Luke 15:32
One of the wonderful things about using the Revised Common Lectionary for our three-year cycle of readings is that each week we join in with millions of other Christians all round the world and listen to the same Bible readings!
We truly can say that God speaks the same message to a large group of his children each week and I think it’s also true that nearly every preacher this week will be preaching on this mornings remarkable gospel.
And this is the day, today, for that to happen. Nothing is random in God’s Kingdom.
This, along with the Parable of the Good Samaritan, are the Great Parables of our Father’s love for us, and our love for our neighbour.
This morning’s Parable of the Prodigal Son is one of those passages of Scripture that speaks very much to my own experience of the absolute waterfalls of fatherly love and grace I have received from God the father – so I tread lightly here.
There are many ways to look at the parable. Last time, three years ago, we brought the story up to date and tried to look what such mercy, grace, forgiveness and love might look like now.
But the Lord always refreshes grows our understanding of Scripure and gives us ways of viewing where the Cross is in Scripture in different ways. This happened when I read today’s parable that we think we know so well.
When I read the parable afresh it hit me immediately with the opening line in v.11:
“Then Jesus said, there was a man who had two sons.”
Maybe the parable isn’t all about the prodigal Son. There was a man who had two sons. Now when we look at the context of the whole of chapter 15 things become clearer.
Luke 15 is the magnificent chapter of the Gospel of Lost Things. Its starts with the parable of the lost sheep, to the parable of the lost coin, and ends with todays magnificent reading.
The whole reason I came, Jesus says, is to find and save the lost, not the righteous, who in their own eyes are not lost at all. So who is he saying this whole long speech of parables to?
Not the disciples, nor the ‘crowd.’ But specifically to the Pharisees and Scribes who were “grumbling saying ‘this man receives sinners and eats with them’” (Luke 15:2).
So to those who are righteous in their own eyes and hate so-called “sinners.” This is starting to sound like it might also be the Parable of the self-righteous brother.
I think many of us might know of an elder brother, first-born type – the type in our community who did the right thing, who didn’t squander an inheritance but worked hard and increased the size of family business.
That however is not what happened here.
Both Sons received the inheritance and in Jewish Law the eldest son receives a double portion. So the older Son received two-thirds, and the younger son fled to a distant country with one-third and proceeded to blow every last shekel.
Also under Jewish Law, the Father has to die for the sons to inherit. Both of the Sons preferred to have material wealth than love and honour their father and so the relationship with the Father was legally broken. Their father was dead to them both.
The father here lost two sons, not one.
Now the response of the father is the same to both his lost sons. The younger son experiences a wretched, yet very beautifully Godly moment where he truly repents – he becomes poor in spirit and grieves his sin.
Turning for home and still a long way, off he encounters, of all people, the great and loving father he had wanted dead in his life and had hurt so badly. The very same came running and embracing him and kissing him and laughing and crying and hugging him.
This is our Father.
There is great joy in heaven over just one sinner who repents, just one single sheep or coin that was lost and is now found.
There is now a huge party in heaven and also a huge party on earth. The son who was lost and is now found (just imagine it!) is being given the best robes and a ring for his finger and shoes for his feet.
The great desire of the father is that the older son would come in and be part of this great celebration – to share in the remarkably beautiful love, grace, and generosity of the father.
Sins of the flesh committed by the younger son are so very obvious to us and to others. Beware far more the sins of pride and self-righteousness displayed by the older brother that have deep roots and give us a very false impression of our relationship with God.
Think of the party in heaven. If you’re not at the party in the parable, you aren’t part of the great celebration in heaven either. The prodigal is being welcomed to heaven, not because of his perfect life, but because of God’s amazing grace.
If we’re not at the party – if we aren’t in heaven - then we are elsewhere. Not because of our sin, but because of our refusal to join the party. The refusal to accept that we are found by Jesus Christ himself and saved by grace alone. Not because we are non-sinners.
But who would choose to refuse this amazing Grace? Lots of people are righteous in their own eyes and there is a veil over their eyes as to sin – they just can’t see it. “I am a good person” is the mantra here and a hatred of others who are not “good people.”
The older brother also refuses this grace. He doesn’t want to join the celebration. Even though he is hungry and tired. The door is wide open to him.
The father even personally leaves the celebration, to find his elder son, and to plead with him to join the party. But the son refuses.
Its not even so much that the older son is rejecting the father, as refusing to acknowledge the return of sonship to the younger brother. A refusal to accept that the same love that has given him a privileged and blessed life – is available to all daughters and sons who repent.
Jesus is teaching the Pharisees and Scribes about the heavenly kingdom.
Jesus is teaching us that we don’t get to choose who goes to heaven. God alone chooses. And he appears to choose anyone who wants to be there. Even the prodigals among us. It has often been said that when we get to heaven, we might be surprised by who is there.
Jesus is also teaching us that the great rule of heaven is the rule of grace. It is the rule of love. We can’t earn our way into heaven, both sons’ stories prove that.
And finally I think Jesus is teaching us that in the kingdom of God, where we have our citizenship, we must not only learn to say “Father,” but also “sister” and “brother” again.
Remember when the younger son returns home, he believes he is no longer worthy to be called “son” (v.21). He had hoped to be treated as a hired hand. But after the showering of such abundant mercy, grace and generosity he had to learn to say “Father” again.
But the elder son has to learn to say “brother.” In this story, the elder son never even admits that the prodigal is his brother. “This son of yours” is how he describes him to his father. To which the father responds, “This brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.”
It is this very same, great self-sacrificing love of God that enables us to truly be as brother and sister and to be channels of this same love, compassion, mercy and forgiveness.
Once we have acknowledged our need for it; we are filled with it . Let me pray ...