The Father
The Father
Luke 15:1-32
The Reckless Extravagance of God’s Grace
1. The Father’s Search
2. The Father’s Shame
3. The Father’s Squeeze
4. The Father’s Celebration
How do you picture God? If you were asked to describe God based on how you think of him and feel about him—not just based on what you know he is like—how would you describe him? Obviously, the way we picture God and the ideas we have about God are not always correct. In fact, they are often wrong and inaccurate pictures of who he is. That’s why we have to look at what the Bible says about what God’s like. But, for now, set that aside and let’s have a moment of honesty.
How do you really view God?
How do you think God feels about the world?
How do you think God feels about you?
Do you think God likes you?
Maybe you view God as “the big guy upstairs” who is really nice and really wants nice things for you, who won’t ask you to do anything and who basically exists just to make you happy. But, if you stop and think about that or if you read your Bible at all, you know that’s not the case. God is far too just and righteous to just serve as your butler, giving you everything you ever wanted.
Instead, my guess is that most of us would describe God as angry at the world, mad at people, disappointed by Christians, and unhappy with us as individuals. After all, the Bible does say that we are sinners and that we all seek after our own way instead of after God’s way. The Bible says that God opposes the proud, and most of us are filled with pride. And the Bible does say, that “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men” (Romans 1:18).
So, it is correct for us to view God as angry against sin and evil, as well as those who do evil and continue in it. That is a biblical view. But, does that mean that God is like a grumpy old man who is ready to yell at anybody who bothers him? No.
The Bible also describes God as extremely joyful and happy. Psalm 16:11 says, “In your presence is fullness of joy.” It says that God rejoices over his people like a groom would rejoice over his bride on a wedding day.
So, at the same time God can be both angry and joyful. If that’s the case, then what makes God joyful? What brings God great delight and great joy? Is it possible for you and I to bring God pleasure and joy? If we want to bring God delight, how do we do it?
Well, God answers this question for us in the Bible, and he constantly reveals to us what he is like and how he feels about things. He even gives us stories and illustrations that describe what he is like. The Bible calls God a consuming fire, a rock, a fortress, a shield, a light, a tower, etc. All of these things describe in some limited way what God is like. And when Jesus taught, he often gave pictures—usually word pictures through parables—that described what God is like. I think one of the most powerful pictures of God in the entire Bible is found in this parable that we’ve been studying of the man with two sons.
We will see a number of things about God from this passage, but the thing I want you to see first is that God takes great delight in the restoration of sinners. God gets very happy when a person who has been rebelling against him turns to him. There is nothing that brings God greater joy than making a person right with him. I want to appeal to you tonight, that there is no greater way for you to bring God joy than for you to turn to him in faith and to trust him and to delight in him and to relate to him. God has made this possible for you by sending his Son, and nothing would make him happier.
Up to this point, we’ve looked at the younger son who rebelliously shamed his father and embarrassed his family so that he could have his father’s stuff and live selfishly. We’ve also looked at the older son who compliantly stayed behind and worked his tail off, but did it to get the father’s stuff and earn his approval. Both of these sons were lost, and both were invited in. And so, tonight, I want to turn our attention to the hero of the story, the father.
It’s really too bad that the focus of this story is usually on the younger son. It’s not surprising since he has such a dramatic turnaround. But it’s too bad, because it often takes the attention off of the main and most impressive character, the father.
Tonight I want you to see a few things about the father, and I want you to see that they are representative of how God is.
1. The Father’s Search
I have to think it was absolutely heartbreaking for this father to have his younger son say to him, “I wish you were dead. Give me my stuff so I can get out of your life.” I can’t imagine the sorrow and pain that a good father would feel in that moment. And so, as his heart breaks, the father watches his arrogant punk of a son walk away.
But that didn’t stop the father’s love for his son. He hoped for his return. He expected his return. And he searched every day for his son to return. If you look at Luke 15:20, you’ll see that “while he was still a long way off” his father saw him. The implication here is that his father was constantly scanning the horizon looking for his wayward son. Though in that culture it would have been customary to consider a shameful son like this dead—and they might even have a full funeral when he left—this son wasn’t dead to his father’s heart. And so his father is searching for him, looking for him and one day his dream comes true.
He sees his son from a distance. Maybe he recognized his walk. Maybe he recognized his stature. Or maybe a crowd had begun to form around him that was beginning to mock him and make fun of him and remind him of how stupid and evil he had been. But, whatever it was that the father notice, he was looking for this lost son.
This is the point of the first parable that Jesus tells at the beginning of Luke 15. He says, “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?” The point is, God is searching for those who are lost. He is pursuing them. He is scanning the horizon. He is searching.
You need to know that God is looking for you tonight. He has not forgotten you. The Bible says that he knows every hair on your head.
It doesn’t matter if you’ve sinned as bad as you can possibly imagine. I think that’s why Jesus paints a picture of the younger son that is so extreme and ridiculous. He wants you to see that no matter how you’ve ignored or rebelled against God, he is still on the lookout for you.
