Reflection

A “parable” is an illustrative story, by which a familiar idea is cast beside an unfamiliar idea in such a way that the comparison helps people to better understand and grasp the unfamiliar idea.

Basically he knows how to take the cookies from the top shelf and put them right down here where we can all reach them.

Let’s pray and we will dive into this today…

Last week we read the first two parables in Luke 15…

Jesus was trying so hard for both groups of people, the… Religious elite and those known as the “sinners”, to grasp how much they are loved by the God…

Today we get into the last parable in Luke 15…

One that many of us are familiar with… but also one that most of my life was taught wrong, or maybe I shouldn’t say that, more like taught halfway…

Most of your Bibles call this parable, “The parable of the prodigal son”… A name it should never have been given… I’ll come back to why later… but for starters listen to v11…

Luke 15:11

And he said, “There was a man who had two sons.

First issue.. There was a man who had how many sons? 2, not one!

This verse sets the stage for the rest of the parable… There are 3 main characters… Father and Son one and Son two.

I know I’ve said this each week… but I am going to say it again… Try to go through this with me today as if you’ve never gone through it before.

Let’s dive in…

12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.

Let me stop right there… Good thing this is a parable… Right? How insulting, arrogant, disrespectful… can a child be to go to their…LIVING parent and say… hey I want all that’s coming my way now…

Most of us are probably thinking the same thing right about now…

There is no way on God’s green earth that I am going to do this…

The younger son:

He loved what his dad had to offer him, but he didn’t love his dad.

Let’s keep reading and see what happens…

’ And he divided his property between them.

Really? Seriously?

Now I guess normally it would be ok to question but we need to remember who is telling the story… Jesus.

I think He knows what He’s doing…

Let’s see where this goes…

13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. 14 And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need.

Well that didn’t take long…

The son wasted the blessings his father had given him.

He literally ran from his father in the opposite direction...

He went out and lived his life the way he wanted to…

Chasing after all of the fleeting pleasures of his day…

“reckless living”…

When the hard days come… Let’s see what happens next...

15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.

He’s blown through his inheritance… He doesn’t have any food to eat.

He’s so hungry that he puts himself out as a hired hand…

The once very blessed son of a wealthy family is now feeding pigs and so hungry he wishes he could eat what he is giving them.

Let’s keep reading…

17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.” ’

He has an idea…

Better to go home and be a hired servant for his dad… than be starving...

He even prepares a speech to say to his dad…

Dad I’ve sinned against heaven and you… I’m no longer worthy…

He’s thinking that he knows what his Dad’s response is going to be.

1. His dad will never accept him as a son… He’s ruined that…

2. He can at least be his servant. At least then he will know he will never go hungry.

He gets the game plan down and heads home…

Let’s keep reading…

20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.

The Father gives the complete opposite reaction than the younger son thought he was going to have.

Let’s keep reading…

21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

Ahhh… The speech he worked so hard on…

But he doesn’t even get to finish it before his dad jumps interrupts...

Look at v22

22 But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.

This is beyond opposite at this point… The father goes so far beyond forgiveness into the vast depths of grace.

This is a love that is unimaginable for us to fathom.

Imagine the devastation in the fathers heart when the son asked for his inheritance… When he packed up all of his stuff and left…

The heartbreak. The realization that the son, didn’t really love the father…

And yet… The moment he sees the son… HE RUNS, HE INTERRUPTS HIS SONS SPEECH, HE GETS HIM HIS FAMILY RING, HE TELLS THEM TO GET SHOES AND PREPARE FOR A PARTY!

In a moment everything was forgiven. The slate was clean. There was nothing for the Son to do except to accept what the father was offering.

And this is exactly what it’s like for any of us who have been like the younger son.

Now… the story started off, there was a man who had TWO sons…

Let’s find out about the older son…

25 “Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’

The older brother. The “good” child. The one who was watching the field and followed the rules. Obeyed his Dad and worked hard for all these years.

After his brother left with his inheritance, everything else would have been left to him...

Now his brother has been gone a while… No cell phones, internet, or gps… He had no clue how his brother was doing or what his brother was up to...

On some level you’d have thought he would have been a little excited to see his brother, right?

Let’s keep reading…

28 But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, 29 but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’

The older son:

He loved what his dad had to offer him, but he didn’t love his dad.

He cared way more about following the rules and getting the glory from that, than he did about whose rules he was following.

He’s wanted his dad’s response to his younger brother to be:

1. He should never accept his brother as a son again.

2. He should never celebrate his brother after what he has put their family through.

The older brother was on fire because of how gracious his dad was to his younger brother.

How could he treat him like a son again after everything he’s done?

Does this mean he gets to share the inheritance that is left with me?

He’s so consumed with his brother getting recognition because he thinks if little bro is being lifted up, that means he’s not.

How dare they… I’ve done everything I was supposed to do… I followed all of the rules, I never broke a command… I stayed loyal...

And he gets the party?

This isn’t fair… Right?

We kind of get this… It doesn’t seem fair?

We live in a work hard and you will get culture and society… When someone doesn’t work hard for it, they don’t get it… And we even look at that situation and agree...

But then Jesus Talks…

Remember who Jesus was talking to from last week? He’s speaking to the religious elite, the group known as “the sinners”...

The group known as the “sinners” know they are the younger brother in the story, the religious elite know that they are the older brother in the story.

Now, Listen to what Jesus says next… to the older brother…

31 And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’

I love how Jesus closes out this parable…

To the older brothers, the ones who think they have it all together and figured out… I LOVE YOU… You are always with me. ALL that I have is yours.

Don’t you understand celebrating your brother matters because he was dead to us. He was lost to us… But now he is ALIVE, he’s FOUND

And again what we come to realize at the end of this parable is that...

This parable is not about the wayward younger son or the self righteous older brother, but rather it is about their Father who loves them both more than either of them realize.

It’s about the father seeing his sons and desperately wanting them to see how much he has lavished upon them…

The definition of prodigal is: to spend lavishly with no regard for the consequences

This parable should have never been named prodigal son… it should have been named Prodigal God.

BECAUSE no matter what position we have ever found ourselves in, whether it be in the shoes of the younger brother, the shoes of the older brother, or maybe both at different times…

God is the one that is there spending lavishly on us with no regard to the consequences…

So lavishly that the Father sent His only Son to us. To do for us what we could never do for ourselves.