Time to Come Home

Are any of you art afficiandos? How many of you love to go to art museums and galleries and just sit and stare at art for a while? If you love art, put in the comments what your favorite piece of art is. I would love to show you three pieces of art today that I love.

The first is by an up and coming artist who using the medium of marker, drew me a t-rex dinosaur (or so I am told).

The second piece of art to show you is by an established local artist named Rebekah Ehrhart, age 15, who I think is amazing, but is always critical of her own work.

The third piece of art is called “The Return of the Prodigal Son” and it was painted by Rembrandt van Rijn sometime in the two years before his death in 1669. I have not encoutered any other art in my life that has connected to my soul like this one. I am drawn to the love the father has for the son he holds in this picture. I feel the distance between the elder son and both is father and brother. And like Rembrandt, who painted himself into this portrait as bystander who is sitting down between the father and the older brother, I am enthralled by the extraordinary scene that is in front of me.

Let’s read Jesus’ parable in Luke 15:11-32

Luke 15:11–32 NIV

Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate. “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ “ ‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ ”

Pray.

When you read or hear this parable, or you see art that depicts like Rembrandts painting, where do you see yourself? Are you the younger son, broken by your sin and ready to come home? Are you the faithful older brother and like him bitter and resentful? This parable calls us to examine our lives and come home to our father. As we read it, it reads us and it sparks an emotional and a spiritual longing for safety, family and forgiveness.

So as we look at each of the characters in this story, I invite you to listen closely for the voice of Jesus, for the prompting of the Holy Spirit, to tell you where you are in the story, and what you should do next.

The Younger Son

The first character we want to look at is the younger son. The story starts out that a man had two sons. That means the younger son would stand to inherit 1/3 of the estate, while the older brother, by virtue of being the first-born, would receive 2/3 of the estate upon the death of the father. The younger son goes up to his father and says, I want it now. Now to us, he is displaying a pretty greedy and self centered attitude, right? But to Jesus’ original hearers, this is far worse. Because he has asked for his inheritance early, his is effectively saying “I wish you were dead” to his father. The Son has left far before he ever sets foot off of the farm. He has had enough of his father’s rule over his life andhe wants to go do it his way.

In this story, the man gives the son what he wants and the son leaves the country. While away, he parties hard and it isn’t too long before he has squandered his entire fortune, leaving him broke and homeless Rembrandt himself must have identified with this. At one point, he made huge sums of money with his art, but it didn’t long for him to go through it all since he spent faster than he made money and he died broke and was buried in a poor man’s grave.

Because the younger son was broke, he hired himself out to a farmer to feed the pigs. He was so poor, that he envied the food the pigs ate and wanted some. And that’s when he hits rock bottom and he decides to make a change. Have you ever hit rock bottom in an area of your life? It’s not necessarily a bad place to be. There is a clarity that is only found in that place that is often the catalyst to a major change. When I see someone that has self-destructive habits and behaviours, I often pray that they might hit that rock bottom and gain the self-awareness needed to get better.

The younger son, in that rock bottom place, realizes that even the hired hands of his father are better off than he is, so he makes up his mind to go back. Circumstances have broken this young man’s pride, arrogance and anger. Instead of remembering why he left, he remembers the goodness and generosity of his father and he desire to experience that goodness and generosity. He realizes that what he did was wrong, he repents of it and he makes his way home. What does his repentance look like?

Luke 15:18–20 NIV

I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

He recognizes that he first sinned against God when he insulted his father and took the money. And he recognizes that he sinned against his father as well. We also see that his arrogance is gone and he wants to submit to his father.

When he gets home, what is the first thing he sees? He sees his father running toward him. Instead of anger, indignation and bitterness for the way the son treated the father, the son experiences the love, forgiveness and joy of the father upon his return.

How does that sit with you? Are you like the younger son, feeling lost and broken because of your rebelliousness? Are you ready to let go of your hurts, your anger, your pride, your self-centeredness, your sin and come home to your heavenly father?

Acts 3:19 NIV

Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,

I think in some ways, we are all the younger son. We hall have areas of our heart and our life where we are trying to go our own way, where we indulge those thoughts and behaviours that violate the nature and will of God. We are all prodigals and the good news of the gospel is that because Jesus died for our sin, we can all come home. Because he willingly went to the cross to pay the debt of our sin, we can run to the father and experience his love, his grace, his mercy, his forgiveness and his joy. So, turn away from all that pulls you away from God and come back to your father who loves you.

The Older Son

The next character we need to look at is the older son. I have sometimes wondered why Jesus didn’t just finish the parable with the reunion of the younger son with the Father. I mean, the entire point of what Jesus is saying is told in just the story of the younger son, so why include this extra part about the older son.

The clue to this is found back in Luke 15:1-2

Luke 15:1–2 NIV

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

Jesus has a mixed audience. He is sitting with people who are broken, who know that they are far from God, who acknowledge that they are sinners and he is sitting with the people who remind them of that everyday, the Pharisees and teachers of the Law. They saw it as their job to point out to everyone else how bad they were. They were elitist, entitled and judgemental.

The parable of the prodigal is given to both groups. The group of sinners and tax-collectors idenitfy with the younger son. But Jesus has something to say to the other group in the room. The older son represents the Pharisees and in him we see their pride, judgmentalism, and self-righteousness oozing out.

