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I. The Younger Son Since we?re going to address a text we haven?t heard since last Sunday, it may be a good idea if you were to open your Bibles and turn to Luke 15, page 874. This morning, we want to revisit this parable of the ?welcoming father.? Last week, we looked exclusively at the father?s response to his younger son who had demanded his inheritance, left his father?s house, squandered everything and then returned. Today, we want to look at the father?s response to the older son whose situation is, in some ways, much different than his younger brother and yet in some ways, much the same.
Lets begin by refreshing our memory of the younger son?s plan as he prepares to make his return to his father?s house. We read beginning at verse 17-19. "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! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants."
Now, I know that a lot of folks like to make a big deal about those words, ?when he came to himself? as though this was the act of truly contrite heart and the indication of true repentance. I suppose that if your hope and confidence depend upon a conversion experience or a personal decision that you have made to turn your life around and come to God ? this younger son sure seems like a good example for all of us to follow.
Frankly, I don?t think so. First of all, ?he came to himself.? That is to say, ?he thought about himself.? His situation was truly desperate, and desperate people do desperate things. He took stock of his options in life and determined that he had come down to his one last option for survival.
There was yet one last bit of working capital that he had tucked away. He always knew he could turn to if all else failed. He always knew that his father was too loving and too gracious to ever let him starve to death. To return to his father?s home was the last resort because it would mean that he would have to swallow his pride and admit his failure. But clearly, this is an act of pure self-preservation. There?s no indication at all that his return to his father?s home is motivated by his love for his father.
There is one more thing going on here that requires an understanding of middle-eastern economics to grasp. In Jesus? day, there were three positions of economic status. They are sonship, hired servant and servant. A son is supported by his father on account of the father?s love for his son. And the son serves the father because everything the father has is his too. A ?hired hand? is supported by the master of the house, and that support is not based on love but contractual agreement. Wages are paid for work that is done. A ?servant? is supported by the master but not on the basis of love or work done – a servant is totally at the mercy of the master of the house and has no say in anything.
Now can we see that as this younger son cooks up his little plan for his return to his father?s house, he is willing to forfeit his ?sonship,? ?I am not worthy to be called your son?? but he?s not trusting of his father enough to place himself totally at his mercy. ?Make me as one of your hired hands.? He still wants to hold onto a bit of his dignity and self-respect and control over his life. ?I?m willing to come back home under these terms.?
So the real shocker in this portion of this two part parable is not that the younger son ?comes to himself.? In fact, that?s no shock at all ? it?s the perfectly natural, self-centered thing to do. The real shocker is in the Father?s response to His son. From verse 21 to 24, we read, ?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.' Notice carefully that the son never gets a chance to finish his plan before the Father interrupts him with His plan for this child.
Vss. 22-24 – ?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. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my SON was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.' And they began to celebrate.?
The father restores the child to the full status of sonship with no deals attached. This is all about the Father pure grace and His extravagant love for his son. I think it?s perfectly fair to assume that at some later hour the father would have a good father to son talk with this child and remind him of the great blessings of sonship and the responsibilities that come along with being a son. Surely the father would have taken the time to look his son right in the eyes and say, ?Child, I forgive you all of your sins. Now go, and sin no more.?
But this was not the time for that. This was the time for the celebration to begin. And now it should also be clear to us just whose honor this banquet celebrates. It is in honor of the Father whose willingness to risk the agony of rejected love pays off.
The younger son?s real act of contrition and repentance lies in his willingness to receive His father?s forgiveness, grace and love, say ?Abba, Father,? and accompany his father to the banquet and share in his father?s joy. This is what true repentance is. Not just the confession of a desperate sinner but the reception of God?s forgiveness and love and participation in the father?s joy that His great risk of rejected love was not in vain.
II. The Older Son Now, let?s turn our attention to the father?s response to the older son. From verse 25-28a we read: "Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 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.' But he was angry and refused to go in.?
As Jesus tells His story, the younger son represents the sinners whom the Pharisees and Scribes were so upset that Jesus was eating with. They are the ones who are experiencing the joy of being in the father?s house with the father. The older son represents the Pharisees and Scribes. The problem is that even though the older son hasn?t run away from the father?s house, he just as far removed from the father that he cannot share in his father?s joy.
Though he lives in the father?s house, he is so far removed from the heart and mind of his father that the older son has no clue what the celebration is about. He never realized how heartbroken his father was at the loss of his brother. Once he learns the cause of the party, he stages his public protest and refuses to go in. He?s so self-centered that his father?s joy makes him angry.
Once again, we come now to the point of crisis. How will the father react to his older? And once again, just as with his younger son, we see the father risk the agony of rejected love that he might be reconciled to his older son. Getting up from his place at the head table, and in front of all his guests, ?His father came out and entreated him.? Picture it. This respectable middle-eastern father begging his son to join the party.
How then, will this older son receive his father? Will he surrender his pride and receive His father?s outstretched hand and join with him, arm and arm and enter the banquet hall and thereby double the father?s joy?
Verses 29. ?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. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!'
Sadly, the terrible answer is ?no.? He cannot even bring himself to address his father as ?Abba? but indignantly says, ?Look!?
And not only is he this far away from his father?s heart but also his younger brother whom he will only speak of as ?your son.? And just loud enough for every mother with single daughters to hear, he uses the boy?s name and the word ?prostitutes? in the same sentence.
All of these symptoms point to the unmistakable diagnosis, which the older son himself recognizes, ?Look, all these years I have served you?? He thinks of himself as a servant in his father?s house and not as a son.
The older son thought of his father as demanding master and every word sounded to him like a harsh command ? ?do this, do that, or else.? He never took his father?s concern for him as ?grace upon grace.? Never even heard his father?s invitations to, ?ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.? (Luke 11:9)
But the father?s patience with his older son is as longsuffering as it was for his younger son. ?Son,? he says, reminding him that he is not a servant or a hired hand but a son. And the terms of sonship are these, ?You are always with me and all that is mine is yours.? (vs. 31)
Here is the story of the human response to God encapsulated in this remarkable parable. Both sons have turned away from their father?s love just as we all have. Both sons have rejected their birthright ? theirs by birth, ours by rebirth in holy baptism. Both sons have embraced other gods in their search for security and meaning in life and so have we all.
This is the human story in a nutshell. But, not all nuts are the same. Some nuts remain secure and protected in their shell while for other nuts, the shell is shattered.
The younger son was nuts for leaving his father, and his life is shattered because all of his false gods proved to be just that ? ?false.? As he hits bottom, the younger son is amazed to hear his father?s fabulous forgiveness and grandiose grace, repents and says, ?Abba, father.?
The old son is nuts too, but he?s very secure and satisfied in his insanity. He has no real consideration for his father. He?s lost ? but he doesn?t think so and so he?s not seeking or searching for something that?s missing. He?s dead ? but you can?t tell him that because he?s got a full belly, a roof over his head and he even has the satisfaction of believing that his work is appreciated by his father. If you ask him, he?d tell you that it?s his father and all his father?s children who?ve got the problems and the hang ups. In fact, he thinks he?s the normal one and everyone else is crazy. How do you reach someone like that?
And at that, this parable stops. It doesn't end. It just stops. The final scene is of a father with his arms open and outstretched toward his older son. Guests are frozen in place, waiting to resume the festivities. Everyone is waiting to see, how will the older son respond?
On Good Friday, we will know the response of the older son. "Crucify him, crucify him." How terrible it is when the father?s love is rejected. But that is the risk He took ? that he might be reconciled to you and you might yet say, ?Abba, Father,? and share in His joy.