How Can the Lost Be Found and the Dead Made Alive?

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Good morning.

My name is August Fern and I am one of your deacons.

Today's scripture reading is from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 15, verses 1 and 2, and verses

Luke 15:1

11 to 32 as printed in your liturgy.

A reading from the Gospel according to Luke.

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus, but the Pharisees

and the teacher of the law muttered, this man welcomes sinners and eats with them.

Jesus continued.

There was a man who had two sons.

The younger one said to his father, Father, give me my share of the estate.

So he divided his property between them.

Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country, and

there squandered his wealth in wild living.

After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he

began to be in need.

So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to the fields

to feed pigs.

He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave

him anything.

When he came to his senses, he said, How many of my father's hired servants have food to

spare, and here I am starving to death.

I will set out and go back to my father and say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven

and against you.

I am no longer worthy to be called your son.

Make me like one of your hired servants.

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.

The son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.

I am no longer worthy to be called your son.

But the father said to his servants, Quick, bring the best robe and put it on him.

Put a ring on his finger and sandal on his feet.

Bring the fattened calf and kill it.

Let's have a feast and celebrate.

For the son of mine was dead and is alive again.

He was lost and is found.

So they began to celebrate.

Meanwhile, the older son was in the field.

When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing.

So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on.

Your brother has come, he replied, and your father has killed the fattened calf because

he has him back safe and sound.

The older brother became angry and refused to go in.

So his father went out and pleaded with him.

But he answered his father, Look, 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.

But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with the prostitutes comes home,

you kill the fattened calf for him?

My son, the father said, you are always with me and everything I have is yours.

But we had to celebrate and be glad because this brother of yours was dead and is alive

again.

He was lost and is found.

This is the gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, O Christ.

So there was a man who had two sons.

It's an amazing opening line.

And we know when we hear it, we know instinctively that Jesus is a master storyteller because in

our own experience, like families are complicated.

Amen?

Amen?

Families are sometimes dysfunctional.

You know, we know how it can go between fathers and mothers and sons and daughters.

We don't always see eye to eye.

We don't always get along.

We don't always live happily ever after.

And many of us know that personally.

We know it painfully.

We also know it biblically and theologically.

When you open up the Bible to the very first story, Adam had two sons, right?

Cain and Abel and how did that go?

It ended in a bloody mess, you know?

Abraham had two sons, Ishmael and Isaac.

Isaac had two sons, Esau and Jacob.

Jacob had 12 sons, but of those 12 sons, he loved two of them more than all the rest.

And so we don't really have to get much further beyond the first book of the Bible to know that

when a story begins where the father had two sons, it's going to be, I don't know, complicated.

It's like starting a story with, it was a dark and stormy night, right?

And to whom is Jesus telling this amazing story?

He says in verse 1,

Jesus goes and he associates with the out group.

And that means that the spiritually serious and the morally upright are outraged.

And they're saying,

And why, Jesus, do you welcome like family around your table these people that don't deserve to be there?

And Jesus is being severely criticized.

And he responds to that criticism with something we also all know about,

which is we probably all lost something that we deeply value.

Anybody ever lost your phone?

Or lost your wallet?

Have any of you ever lost your child?

Okay, you can ask Catherine about how I lost one of our children at coffee hour.

But Jesus launches into a story about a shepherd who lost a precious sheep

and a woman who lost her treasured coin.

And then he gets to this story,

this father lost his two beloved sons.

And I want to look at this under a few headings.

I want to look at the costly grace for the self-defeated.

I want to look at pleading grace for the self-righteous.

And I want to look at reconciling grace for the family of God.

Costly grace for the self-defeated.

Pleading grace for the self-righteous.

And reconciling grace for the family of God.

Now, we had a staff retreat on Thursday,

an elder retreat on Saturday.

And I had two Duke games this weekend.

So, we'll see about that third point.

I don't know if we'll have time for that.

But, costly grace for the self-defeated.

Let's just go through the story.

It says in verse 12,

the son says to his father,

Father, give me my share of the estate.

Which is the equivalent of saying, drop dead, Dad.

Father, I can't wait for you to die.

In fact, I don't want you.

I want your money.

It's an act of deep disrespect.

And any respectable father in the ancient Near East

would have disowned his son on the spot.

He would have just driven his son out of the family.

But this father is a gracious father.

And he gives his son what his son wants.

Surprisingly, he says to his son,

Your will be done.

Right?

And it lets him go.

And it says that he divided his property

between his two sons.

Literally, it says he divided his bios.

He divided his life.

