May 20, 2021
To all the beloved friends and saints of Grace Baptist Church,
May the God of all mercy minister to your soul.
Last Sunday I preached on loving others including our enemies from Luke 6:27-36. In this passage Jesus shows us what love looks like, who we are to love, and wraps it up with why we should love others—including our enemies. This kind of unconditional love is what the Father displays toward us every single day. He can’t help Himself, nor can He change, because the Bible teaches that God IS love. Love is His nature. Everything He does is informed by His love. In 1 Corinthians 13 Paul postulates that we could speak in angelic languages, exercise the gift of prophecy, fathom all mysteries, and move mountains with our faith—and do this all without love. And this of course would amount to nothing. It would be of no advantage to us. But God on the other hand could never do those things without love. He cannot divorce His actions from His love. As a result, all of God’s actions are praiseworthy and worthwhile. In love He created us; in love He chose us; in love He predestined us; in love He is patient with us even in our fallenness. Let’s take a look at Jesus’ well-known parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15:11-32. We will look at this parable in 3 parts.
“11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. 13 “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. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. 17 “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! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father.” Luke 15:11-20a
In this first part we hear the story about the prodigal son. He is the younger one and he wants dad to give him his share of his inheritance. He was looking to find himself and apparently he felt like dad was keeping him back. So after he got his inheritance he set out to find himself in a distant country. To the Jews who were listening to this implied that he was done with all the Jewish customs too and he wanted to be free from everything. So he gets to that “land of freedom” and he celebrates by having a wild party. It must have been quite a time of wild living, but it wasn’t long before he was out of money.
Then that “land of freedom” experienced a severe famine. It happens. Life is filled with troubles that seem to come at the most inopportune time. So that young man went to work feeding pigs. He hired himself out, but he was still hungry and this job was getting him nowhere fast. No one would give him anything, and he feared of starvation. For a Jewish man, this was about as low as one could go, starving to death while feeding pigs. He got so hungry that he fantasized about eating the pods that he was feeding to the pigs. But he couldn’t stomach that. And that is when he came to his senses, Jesus says. It was then that he realized that His father’s servants had enough food, and even food to spare. So he figures that he would repent, confess his sin to his father, and hope to get a job with dad. In his shame, he no longer felt worthy to be called a son. When a person gets to this point it is time for action. So he got up and went home. What he couldn’t imagine is how his dad would respond. We find this out in the next section.
“20 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. 21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 “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. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.” Luke 15:20b-24 (NIV2011)
This son that thought he was so clever and couldn’t wait to get away from dear old dad, really had no clue as to who dad really was. We find out here that his dad loved his son and was anticipating the day when he would return. While junior was still a long way off, we learn that dad was watching for him. He was anticipating that day when his son would find his way home. Jesus says that when he saw his son, he was filled with compassion and ran to meet him. For the dad to run to his son spoke volumes to Jesus’ hearers because in that culture a father would never do that. This father is different than others. And when the father got to his son, instead of scolding him, condemning him, being angry with him, dad threw his arms around him and kissed him. The prodigal son didn’t see that coming.
So he starts into his little speech. He confesses his sin. He says he sinned against heaven and against his father. He knew that he had done both with his wild living in that distant country. He didn’t honor God’s laws, nor his father’s name. Then he announces that he is no longer worthy of being called a son. He was only hoping to find a little employment. In response, dad would have nothing of it. Instead, he tells the servants to bring the best robe—probably his own, and put it on the son. Bring a ring too and put that on his finger. And get some sandals for his feet! Kill the fattened calf and let’s have a feast to celebrate the return of this son. This is a joyous time. Why? Because his son, whom he loved was dead but now has returned alive. Indeed he was lost, but now he was found. Dad was so happy to have his son back, and you can’t help but celebrate at a time as happy as this. Dad’s delight was in his relationship with his son, and not in what the son could do for dad. When the son left dad, he wasn’t interested in his relationship with dad—but only in what dad could give him in terms of his inheritance. This acceptance and party informed him that he was valuable not by what he had but because of who he was.
