Sermon: Parable of the Lost Sons

Prodigal Sons

The second son really isn't prodigal, in the sense that prodigal means lavish or excessive spending. But of course we tend to think of the prodigal son as running away from the father, so in that sense it probably fits.

Main point – God seeks and saves the lost.

- The prodigal lost must reach a point where they recognise their situation and repent

- The found must recognise that there is no injustice in God accepting repentant sinners

Application – if you're far away from God, recognise your situation and repent

- if you're in church, don't look down on people who have sinned

Words

(show movie clip from The Nugget?)

There are some things that, if you lose them, you will go to extraordinary lengths to get them back. In the Aussie movie, “The Nugget”, the character Lotto (the unluckiest man in the world) wins $100,000 on an instant lottery ticket. In his excitement, he accidentally drops the winning ticket down a drain. Does he shrug his shoulders and walk away? Not on your life. He calls his council work mates around and they try everything to get that drain grill off. They pry at it with crowbars, they try jackhammering around it, until someone spraying a hose washes the ticket further down the drain. Do they give up then? Never! They spend two days digging up the main street, cancelling the water to the shops on the street, and even bring in an excavator and telling the locals there's a gas leak, looking for the lost ticket. Of course, they never find it – he is the unluckiest man in the world, after all.

These days, it's hard for us to misplace something really valuable and to not be able to replace it. For many people, the days are gone when you are given a week's pay in an envelope that you can easily leave at a bus stop – it gets transferred into a bank account. Most of us keep money in the bank, so if you lose your keycard, you can just go to the bank and get another one. If you lose your keys, you can call a locksmith and get new keys cut. You can even replace an expensive train ticket if you keep the serial number. If we leave our laptop at the airport, it's probably insured, but you will lose all the information on it. So when we turn to Luke 15 and read about people losing a sheep, or losing a coin, it's a bit difficult for us to empathise. We don't measure our wealth in terms of animals that can wander off and get lost, but a shepherd who has 100 sheep and loses one loses 1% of his total wealth. We have ATM cards, but a woman with 10 silver coins has a day's wages in each coin, and coins are notorious for being able to roll across floors and find their way in behind couches. It can be hard for us to really empathise with the people in the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin. You might “lose” money in an investment, but that's not like misplacing it - you're hardly going to search around and find it again.

Those parables were told by Jesus because he was surrounded by people who were obvious sinners, and Jesus wanted to show them that God rejoices when a sinner, like them, turns their life around and seeks him out, like a shepherd does when he loses a sheep, or a woman does when she loses a day's wage. He's showing them in these parables that God is actively seeking them out, looking for them, and will rejoice when he finds them ready to come home with him. We're talking about those people who the rest of society reject and marginalise. The kind of person who you'd feel ashamed to have in your house, because you wouldn't want the neighbours to see you hanging around with people like that. Back in those days, it was prostitutes, tax collectors, alcohol sellers and drunkards. Nowadays, tax collector is a legitimate profession, owning a pub is an attractive business enterprise, prostitution is a lifestyle choice for some, and alcoholic is synonymous with Australian. So when we think about obvious sinners, people whose sin is obvious and detestable in today's culture, you might think of drug dealers, wife beaters, dole bludgers, terrorists, paedophiles – anyone who 'A Current Affair' could make a story out of that would shock the average Aussie. These were the type of people who are covered under the term “sinners”.

Such “sinners” in fact clambered to see Jesus and to hear him speak. There was something attractive about what Jesus had to say to them. Jesus didn't reject them like the rest of polite society, he ate with them and talked to them.

Now, imagine what would happen if you were to have a known paedophile turn up at your door for a dinner party. What do you think would happen? Some people might make excuses and leave, or make awkward looks. Probably some people would mutter under their breath, “I thought the Weldons were respectable people. Why did they invite him? Why would they socialise with someone like that?” Well, that's pretty much what happened to Jesus – people like the Pharisees were looking at the people who surrounded Jesus and muttering, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” You can see that in verse 2 of chapter 15 of Luke's gospel.

