Fourth Sunday in Lent 3/14/10 Text: Luke 15:11-32
Fourth Sunday in Lent
03/14/10
Text: Luke 15: 11-32
Title: Prodigal Father
The parable of the prodigal son is, I believe, one of the most loved of all the parables in the Bible, probably because most people can identify with one or more of the characters.
Some see themselves as the wayward son since they knew that they had at some time or other wandered away from God. They have personally discovered that God through Christ, has indeed preserves, restores and completely pardoned them. And because of that knowledge they rejoice in that forgiveness and submit their lives to serving the Lord, by loving and serving others. Blessed indeed are those who feel this way, those who feel that God has indeed longed for them like a father who has lost his son, and that God has indeed forgiven them much, and restored them completely to his side.
That is how John Newton, a former slave trader who became a Christian and wrote Amazing Grace in 1779 must have felt. John Newton knew who he was. He knew that for all the evil he had done to his human cargo over many years that he was forgiven, not because of anything he had done; how could he ever make up for the misery he had caused, have done anything to deserve forgiveness. He felt the love of God and he knew he was forgiven because of the grace of God toward him. He knew what it is like to be the wayward son that was taken back into the home.
People like John Newton hearing the story of the prodigal son makes them long for a similar reunion in their lives. Indeed many people have had Newton's experience of the love of God. They have discovered no matter how far they have fallen, no matter what they have done, and no matter how intensely they have turned away from and rejected God, that God remains faithful to them, and indeed longs for them to return.
Then there are those who identify with the Father in the story. Like that father, they may have had, or still have, a son or a daughter who has turned away from them or who has embarked on a life course that leads nowhere. They love their child and long to welcome them back into the family.
Still other people identify with the older son in the parable. You know the son who got all bent out of shape when the father took back his wayward son restoring him back into full son-ship with all of its privileges. Those that see themselves as the older son do so because they have generally spent a large part of their lives serving the congregation they belong to. They do their best following the rules, defending the faith, and supporting the congregation financially, yet they are quite often joyless, critical, unloving, and uncaring.
As I studied the parable I came to the conclusion that Jesus told this particular parable to get those who are like the faithful son would get it, so that they could rejoice with him in recognizing that they too are in desperate need of God’s forgiveness.
Listen to the older son for a minute; the son who never left home. Listen to how he talks to the father about his brother, the brother who was lost, but now is found, who was blind, but now can see. "Look", he says to his father "all these years I have worked for you like a slave, and I have never disobeyed your orders. What have given me? Not even a goat for me to have a feast with my friends. But this son of yours wasted all your property on prostitutes, and when he comes back home, you kill the prize calf for him!" He does not say it, but he is saying I have earned your love, so love me.
As I read his remark to his father I wanted to meet him, spend some time with him over a cup of coffee or a Coke and try to get him to understand the forgiveness offered to his wayward brother. I wanted to help him to see that he, in his misguided and it is misguided, way of thinking needs his father’s love and forgiveness as much as his wayward brother did.
I want him to truly understand the love of the father. But it is hard, for he is close minded and without joy. He resents how his father treats the wayward son. He even resents the work that he has done for his father. His heart has become hardened thus keeping him from knowing the love of the father.
Oh, deep down he knows his father loves him, but he thinks that it is what he does for the father that causes the father to love him. Thus he cannot understand the father’s love, so there is no joy in seeing his brother, whom, you notice, he calls, “your son” forgiven and restored back into son-ship.
Do you rejoice with the father or do you feel more like the older son who does not think it is fair to be throwing a party for his wayward brother? I hope you are rejoicing with the father since how you view this parable shows whether you base your relationship with God on something you do or on what God does.
It is really true, if you give it some thought. You can only rejoice in the forgiveness shown toward the wayward son, if you can identify with him in some fashion. Now I am not saying that you have to have come to repentance after having committed some terrible sin to be able to rejoice with the son being forgiven, for most of us have been living pretty honorable lives, at least most of the time. I am saying that unless you see yourself as being truly unworthy of God’s love you will not know the joy of forgiveness.
The “wayward son”; I prefer to call him that, for the word prodigal means, “wildly extravagant” and that matches more the actions of the father than the wayward son who had to know even in his miserable state that his father would be kind toward him, otherwise he would never have come back home in the first place.
Now it is true that he came home because he was broke, hungry, and friendless, but he still would never have come home with knowing that in some fashion that his farther would be kind to him, for he says, “Maybe my father will put me to work as a hired hand.” He knew the father’s kindness would be there for him. He counted on that kindness before he started the long trek home. He did not know what his father would do, but he did know that he would not be punished, only loved.
