Luke 15:1-2 & 11-32

Well do turn with me back in your Bibles to Luke chapter 15, that's on page 874 of the Church Bibles.

Luke 15 · chapter mention

Now the parable we're looking at today, as many of you know, is the third in a trilogy of stories that Jesus tells on the same occasion.

There's the lost sheep, the lost coin, and then the lost son, or the prodigal son as it's become known in our Bibles.

And these parables told in the same situation are really carefully tailored by Jesus to speak to a very specific challenge, a challenge that's posed to him in verses 1 and 2.

So it's helpful for us to start today just by looking at the context of these parables.

Verse 1,

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to him, and the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying,

This man receives sinners and eats with them.

By this stage in Jesus' career, the Pharisees and the scribes, the religious authorities today, are really viewing Jesus as a threat to them.

He's a threat to their political authority, and he's a threat to their religious authority, isn't he?

He's been performing miracles and healings all around the area.

He's been teaching to great crowds, and a movement's developing behind him.

A movement's developing behind him, and not them.

He's a threat to them.

And really, they'd like any chance they'd have to discredit him.

It looks a lot like the kind of negative politics that we're getting a little bit tired of seeing on TV, isn't it?

They just want some kind of scandal, something to say, look at this guy, are you really listening to him?

They're looking out for him to slip up, and they think they've caught him, don't they?

They think they've caught him.

This man receives sinners and eats with him.

This man receives sinners, or you can also put it, this man welcomes sinners.

What kind of rabbi is this?

What kind of holy man?

What kind of teacher lets these kind of people meet with him?

You can imagine them already planning how they're going to use the dirt that they've just dug up.

They've got the banners they're going to hold up at the back of the next meeting, haven't they?

This man welcomes sinners, a big arrow towards Jesus.

You can imagine them canvassing the crowds as they come in to the hall.

Do you know about the guy you're about to hear?

Do you know about him?

He welcomes sinners.

You can imagine them rubbing their hands with glee.

They've got the trump card for every theological argument they're ever going to have.

Yeah, okay, Jesus says that, but did you see who we had dinner with last night?

This man welcomes sinners, you can't listen to him.

So you just wonder, as you're reading these first few verses, how is Jesus going to respond to this?

How would our politicians today respond to it?

Well, I guess there's some options, aren't there?

Well, I didn't really know who these people were when they came to me.

Oh, they're tax collectors, they're sinners, they're bad people, sorry.

I mean, they came to me, I didn't know.

Or perhaps he might say, well, look, it's not my fault, is it?

They drew near to me, I didn't ask them to come.

It's not my fault if people come towards me.

Or maybe he might try and downplay the situation.

Well, yeah, okay, they're not as good as you guys, Pharisees, but they're not that bad.

They're not really that bad.

There are a lot of options, aren't there, for Jesus to duck the issue, to kind of skirt around the situation.

But in the three parables that he tells, he does nothing like that.

He takes the issue to place on, doesn't he?

You think I welcome sinners?

You don't know how right you are.

He takes their scandal and he makes it a slogan.

I welcome sinners.

I'm afraid if you're hoping for anything more complicated than that today, you've pretty much heard it.

But we're going to be working through that this morning.

The third of the stories which Jesus tells really works this through in great detail.

It shows us how far he would go to welcome sinners.

It's really, in a way, a kind of a verbal cartoon, if you will.

Children are probably delighted to find out there are cartoons in the Bible.

It's a verbal cartoon and it has three scenes, three pictures.

Firstly, Jesus shows us scandalous sin.

He shows us scandalous sin.

Then he shows us a scandalous welcome.

And finally, just to really confound the Pharisees, he turns the picture around on them

and shows them scandalous obedience.

Scandalous sin, scandalous welcome, and scandalous obedience.

But if you hear one thing today, just remember, Jesus welcomes sinners.

So, the first picture we get from Jesus here, the first scene in his story, is from verse 11, isn't it?