So Jesus tells his two parables for the sake of those “sinners” around him – the parable of the lost sheep, and the parable of the lost coin. But he saves his most detailed parable on the subject for last. It has a message both for the “sinners” around Jesus, and the Pharisees who question him. We often call it the parable of the prodigal son, or the lost son. The video in the modern parable series is called “Prodigal Sons”, which a pedant like me can't help but point out isn't literally correct. Prodigal means, “wastefully extravagant spending” which obviously only refers to the one son in the parable. But the idea is to show that the parable is not just about one son, but two sons, and that's absolutely correct. Indeed, we could call this, “the parable of the lost sons” and probably be more correct.

You might be fairly familiar with the parable, but let me retell it quickly, and fill it in with some cultural commentary that we might not otherwise recognise. A younger son asks his father for his share of the inheritance, which is the equivalent of saying, “I want you dead now, so I can cash in.” His share is 1/3, because the eldest son gets a double share of the inheritance, so if there's two sons, it's 2/3 to the older, 1/3 to the younger. His father agrees and gives it (which is of course crazy – what father would divide his inheritance between his sons before he dies?), and the son goes off and lavishly spends his money in wasteful extravagance.

This younger son is living the life of the sinner, and the sinners around Jesus would recognise it easily. We must remember that Jews grew up in a society that was all about God – they didn't question whether God existed or cared about them. They were Jews! Of course he did! So the sinner would recognise themselves in that son who wished his father was dead, so he could live his life the way he wanted. That's what they had done – they knew God was there, but they wished he wasn't, and so they lived as though he was dead. In Australia today, people don't grow up assuming God exists and cares for them. In fact, it's gone the other way - people don't question whether God exists. Today they just say, “I'm a 21^st century rationalist humanist westerner! Of course God doesn't exist!” They assume he doesn't, so why live as though he did? That's the thing – if you look at the world knowing God exists, then you will see God revealed. But if you look at the world as if God doesn't exist, guess what you'll see? You'll see a world without God. It's not about starting from nothing and then trying to find God. It's about starting from God and seeing how everything then makes sense.

Is that what we do? As we live our lives as Christians, do we live it on the first and primary basis that God exists and cares for us? Is that what our whole life is built on? Is that what undergirds your thinking? Does it affect how you act? Because that's not what schools teach. It's not what TV and movies show. It's not what parliament says, or newspapers, or the internet, or universities. But it is what the Bible teaches, and it's what Jesus says. If we're not living with our primary assumption in life that God exists and cares for us as revealed in the Bible, then how can we expect anyone else to?

Back to the parable. Tough times hit, a famine, and the younger son finds himself out of cash, and needing to work for a non-Jewish family, feeding their pigs. Just think – a Jew, one of God's chosen people, feeding pigs, an unclean animal! It's the lowest of the low. He's so hungry he wishes he could eat what the pigs are eating. He remembers how well-treated the hired hands on his father's farm are, and he thinks, “Why am I starving here? I know my father can't ever accept me back as a son after what I did, but if I ask forgiveness for my stupid actions, perhaps he will let me work as a hired hand on the farm.” So he turns around and returns home.

When we sin against God, it means we turn our back on him. To come back to him, we have to repent, which means turn our lives around, so that we're turning our back on that life of rebellion, and we come home to God. You can't return to God without realising that you need to make that change, and leave your old life behind you. Now, the sinners that were surrounding Jesus may not have made that change yet, but at least they'd accepted the first step – they knew that they had turned their back on God. So Jesus could then share with them this message – the need to take the next step, and return to God. We have to meet people where they are at – it's no good calling on people to repent, to turn their lives around, if they don't even realise they've turned their back on God in the first place. Of course, when they do realise that bad news, then we can give them the good news – that it's not too late to turn around and walk back home to God.

Of course, when the father sees his poor son walking down the track to the family homestead, he runs out and grabs him in a big hug. That's a big deal – back in those days, the patriarch of the family did not run. Children run. Women run. Fathers do not run. But this father did. The son starts on his spiel, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I'm not worthy to be called your son...” but before he can get any further, the father has asked for the servants to bring out the best cloak, the best shoes, and the family ring, and puts them on his son. Then he throws a party to celebrate the return of the son who was dead to him, but is now alive. The son wrote the father off as dead, but the father never forgot his son. And that is the good news that Jesus brings to those who recognise that they are sinners. God hasn't forgotten you. He lets you do your own thing, he lets you take your inheritance and spend it like an idiot, if that's what you want. But he hopes that you will realise what you've done, and if you turn around, he will come running.

