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Prodigal means extravagant, lavish, unrestrained, excessive; carelessly wasteful. In this story, a ungrateful son lives a prodigal lifestyle after he takes his inheritance. But the end of the story leaves us asking: who is the real prodigal? Fathers DayThe Prodigal Dan Bidwell, Senior Pastor Luke 15:11-32 19 June 2022 A tale of two sons, two brothers...Funny to read a story about two brothers. Im a second son, (I have an older brother, two younger sisters) so easy to read this and think about my relationship with my own brother... With my brother and me, its always a competition when we were younger, it was whos taller, stronger. Now were older, its whos fitter, better looking, more successful... Right now I am losing the competition for who is the toughest brother. Actually I think I lost that competition when my brother started racing Ironman Triathlon swim 2 mile, bike 112 mile and finish with a 26.2 mile marathon run... 8 hours for winner, up to 16 hours for the slowest. And theyre the ones who keep going... He didnt race in sunny Kona in Hawaii either: he did his first Ironman in Wales in UK... Cold, rainy, windy. How do you come back from a challenge like that as a younger brother? Im still working on it... There is a funny dynamic between brothers. Ladies, I dont know if it is like that for you with your sisters... But with brothers there is always a sense of pecking order, a jostling for position. In the Bible passage for today, Jesus tells a parable of two brothers, an older brother and a younger brother. And part of the story is about their jostling for position as the good son, and another part is about each brothers jealousy for what he thinks the other has. And like we often get in the Bible, the end of the story is not what we expected when we started... So lets pray that God will teach us today about being good sons; but even more that he will teach us about him being the good Father. Dear God, we pray as we open your Word today, that you will show us your character as the good Father who loves your children, in spite of our foolish behaviour. Teach us to come home to you when we run from you. And thank you that you celebrate when your lost children come home. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen Well today we come to perhaps one of the best short stories ever written. A parable of Jesus a story that has a deeper meaning for those who look beneath the surface. 1 To give you some context, Jesus is speaking to a crowd of people 15:1 tax collectors and sinners were gathered around Jesus, leaning in to hear him. And religious people were there too (v2) Pharisees and teachers of the law (Jewish rabbis) although they didnt approve of Jesus taking all this time with sinners... But still, there they all are with Jesus.And so Jesus tells this hypothetical story of a man with two sons v11 There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, Father, give me my share of the estate. Divide the inheritance. I want my money, and I want it now... Can you begin to imagine what this must have been like? I dont know what would happen if I said that to my father. Its not like the son asks politely. Dad, do you think you could give me an advance on what you might leave when you go? No, this second son is cold. There is no please or thank you. I want my money and I want it now. Im taking my cash and I am out of here... See, if you ask for your inheritance before your parents are dead, what is the message you are sending? You might as well be dead to me I want my money and I want nothing more to do with you. You and me its over between us. Were breaking up, and you owe me. So pony up... Well, the father divided his property up between the two sons. And we read on in v13 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. This part is easy to imagine the younger son is finally free of the old man, hes off the farm and he is living it up. He was off to Vegas, baby! And this younger son, he lives the high life. Havent you ever wondered what it must be like to win the lottery? We think, oh yeah, Id give so much to the church and then Id be off to Vegas, baby. I have a list as long as my arm of toys I would buy, places Id visit, restaurants Id eat in. Man, if I won the lottery, I would live it up. And this kid, he lives it up.But pretty soon there was nothing left to show. He squandered the lot. Wasted every cent. 2 The cash dried up, the high life dried up, and because this is a parable that Jesus is telling, the countryside dried up too. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. The younger son is in trouble. He has nothing left in his pockets. And so he takes the only job he can get he hires himself out to a farmer who sends him out to feed pigs (v15). And as Jesus was telling this story, the people listening would have been turning their noses up. A Jewish man feeding pigs? Jewish people didnt even touch pigs, let alone work with them. If a Jewish person touched a pig, then he was unfit for God until he washed his clothes and waited until evening (Lev 11:7, 24). For Jewish people, eating a pig would be like eating a rat (Isa 66:3,17)... But here was the younger son, working with pigs, getting covered in their muck, and so hungry, that we read in v16: 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. This younger son had gone from having everything to having nothing. The high life to the lowest of lows. He had nothing and no one... And he began to think about home. The farm. The