There was a man who had two sons.

It starts, and it's a very familiar story, isn't it?

A man has two sons, and the second of his sons has itchy feet.

He doesn't want to stay at home.

He doesn't want to live with his father.

However, he wants to go off and explore and make his way in the world himself.

So, he demands his share of the estate now.

He asks his dad to cash up whatever savings he's got set aside for him,

and to give them to him now, so he can go out into the world.

But he doesn't invest that money wisely, does he?

He hasn't taken this money from dad so he can start up a new business on his own.

No.

Verse 13 we read, don't we?

Not many days later, the younger son gathered all that he had and took a journey into a far country,

and there he squandered his property in reckless living.

He gathers up his money, and he squanders it.

The words are literally, he gathers it up, and he scatters it.

It's a complete waste.

He takes all his dad's hard-earned money,

and he spends it in the way that probably only young men know how,

in this far country.

And the money dries up,

and there's a famine.

And he's alone in this far country, isn't he?

Far away from his family, far away from anyone he knows,

he's alone, and he's desperate.

And he ends up with nowhere to turn,

but to hire himself out as a pig herd.

Verses 15 and 16.

So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country,

who sent him into his fields to feed pigs.

And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate.

And no one gave him anything.

Jesus knows his audience here, doesn't he?

He's deliberately painting a picture for the Pharisees,

of the most disgusting, the most unpleasant,

the most objectionable character imaginable.

This man in the eyes of the Pharisees would be the lowest possible person,

wouldn't he?

He's rejected his family,

he's left them,

and squandered all his money.

He's sold himself into the service of a Gentile,

a non-Jew,

and now he's living with pigs.

Not only is he living with pigs,

but he's made himself low in the pigs, hasn't he?

He's longing for their food.

You can imagine,

we call it the parable of the prodigal son,

well, therefore we're hearing this as the parable of pig,

boy.

That's probably all they've heard by this point.

This is pig boy here.

He's the lowest of the low.

Deuteronomy 14, verse 8,

Deuteronomy 14:8

The pig is unclean for you.

Their flesh you shall not eat,

and their carcasses you shall not touch.

Well, here's the son in that far old country,

and he's longing for the food of the pigs, isn't he?

He's as low as it gets for the Pharisees.

That's probably where their attention would be, isn't it?

Our attention in our tradition

has normally been one stage further up that scale of his decline, hasn't it?

We call it the parable of the prodigal son.

Now, I had to Google that word.

It's not a word I've ever used outside this context.

Prodigal, a prodigal is someone who spends money wastefully, isn't it?

Someone who spends money wastefully.

So, the Pharisees focus on the pig connection.

We, historically, have tended to focus on how wasteful this boy is.

But the real offense is earlier on in the story, isn't it?

Actually, the real offense is not his profession,

it's not the fact he's a pig herd,

and it's not his spending habits.

These are symptoms of the boy's problem.

The real offense that this boy commits

is earlier on, right in verse 12,

it's his attitude towards his father.

Hear the cold words of verse 12 again.

Father, give me the share of property that's coming to me.

Father, give me the share of property that's coming to me.

He's asking for his inheritance, isn't he?

And there's something really distasteful about it, isn't it?

It's generally distasteful to think about

inheriting something from someone who's still alive, isn't it?

It's a distasteful idea.

Catherine had a friend at university

who was a wealthy only son.

And he was a very prudent boy.

And he liked to go to seminars on inheritance tax planning.

And he would take notes,

and he would feed these back to his parents.

Now you might say,

and in that context, I didn't know the boy,

it may have been prudent financial planning.

But there's something distasteful about it, isn't there?

There's something distasteful about imagining the inheritance

before they're even gone.

But this son takes it a step further.

He doesn't just imagine it.

He reaches out to take it,

and he asks for it now.

Dad,

you know that money that I'm going to have when you're gone?

Well, actually, I quite like it now.