On the other hand the oldest son did not know that same kindness of the father, for he complained to his wildly extravagantly loving father that his father’s son, not his brother, was getting things he did not deserve and that he himself was not getting all that he deserved.
He worked hard. He defended his father’s land and possessions. He was a good son and he was not getting what he deserved and we see in his words and actions the true heart of the older son. He was not doing what he was doing for his father out of love, or even out of response for his father’s love, but he was doing it out of duty and like an ugly nasty boil the truth popped out that day.
I deserve better treatment than your other son. I am faithful. I do what you have told me to do. I deserve your love and because you are not giving me what I expect, by your showing love to your wayward son I am resentful and angry. He really never knew his father’s love did he?
Jesus, in this parable, is talking to all of us. He is talking to those of us who know that they are unworthy of his love and forgiveness, but dare to approach him because we know he loves us.
And he is talking to those of us who are like the older son who thinks that because we have been staying pretty faithful to God doing what he demands that we deserve more from God than the wayward son is getting.
I would put forward that those who think they are not getting what they deserve from God need to kneel down alongside the wayward brother or sister and thank God that just like them they are not getting what they deserve from God.
My dear brothers and sisters in the faith, if there is any present today who think God is not giving you what you deserve praise his name!!! You don’t want what you deserve, just like I don’t want what I deserve. I don’t care how much you think you do for God you can’t do enough and what you do, even though it might look godly, is tainted with sin, just as what I do is tainted with sin. None of us deserve God’s love and forgiveness.
Rejoice in God’s forgiveness and love. Rejoice in God’s blessings, even though you might not feel as blessed as you want to be. Take into your heart and mind the miracle of the grace that comes to you through Jesus, and thank God for it
Whether we see ourselves as the wayward son or the faithful son how blessed we are to have a Father, our wonderful God, who waits and watches for us and then runs to forgive us and shower us with honors of son-ship. Before we even have a chance to bargain for His love, it has been given and we find ourselves wearing his white robes of righteousness.
Whatever it was that we were going to say or do to regain His favor doesn’t matter anymore. It is finished. What wondrous love this is. Come join him in the feast, for it is ready. Amen
03/14/10
Text: Luke 15: 11-32
Title: Prodigal Father
The parable of the prodigal son is, I believe, one of the most loved of all the parables in the Bible, probably because most people can identify with one or more of the characters.
Some see themselves as the wayward son since they knew that they had at some time or other wandered away from God. They have personally discovered that God through Christ, has indeed preserves, restores and completely pardoned them. And because of that knowledge they rejoice in that forgiveness and submit their lives to serving the Lord, by loving and serving others. Blessed indeed are those who feel this way, those who feel that God has indeed longed for them like a father who has lost his son, and that God has indeed forgiven them much, and restored them completely to his side.
That is how John Newton, a former slave trader who became a Christian and wrote Amazing Grace in 1779 must have felt. John Newton knew who he was. He knew that for all the evil he had done to his human cargo over many years that he was forgiven, not because of anything he had done; how could he ever make up for the misery he had caused, have done anything to deserve forgiveness. He felt the love of God and he knew he was forgiven because of the grace of God toward him. He knew what it is like to be the wayward son that was taken back into the home.
People like John Newton hearing the story of the prodigal son makes them long for a similar reunion in their lives. Indeed many people have had Newton's experience of the love of God. They have discovered no matter how far they have fallen, no matter what they have done, and no matter how intensely they have turned away from and rejected God, that God remains faithful to them, and indeed longs for them to return.
Then there are those who identify with the Father in the story. Like that father, they may have had, or still have, a son or a daughter who has turned away from them or who has embarked on a life course that leads nowhere. They love their child and long to welcome them back into the family.
Still other people identify with the older son in the parable. You know the son who got all bent out of shape when the father took back his wayward son restoring him back into full son-ship with all of its privileges. Those that see themselves as the older son do so because they have generally spent a large part of their lives serving the congregation they belong to. They do their best following the rules, defending the faith, and supporting the congregation financially, yet they are quite often joyless, critical, unloving, and uncaring.
As I studied the parable I came to the conclusion that Jesus told this particular parable to get those who are like the faithful son would get it, so that they could rejoice with him in recognizing that they too are in desperate need of God’s forgiveness.
