Two Sons, One Father

Introduction: The Speech on the Way Home

How many of you have ever rehearsed an apology?

Kids, I'd guess you know this one.

You broke something, or you said something you shouldn't have, and now you have to go find Mom or Dad.

The whole walk down the hall you're practicing.

Grown-ups do the same thing. We just do it in the car.

There's the speech for the boss, the speech for your wife, the speech for the neighbor whose mailbox you backed into.

By the time you pull in the driveway you've given it four times.

Why do we rehearse?

Because we don't know how we're going to be received. So we build a speech to protect ourselves.

First I'll say I'm sorry.

Then I'll explain what happened.

Then I'll promise it won't happen again.

This morning we're going to read about a young man who rehearsed a speech all the way home, and a father who wouldn't let him finish it.

Then we'll meet his brother. He had a speech too. His had been building for years.

Most of us have heard this parable our whole lives. We call it the prodigal son, and that's good.

Jesus starts it another way, though.

A man had two sons.

So this is really the parable of the two sons and their father.

Turn to Luke 15.

Why Jesus Told It

Start with the first three verses of the chapter. They tell you why this story exists.

Luke 15:1–3 CSB

1 All the tax collectors and sinners were approaching to listen to him. 2 And the Pharisees and scribes were complaining, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” 3 So he told them this parable:

There are two crowds around Jesus.

One crowd is pressing in close.

Tax collectors, men who got rich working for Rome and skimming off their neighbors.

And sinners , people everybody in town knew had a past.

The other crowd is standing back with their arms folded.

Pharisees and scribes.

These were serious men. They knew their Bibles. They tithed. They prayed.

And they're complaining.

Listen to the complaint. This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.

In that world, the table meant something.

You ate with family and friends, with people you accepted.

The religious leaders couldn't understand how a teacher from God could sit down to supper with people like that.

So Jesus answers the grumble with three stories.

A shepherd has a hundred sheep and loses one. He leaves the ninety-nine, goes after the lost one until he finds it, carries it home on his shoulders, and throws a party.

A woman has ten silver coins and loses one. She lights a lamp, sweeps the whole house, and searches until she finds it. Then she calls in her friends to celebrate.

Then a man with two sons.

Jesus is counting down as he goes. One out of a hundred. One out of ten. Now one out of two.

And by the end of the third story you start to wonder whether it's two out of two.

Keep those grumblers in the back of your mind while we read.

All three stories are answers to them.

This third one has a character in it who talks exactly the way they do.

The Younger Son: A Speech for the Road

Here's how it begins:

Luke 15:11–16 CSB

11 He also said, “A man had two sons. 12 The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate I have coming to me.’ So he distributed the assets to them. 13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered together all he had and traveled to a distant country, where he squandered his estate in foolish living. 14 After he had spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he had nothing. 15 Then he went to work for one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to eat his fill from the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one would give him anything.

Think about what he's asking for.

An inheritance comes when your father dies. Under the law of Moses the older son received a double share, Deuteronomy 21:17, so with two sons the younger stood to get a third of the estate.

He wants it now. He can't wait for the funeral. In that culture, it was about as close as a son could come to saying he wished his father were already gone.

And the father gives it to him.

Look at the last line of verse 12. He distributed the assets to them.

To them.

Both sons got their share that day. Hang on to that. It matters at the end of the story.

Then it goes the way you'd expect.

Not many days later… He sells out, takes the money, and gets as far from home as he can.

He wastes it. Kids, that's the simplest way to say it. Everything his father worked a lifetime to build, gone.

Then the famine comes, and he winds up feeding pigs. For a Jewish audience, you couldn't sink lower. Pigs were unclean. He's working for a foreigner, tending animals he isn't allowed to eat, and he's jealous of what's in their trough.

The friends were gone when the money was.Not many days later.No one would give him anything.

Then comes the turn:

Luke 15:17–19 CSB

17 When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have more than enough food, and here I am dying of hunger! 18 I’ll get up, go to my father, and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. 19 I’m no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired workers.” ’

Let's be honest about what brings him to his senses. It's his stomach.

His first thought is about food. The hired workers back home are eating better than he is.

That's all right. God has used an empty stomach to bring a lot of people home. His motives aren't pure yet. They don't have to be.

Then he writes his speech.

He starts with a confession, and it's a good one.

Luke 15:18 CSB

18 I’ll get up, go to my father, and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight.

Then he admits what he's lost.

Luke 15:19 CSB

19 I’m no longer worthy to be called your son.

Then comes the proposal.

Luke 15:19 CSB

19 Make me like one of your hired workers.” ’

The CSB says hired workers.

Some of us grew up hearing hired servants or hired workers.

It's the same man either way.

A hired worker was a day laborer. He didn't live in the house. He was paid for what he did that day, and his place on the farm was only as good as his last week of work.

