First Mennonite Church
September 21, 2014
The Compassionate Father
Text: Luke 15:11-31
The Parable of the Prodigal Son is one of the most beloved ones Jesus told. And with Luke’s literary expertise, the story is infused with beauty and power, drawing the listener emotionally into it. This parable is the longest of all parables told by Jesus. The themes and family dynamics are universal and timeless. Therefore, it has power to draw the listener into it. Readers can identify with certain aspects of this story or know someone who somehow is or has been in that family situation. And the way the story is introduced only adds to factor: “A certain man had two sons . . ..” It could be any man. It could be, let say, Mitch who has two sons. It could be Ahrean with two, or Christian.
Most of us who read or hear this story in Luke chapter 15 about this loving father and his two sons can easily miss how piercing it must have sounded the first time Jesus told it. You see, most of us who hear this story have “decent” families. Even if our adult children are not committed Christians, they are not squanderers of our hard-earned money; they are not beggars in a foreign country, but hard working men and women in their local communities; they have not lost their sense of dignity so as to desire to eat food of pigs or to go dumpster-diving, but have a healthy sense of pride and dignity. And added to this good-enough view of our family is the fact that we, who hear or read this story, do not perceive of ourselves as being either the squanderer younger brother or the disrespectful, self-righteous older brother. And these could be the main obstacles as to why we have difficulty grasping the magnificent portrait of God as a loving Father who gives us everything, waits patiently for our return, and keeps inviting us to rejoice when the lost one comes home to rejoin the family.
The context where Jesus told this story goes back to chapter 14, verse 1, which reads: One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched. There in the house of this prominent Pharisee, Jesus not only healed a man, but he also told several parables. As Jesus reclined around at the table and as he told some beautiful stories of lost and found things, and about table etiquette, Luke 15, verse one tells us how the guests were reacting. And so, we read in verse one and two: Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.
These tax collectors and sinners were hated people because of their trade or their poor choices in life. Yet, they crowded even closer to Jesus as he spoke and told these beautiful stories. They were fascinated with his stories and everything Jesus was saying. But not everyone was equally impressed. The Pharisees and the experts of the law were murmuring: “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
As Jesus, the master story-teller, continued talking to those who were all ears to his words, he painted a portrait of a father with his two sons. Most times the very title commonly given to this parable obscures the central point intended by Jesus. This parable is commonly called “The Prodigal Son” and the title makes us focus on the younger son. However, when Jesus begins to tell the parable he says: “There was a man who had two sons. And this man or who this man represents is the one who Jesus wants to highlight. God the Father is that man who Jesus wants to portray in this story.
- The man is free giving even to the point that giving hurts.
- This man is not a controlling freak.
- This man patiently waits for his lost son to come home.
- This man has a heart longing to be united with his two sons.
- This man suffers disgrace from the younger son, yet extends endless grace when he returns.
- This man suffers humiliation from the older son, yet pleads him to share the joy of his younger brother’s having come back home.
- This man offers a welcoming banquet even when the son comes only because hunger forced him to remember his father.
- This man rejoices freely and generously even at his own expense.
- This man forgives.
- This man represents God.
The younger son asked for what was his share of the family wealth—(Greek ousias) and the father gave him his (Greek bion) life or living. This underscore that what the father gave his son was more than just material possession, but his entire livelihood or freedom to live his life as he pleased. Shortly after, the young son went far away to waste everything he was given. In his state of despair he does the worst thing imaginable according to Jewish decency and religion. But it was there, when the stomach of the young son churned with hunger pangs, when he was as muddy as the pigs he was feeding, when he desired to eat the food he was feeding to the pigs, Jesus says: he came to his senses. This phrase captures the human capacity to realize how erroneously past decisions have been made, or how stubbornly one has behaved, or how self-centeredly one has acted. Abject misery and hunger pangs brought this young man to his senses and the first thing that came to his mind was his father and the abundance of food there was at home.
The younger son prepared his confession. Although this young man knew how insulting and disrespectful his asking for his share of the inheritance was, he did not lose hope his father would at least listen to his confession. But to his surprise, the father had been waiting and longing for the day his son would return home. Verse 20 reads: 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.
As the young man approaches town and when still a long way off, his father recognized his son. This father did not sit down on his chair with his arms folded waiting for his son to arrive at the doorstep. No. He runs over to his son, throws his arms around him and kisses him profusely. That is a picture of God. He is patiently waiting for our return to him. He can wait to see even our dark shadow appear coming to him that he will not come running towards us with open arms and tender mercies.
My dear friends, God is waiting for us to come home to Him. God, the compassionate Father, is peering down the road toward us and is patiently waiting to see when we will come home to Him.
When was the last time you really felt God embrace and kiss? In the OT kissing symbolizes forgiveness. Remember how Esau kissed and wept over the shoulder of Jacob (Gen. 33:4). Remember Joseph and his brothers how he fell on their neck and kissed each of his brothers weeping over them (Gen. 45:14, 15). Remember David when he kissed and also wept over the shoulder of his son Absalom (2 Sam 14:33) How often do you approach your heavenly Father and say, “Daddy, I love you.” Or do you come to God only at certain moments of the day or when you have a request to make to Him as did the young son?
When the young man came back, he had a confession ready to make. He addressed the old man who embraced him, “father.” When we come to God in repentance we learn to say, “Abba,” as Paul says. Repentance means learning to say Abba again to the heavenly Father. This is something the older son had not learned even when he remained in the house of his father. When the older son was coming and found out that his younger brother had come back and therefore the reason for the feast going on, he was filled with anger and refused to enter his house. Again the father’s compassion became evident toward the older son. Yet, when the father approached his older son, this did not address him as “father,” instead he began by saying, “Now look at me! or ‘listen to me!’ 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…”
The older son not only disavowed his younger brother but also refused to acknowledge his father as family. All the time he had stayed home had been for him an obligation or to earn merits. Although he had physically stayed home, his heart, love and loyalty to his father were not there. And when his younger brother came home, his rebelliousness and anger came bursting out. The older brother, just as the younger one, had one and the same problem: they each demanded what they believed was rightfully theirs. The younger son asked for his fair, legal, and rightful share of the inheritance. It was given to him and he squandered it. The older brother viewed the time and work at home as time earning points of righteousness redeemable with goods to expend with his friends away from family.
When we claim our rights we easily forget the importance of relationships. We see that in children. We see that in churches too. This story reminds us that the compassionate father values relationship, not only towards his children but also among his children. Just as the father in the parable who pleaded with the older son to join the celebration, God asks us to rejoice when each of his sons and daughters return home. There are great joy and angelic celebration when a sinner comes back home to the Lord. And we too, should rejoice when that happens.
All of us are in need of God’s grace. All of us need to come home to the heavenly Father. All of us are brothers and sisters constantly learning to say, “Abba Father.” All of us need to remember that we all are brothers and sisters who the Father has gladly welcomed home. God is our compassionate and patient Father.
Amen!
Pastor Romero