Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Introduction/Seeing the Need
“That is just unforgiveable.”
Have you ever said something like that, or heard someone say it?
We all believe in the importance and necessity of forgiveness.
We all rely on forgiveness, from other people and from Almighty God.
But some wrongs seem impossible to forgive.
They are too heinous, too painful.
We can hardly imagine forgiving those who committed history’s great crimes against humanity.
But more practically, we struggle to forgive those whose deeds have deeply hurt us personally.
Likewise, we may struggle to believe we can be forgiven.
Out wrongs go with us every moment.
We cannot escape the deep regret we have for the harm we have done to others.
Forgiveness is as hard to receive as it is to give.
Forgiveness is a scandal.
We question those who offer it, question whether we can receive it, doubt whether it can really happen, doubt whether it should happen.
The opponents of Jesus questioned both his ability to forgive sin and his association with those most in need of it.
How Jesus responded is highly instructive yet today.
Today’s text, one of the most beloved (and misapplied) of Jesus’ parables, is one of a series that he spoke in response to his opponents.
Jesus was surrounded by publicans (tax collectors), hated in his time as collaborators with the oppressive Roman Empire.
Sinners of various stripes flocked to him.
None of this sat well with religious leaders opposed to Jesus.
They grumbled about his associating with such people and especially about his eating with them.
When Jesus used parables to address Jewish leaders, the stories were often meant to be “in your face” tweaks aimed at their hypocrisy.
In the parable told at his house, Simon the Pharisee was to understand that he was the debtor who “loves little”.
“The chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders” were to know that the parable of the tenants was directed at them.
The three parables in are similar: they were meant to be rebukes of pious leaders who disdained Jesus because he “welcomes sinners”.
What guardrails can you adopt to avoid misapplying parables to today’s situations?
Desire -
Parables begin with images from common experience.
This family depicted is no different in that regard - so far.
Jesus’ audience knows that the older son in a family has privileges and responsibilities that others sons do not.
One privilege is to receive a double share of the estate.
This is computed by adding up the number of sons, adding one, then dividing the estate equally by the result.
Each son except the oldest then receives a single share; the oldest son receives two shares as his birthright.
Since the father in the story has only two sons, this means that the younger one is requesting on-third of the father’s estate right now - this son wants to “cash out.”
Of course, such distribution is always made at the father’s death.
To ask for one’s inheritance before that is to say to one’s father, “I want you to treat me as if you were dead.”
An angry response would be understandable.
But the father in the story accedes to the request!
Is he being simply naive in doing so?
Our sanctified imagination can see this as not only generous but also devastating.
We may wonder how the family can thrive as a third of the assets suddenly vanish.
This grant is bound to bring consequences on the father that may never be undone.
But financial ruin of the father and the rest of the family is not part of the illustration, so we should not get sidetracked by it.
Without giving advice, how would you counsel someone who is about to use this verse as a basis for granting a similar request to restless offspring?
Consequences -
Luke 15:13-
In verse 13, the younger son seems to take as little time as possible to turn his share of the estate into cash.
As he does, he puts his plan into action.
For the audience of Jesus’ day, this much more than a long-distance move in a modern sense.
The son is abandoning not only his family, he now abandons that identity in favor of - something else.
As he lives wildly in a distant country, the man has no concern for moral boundaries or prudence.
As a result, he wastes the father’s legacy.
The accumulated wealth that could have given the son a start on an independent life later is now dissipated even while his father lives.
John Wesley believed that the younger son’s chief problem was an “independency on God.”
He didn’t need the father or the father’s providence.
This was the beginning of his lostness.
The dissolute living and the eating with ritually unclean hogs were further expressions of his separation from God.
What guardrails can a church put in place to help members who are in danger of becoming spiritual prodigals and rejecting Christianity?
What will be your part in this?
What are some warning signs that a rejection of Christianity is about to happen?
This verse also gives the story its familiar name: the parable of the prodigal son.
While the word prodigal is often associated with the son’s decision to rebel against parental oversight and leave home prematurely, the word actually means “recklessly wasteful of one’s property or means.”
This definition therefore points to the son’s poor stewardship more than his desire to cut ties with is family, although the two concepts are related here.
Food shortages brought on by drought, pests, or social upheaval are common in the ancient world.
The younger brother has grown up in a prosperous household.
Now he is estranged from family and far from his homeland by his own foolhardy actions.
He is hungry and without anyone to call on for help.
To underscore the prodigal’s plight, Jesus introduces an element that is particularly troubling to Jewish people: the destitute man is hired to feed pigs - unclean animals.
This indicates that the citizen of that country who hires the prodigal is Gentile.
It is virtually impossible to honor the Law of Moses in such a context.
Though the prodigal has forsaken family and country, the pigs remind the readers how far he has fallen (or jumped).
In verse 16 it is important to understand that pigs were a valued livestock because of their ability to eat nearly anything and produce meat.
There is no indication in the text that the prodigal eats any of meat.
Instead, he must rely on the pods that the pigs were eating - probably seed pods from carob plants.
The prodigal has hit “rock bottom.”
Reflection -
At the bottom, the prodigal is forced to reevaluate his situation and the solution.
His previous abundance had clouded his judgment.
His destitute situation makes things crystal clear.
Gone is the self-deception that created chaos for him and others.
Reality prompts the man to a new course of action.
Having acted with high-handed selfishness, he now recognizes that sin for what it was.
So he plans to take responsibility for his actions by openly affirming that he has done wrong.
To sin against heaven is to sin against God, to violate God’s law and will.
God is Father to his people, a generous, loving, forgiving Father who commands his people to show honor to their parents on earth.
The young man’s actions were terribly dishonoring.
Likewise, abandonment of the covenant people to live as a pagan among idolaters is an affront.
Jesus’ Jewish audience is undoubtedly recognizing that the prodigal’s spiritual poverty is more serious than his physical one.
The man continues to rehearse his repentance speech as he assesses his responsibility for his situation.
A legal reality is in view: because he has already spent his share of the inheritance, his father’s obligation to recognize him as his son no longer exists.
This fact is underlined by the son’s callous disrespect for his father.
The son has treated the father as if dead.
Further, the son cannot return the inheritance because it is gone.
Restoration -
Luke 15:
Having reached the point of repentance, the son returns to face his father.
This son’s repentance and return are necessary to be restored to his family, but will not be sufficient.
It will be the father’s action that accomplishes the restoration.
In the preceding parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin, everything else is put on hold until what is missing is recovered through active searching.
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