. Often times when we look at these parables we like to skip to verse 4 where Jesus begins telling the first parable. (introduction and preface).

But if we do that we can very easily misunderstand what the parables are all about because there is some important information about these parables given in these two verses. What do we learn? ( I’m gonna be asking lots of questions)

Audience- Jesus, Sinners, Pharisees and Scribes. To best understand these parables its important that we understand the relationship between the Pharisees and tax collectors and sinners.

The Pharisees cannot believe that Jesus is spending so much time eating and fellowshiping with sinners. The Pharisees believed that in order to please God that you need to not have anything to do with these kind of people. This relationship is going to play a major theme in these three parables.

2. Why he told the parables- Because they were grumbling that he was associating with Sinners.

Often times the characters in the parables represent specific people. And such is the case with these three parables.

So with what we have gathered from these three verses let’s read through the first two parables and then I want us to try and answer a few more questions.

Lets see if we can:

1. Identify who the main characters are

2. Identify the three key words or themes in each passage.(6,9,24,32)

3. Learn what Jesus is trying to teach the audience.

Luke 15:4–7 ESV

“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

Luke 15:8–10 ESV

“Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

In the first parable who are the main characters?

Lost Sheep (Sinners)

Man or Shepherd (Jesus)

Who are the main characters in the second?

Woman (Jesus)

Lost Coin ( Sinners)

What three key words or themes are found in each parable?(6,9,)

Lost, found, rejoice

So now that we know the answer to these two questions what is the meaning behind the parables?

Jesus or anyone who loves like Jesus will go to great lengths to save even just one sinner.

And when one sinner goes from being lost to found how are we to respond?

with rejoicing

Ok so the first two parables are pretty straight forward. Its when we get to the third parable that we can sometimes loose our focus about what these parables are about.

Luke 15:11–32 ESV

And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything. “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.” ’ And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate. “Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’ ”

OK so let’s answer the same questions that we did before.

Who are the main characters?

Father- (God)

Youngest Son (Sinner)

Oldest son ( Pharisees)

What are the three key words or themes in this parable.(24,32)

Lost, Found, Rejoice

Now before we together, put all this information together to try and determine what the meaning of this parable means, let me ask you when you hear this most famous parable taught what is usually the take away?

Jesus is always there with open arms.

Is that a true statement? YES!

Although that is a true statement and one that can be taught from this parable, I believe that this truth is not the main point that Jesus is trying to communicate.

I think one of the reasons why we draw this point out the most in this parable is becasue we have maybe focused on the wrong character and thus wrongly titled this parable.

A more accurate title I would suggest would be something like the Ungrateful Brother.

The key to understanding this and understanding what Jesus is trying to communicate is to remember who he is communicating to and remembering what led him to teach these parables.

The scribes and Pharisees

Fellowshipping with sinners

I want to suggest to you today that the older brother is the main character in this last parable. Not the younger brother, known as the prodigal.

You see what Jesus is doing here is tying all three of these parables together by ending it by focusing on the older brother which represents the Pharisees the very people that he was telling these parables for.

You see I imagine that Jesus after telling the first two parables could read it all over the Pharisees faces that they didn’t get what these first two parables had to do with Jesus eating with tax collects and especially they didn’t understand what these parables had to do with them. So Jesus tells one more parable and ends the final parable focusing on them.

Let me ask you; what was the response in the first two parables when the lost was found? Rejoicing!

OK, what was the response of the older brother (the Pharisees) when the younger brother who represents the sinner was found?

He was mad. No rejoicing

So what is Jesus point? Jesus is trying to teach the pharisees how they should respond to sinners returning home.

Jesus is saying you should not be mad that I am spending all this time with sinners. Instead you should be excited. And every time one of these sinners who I’m spending all this time with repents you should be celebrating like the angels in Heaven.

The main point of all three of these parables is rejoicing.

You remember our three key words?

Jesus says when one of these things or people are lost but then found the normal response is rejoicing but you Pharisees don’t get it.

A lot of Jesus teaching is an indictment on the people of that day like the Pharisees, because they were not the kind of people that they were supposed to be and so these stories call for us to be different. These stories calls us to be the people that they should have been.

We must be people who rejoice when a sinner goes from being lost to saved.

So if the main take away from these parables is the response of the older brother let’s in the time that we have take a closer look at his response starting in verse 25 and see what application we can take from these three parables.

Luke 15:25–32 ESV

“Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’ ”

There are several lessons and things that stand out to me in these verses.

The first things that stands out to me is how he refers to his younger brother.

He doesn't say when my brother came back. Rather he says when that son of yours came back. You know that good for nothing son of yours.

Have you ever known anyone who is a Christian but yet maybe they did some horrible things maybe even did or said horrible things to or about you.

And then that person realized their wrong and asked for forgiveness and returned home. That person was restored and now is doing everything that can to serve God.

Often times it can be easy to not want to welcome them home. or to like in this case not refer to them as your brother in Christ.

Jesus is teaching us here that are attitude no matter who it is or what they have done. They are still our brother and sister and we must be the kind of people who are willing to forgive and welcome them back as family. We must be the people who are willing to throw them a welcome home party.

2. The second thing that stands out to me is that the older brother was furious that his younger brother was justified. He was mad becasue his father did not punish his brother. He was mad because his brother was restored to the family just as if he had not sinned.

I think sometimes we need to be careful that we don’t fall into the same trap as the older brother did.

Often times we get mad when bad people don’t get what we think they deserve.

Maybe someone you know treated you horribly and then they came to their senses and realized that they were living wrong and so they came home.

You see we need to realize that when this is our response what we are doing is refusing to acknowledge that at any point in our lives that we too were the lost son. We need to remember that we have all been in the same condition as the lost son becasue we have all been lost without the grace of Jesus Christ.

3. The next thing that stood out to me as I studied these three parables is kind of a side lesson, one that relates maybe more to us today than it did to them back then because of the culture that we live in.

And that is we need to do a better job at knowing who are brothers and sisters are having deeper relationships with them because in order to respond correctly when a brother or sister of ours returns we must have had to recognize that they were gone before we can be happy that they have returned.

Sometimes we are so self centered and self focused that we don’t even recognize when someone is gone.

Do you know who your bothers and sisters are to the point that if they are not with you that you miss them and eagerly wait for their return?

4. Finally, the last observation that I want us to see from this passage is sometimes when we think we are in the saved camp we are actually the one who who was lost.

The older son was lost and didn’t even know it so the father had to go onto the porch outside and get him. And the Parable ends with the Older brother having to make a decision are you going to come home like you younger brother or are you going to stay on the porch.

Don’t stay on the porch