Listen to the older son for a minute; the son who never left home. Listen to how he talks to the father about his brother, the brother who was lost, but now is found, who was blind, but now can see. "Look", he says to his father "all these years I have worked for you like a slave, and I have never disobeyed your orders. What have given me? Not even a goat for me to have a feast with my friends. But this son of yours wasted all your property on prostitutes, and when he comes back home, you kill the prize calf for him!" He does not say it, but he is saying I have earned your love, so love me.
As I read his remark to his father I wanted to meet him, spend some time with him over a cup of coffee or a Coke and try to get him to understand the forgiveness offered to his wayward brother. I wanted to help him to see that he, in his misguided and it is misguided, way of thinking needs his father’s love and forgiveness as much as his wayward brother did.
I want him to truly understand the love of the father. But it is hard, for he is close minded and without joy. He resents how his father treats the wayward son. He even resents the work that he has done for his father. His heart has become hardened thus keeping him from knowing the love of the father.
Oh, deep down he knows his father loves him, but he thinks that it is what he does for the father that causes the father to love him. Thus he cannot understand the father’s love, so there is no joy in seeing his brother, whom, you notice, he calls, “your son” forgiven and restored back into son-ship.
Do you rejoice with the father or do you feel more like the older son who does not think it is fair to be throwing a party for his wayward brother? I hope you are rejoicing with the father since how you view this parable shows whether you base your relationship with God on something you do or on what God does.
It is really true, if you give it some thought. You can only rejoice in the forgiveness shown toward the wayward son, if you can identify with him in some fashion. Now I am not saying that you have to have come to repentance after having committed some terrible sin to be able to rejoice with the son being forgiven, for most of us have been living pretty honorable lives, at least most of the time. I am saying that unless you see yourself as being truly unworthy of God’s love you will not know the joy of forgiveness.
The “wayward son”; I prefer to call him that, for the word prodigal means, “wildly extravagant” and that matches more the actions of the father than the wayward son who had to know even in his miserable state that his father would be kind toward him, otherwise he would never have come back home in the first place.
Now it is true that he came home because he was broke, hungry, and friendless, but he still would never have come home with knowing that in some fashion that his farther would be kind to him, for he says, “Maybe my father will put me to work as a hired hand.” He knew the father’s kindness would be there for him. He counted on that kindness before he started the long trek home. He did not know what his father would do, but he did know that he would not be punished, only loved.
On the other hand the oldest son did not know that same kindness of the father, for he complained to his wildly extravagantly loving father that his father’s son, not his brother, was getting things he did not deserve and that he himself was not getting all that he deserved.
He worked hard. He defended his father’s land and possessions. He was a good son and he was not getting what he deserved and we see in his words and actions the true heart of the older son. He was not doing what he was doing for his father out of love, or even out of response for his father’s love, but he was doing it out of duty and like an ugly nasty boil the truth popped out that day.
I deserve better treatment than your other son. I am faithful. I do what you have told me to do. I deserve your love and because you are not giving me what I expect, by your showing love to your wayward son I am resentful and angry. He really never knew his father’s love did he?
Jesus, in this parable, is talking to all of us. He is talking to those of us who know that they are unworthy of his love and forgiveness, but dare to approach him because we know he loves us.
And he is talking to those of us who are like the older son who thinks that because we have been staying pretty faithful to God doing what he demands that we deserve more from God than the wayward son is getting.
I would put forward that those who think they are not getting what they deserve from God need to kneel down alongside the wayward brother or sister and thank God that just like them they are not getting what they deserve from God.
My dear brothers and sisters in the faith, if there is any present today who think God is not giving you what you deserve praise his name!!! You don’t want what you deserve, just like I don’t want what I deserve. I don’t care how much you think you do for God you can’t do enough and what you do, even though it might look godly, is tainted with sin, just as what I do is tainted with sin. None of us deserve God’s love and forgiveness.
Rejoice in God’s forgiveness and love. Rejoice in God’s blessings, even though you might not feel as blessed as you want to be. Take into your heart and mind the miracle of the grace that comes to you through Jesus, and thank God for it
Whether we see ourselves as the wayward son or the faithful son how blessed we are to have a Father, our wonderful God, who waits and watches for us and then runs to forgive us and shower us with honors of son-ship. Before we even have a chance to bargain for His love, it has been given and we find ourselves wearing his white robes of righteousness.
Whatever it was that we were going to say or do to regain His favor doesn’t matter anymore. It is finished. What wondrous love this is. Come join him in the feast, for it is ready. Amen
posted by Pastor Rhoads | 12:14 PM
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