You know that field,

that field where you grew up,

where you grew up,

where you've always loved living,

and you've grown your crops there for years?

Well, I know I'm going to have that when you die,

so why don't you just give it to me now?

It's incredible, isn't it?

It's outrageous and offensive.

I wish you were dead already, frankly,

so that I could inherit from you.

I don't want you.

I just want your stuff.

It's exaggerated,

and it's extreme and outrageous.

I don't want you.

I just want your stuff.

But this story isn't really about honouring our inheritance, is it?

It's not a story that Jesus tells to teach us

that we need to honour our parents,

so perhaps a valid application.

When it comes down to it,

it's actually a picture of our relationship with God, isn't it?

That's why Jesus tells this story.

And when it comes down to it,

our sin against God

is actually exactly the same, really.

I don't want you.

I want your stuff.

That's the attitude we show towards God.

I don't want you.

I want your stuff.

The real scandal of sin

is not ceremonial uncleanness,

as the Pharisees have it,

or outward appearances.

It's the attitude that we have towards God.

We don't want him.

We want his stuff.

That was the problem in the Garden of Eden, wasn't it?

God made Adam and Eve.

He made them,

and he puts them in a beautiful garden.

And he fills it with all the kind of food

they could possibly want.

He makes them rulers

over the whole animal kingdom.

They have everything good.

And God walks with them in the garden.

That's an incredible statement, isn't it?

God walked with them in the garden.

But they wanted just that one fruit

they weren't allowed, didn't they?

Just wanted that one fruit

they couldn't have.

And when they reached out

and took that fruit,

well, they said to God,

well,

I don't really want you.

I just want your stuff.

Actually,

I'd rather take your blessings

and ignore you.

The trade-off seems ludicrous

when we see it in the garden,

doesn't it?

It seems ludicrous.

They had the opportunity

to walk with God.

To walk with God.

But they choose an apple instead.

It's a ludicrous trade.

We know, don't we,

but it's a trade

that we make every day.

It's a trade that we make

when we try to enjoy God's world

while ignoring him.

It's a trade we make

when we try to enjoy

all the gifts that God's given us

without submitting

to his righteous rules.

The catechism teaches us,

doesn't it,

that man's chief end

is to glorify God

and to enjoy him forever.

Well, our sin is subtle.

Our sin is subtle

and we just try

and shortcut that a little bit.

We decide that our chief end

is to enjoy God's blessings

and to glorify them forever.

Not to glorify God

and not to enjoy God

but to glorify his blessings

and to enjoy them.

And when we try to seize

those blessings of God,

when we try to seize those blessings

while ignoring him,

we're really just showing

the same attitude

that the Sullyman story shows,

aren't we?

That same scandalous attitude

to God.

I don't want you.

I just want your stuff.

See, Jesus knows

the scandal of sin,

doesn't he?

And he lays it there

for us here.

It's that attitude that says,

look God,

I don't want you.

I just want your stuff.

So in the first picture,

Jesus doesn't talk to you

as he does.

He clearly knows

how sinful sin is.

But he moves on

in the second picture

to show that in spite of sin

and the scandal of sin,

there's a scandal of welcome

on offer.

The son comes to his senses

in verses 17 and 18.

But when he came to himself,

he says,

how many of my father's

hired servants

have more than enough bread,

but I perish here with hunger.

He works out that

even his dad's servants,

even his dad's slaves,

do better in life than he does.

He's got no right

to expect anything

from his dad,

but maybe,

just maybe,

he'll take him back

as a servant

and he'll at least

have bread again.

So he comes back

from the far country

and you can imagine him

as he walks back

that long distance.

He'll be tired

and hungry.

He'll be filthy

from the pigsty.

People will be seeing him

and they'll be walking

on the other side

of the street,

won't they?

They won't want

to look at him.

But the father sees him

from a distance

and what's he going to do?

What's he going to do

when he sees him?