He tore his life apart.

And it costs the cost of land,

the cost of his place,

the cost of his honor and his standing.

The father bears the agony of,

and the shame of,

his son's rejected love.

Verse 13,

Not long after that,

the younger son got together.

All he had,

he set off for a distant country,

and there squandered his wealth

and wild living.

In other words,

he liquidated everything into cash.

And he went and tried to have it all.

He tried to have a life without limits.

And in doing so,

he wasted his life.

All of his gifts,

all of his potential,

he just burned it to an absolute crisp.

And it doesn't take very long

for him to hit rock bottom.

And Jesus says in verse 14,

After he'd spent everything,

there was a severe famine

in that whole country,

and he began to be in need.

So he went and hired himself out

to a citizen of that country

who sent him to his fields

to feed pigs.

He longed to fill his stomach

with the pods that the pigs were eating,

but no one gave him anything.

How do you like Jesus' analysis

of our human condition?

All of us have made this same bid

for independence from God,

this bid to be autonomous from God.

We had no appreciation for the love

in God's heart

of the security we had in his home.

And instead, we demanded to be free,

to live on our own as we want to live.

And Jesus says that self-will

that's in all of us

can often degenerate into self-indulgence

and we end up, in various ways,

squandering our lives.

And if you're a Jew,

the absolute worst thing

that can happen to you

is that you become a slave.

And that you become a slave of a Gentile.

And that you become the slave

of a Gentile pig farmer.

This Jewish son smells like pigs

and he's starving for pig slop.

Jesus says he's bankrupt,

he's hungry,

he's alone,

he's at the absolute depths of misery.

And two times in the story,

we hear this father describe his son

in verse 24 and in verse 32.

The father describes his son

as dead and lost.

The apostle Paul says that all of us,

we're dead in our trespasses

and in our sins.

That we've all wandered away from God,

we have flouted his authority,

we've rejected his and rebuffed his love,

we've wasted his gifts.

We've alienated ourselves from God

and we've also alienated ourselves

from our true selves.

We're exiled even within ourselves.

We have no hope

because we have no God anymore.

But Jesus says he came to his senses.

He came to his senses

and what wakes him up

is this memory of his father.

That his father is actually a wealthy father

and he's not only a wealthy father

but he's a generous father.

It says in verse 17,

when he came to his senses,

he said,

how many of my father's hired servants

have food to spare

and here I am starving to death.

Everyone you meet

carries within their heart

some memory of the father,

some memory of their true home.

And everybody we meet is,

their heart is desperately restless

until they come and find their rest

in the home of the father.

And verse 18 says this,

he says,

I will set out and go back to my father

and say to him,

Father, I've sinned against heaven

and against you.

I'm no longer worthy

to be called your son.

Make me like one of your hired servants.

And at first that sounds like good news

but the closer you look at that,

it's actually a self-serving,

self-salvation project

because he doesn't actually care

that he's broken his father's heart.

He just wants to eat better.

He just wants his misery to end.

He just wants to get his life back on track.

And he thinks that

my biggest problem

is that I lost all the money.

And if I hadn't lost the money,

I would have never sinned.

And so I'm going to solve my own problem

with my own effort

by getting some job training

and hiring myself out as a servant

and recovering the money

and earning that lost inheritance

and I will save myself.

The problem isn't the money, is it?

The problem

is that he's dishonored his father.

The problem is he's become estranged

from his father.

The problem is that he's made himself

into a hostile enemy of the father.

And despite the fact that

he deserves to be cut off from his family,

despite the fact that he's trying to save himself,

the father sees his loss

as so great and so valuable

that he cannot contemplate

the permanence of that loss.

He cannot acquiesce to the loss.

And so we hear in verse 20

that he got up and he went to his father,

but while he was still a long way off,

his father saw him

and was filled with compassion for him.

And he ran to his son

and threw his arms around him

and kissed him.

See, day after day,

this father had gone out

and he had scanned the horizon

for his lost son.

Right?

He's longing for his son.

He's patiently and vigilantly

looking for a sign of his son's return.

And as soon as he sees his son

as a speck on the horizon,

what does this father do?

It's a beautiful picture

of free but costly grace

because the whole village

knows the shame of this son.

Right?

The whole village is expecting

this pillar of the community

to stay put on the front porch

and have the son come groveling back up

to the house.

Right?

Or if this father moves at all,

for him to kind of slowly

in a dignified way

move out to go

and punish his son

in the eyes of everybody.

But this father shows compassion

by doing what?

Running.

We call this the parable

of the prodigal son,

but really we should call it

the parable of the running father.

