An Instructive Moment about our Father (Luke 15:1-3,11-32)

I wish Gire had included the other two parables but I understand that would have made this chapter way too long. However, all three parables teach the same thing which is God is vitally concerned with the repentance of sinners. But the story about the prodigal son goes beyond the other two parables, applying the truth to the situation in which Jesus found Himself; being accepted by the outcasts of society while being rejected by the religious leaders.

Let's face it, the religious leaders were disgusted that Jesus associated with those people who were thought of as hopeless and, that dirty word, "sinners."

Some people I know view these parables as teaching a believer's restoration to fellowship with God. I prefer a different understanding, which I hope I will support. I believe it teaches that lost people, (i.e., people who are not believers) can come to Christ. This view seems to be supported for two reasons.

1) Jesus was speaking to Pharisees who were rejecting the message of the kingdom. Their objection was that sinners were coming to Jesus and believing His message. In no way could these two groups be adequately represented in the prodigal parable if the point of the parable is a restoration to fellowship by a believer.

2) Verse 22 indicates that the son who came back received a new position which he did not have before. The Jews were God's "children" in the sense that they had a special covenant relationship to Him. But each individual still had to become a believer in God. It was their responsibility to accept the message Jesus was preaching...that He was the Messiah and that He would bring in the kingdom for the nation.

The main point of it all, to me at least, is the sinners with whom Jesus was associating were extremely valuable to God and that He is inviting all people to enter the kingdom.

In the parable of the prodigal the contrast between the father's two sons is the point of the parable I see.

The younger son requested his part of the inheritance and went away and squandered it by living a life that was wild, with seemingly no restrictions...anything goes, so to speak. It's interesting that the son asked his father for his share, thereby initiating the act. This shows an arrogant disregard for his father's authority. As the older brother pointed out, he involved himself with prostitutes. Now, Jesus had been criticized for associating with sinners. The sinners were considered people who were far away from God, squandering their lives in riotous living. In contrast with the younger son, you see the older son who remained with their father and didn't engage in such 'practices.'

When the famine occurs is probably my favorite part of this parable because it shows how the Lord uses the "negatives" in our lives (at least what we perceive as being negatives). Because of the famine, the younger son ran out of money. This in turn required him to go to work for a foreigner, feeding pigs. Feeding pigs was detestable to a Jew. He was so hungry he longed to eat the pods which were fed to the pigs. He really couldn't have stooped any lower as a Jew. During this 'rock bottom' time he decides to return home to his father. Even the servants were treated better. If he could just be treated as one of them he would be much better off than he was right then.

I love the section where the father sees the son a long way off. He is so full of compassion for his son, he ran to him and embraced him. There follows a great celebration...another one of those banquets (are we getting the message yet ladies?). Look what the father gives to the son...a new position, a robe, a ring and sandals. Remember Friday's story? Jesus used a banquet there to symbolize the coming kingdom so I think Jesus' use of another banquet is intentional. The people listening would immediately recognize the significance of this feast. Sinners (whom the young son symbolized) were entering into the kingdom because they were coming to God. They believed they needed to turn to Him and be forgiven by Him.

But let's look at the older brother. To me, his attitude describes the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law. They had the same attitude toward the sinners as the older brother and toward his younger brother. He comes home from the fields and finds out what is happening which, in turn, causes him to be angry. Similarly the Pharisees and teachers of the Law were angry with the message Jesus was out proclaiming. The didn't like the idea that people from outside their nation as well as outcasts and sinners were to be a part of the kingdom. Just like the older son refused to go to the party, the Pharisees refused to enter the kingdom Jesus offered to the nation.

Jesus ate with the Pharisees as well as sinners. He didn't desire to exclude the Pharisees and teachers of the Law from the kingdom. The message He preached was an invitation to everyone.

The older brother was angry because he had never been given a feast. He saw all the years that he had been doing right by his father. Aren't his words interesting? "Look! For so many years I have been serving you and I have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends" (Luke 15:29). Those words betrayed the fact that the older brother thought he had a relationship with his father, not out of love, but out of a desire for reward. He even thought of himself as being in bondage to his father. I find that very interesting, personally.

I like how the father pointed out that the older son had had the joy of being in the house all the time. Now he should rejoice with the father at his brother's return. When the father says in verse 31, "Son, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours," suggests to me the religious leaders privileged position as members of God's Chosen People. They were the recipients and guardians of the covenants and the Law (Romans 3:1-2; 9:4). Rather than being angry they should rejoice that others were joining them and would then be part of the kingdom.

May I rejoice just as greatly over the repentance of a sinner. May I welcome them with open arms, trusting in the work which Christ has accomplished in their life. May I reach out in fellowship, making them feel welcome into the family of God. After all, we will be with them for eternity....let's begin on the right foot.