old man. Maybe it hadnt been as bad as he remembered. Actually, hed had it pretty good back home. And so did the workers on the farm, even the hired men. They had food to spare. And so the son writes a speech the kind of speech that goes something like this - Dad, Ive been an idiot. I know I can never be your son again, I have no right to that, but please at least let me stay as one of your day labourers... (v18) 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. Its honest, and simple and humble. The son is truly contrite... And so with the speech written he gets up and heads home... And heres where the story takes a bit of a turn. We expect the dad to be indignant. Angry. Furious at this son who squandered his hard-earned, then who comes crawling back when it runs out. You expect the dad to be rightly angry at his son, dont you? And everyone listening to Jesus parable expected the same. But thats not what happens. What happens instead is something completely unexpected, completely inappropriate something tender and something wonderful: v20 3 But while [the son] 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 dad does everything we would not expect a Middle Eastern father to do. He doesnt see his son in the distance, and then sort of stands with his arms crossed on the porch, waiting for him to drag his sorry behind home, waiting to chide, What do you have to say for yourself? No instead, from a distance he sees his son and he was filled with compassion. And the fathers compassion moves him to action: he runs (which was a culturally inappropriate thing to do), and he throws his arms around his son the original language says he fell upon his neck, like he cant believe what has happened. And the father kissed his son, he kissed his little boy, just like when he was a baby. I dont know if you still kiss your dad, but in this kiss we see a moment of tenderness between the father and son, a moment of reconciliation, a moment where the relationship is taken back to before the son said to his father, Give me my money. But the son still doesnt feel worthy. He gives the speech he had prepared. 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. But the father ignores the speech completely in fact, he cuts the son off midway through. How can a son ever be worthy to be called a son? We dont earn the right to be sons we are sons by the miracle of child-birth. Or if by adoption, it still has nothing to do with worth, we are brought into a family because people choose to share all they have with the child. To choose parenthood is to choose to give yourself completely to the other. In our world, we sometimes hear parents say, Youre not worthy to be called my son. Youre not worthy to be called my daughter. This might be your experience... But look again at what the Father in this story does. He completely ignores the sons speech about worthiness, because worthiness has nothing to do with sonship... This fathers son was home, that was all there was too it. His son was back and this father wanted to show his son just how happy he was to see him, how happy he was that his lost son had come home. And so the father gives from the abundance of love he has for his son. He gives extravagantly and over the top. 4 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. Lets 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. You probably know that this story is often called the Parable of the Prodigal Son. The word prodigal means extravagant, lavish, unrestrained, excessive; carelessly wasteful. And the younger son lived a prodigal lifestyle after he took his inheritance. He was unrestrained, excessive. He carelessly wasted the lot in an orgy of prostitutes and wild living. But you have to ask yourself: Is the son the true prodigal in the story? [Pause...] What about the Father? In a time when fathers were restrained, dignified, here we have a father who runs and drapes himself on his son, who showers tokens of love and acceptance on his son, far in excess of what was needed. It is extravagant and lavish and unrestrained. And killing the fattened calf, that was just carelessly wasteful. Or was it? Of course as Jesus told this parable, he wasnt just telling a story about a dysfunctional family. He was telling the story of the dysfunctional relationship between people and their heavenly Father. Jesus was telling them how much the Father in heaven longs to lavish blessing upon blessing upon his children. How the Father in heaven longs to see his children come home to him. How the Father will receive even those who have squandered and wasted his blessings, those who have previously said, You are dead to me. For the Heavenly Father, there is no-one too far away to return to him. There is nothing you could ever do that means he would reject you, if only you would return to him. And when you return to him, you wont meet a stern parent waiting on the porch with arms crossed. No, the Father who sent his own son into the world to rescue us, will run to us with arms opened wide, hell shower kisses upon us and dress us in the finest robe and seat us in the place of honour. He makes us his children and shares the inheritance with us... Galatians 3:26 says: So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith (Galatians 3:26) This is the consistent message of the Bible. In Jesus, God has shown that he will stop at nothing to come and find us. 5 And when he finds us, when we return home, what rejoicing there will be in the heaven over a sinner who repents (Lk 15:7, 10). Can