And he is not looking for you just so that he can zap you or punish you or ruin your life. Though God would have every right to kill you right now and stop your heart, he is looking for you and wanting to love you. We see this from the next part of verse 20, which says that the father “saw him and felt compassion.” He felt compassion. He felt love. He felt sorrow. He felt sympathy. Though he had every right to embarrass his son or show him the folly of his ways, he felt compassion.
And God doesn’t just seek after those who, like younger brothers, have gone wildly astray. He is also searching for older brothers who have been religious and moral, but who haven’t loved him from the heart. We know this because he also searches for the older brother. In Luke 15:28, we see that the father goes out to his older son and begs him to come to the party. Whether you have been like the younger brother or the older brother, God is searching for you.
You need to know that God is feeling compassionate toward you. He feels love. He feels sympathetic. Though God has every right to embarrass you or punish you, in his heart of hearts, he feels compassion towards you.
In this father’s heart, he was looking for his son and he felt compassion towards him when he saw him. But his love was not a passive love. It was an active love. It was a pursuing love. And God’s love is the same way. This father was not content to wait for his shameful son to walk all the way home. Instead, though it was costly to himself, the father ran after him.
2. The Father’s Shame
It is very significant that the father ran after his son. In this culture, it was absolutely undignified for a man—especially an older, rich man—to run. Because they wore long robes, running would require that your legs would show, which was undignified. But, the father shakes off any cultural norms or mandates because he so loves his son. And he runs—he sprints to meet him.
Now, if you remember, shame and embarrassment was a big deal in this culture. The #1 goal was to avoid shaming yourself or your family. And if you remember, it was the younger son who had shamed his family to the extreme. If anybody deserved to be embarrassed on his return, it was this younger son. In that culture, as the son passed through town, it is very likely that people would have been ridiculing him and throwing things at him. They would be reminding him how disgraceful he was and what a terrible child he had been. It would have been one of the most embarrassing and shameful moments of his life. And it would have been totally fair for the father to let his son experience that guilt and that shame. After all, he had earned it.
But instead—though the son was the one deserving to receive shame and embarrassment—the father gladly becomes the shameful and undignified one for him. The father becomes a mockery by running through town and drawing the shameful attention to himself. He loves his son so much that he will not let him experience that shame.
Did you know that God did the exact same thing when he sent Jesus to the cross? Though you and I are shameful, rebellious sinners who deserve mockery and embarrassment and guilt and shame for all the countless ways we’ve dishonored God, he gladly took the shame and embarrassment that you and I deserve.
To be crucified is a shameful way to die. It is the most brutal and vicious method of execution in human history. It was reserved only for the most awful criminals. And it was gruesome. Not only was Jesus lashed and beaten brutally, but he would have been crucified naked. Nothing could be more shameful. A naked man, hanging on a cross, dying a death that he did not deserve. Why?
Because the father loved you and I so much that he came after us and took the shame that we deserved.
You need to know that God is running after you. He is not indifferent. He is not cold. He is running after his children. He gave his life so that you could know him.
3. The Father’s Squeeze
Not only does the father in this story search for his son and take the shame of his son, but when he finds him, he squeezes his son. The description of the father’s embrace is amazing: “his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.”
Though his son was disgusting and filthy—probably covered in pig manure and ragged clothes—the father squeezes his son and pours his love out on him.
It would probably be foolish of me to think that all of you have ever felt an embrace like this. I know that many of you have not had fathers like the one in this story. I’m sure that some of you have never been hugged in this powerful way by your father. There are probably some of you who the only touch you have ever known from your father was a violent one. I can just imagine that you would want nothing more in life than a hug from a strong and loving father who adored you.
My dad was not and is not perfect. He’s got plenty of flaws, as do I. But if there’s one thing he can do, it’s hug. He lives in Colorado and whenever we see each other, we always greet and leave with a big hug. Not a quick hug, but a long, lingering hug.
But, the father in this story runs and hugs and kisses his son—thankfully my dad doesn’t do that when he picks me up at the airport! And he does it even though his son was rebellious and even though his son is dirty. It’s important to remember that the last time they saw each other, this son had a hard heart. He had communicated that he wanted nothing to do with his father. But that doesn’t stop his father from lavishing affection on him. Though this son is dirty and disgusting, it doesn’t stop his father from lavishing his affection on him.
Do you know that it’s the same way with God?
Even if you have told God with your attitude or actions that you want nothing to do with him, he is ready to pour out his affection on you. And even if there’s still a lot of dirt and filth and mess in your life, God is still ready to embrace you and squeeze you as his son.
The father doesn’t ask his son to take a shower first. He doesn’t scold his son for not being clean. He embraces him as he is and he showers him with love. God is the same way. He doesn’t expect you to get your act together before you come to him. He doesn’t expect you to clean up all your messes before you can be in his family. No, he showers you with his love first—and then he cleans you up later.