Look at how the older brother reacts to the return of his brother and see in it the attidude of the Pharisees.

Luke 15:28–30 NIV

“The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

Even though they claimed to worship the God of israel, the truth is, like the eldest son, they had left him spiritually. They no longer emulated the grace and mercy of the father. Instead, they chose to allow self-righteousness and entitlement to fill their hearts. Both sons left their father, but where the younger one went away and indulged in sin, the elder son stayed but grew apart from his father.

No one thinks that they are the elder son. Many of us can see ourselves as the younger but very people admit that they are like the elder son, full of pride, entitlement and judgment. If there has been anything that has broken the reputation of the church, it is the pharasaical attitude of “I’m right, you’re wrong”; the sense of being better than others, even though the reality is we are just beggars telling other beggars where to find bread.

Colossians 3:12 NIV

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

The reason the older son was included in this story is that there is hope for those who have this judgmental, pharisaical mindset. There is redemption. If we would repent of this attitude in our hearts, we can walk with the father to the party and celebrate. If we don’t repent, we miss out on the joy of the celebration as we sulk in the mud. Notice how the choice is given to the elder brother but we are not told of what he decides. The choice is up to each us.

The Father

Now we must examine the third character in our narrative, the Father. While it is tempting to see the prodigal as the main character of the story, especially because we have named him as such, the true main character is the Father. In verse 11, it begins, “a man had two sons” and the last words are spoken by him. This narrative starts and ends with the Father. But why?

Because Jesus wants his audience - the sinners and tax-collectors, the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law, and you and I to know that our repentance leads to God’s celebration - that God rejoices and is excited when you and I approach him in repentance.

The parable of the prodigal son is the third parable in a string of them, all designed to teach us how God responds to our repentance. When the shepherd finds the lost sheep, he rejoices and celebrates. When the woman finds her lost coin, she rejoices and celebrates. And when the lost son comes home the father celebrates. The main point is that all heaven rejoices when you and I repent of all that distances us from God and turn to him.

Now, within our parable, there are some interesting things about the Father that are easy to relate to God.

He allows the younger son to sin and to leave. He lets him go off. In the same way, God does not force us to stay in relationship with him. He allows us to go off and make mistakes and even sin. But the journey of the younger son shows us that there is no life, no future in that life but there is peace, security, and love at home with the Father.

The father was looking for his son. “While he was a long way off.” Despite all that he had done, the father never wrote off his wayward son. He waited, he looked and he longed for his son to come home. In the same way, no matter where you are at today, no matter what you have done, no matter how you are feeling, God has not written you off. He is still for you - He still loves you and he is waiting for you to come home.

The Father runs to his son. It was uncommon for older men to run in Jesus’ culture and time. It was considered undignified. But his deep love for his son had him running to embrace him. Our God did the same thing. Not only did God come to us as Jesus Christ in order to redeem us and make a way for us to come home to the Father, he continues to run out to us on our journey. He doesn’t wait until we are perfect, he meets us where we are.

The Father doesn’t just forgive, he restores. As the son is speaking his practiced apology, the Father interupts him and speaks to the servants. He says, “‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.” The robe and ring were symbols of authority. Even though his son came home to be a hired worker, The Father restores him to a position of “son.” For us as well, when we come home to God, we are not just forgiven, but we experience the restoration of our child to loving father relationship.

At times in our lives, we are the prodigal son - lost in our sin and needing to come home to our father. At other times, we are the older brother - just as lost in our sin, but instead expressing it externally, it is in the pharasaical attitudes in our minds. But we are also called to become like the father in two important ways.

1. Celebrating Repentance. In each of these three parables in Luke 15, the main theme is that there is heavenly celebration when there is earthly repentance. But here on earth, some of you have become too jaded to it. When someone comes to God to repent, you say, “really, you?” or “here we go, again”. You respond with judgment and sarcasm like the older brother, not with celebration and delight like the father. We need to be like the father and celebrate every time someone turns back to God.

2. Forgiveness. There come times when someone will hurt you badly like the son hurt the father. And in that moment you need to decide whether you are going to hold on to your hurt and your pain and allow it to create this bitterness and rage in you or whether you will forgive like the father forgave the son. You are never more like God than when you forgive someone.

Conclusion

When Rembrandt created his famous painting of the Return of the Prodigal Son, he painted himself into it, as an observer in the scene. But too many people claim that role. They love the parable because of its themes of forgiveness and restoration. But they are simply observers of it, instead of placing themselves in the story.

Today, I want to encourage you to examine your life, or better yet, let God examine it.

Psalm 139:23–24 NIV

Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Allow the Holy Spirit to reveal to you the areas where, like the younger son, you are running away from God. Find them, repent of them and return to your father who loves you so much, that he gave his Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross, so that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Receive the Father’s forgiveness and be restored as his son or daughter. It’s time to come home.

Allow the Holy Spirit to reveal to you the areas where you are critical, judgmental and prideful, like the older brother. His choice is not recorded but you can choose today to turn from your pharisaical ways and come home to the Father.

Allow the Holy Spirit to reveal to you how you can become more like the Father. Find ways to celebrate every repentance and be generous with your forgiveness.

Let’s pray.