But now, there is another son, and we could well have called this the Parable of the Two Sons. In the final part we learn about the older son’s reaction to the younger son’s return home.
“25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ 28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 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. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ 31 “ ‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 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.’ ” Luke 15:25-32
We see in this passage that there was no love lost between the brothers. The older son was out working—earning a living. He hears the music and dancing and is clueless about what is going on. He doesn’t even know that his brother is home. He has to ask a servant what is going on? The servant tells him that dad has killed the fattened calf and that he is happy that the younger brother is home. But that didn’t go over well with the older brother and he got angry and refused to go in and celebrate with the family. To him, the little brother didn’t deserve a party. He deserved punishment. It was better when he was gone rather than having him come home.
So dad comes out and pleads with his older son. He wants him to be happy and celebrate with the family. This was a truly joyous occasion. But the older brother answered his father saying, “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!’ This was pretty self-righteous, don’t you think? His attitude was: “I’ve always slaved for you!” This tells us that he has a pretty high estimate of his service. He wasn’t serving dad because of love. No, he was slaving for dad out of duty. He also had a pretty terrific memory of his obedience to dad when saying, “I never disobeyed your orders.” He thought that through his slaving and obedience to dad that he was so much more worthy than the other worthless son. It irritated him that the little brother was getting a party at all. You can hear his condemnatory attitude toward his brother as he recounts all the squandering he had done, as if to justify not giving his brother a second chance. The older brother didn’t value his relationship—rather what he had has value. It was the same mindset the younger brother had before his reunion with dad.
And now Jesus wraps up this parable with a closing comment from the father. We could possibly name this the Parable of the Merciful Father. Because in this we see his tender heart toward both of his sons. The first son he received with open arms and a great feast. But now with this second son we see his tenderness and patience in working with him. He could have said, “You will come to the party because I’m your dad and I said so.” But he didn’t. Instead he patiently reasons with him. “My son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.” You are not going to lose out on anything. I still love you. I value our relationship over all these other things. Even so, we had to celebrate and be glad. The reason is because your brother was dead and is alive again. We get him back now and that is worth more than all these other things. Your brother was lost but now he is found. That’s worth a party!
Now then, a parable is an earthly story that conveys a heavenly reality. It’s like a bridge for our understanding. In this parable, the prodigal son symbolizes the way of the irreligious sinner. You would never think that they would ever get saved because they are so far off from God enjoying the pleasures of sin. But Jesus was reaching them. Tons of them were turning to God. They were repenting because they were finding out that doing their own thing in the distant land wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be. They realized that they were in danger and needed a Savior. And they were finding Jesus as their Savior. And the Pharisees were not happy about it. They thought the sinners should be condemned.
Then we come to the older son who was dutifully at work. They symbolized the Pharisees who were standing around listening to Jesus speak. He was holding a mirror up to them so they could see their attitude displayed in the self-righteous attitude of the older son. They were really only concerned about themselves and their image. They thought they were righteous because of all their slaving and obedience. But they were really missing it all. They weren’t happy that a brother was found. Instead they were angry and refused to enter into the feast. They missed out on the most important thing in the kingdom—and that is right-relationship with the Father and with their brother. And if the feast symbolizes salvation… and I think it does… then they miss out on that too.
The father in this story symbolizes God the Father. He shows His love toward all of His sons. He is patient, longing for relationship, and extends mercy. He is so glad to welcome the lost home that He runs to meet them. You could say, “Mercy comes running.” But His heart is saddened when His sons are unmerciful to others. And this may be why Jesus’ strongest rebukes are toward the Pharisees who were righteous in their own eyes. Puritan Theologian, John Owen instructs, “Hate your self-righteousness more than your sin.” The reason I think is that it blinds us to our faults and separates us from the Father and others. Jesus said, “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful,” Luke 6:36. And this parable helps us to see a little better what mercy looks like.
Benediction:
“May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen. Rev. 22:21
Pastor Russ Hilsinger,
Grace Baptist Church of Dallas, OR