But then the older son returns from his work in the field, and he finds that his father has spared no expense in throwing some huge party. He's even killed the fat calf – the best calf, which you would save for religious celebrations. One of the servants tells him why – because his free-loading brother has returned home – and so in a fit of anger, he refuses to join the celebrations. Not celebrating at a “welcome home” party is pretty much saying, “I wish you didn't come home” - it's dishonourable, it's rebelling against his father's will. So the father goes out and pleads with his older son to come and join the party. But the older son is angry with his father. He says, “I've done nothing but what you've asked, and yet you've never thrown me a party, even just to celebrate with friends. But then this son of yours goes and wastes your money on whores, and when he comes back you kill the fat calf?” You can just hear him say, “It's – not – fair!” And the thing is, there is a ring of truth to what he is saying. Anyone who has ever worked in the family business knows that the rules protecting employees from overwork and underpay do not extend to members of the family. When you're short staffed, or need someone to work a public holiday, or to fill in a dropped shift or to do jobs other people don't want, you can always rely on family to do it. And the idea is generally that they are contributing to something that will grow and eventually become theirs. So there's no special rewards for working in the family business – it's expected of you.

The same formula worked back in Judea – the sons would work for the father, and eventually would gain a share in the land that was their inheritance. That is what the older son has been doing – faithfully working the land and waiting for the appropriate time when he will inherit. But you can see his reaction – he sees the party as some sort of reward for his younger brother's irresponsibility, and as such he then compares it to the lack of reward he has received for doing his duty. The father is kind, but firm in his response to this attitude. “My son, you are always with me, and you will inherit everything in the due time. But we must celebrate, we are constrained to celebrate, because your brother was dead to us, but now he is alive again. He was lost to us, but now he is found!”

If ever a parable was going to be understandable to us in the 21^st century, this parable is it. Although it involves some farming talk and a bit of cultural difference, I think we can all feel the tension when the younger son asks for his inheritance. We can all imagine the squandering on a wild lifestyle, and the hitting rock bottom that comes afterwards. And we all, especially the parents out there, can imagine the joy of seeing a child who you thought was dead return and ask forgiveness. It's the human element in this parable that makes it strike such a chord when you read it or hear it. And so this is the parable that Jesus leaves till last, the most powerful one. And this second message, involving the older son arguing with his father about accepting the younger back, is not included in the parables of the lost sheep or the lost coin, but here. So it is an important section. What is it about? Well, remember that Jesus is surrounded by sinners when he is telling these parables. But he actually tells them in response to put-down comments by the Pharisees about how he hangs out with sinners. Remember, they were muttering about how they couldn't believe Jesus would do such a thing as hang around with people who have obvious sin in their lives.

This section about the older son, who is so irate at the acceptance of the younger son, is a picture of the Pharisees. The older son in the parable could not understand that the celebrations of the father were necessary, because a son was found alive and returned to him. All he saw was his sinful brother getting a party that he didn't deserve, and he was jealous because to him it looked like a reward for being rebellious. But it wasn't about whether he deserved it or not. When children inherit money from their parents, it's because they're children, not because they are deserving of it. In fact, it was an act of grace in forgiving the son and welcoming him back joyfully. But the older son can't see grace, all he can see is a reward that he thinks he deserves but isn't getting.