you imagine the tax collectors and sinners, sitting with Jesus, leaning in close; can you imagine what it must have been like for them to hear Jesus talking like that? Forgiveness. Restoration. Real family... And you, sitting there in the pew this morning, how does this make you feel to hear Jesus speaking this way? Knowing what you have done this week, knowing the ways you have sinned, the ways you have squandered Gods good gifts... Have you made that same speech to God this week, Father, I am no longer worthy to be called your son...? What does God have to say to you? If you return to him, he will say what the Father said when the prodigal son returned... Quick, bring the fattened calf, this son, this daughter of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found. ~ But the story doesnt finish there. Remember this is a tale of two sons. What does the older brother think about his little brother? The good for nothing, ungrateful, spoiled, selfish younger brother... 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, [the servant] replied, and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound. The older brother is incredulous. He (point finger) came home and now Father has killed the fattened calf for him? People are dancing? What for? 28 The older brother became angry and refused to go in. Im not going in there with him. Hes not my brother.Im guessing at this point that the Pharisees and the teachers of the law listening to Jesus, the religious guys, I bet they were nodding their heads at this point. How dare that younger brother turn up after what he did? What right does he have to expect forgiveness? And these sinners and tax collectors, what right do they have to turn up to God, expecting forgiveness? And so I think Jesus told the next part of the story for them, but also for us... Remember, the older brother is standing outside refusing to go in. Jesus went on... v28 So his father went out and pleaded with [the older brother]. 6 And this pleading, its a bit like the kisses the father pleaded and he pleaded with the older brother, to the point where hes almost given up his dignity. The father should be able just to order his son to come in, but instead he is begging him... And the older brother speaks: v29 29... Look! All these years Ive 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! And it seems like the older son has a point. It hardly seems fair, does it? If either son was worthy of the fathers love, it was the older son, wasnt it?Look again at the way the older son describes his relationship to the father. V29 for years I have been your slave... Ive never disobeyed you... Yet you never gave me even a scrawny little goat so I could celebrate... The older son feels he should be worthy of the fathers lavish display of affection, not the other son. And we hear it in the way the older brother distances himself from his younger brother (v30) when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him! This is an angry man... But he is an angry man who has misunderstood his relationship with his father and brother all along. The older son feels like he has to slave away for his father to earn his inheritance. Like his hard work makes him worthy to be the fathers son. This was the attitude of the Pharisees the religious legalists. You had to slave away for God, and obey his every command and that way you would be worthy to be called a son... But family is not like that, is it? At least not when the father is God. Listen again to how the father speaks tenderly to his older son... 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. You see, the older son thought he had nothing, but in fact he already had everything. The father was with him. And everything the father owned already belonged to the son after all, the 7 father had already divided the inheritance. The animals they belonged to the older son. The farm it belonged to the older son. And the younger son well he also belonged to the older son in a kind of way. Not like cattle, but like family. In v32 the father calls him this brother of yours... And I think the point of the story about the older brother is to remind us that we dont have to earn the right to be children of God. Its not something we earn by doing religious things. We are children of God because God is our Father, our creator, our family.And God wants us to treat him like family. He wants us to spend time with him, to enjoy his good gifts, knowing that they come from him. Not feeling like servants or slaves or employees, but remembering simply he loves us because he has made us his children. ~ I picked this passage today for Fathers Day because it reminds us of the incredible love that our heavenly Father has for us. The younger brother felt unworthy of his fathers love because of what he had done. But the Father loved him anyway, because he was his son. The older brother felt like he had to earn his Fathers love through hard work. But the Father loved him anyway, not because of his works, but because he was his son. And God loves us. Each one of us, just like the Father in the story loved his sons. It doesnt matter what weve done whether good or bad God loves us because he has chosen us as sons and daughters, dearly beloved. And when we come back to him, what joy it causes in heaven. Will you come back to the Father today? 8 Watch at: https://youtu.be/9forNhLUUBs File Downloads: https://dq5pwpg1q8ru0.cloudfront.net/2022/06/24/22/38/08/18499fa3-0577-482f-9496-5552a6dd8ba9/06.19.22%20%20Sunday%20Sermon%20Transcript.pdf