The Bible Binge: Sinners at Jesus' Table (Luke 15:11-32)

Negative Associations

Nine years ago, the German car maker Volkswagen admitted that it had been cheating on emission standards for years. Over the course of the year, Volkswagen paid billions of dollars in fines, settled lawsuits, and pulled cars in for recalls. When it was all said and done, Volkswagen lost 33% of its value as its sales plummeted. People stopped buying their cars… not because there was anything wrong with their cars, but because there was a negative association with the brand. Associate with the wrong kind of person, or wrong kind of value and you will find yourself canceled. Negative associations.

A few generations ago, tennis great Andre Agassi was a pitchman for a camera company and he told us again and again that “Image is everything”. The image of success means making sure that there are no negative associations. Don’t do anything or be seen by anyone who will damage the image. Make sure you always look your best. Be seen with only the best. Spend your time with only those who themselves look like the best and strive for being the best.

This can happen in church. I remember finding myself on the wrong end of negative association in church. A few long years ago, I was seen giving a hug to a person considered by many to be immoral and not an upstanding citizen. I was approached after the church service by some well-meaning individuals who took me aside and said, “You know who that is, right? You know what they do, right? You know what kind of activities they involve themselves in, right?” Heaven forbid that person get a hug. Negative associations lead to negative accusations.

As we make our way though the book of Luke on our Bible Binge, the storyline is getting to be a little uncomfortable. Because we are confronted with a man who doesn’t play by those rules. He somehow failed to read “the seven habits of the most successful people.” He is more than willing to be seen with an identified with the outcasts and sinners. That’s the backdrop for our story today. And here’s the Bible Project summary:

Video

This may be the most popular story Jesus ever told. It is a story. It is a parable. It’s not a true story. Jesus tells this story to make a point. But I tend to think we miss Jesus’ point. We get it all wrong. We come to this story and we’re looking for the moral of the story, as if this is a story like Aesop’s fables.. meant for us to reflect on our behavior, see the good morality here and then change our behavior based on this story.

What the story of the prodigal son is not:

This is not a warning about becoming like the prodigal.

This is not about us coming to our senses in making a choice.

This is not a systematic theology on true repentance.

This is not a warning about having the older brother’s bad attitude.

There are many things this story is not. The first is this. This is not a warning about becoming like the prodigal. This is not a morality tale about not spending all of your money on sinful living and staying home with father to begin with. Don't be like the prodigal. Don't get yourself into the pig sty in the first place. As if the older brother is in the right here. The older brother actually comes out looking really bad here, to the point where at the end of it, there is something to be said that Jesus does not want us to be the older brother. This story is not a warning about sinful living.

The second thing. This is not about coming to our senses in making a choice for better living. You heard it in the story right? "When he came to his senses" he decided to go back to his father. So this story is told in a way to challenge all of us to come to our senses in our sin and understand just how good life is when we are right with God. That is not what this story is about. Coming to his sense is a swing point in the story, but probably not in the way we've tended to think about it.

The third thing. This is not a systematic theology on true repentance.Just how is it that we can repent our way back into our Father's good graces? We make a checklist. Come to our senses. Acknowledge our sin. Acknowledge how unworthy we are. Get out of the pigpen and leave the life of sin. Go back to the Father and throw ourselves at his mercy. Check. Check. Check. Check. Check. If we approach the text like this, we've butchered the message Jesus is attempting to speak. The parable is not a theology of repentance. It's a parable. Parables are not Aesop's fables for a moral lesson, nor are they deep troves of doctrinal propositions and bullet points telling us the finer points of heady theology.

And finally, just like it’s not about avoid being like the prodigal, this is also not a warning about becoming like the older brother. That’s also a morality play. Sometimes the way this story is told… be like the older brother, but don’t have his negative attitude toward the younger brother. Lose the attitude. Otherwise, be like the older, obedient brother.

What’s the Prodigal son about?

What is the story of the prodigal really about? The question we need to ask is this: what does Jesus want us to see in this story? He gives us the clue before he even tells the story. As the video points out, this story is aimed at the religious leaders and their criticism. Here’s what Jesus says is the point of the story at the very beginning of the chapter:

Luke 15:1–2 All the tax collectors and sinners were approaching to listen to him. And the Pharisees and scribes were complaining, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

Tax collectors are the outcasts. They are the ones who are in cahoots with the big, bad Romans. They are shunned by society. The sinners are those who are unclean. Because of their notorious behavior and life choices, they are not allowed in the temple or at religious gatherings. Sinners.. thieves, cons, sex workers, mafia types. And Jesus is eating with all of the them.

Nobody saw that coming. That’s not expected of the One who is supposed to be Israel’s Champion, the one who is going to be the New Moses and the New David and establish the throne in Jerusalem forever. You don’t expect that guy to identify with the swindlers and sex workers in the red light district. That’s not good for the brand. That’s not good for the image. That's not going to help raise the value of the stock on Wall Street.

The story of the Prodigal Son is Jesus’ defense of His love and grace in eating with sinners and an indictment of those who refuse to celebrate those who eat with Jesus.

In fact, this is the purpose for all of these stories in this chapter. Jesus knows what the religious leaders have been saying and so now, his answer is to tell the story of all stories as He doubles down on identifying with the notorious and sinners. There’s this father and two sons. With one of the sons, there’s absolutely nothing positive to say. He’s the worst of the worst:

He asks for his inheritance before dad dies

He blows the inheritance on wild living

He gets a job feeding pigs

The first two set him up as the ultimate party animal who cares only about himself. Sons only get their inheritance if dad dies. He wants his now… and the implication is that he can’t wait for dad to die. He takes that inheritance and lives it up. Foolish living is the term here. And the last is a social no-no. Jewish were not to own pigs or work with pigs. You were an outcast. This son checks all the boxes of being a tax collector and sinner. So much so, as the son reflects on the situation, he’s no longer worthy to be called a son.