That's the plan. The son figures he can't be family anymore, but maybe he can earn a wage. Work off what he owes. Eat on the porch. Prove himself one day at a time.

Most of us know that plan.

It's how a lot of people come back to God. know I can't be what I was. Just let me work. Let me earn my way back into good standing.

So he gets up, with the speech memorized, and starts the long walk home.

The Father Runs

Now read verse 20 slowly:

Luke 15:20 CSB

20 So he got up and went to his father. But while the son was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran, threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him.

While the son was still a long way off…his father saw him.

You don't spot somebody a long way off unless you've been looking.

That father had been watching the road. How many evenings had he stood at the edge of the property, looking down it?

Filled with compassion.

It's a word Luke uses for Jesus at the funeral of the widow's son in Nain, Luke 7:13, and for the Samaritan who stopped on the Jericho road, Luke 10:33.

It's the kind of compassion you feel in your gut.

He ran.

Men of standing in that world didn't run.

An older man in long robes carried himself with dignity. To run, he'd have to gather up his robe and show his legs, in front of the whole village. It was undignified.

He may have had another reason to hurry. A son who'd disgraced his family like that wasn't going to get a warm reception walking through town. Neighbors have long memories. So the father gets to him out on the road, before the village does.

Whatever shame gets handed out that day, the father takes it on himself.

He threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him.

The son hasn't said a word yet.

The embrace came before the speech.

The kiss came before the confession.

Now watch what happens when the son finally gets to talk:

Luke 15:21–24 CSB

21 The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I’m no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 “But the father told his servants, ‘Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Then bring the fattened calf and slaughter it, and let’s celebrate with a feast, 24 because this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ So they began to celebrate.

Lay verse 21 next to verse 19. Something's missing.

He gets the confession out. He gets out I’m no longer worthy.

He never gets to make me like one of your hired workers.

Verse 22 says

Luke 15:22 CSB

22 “But the father told his servants, ‘Quick!

The father cuts him off. The confession is heard.

The job application never gets read.

Instead the father answers with three gifts, and every one of them says son.

Luke 15:22 CSB

22 Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.

The best robe.

The finest one in the house, very likely the father's own. It covers the rags and the smell of the pigs.

Anybody who sees that boy walk through the village now knows his father has received him.

Put a ring on his finger.

A signet ring carried the family's authority.

When Pharaoh raised Joseph over Egypt, he took the signet ring off his own hand and put it on Joseph's, Genesis 41:42.

Nobody hands a day laborer the family seal.

Sandals on his feet.

Servants often went barefoot. Sons wore shoes. He walked home barefoot. He walks into the house shod.

Now, v. 23:

Luke 15:23 CSB

23 Then bring the fattened calf and slaughter it, and let’s celebrate with a feast,

the fattened calf, the one they'd been saving for a special day.

This was the day.

Listen to how the father says it.

Luke 15:24 CSB

24 because this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ So they began to celebrate.

He came home angling for employment. He was restored as family.

What did he do to earn any of it?

He came home hungry, with mixed motives and a speech that was half wrong. That's all.

The father didn't wait for better motives or a better speech. He ran.

Some of you this morning know the far country.

You don't need anybody to describe it to you.

Maybe you're still out there. Maybe you've started the walk home and you're rehearsing what you'll say, trying to work out how long you'll have to sit on the porch before God lets you back in the house.

Here's what Jesus says about the Father. He's been watching the road. He runs.

The Older Son: A Hired Hand's Speech

If Jesus had stopped at verse 24, this would be the happiest story in the Bible. He doesn't stop.

Luke 15:25–28 CSB

25 “Now his older son was in the field; as he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he summoned one of the servants, questioning what these things meant. 27 ‘Your brother is here,’ he told him, ‘and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ 28 “Then he became angry and didn’t want to go in.

Now his older son was in the field.

Of course he was. He'd been out in that field every day his brother was gone.

He comes in at the end of the day and hears music. And he has to call a servant over to ask what's going on in his own father's house.

The servant understands it better than he does. Your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.

The party is about a father getting his boy back.

Then he became angry and didn't want to go in.

Now he gets his speech. Here it is:

Luke 15:29–30 CSB

29 But he replied to his father, ‘Look, I have been slaving many years for you, and I have never disobeyed your orders, yet you never gave me a goat so that I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your assets with prostitutes, you slaughtered the fattened calf for him.’

Listen to it one piece at a time.

Look.

That's his first word.

His brother opened with Father.

I have been slaving many years for you.

The older son opens the way a man opens a complaint with his supervisor.

The word means to serve as a slave. That's how he describes all those years in his father's house.

I have never disobeyed your orders.

Orders. It's the vocabulary of the bunkhouse.

He's been keeping a ledger. Years of work in one column. In the other column, not so much as a goat.

This son of yours.

He won't call him his brother.

who has devoured your assets with prostitutes.

Go back and read verse 13. Jesus only told us foolish living.