This foyer has caused him

so much offence.

Is he going to go inside

and knock the door?

Is he going to bolt up?

Is he going to wait there

sternly at the gate?

Wait there sternly,

holding the moral high ground.

You come to me.

And then I'll think,

well,

how am I going to deal with you?

No,

that's not what we see

in verse 20,

is it?

And he arose

and came to his father

but while he was still

a long way off,

his father saw him

and felt compassion

and ran

and embraced him

and kissed him.

There's no thought here

of how this is going to look

to outsiders,

is it?

The father doesn't stop

and think,

well,

the neighbours are going

to talk about this.

He's not too proud

to go out

and meet his son,

is he?

Or keen to stand

on that moral high ground,

well,

he's caused me effects,

he'd better come to me.

He doesn't feel anger

but he feels compassion

for the son

that comes back,

doesn't he?

He runs to embrace his son.

He embraces him,

literally,

it's as he drapes himself

on his son's neck.

You can imagine

the boy saying,

Dad, Dad,

you don't know

where I've been,

you can't touch me.

But he doesn't wait

for that kind of explanation,

does he?

He kisses him.

He embraces him

and he kisses him.

If they were scandalized

by the boy's sin,

you can imagine

the Pharisee's going to be

equally scandalized

by the father's welcome here.

The boy's sin

was scandalous.

You can't just welcome

him back like that.

You can't even touch him.

This is pig boy

after all.

But we see Jesus' intention

pretty clearly here,

don't we?

He's shown us a picture

of the worst kind of sinner.

He's shown us a picture

of someone so detestable

that they couldn't even

be allowed in the life society.

And now he said,

well, imagine the worst

kind of sinner,

imagine the warmest

possible welcome.

That's what it means

when I say I welcome

sinners.

Imagine the worst

kind of sinner

and the warmest

possible welcome.

Well, that's exactly

what I'm about,

Jesus says.

That's exactly

what I'm here for.

Sometimes we can find

ourselves so ashamed

of perhaps what we've

done,

what we see ourselves

to have done,

that we can't imagine

that anyone would not

have anything to do

with this,

can't we?

We perhaps think about

things we've said

or thought,

that maybe no one

knows,

things we've done,

and we look around

ourselves,

maybe on the bus,

maybe in church,

maybe at work,

and we just think,

if they knew what

I'd done,

if they knew what

I said,

if they knew who

I really was,

the kind of person

I am,

don't you want

anything to do

with me?

And if we think

that of people,

well, we think that

even more of God,

don't we?

If he really knows

who I am,

the kind of offense

I've caused him,

can you want anything

to do with me?

Well, the story says

he does, doesn't it?

That's what the story

shows.

Imagine the worst

kind of sinner,

the worst person

you can imagine,

worse even than

yourself,

and imagine the

warmest kind of

welcome.

That's what Jesus

offers him.

That's what he says

he gives.

The image of the

father running to

the lost son is a

picture of what

Jesus offers to us.

It's a small picture,

isn't it,

as he runs with

compassion,

a small picture of

what Jesus has done

for us on a

cosmic scale.

Remember those

words that Paul

spoke earlier.

Jesus, though he

was God,

though he was

with God in the

beginning,

though he was in

the form of God,

did not count

equality with God

a thing to be

grasped,

but emptied

himself by taking

on the form of

a servant,

being born in the

likeness of man,

and being found in

human form,

he humbled himself

by becoming

obedient to the

point of death,

even death on a

cross.

Jesus, just like

that father, was

moved by compassion

to leave his

throne in heaven

so that he

could welcome

people like us.

Not considering

his dignity, not

considering who he

was in comparison

to us, Jesus'

incarnation is part

of that scandalous

welcome, isn't it?

a welcome that

would have been

scandalous to the

Pharisees, perhaps

more scandalous than

sin itself, God

entering our world

to meet with us.

That's exactly what

Jesus means,

doesn't it?