The Jewish audience listening to this would have immediately cast judgment on this son. There’s nothing right about him. But that’s where Jesus drives home the point of the story. The contrast with this son is a Father who is doing all of the wrong things, things they would never do:

The father graciously distributes his assets to both of his sons.

The father saw the prodigal and was filled with compassion. (while he was a long way off)

The father ran, threw his arms around his neck, and kissed the prodigal.

The father brings out the best robe and puts it on the prodigal;

The father puts a ring on the prodigal's finger and sandals on his feet.

The father brings the fattened calf and slaughters it for the prodigal.

The father celebrates the death and resurrection of the prodigal with a feast.

This is the shock value of the story. This father does exactly the opposite of what we would do. He doesn’t just identify with the son. He feasts with the son. This is the quite shocking story of the gracious, compassionate, and loving father who stops at nothing to celebrate a son who doesn't deserve it. The father here is full of shock value. At the very beginning of the story, the son asks for his inheritance before the father is room temperature and the father unbelievably grants the request and give his inheritance to both sons. The prodigal doesn't catch the father by surprise. The father is waiting and watching and is filled with compassion. The father runs to the son before he even has a chance to hear the son's story (because he already knows the story). The robe, the ring, the sandals… the father doesn’t just run to his son, but he gives him all the full rights and benefits of sonship. The father has a calf “sacrificed”… that’s the original word here… and the father celebrates with a feast. The son wastes His father’s material wealth. The father celebrates His son with his wealth.

The focus is on the father

All of this is the Father’s doing. The focus is on the Father. The focus is on his grace toward one who does not deserve it. The focus is on forgiveness. There’s no mention of what the prodigal has done with the inheritance. It’s forgiven. The focus is on celebration and feasting over a death and resurrection, over what was lost being found. It’s as if in this story the father has been living for this moment… to eat and feast with His son.

The son here is totally passive. The son doesn’t deserve any of this. In fact, if you break down what he wants the father to do, make him a servant… this is a self-serving confession. It’s not even repentance. It’s penance. I’m going to make this up to you. I’m going to pay you back. I don’t need grace, I don’t want grace. I will make this right. This is what the world wants in repentance. Making everything right. Changing the life. The Father’s grace is a rejection of all that. The Father isn’t simply ignoring what the son is saying. The father here, says, no… this isn’t about you. This is about me. This is about us and our relationship. I’m going to be the one to make this right. I restore you. The only thing you have to do is let me eat with you as a son. Receive your sonship as a gift of grace. There’s no earning this. The gracious father eats with sinners.

But there’s one more thing: Did you notice the very last thing mentioned in this story? The older son is holding on to all of his self-righteousness and self-sufficiency, with no desire to forgive the prodigal. He can’t wait to point out other people’s sins. He measures other people by their sins, their flaws. And he think we deserve the father’s grace. He stayed out of trouble. He’s morally upright. He wrote the book on what it means to be a highly successful Christian. He gives seminars on how to avoid sin. He’s not like the sinners. To that older son, the Father says this:

Luke 15:32 “We had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ ”

We had to celebrate and…. Rejoice. We had to. We. We had no choice but to celebrate. It’s not enough to put the robe on. It’s not enough to give the ring. Or even the embrace and kiss. No… kill the fatted calf. Let’s go all out. Let’s celebrate with a feast. This is the Father making everything right again. The grace. The forgiveness. The all-sufficient father who lacks nothing actually celebrate s and delights in forgiving sinners and giving them a resurrection… in finding what was lost and making everything right. We had to.

We had to

Those three words. We had to. That’s the heart of Jesus. Jesus has been telling his own story. The father in the story is Jesus. Jesus, of course, is telling this story for the benefit of his audience. Jesus has been accused of eating with sinners. Let me tell you a story. About sinners. And eating. Yes, I eat with sinners. Jesus has to eat with sinners. That’s the shock. That’s stupendous. There’s only one thing that matters in the story: the father eating and feasting with His terrible son. Here’s the shocker:

Jesus isn’t happy unless he’s eating with sinners. Jesus must have sinners at His Table.

What would life look like if we lived every day knowing that all of us are prodigals who are loved by Jesus? What would life look like if we lived as if Jesus can’t wait to throw a banquet for us sinners? What’s your first thought when you sin? When you say something that shouldn’t be said or you do something that isn’t in the best interest of your spouse, your friend, or colleague? Whatever. Is your first thought… I’m going to make this up. I’m going to fix this. I’m going to do six good things to make up for the one wrong thing. That’s not the gospel. That’s penance and penance is not the gospel. What if your first thought was “I’m forgiven”. “I’m loved.”

We cannot out-sin God’s grace. We’re always welcome at Jesus’ table. No caveats. No strings. No yes, buts. Repentance in this story is simply wanting to be with Jesus at His Table. The only requirement is that we receive his grace in faith. That we hear his pronouncement that we are sons and daughters of the Father and believe it in faith. That we rest in faith in a Savior who always loves us and forgives us. He has died for us so that He can eat and feast and celebrate with us. Sinners.

Let’s Pray.

The Table

The father throws a feast. A celebration. There are echoes of the Table in this story. The fatted calf is sacrificed. This is a celebration of sons and daughters who are Loved By Jesus, who have been made God’s children in the death and resurrection of Jesus. This is where forgiveness is both received and celebrated. Life is both received and celebrated. Jesus wants you at His Table where he eats and feasts with sinners. In fact, only sinners are allowed here.

Benediction

Numbers 6:24–26

May the Lord bless you and protect you;

may the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;

may the Lord look with favor on you and give you peace.