The kissing father

because he takes his,

the bottom of his robe

and his hands

and he does what traditional

Middle Eastern men

would absolutely never do

in public

and he starts running

to reach his son

before his son

can reach the village.

And by racing down that road

in an undignified manner,

by making an absolute fool

of himself,

this father is taking

all the shame

and all the humiliation

that would otherwise

be heaped upon his son.

He's having it heaped

upon himself.

And he knows that

this visible demonstration

of costly grace,

of sacrificial reconciliation

with his son in public

will silence all those voices

in the village

that are ready to heap

criticism and contempt

upon his boy.

And when he runs to his son,

he throws his arms around him

and he showers him

with kisses

before he can even begin

that well-rehearsed

self-salvation speech.

The scriptures actually say

that he kissed him much.

He kissed him eagerly.

He kissed him often.

He kissed him affectionately.

And just as the son

had totally rejected his father,

the father now totally accepts,

totally forgives,

totally restores his son.

You see, these spiritually serious

and morally upright people

are complaining about Jesus

and they're criticizing Jesus

for welcoming and eating

with sinners

as if they're his family.

And so Jesus tells this story

about a father

who takes the form

of a servant.

This father who comes

out of the house

and down from the house.

This father who runs

outside of the village

in abject humiliation

and he takes all of the shame

on himself

to seek and to save

and to reconcile the lost.

And what is Jesus describing?

He's illustrating

what the father

has sent him to do.

Right?

Because elsewhere

in the gospel of John

in John 14,

Jesus says,

anyone who has seen me

has seen the father.

Jesus is saying,

I've come acting

in my father's stead.

I've come as my father's representative.

I've come so that

you can see that

in and through me

the father's costly grace

is being demonstrated.

And Jesus didn't just run

outside the village.

Jesus came all the way

from heaven to earth.

He not only emptied himself

of his heavenly glory

but when he went

to his cross,

Jesus was treated

as an absolute outcast.

Suffering the infinite cost

of his own life

so that we

could be brought

into God's family

by grace.

By free but costly grace.

All of that inheritance

that we squandered,

all of that potential

that we wasted,

Jesus came to pay

that unpayable debt

on the cross

and in our place.

And there he cried out,

my God, my God,

why?

Why have you forsaken me?

And you see,

Jesus took that forsakenness

upon himself

so that we could have

the hug

and the kisses

of the father.

Verse 21 says this,

the son said to him,

father,

I've sinned against heaven

and against you.

I'm no longer worthy

to be called your son.

But the father said

to his servants,

quick,

bring the best robe

and put it on him.

Put a ring on his finger

and sandals on his feet.

Bring the fattened calf

and kill it.

Let's have a feast

and celebrate.

And you see,

Jesus was stripped

of all of his dignity.

Jesus was covered

with the filth

of all of our sin

and our shame

so that we could be clothed

with that robe

of his beautiful

and perfect righteousness,

a dignity

and a status

and a standing

that we absolutely

do not deserve.

See,

Jesus had his hands

and his feet

nailed to that cross

of shame

so that we could receive

that signet ring

of the father

that says we're his sons

and we're his daughters

so that we could

have those feet

that are barefoot

like slaves

so that our feet

could have sandals

put on them

and we could know

that we belong

in the father's house.

That we have

the father's power.

We have the father's

authority.

We have the father's

acceptance in his love.

You see,

Jesus went

and he drank

that cup

of God's

eternal justice

so that we

could drink

the cup

of the father's joy

so that we could feast

at the father's

banqueting table.

And friends,

there's no other way

to come back home.

There's no other way

for the father

to bring us in.

Jesus had to go

and he had to

experience

the darkness.

He had to

come into that

uttermost place

of despair

and spiritual

alienation

in our place.

He had to take

the full curse

of our human rebellion.

He had to experience

our cosmic

homelessness

and alienation

so that we

could enter back

into the village

where we belong

under the protective

care

of the father's

acceptance

so we could be

welcomed back

into our

true home.

And when you,

when you,

are you moved

by that?

When you see

what it costs

for the father

to do this

for you,

when you see

what it costs

for Jesus

to come

and to bring us

back into the

father's house,

to bring us back

into our true home

where we can

finally fully be

at rest,

does that move

your heart?

Can you believe,

can you even

half believe today

that the hug

of the father

is for you?

That his kisses

are often

and they are

affectionate

and they are

for you?

Jesus is telling us

about costly grace

for the self-defeated,

people who've

wasted their gifts,

people who've

squandered their

potential,

that they too,

even them,

can have a fresh

start and a new

beginning.