It's exactly what

Jesus means in this

passage.

It's exactly what he

means when he says

he welcomed sins.

And do you notice

that the welcome

doesn't stop there?

It doesn't stop at

the embrace.

Jesus' story carries

on, doesn't it?

The son starts to

speak, he's got that

story rehearsed.

Father, I've sinned

against you, just, I

know I don't deserve

a place at your

table anymore, I'm

not your son anymore,

just treat me like a

servant.

The son starts to

speak, but his

father won't have

any of it, he's not

interested.

Before he's even got

there, we read,

don't we, bring

quickly the best

robe and put it on

him and put it on

a ring on his

hand and shoes on

his feet and bring

the fattened calf and

kill it and let us

eat and celebrate.

He puts him in the

best robes and he

throws him a feast.

Why?

Verse 24.

For this my son was

dead and is alive

again.

He was lost and is

found.

When Jesus welcomes

back, he doesn't

just welcome us as

servants, does he?

He's not just

welcoming us back as

people who can now

serve him.

He welcomes us

back as family.

He invites us to

feast with him.

Do you remember the

original accusation of

the scribes and the

Pharisees?

This man receives

sinners and eats

with them.

Well, that's exactly

our God, isn't it?

That's exactly the

Jesus of the Bible.

This man welcomes

sinners and eats

with them.

It's one of the

things that we

remember when we

share the Lord's

Supper, isn't it?

When we share the

Lord's Supper and the

bread and the wine is

handed out.

Well, isn't that

Jesus coming to

eat with us?

To eat with us as

his family accepted

in him.

And it's a sign and

a foretaste of what

we're one day going

to enjoy in the new

creation, that

marriage supper of

the Lamb, when we

feast with him in

heaven.

Jesus doesn't just

welcome sinners, but

he chooses to eat

with them as family.

We have a scandalous

sin to come to

terms with, but we

also have a scandalous

welcome.

Thirdly, the third

scene in this story,

the lens focuses again,

doesn't it?

We've had the

younger son, we've

had the father, and

now the scene shifts

to the older son.

And like the

Pharisees, he's not

impressed by his

father's behavior.

He's not impressed

at all.

Verse 25, 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 received him back

safe and sound.

But he was angry and

refused to go in.

It feels a bit like

his older son's got

a point, doesn't

it, when we hear

him in this verse.

Well, he's been

working in the fields

all these years.

He's been an obedient

son.

He's done everything a

son would be expected

to do, while his

father, while his

brother has wasted

everything.

He's gone away,

disrespected his

father, brought shame

on the family, wasted

money.

And which one of

the ones get in the

party?

You can imagine the

Pharisees nodding

along, remembering

the proverbs they

heard as a child,

whoever works for

land has plenty of

bread, but he who

follows worthless

pursuits lacks sense.

And everything says

here that the older

brother should be the

one who's getting the

party, not the younger

one, not this fool

who's wasted his money

and had to come back

in such a pitiful

state.

But the words in

verse 29 give away,

they give away what

this older brother is

thinking, what his

real problem is.

Speaking to his

father, he says,

look, these many

years I've served you

and I never disobeyed

your command, yet you

never gave me a young

goat that I might

celebrate with my

friends.

His problem isn't

that he's still angry

with his brother's

disrespect.

It isn't that he

feels like some kind

of shame's been

brought in the

family.

He's not jealous of

his father's attention

at all, is he?

He's jealous of his

father's stuff.

You never gave me a

goat.

On the surface of it,

the older brother and

the younger brother

couldn't be more

different, could they?

The one is obedient

and diligent and

respectable.

The other is this

kind of happy-go-lucky

waster who really

couldn't be any good

for family at all.

They couldn't be any

more different on the

face of it, but their

hearts are exactly the

same.

Their hearts are exactly

the same.

Despite their

experiences, they don't

either of them love

their father particularly.

They just want his

stuff.