This is a picture of how the Pharisees saw Jesus spending time with sinners, and it shows a fundamental flaw in their understanding of God. People with an attitude like the Pharisees fail to understand that the grace that God shows in accepting obvious or marginalised sinners into his kingdom is the same grace that God shows in accepting hidden or accepted sinners into his kingdom. Because that's all we are. We're not righteous. You don't have to be a paedophile or a terrorist to be a sinner. If you're not loving God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength, then you're a sinner. If you're not loving others as you love yourself, you're a sinner. Just because society thinks you're all right, that makes no difference. But after you've been in church a while, it can become easy to start thinking that you somehow deserve praise for the life you're leading, as if going to church and encouraging people and sending money overseas and helping people in need and sharing the gospel and praying for people was somehow your idea, when in reality those things are simply what is expected of a member of the Christian family. Those are the family business. It's as if the goodness you have is somehow something you have worked up and earned and is something special, rather than you being as totally reliant on the grace of God as someone who is an obvious sinner.

But that is not how it works in God's kingdom! Remember the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, just a few chapters ahead of this one, in Luke 18. "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.' 13"But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.' 14"I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." We as Christians can often try and pick who we want to share God's message with. Usually it's people that we feel comfortable around, people we already find it easy to relate to. People with a similar background. People who are already living a pretty good life, but just don't go to church. But God has shown time and time again that it is the marginalised, the rejected, the fringe dweller and the obvious sinner that responds with repentance.

I remember hearing the story of how the Betel ministry was started. A group of Christians went to Spain trying to spread God's message among businesspeople and the middle class. They had a good plan, they had dedicated people, they had some resources. But they made no progress amongst the businesspeople – they would just walk past and didn't see any need for help. The people who kept coming up to them and asking for help were heroin addicts – thin, emaciated, pale faced people with a syringe behind the ear like a pencil. The heroin addicts knew they had a problem, and yet no-one was prepared to help them turn their lives around. Many were dying of HIV from sharing needles. To the world they were a lost cause, worthless. They were prodigal sons who had squandered whatever they had, and had hit rock bottom. But to God, they are still sons, so they are still valuable. Betel is a thriving ministry now in 13 countries, including Australia, helping addicts turn their lives around for God and the kingdom. Some of them do more for God's kingdom in the 18 months between their conversion and their death from AIDS than we do in our whole normal, clean churchy lives. That's humbling to think about.

If you are an obvious sinner, rejected by society, then remember that God still loves you and accepts you. He can turn your life around and make you a part of the family again. That's Jesus' message to sinners. But those of us here today are far more likely to fall into the camp of the hidden, accepted sinners, like the Pharisees, than we are to be in the camp of obvious, rejected sinners that Jesus was also talking to, like the prostitutes and tax collectors. So listen to the message that Jesus has for us: God's grace is the only reason your life has any meaning. Don't forget that. Don't forget that it's the same grace that God uses to call the drug addict and the terrorist to himself that he uses to call you to the kingdom. You are a benefactor of that same grace. Jesus died as much for your sin as he did for theirs. We have to be humble and realise our position before God. Then perhaps we can start seeing sinners the way God seems them – as prodigal sons who need to come home, rather than as that person who should have known better than to throw his inheritance away.

Jesus' parable points out that a son can be just as lost from the father while still at home working the farm as he can going far away and living the wild life squandering his inheritance. It is actually easier to slip away from God in church, because you might not even notice you've done it. You're still doing the right things, still trying to live a good life, but it stops being for God, and starts being for yourself. Whereas if you go and squander your inheritance with heroin and prostitutes, you know you're doing the wrong thing, and you can easily identify your break with God.

Check yourself. Search your heart. Do you get angry with God when things go better for people who you don't think live as righteous a life as you? Do you get angry because you think you deserve a party for the good you've done? Do you do what God wants because that's what he wants, or because you think it will pay off, either with a good life here, or in heaven? When you see someone who does have obvious problems of sin in their life, do you look at them with mercy and love, or do you look down on them because if you can live a righteous life, why can't they? Those are marks of being lost. We all must recognise our constant need for God as sinners, and be humble before God, along with realising the loving grace of God and our sonship with Christ.

Don't be a wild younger son and squander what God has given you. But if you have, recognise where your life has led you, away from God, and turn back to him. Don't be a lost older son and do God's work for yourself, rather than for him. But if you are, recognise that while you might be living a good life, you're not living it for God, and turn back to him. God's kingdom is where we glorify God, not ourselves. Let that be the focus of our lives.

Let's pray.