But he's not just

telling us about

the costly grace

for the self-defeated,

he's talking about

pleading grace

for the self-righteous,

pleading grace

for the self-righteous.

He says in verse 23,

bring the fattened

calf and kill it,

let's have a feast

and celebrate,

for the son of mine

was dead and is

alive again,

he was lost

and is found,

so they began

to celebrate.

You see this father,

he's so overjoyed,

he's so overjoyed

when just one person,

one sinner repents.

The son who had

been spiritually dead

has been raised

to life.

The son who'd been

morally lost,

he's been found

and he says,

so let's spare

no expense

to celebrate.

The best meat,

we're gonna barbecue,

we're gonna invite

all the village

to come

and we're gonna have

a feast with music

and dancing

and glad rejoicing

because the father

is so happy

that his son is home

safe and sound.

Now many people

stop right there

and they call this

the parable

of the prodigal son

but how many sons

does his father have?

He has two sons

and we haven't even

gotten to his main

point yet

because Jesus

is telling the story

for the spiritually

serious and the morally

upright,

these older brothers

and sisters

who see the father's

costly grace,

they see his

uncalculating generosity

toward these undeserving

younger brothers

and younger sisters

and instead of rejoicing,

they're muttering

and instead of joy,

they feel anger

and Jesus is saying

that these brothers

represent two different

kinds of people,

two different kind

of ways to live,

right?

Two paths

of finding happiness

and worth,

two different ways

of addressing

what's wrong

with the world,

two different ways

of defining

what's right

and what's wrong

and the younger brother

represents

that rebel spirit,

that free spirit,

right?

His is the way

of self-discovery.

He says the world

would be a better place

if tradition

and authority

and all the barriers

to personal freedom

were just removed,

right?

And he says,

I'm gonna be the only one

who decides what's right

and what's wrong for me

and I'm gonna go find

true,

my true self,

I'm gonna go find happiness

by living the way

I wanna live

and that's one way.

But the other way

is the way

of the older brother,

he's responsible,

he's honorable,

his is the way

of moral conformity.

He says the world

would be a better place

if all of us

had more self-control,

if all of us

had more discipline,

if we all just put

other people ahead

of our own individual

fulfillment

and self-expression.

He says,

I'm not gonna do

what I wanna do,

he says,

I'm gonna do

what God wants me to do,

what my parents

want me to do,

what other people

want me to do

and Jesus' question

when we look

at these two brothers

is to say,

which way is more

self-centered

and which way

is more

self-destructive?

Because the reality is

both of these sons

are alienated

from their father.

Both of these sons

shockingly

are spiritually dead

and morally lost.

Both of them

need the father

to go out

and invite them

into the feast.

And the younger son

comes into the feast

but the older son

does not.

On the outside,

that older son,

he seems all put together,

he seems like

there's nothing wrong

with him

but on the inside,

Jesus says,

he's actually

full of sin.

And Jesus says,

do you see

that older son

in yourself?

Does Jesus'

description of his heart

resonate

with what lies

beneath the surface

of your own heart?

Listen to what

verse 28 says,

the older brother

became angry

and he refused

to go in.

You see,

there's a fire

of self-righteous anger

that's burning

on the inside

against his brother's

unforgivable

irresponsibility

and against the father's

uncalculating

grace

and generosity.

And this older son,

he actually feels

not just superior

to his younger brother,

he feels superior

to his father.

He's openly

insulting his father,

he's refusing

to join in the father's

feast

and we can see

like his relationship

with the father,

he seems fine

but his relationship

is broken.

He's run just as far

away from his younger

brother

even though he's

right there at home.

It's just so much

more subtle,

it's more inward,

it's more hidden

and therefore

it's more dangerous.

The older brother

became angry,

it says in verse 28,

he refused to go in

so his father went out

and pleaded with him

but he answered his father,

look,

all these years

I've been slaving

for you

and I've never

disobeyed

your orders.

His resentment

and his bitterness

indicate that he

sees himself less

as a beloved son

and more

as a beholden slave.

He says,

I've never disobeyed you,

I've worked hard

to live up

to your standards,

I've been a good person

so now you owe me

and you gotta do things

in my life

the way I want you

to do them.

I've lived a good life

so you should be

giving me a good life.

Any of you ever

judge God like that?

Verse 29,

he says,

look,

all these years

I've been slaving

for you,

I've never disobeyed

your orders

and yet

you never gave me

even a young goat

so I could celebrate

with my friends.