They just want his

stuff.

The two brothers want

exactly the same thing.

The difference is just

how they go about

getting it.

One of them is pretty

honest.

Dad, I quite like your

inheritance.

I'm going to take it

and spend it.

The other one is more

scheming, isn't it?

Dad, I'd like your

inheritance, so I'm

going to work for it.

But they're exactly the

same.

Exactly the same at home.

In the book of Job,

God holds Job out as an

example of righteous

obedience, doesn't he?

God holds Job out as an

example of righteous

obedience, and Satan

comes to God and says,

does Job fear God for

no reason?

Job, well, Job only

loves you because you've

given him so much.

Does Job fear God for

no reason?

He only loves you for

your stuff.

Take away your

blessings, Satan says,

and he will curse you

to your face.

Take away your

blessings and he will

curse you to your

face.

Well, Job passes the

test in the book of

Job, doesn't he?

But that older brother

fails him.

He fails him over a

roast dinner.

The challenge that we

have here for the

Pharisees, and perhaps

for many of us as

well, is that being

respectable in the

eyes of the church and

in the eyes of the

world doesn't mean that

we have the right

attitude towards God,

does it?

It doesn't mean that we

have the right attitude

to God.

You can see how Jesus

is framing this now.

Imagine the worst kind

of sinner.

Well, your heart's just

the same.

Think about those tax

collectors that the

Pharisees and scribes.

Your hearts are just

the same.

If our obedience is just

another way to get at

God's blessings, to seize

on his gifts for

ourselves while still

really ignoring him, if

our obedience isn't an

expression of love, but we

see it as a kind of

service to try and earn

his blessing, then it's

just as much sin as the

prodigal son's wasteful

disrespect, isn't it?

The two brothers couldn't

be more different on the

surface, but they have

the same sinful hearts.

But what's fantastic

about this parable is that

they may have the same

hearts, they also have

the same father, don't

they?

Can you imagine how the

father might respond to

this son?

He's been longing for his

younger son to come home.

Longing for it.

He's always wanted to see

his younger son back.

The son's come back, he's

throwing a party, and the

older brother, rather than

joining in, he's throwing a

strop outside.

He's having a tantrum.

You can imagine how this

father could come out and

speak to his son.

He could speak in anger,

couldn't he?

You can imagine the things

that could be done.

He could rebuke him,

reprove him.

But what word, what word

does Jesus use here?

Well, verse 28, the older

son was angry and refused

to go in.

His father came out and

entreated him.

He shows him the same

compassion, doesn't he,

that he showed the younger

son.

He comes out with

gentleness, with pleading

and entreating.

Look, you've got everything,

my son.

You are always with me, and

all that I have is mine.

It was fitting to celebrate

and be glad.

For this, your brother was

dead, and is alive.

He was lost and is found.

He knows what's going on in

the older brother's heart, and

he comes out to plead with

him, to reason with him.

Jesus' message to the

Pharisees isn't, I've come

for the sinners, so you've

got no interest here.

It's, I've come for the

sinners.

I've come for the worst

kind of sinners, and that

includes you.

Jesus welcomes sinners,

whether they look like

they're in open rebellion

like the younger son, or

whether they're respectively

trying to coerce God's

blessings, like the older

one.

So very simply this morning,

I hope we've seen from

this parable that Jesus has

really one message to

whoever we are, and that

is that the Pharisees have

got it spot on right.

He welcomes sinners, he

welcomes sinners, and he

delights to eat with them.

So whether your own sin is

really quite like the younger

sons, that open rebellion,

going off into the far-off

country, ignoring God

openly, or whether it's that

more respectable kind, where we

attend church not so much for

the love of God, but for the

desire to coerce his blessing

from him.

But whether I suspect the

men in this is somewhere in

between, the message is the

same, isn't it?

The message is the same.

I welcome sinners.

That's what Jesus says.

I welcome sinners.

And I eat with them.

Amen.