Not only does the father search for his son, take the shame of his son, and squeeze his son with a loving embrace, but he also celebrates his son.
4. The Father’s Celebration
At this point, we should be absolutely amazed at the father’s extraordinary love and forgiveness of his son. Though he could have hated his disrespectful son and let him experience the full shame he deserved, the father shows him love. Though this son was disgusting and filthy, his father loved and embraced him.
If all the younger son received ended here, we would be blown away at the level of kindness and mercy the father shows. But, amazingly, it doesn’t stop here.
You know, this story that we’ve been studying is commonly referred to as the parable of the Prodigal Son. However, most people don’t have any idea what the word prodigal means. I thought that it meant lost or wayward because that’s what describes the younger son. Plus, the two stories before are the story of the lost sheep and the lost coin. So it makes sense that this would be the lost son. But, in actuality, the word prodigal means “recklessly extravagant.” It’s an old fashioned word that they gave to this parable because of how the son squandered his property in reckless, extravagant, prodigal living. So, it’s now known as the story of the Prodigal (Recklessly Extravagant) Son.
But I want to suggest to you that the true prodigal in this story—the one who is truly recklessly extravagant is the father. Though the father could have scorned his son and embarrassed him, he embraces him and showers love on him. But it doesn’t stop there—this love of the father is so recklessly extravagant that he decides to throw the very best party for his son.
The father says, “’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” (Luke 15:22-24).
This father’s love is so extravagant that he actually begins to treat his rebellious puke of a son like a prince. He brings out all the very best things—which would have been his own—and he demands them to be put on his son. He kills the very best animal and he invites the town to celebrate.
Upon the son’s return, this father could have very easily slapped his son. He could have had him publicly beaten and flogged. He could have embarrassed him and heaped scorn on him. He could have demanded that his son work until he could pay back the money he wasted. Any of these things would have been fair. It would have been fair to expect the son to pay for his way back into the family.
And that’s why this is so unthinkably amazing. The father does none of those things. Instead, he incurs the cost of his son’s return himself. He is the one whose robe gets worn. He is the one whose shoes get borrowed. He is the one whose fattened calf is killed. Though the son owed a tremendous debt because of his rebellion, the father paid it all.
And so, instead of hanging his head in shame, he walks off wearing a beautiful robe, enjoying the embrace of his loving father.
This word, “robe,” is only used nine times in the gospels. Most of those times it is used to describe another man who was wearing a robe. You can read all about it in John 19. It says, “Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. They came up to him, saying, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ and struck him with their hands.” This man in the robe was Jesus, and it was put on him by those who mocked and heaped scorn on him. Jesus wore the robe of shame and mockery so that you and I could receive a robe of celebration with God himself. Though you and I deserved to be mocked and spit on and shamed, Jesus took the shame that we deserve.
Not only did Jesus take the robe of shame that we deserve, but he also became alienated from the father so that we could be embraced by him. All throughout his life, Jesus spoke with God and he always called him “Father,” with only one exception. The only time Jesus called his father anything else was when he said, “My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me!”
Friends, Jesus took the robe of shame so that we could wear a robe of celebration. Jesus was estranged from the Father so that we could call God our father. Jesus died so that, like the younger son, we could be made alive.
Why would God send his only son to do that? And why would his son Jesus gladly embrace that mission?
Hebrews 12:2 that Jesus went to the cross, “For the joy that was set before him.” He did it for joy! He did it so that we could have relationship with him for all eternity and so that he could see the ultimate and never-ending joy of his father.
Luke 15:10 says that “there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” God is not frustrated or upset. God is not like a grumpy old man.
God is taking great delight in the joy of those who repent. He takes great joy in those who embrace Jesus and trust in him and what he did on the cross.
This weekend we’ve seen an amazing story of God’s recklessly extravagant love. We’ve seen that whether you’re far from God and have lived like the younger brother, or if you’re moral and good and compliant like the older brother—in either case you are alienated from the father’s love. But there is a God who is searching for you. there is a God who gladly embraces the shame that you deserve. There is a God who longs to squeeze and embrace you and enjoy a relationship with you as his son or daughter. And there is a God who gave up everything precious to him so that he could celebrate your return home.
Jesus Christ died to bring you into the family if you will receive him and trust him. If you have never in your life trusted in Jesus and surrendered your life to him, make tonight the night.
And if you’ve walked with Christ and tasted his forgiveness, but now you’re trying to grow and feel good about yourself through your performance and what you do for him, remember that he did it all. He lived the perfect life you will never live. He took the robe of shame that you deserved to wear. And he did it because he loves you. Don’t insult him by acting as though his love wasn’t enough. Trust that his heart is for you and that he loves you more than you could ever imagine.
Though you are far more sinful than you ever dared believe, you are also more loved and accepted in Christ than you ever dared hope.