The older brother supplies the worst version himself. He hasn't seen his brother in years, and he already knows exactly what he did.

Now step back and hear what just happened.

The younger son rehearsed a hired hand's speech in a pigpen.

The older son had been living one for years, right there at home. He never left the farm. He never once acted like a son on it.

When you boil it down, both of these boys had the same idea about their father. They thought he was an employer.

The younger one figured he'd lost his place as a son, so the best he could hope for was a job.

The older one figured his years of work had earned him something his father owed him.

They were both doing the math. Neither one knew his father.

And you can see why the grumblers in verse 2 would have gone quiet here.

A few chapters later, Jesus tells about a Pharisee who prays in the temple, and his prayer is a ledger too:

Luke 18:12 CSB

12 I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get.’

These were the men who had never left home.

They'd kept the rules. They'd kept the count.

And now they're standing outside, angry that Jesus is feasting with people who came back from the far country.

They'd have recognized that voice. It sounded a lot like theirs.

The Father Goes Out Again

Go back to the second half of verse 28:

Luke 15:28 CSB

28 So his father came out and pleaded with him.

Read that again.

The father ran down a road for one son. Now he walks out of his own party for the other.

The older son has just shamed him in front of every guest at that feast.

A father in that world would have been within his rights to send word that the boy could come in or stay out, and that would be the end of it.

He doesn't send a servant. He goes himself, and he pleads. The word carries the idea of coming alongside someone, urging him, comforting him.

The father left the house for both of his sons.

Then the father answers the speech:

Luke 15:31–32 CSB

31 “ ‘Son,’ he said to him, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ ”

Son.

He was just greeted with Look.

He answers with Son.

The boy talked like a slave.

The father talks like a father.

You are always with me.

Every breakfast. Every evening on the porch. All those years, the thing that mattered most was right there beside him, and he'd treated it like a job.

Everything I have is Yours…

Remember verse 12.

The father divided his property between them.

The older son's share was already his.

Every animal in that pasture was his, goats included.

He could have thrown a party any night he wanted.

He'd been standing in the inheritance the whole time, living like a beggar in his own house.

He was angry about a goat while he owned the herd.

This brother of yours.

The older son said this son of yours.

The father hands his brother back to him.

When God brings a person home, he brings them home to a family.

You can't come in to the Father's table and refuse to sit with your brother.

A Story Without an Ending

And then Jesus stops. That's where the story ends.

We know how the younger son's story turns out. Robe, ring, sandals, and a feast.

We never find out whether the older brother went in.

The last picture Jesus gives us is a father standing in the yard, pleading, a son with his arms folded, and music coming through the windows.

Why would Jesus leave it there?

Because the men he was telling it to hadn't decided yet.

The Pharisees and scribes in verse 2 are standing in that yard. They can hear the celebration of sinners eating with Jesus, and they won't go in.

Jesus leaves the ending blank because they're the ones who have to write it.

Now go all the way back to their complaint one more time. This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.

They meant it as an accusation. It turns out to be the best news in the chapter.

It's exactly what the father does in the story. He runs to the son who's been in the pigs, and he throws a feast.

The grumblers were watching the Father's welcome happen right in front of them, at a table with Jesus, and they couldn't see it.

And Jesus did more than tell the story.

The father in the parable took some shame on himself on a dusty road so his son wouldn't have to carry it through the village.

Jesus took all of it:

Philippians 2:7–8 CSB

7 Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man, 8 he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death— even to death on a cross.

He came all the way to the far country where we were.

He bore the disgrace that belonged to us, so we could come home as sons and daughters.

Conclusion: Which Son Are You?

Both sons needed exactly the same thing. They needed to stop bargaining and let their father be their father.

Only one of them knew he needed it.

If you're the younger son this morning, you don't need a speech.

Maybe you're visiting. Maybe you haven't been in a church building in years, and you've wondered whether you'd even be welcome.

Maybe you've been a Christian a long time and you've wandered a long way, and you're sure you'll have to earn your way back.

The Father has been watching the road. And in Jesus, he's already run to meet you.

Now, the older brother is the harder case.

The younger son knew he was lost. The pigs told him every day.

The older brother had a clean record and a sharp memory for other people's sins. Nothing in his life ever told him he was lost.

When somebody with a past walks into this building, what's your first thought?

Do you keep a ledger with God? Do you know, down deep, what you think he owes you?

When God is generous with somebody else, does it feel like you've been shorted?

Is there somebody you call when God keeps calling him ?

When was the last time serving God felt like joy?

If you see yourself out in that yard, listen to what the Father says to you.

You don't have to earn a goat. You've been standing in the inheritance all along.

And the Father has come out of the house to ask you in.Son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.

The younger son needed a Father who would run down the road. The older son needed a Father who would walk out into the yard. He did both.

The celebration is still going on inside.

Jesus left the ending blank. It's yours to write.

Luke 15:32 CSB

32 But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ ”

Come on in.