But when the son

of yours

who squandered

your property

with prostitutes

comes home,

you kill the fattened

calf for him.

You see,

he's using

his moral life

thinking that it

gives him leverage

and control

over the father.

he says,

you know what,

I've actually earned

the right to tell you

how to run the household

and to instruct you

on how all the stuff

in your estate

ought to be deployed.

And here he is

with this incredible

opportunity

to delight the father,

to celebrate his brother

by going into the feast

and yet

in just absolute

resentment

and refusal

we can see

that on the inside

he really has

a hard

and a cold heart.

And the goal

of his obedience

all along

it hasn't been love,

it's been control.

This older son

wants the same thing

that the younger son

wants,

he just wants it

in a different way.

The younger son

he's chafed

at partaking

of the family's assets

under the father's

supervision

and so he wants

to just make

his own decisions.

He wants to be free,

he wants to be

unfettered

and so he defiantly

declares

his independence

from the father.

But you know

this older son

is just as resentful

because he too

wants the father's goods

rather than the father himself.

Neither son

loved the father

for himself.

Both of these sons

are using the father

for self-centered ends

rather than loving the father

for his own sake,

rather than delighting

in the father

and enjoying the father

and serving the father

just simply

for who he is.

Are you not shocked

by this message

of Jesus

because he says

you can become

alienated from God

by breaking

all the rules

or you can become

just as alienated

from God

by keeping

all the rules

carefully

and diligently.

And Jesus says

do you see

and do you hear

this older brother

in your heart?

He's never left home

but he has this

slavish obedience

that's driven him

just as far away

from his father

as his younger brother

ever was

in that pagan

pigsty.

And how does the father

respond to the hard

and resistant heart

of his older son?

Well he says

it says in verse 28

or verse 31

it says

my son

the father said

you are always

with me

and everything

I have

is yours.

The father goes out

and he's pleading

with his son

you know

if it had been me

I would have said

hey

why don't you

stay outside

and we'll just

have this party

without you.

You know

if it were up

to all the villagers

they would have said

you should disown

this rebellious son

right here on the spot.

But this father

who's been

painfully humiliated

earlier in the day

by running

to his younger son

he does the same

for his older

lost son.

For the second time

in one day

he goes out

in a costly demonstration

of unexpected grace

and he goes

not to scold

he goes not to rebuke

as we might expect

this is a kissing father.

It says

he goes out

in verse 28

to plead with his son

and he says

my son

you are always

with me

and everything

I have

is yours.

This father

is so good

he tenderly

bypasses

all the bitterness

all the arrogance

all the insults

all the distortion

of facts

all the unjust

accusations

the attacks

on his character

the rejection

of his love

and this father

is just graciously

pleading

with his son

who thinks

he's a slave

and this father

of all grace

he says

I just want you

to know two things

number one

you're always with me

and I'm always

with you

and you can count

on me

I'm

totally trustworthy

and I'm absolutely

reliable

and I'm

completely

a faithful

father to you

and secondly

not only

are you always

with me

but everything

I have

is yours

because

of your

relationship

with me

you have

a massive

inheritance

you have

an abundance

of riches

don't you

realize

that I've

graciously

already

given you

all things

how much

more

could I

possibly

give you

don't you

know

all the

privileges

that you're

already

living in

you see

the father

hopes

that he'll

soften

this hard

heart

and he'll

liberate

this

slavish

heart

and he'll

deliver

this

self-righteous

heart

that's

become

more about

performance

and more

about

outward

appearance

and more

about

control

than it

really is

about

relationship

than it

really is

about

the loving

bonds

of affection

friends

do you

hear the

father's

pleading

grace

for you

it's

this

invitation

that's

for us

to say

father

in my

self-righteousness

!

I too

have sinned

against heaven

against you

and I'm

no longer

worthy to be

called

your son

in this

first son

we see

costly

grace

for the

self-defeated

in the

second son

we see

pleading

grace

for the

self-righteous

but I want

to say

just a

final word

as we

come to

this

family

meal

together

this

family

feast

of joy

because I

think

there's a

word here

about

reconciling

grace

for the

family

of God

and again

the more

time I have

on a

sermon

the shorter

it is

so I'm

sorry

Duke's

going to

the final

four

and I

just haven't

had the

time

the past

few days

but listen

to what

the father

says

here at

the end

and think

about its

implications

for what

we're to be

as a

family

the family

of God

he says

my son

the father

said

you are

always

with me

and everything

I have

is yours

but he

says

we

not just

I

but we

had to

celebrate

and be

glad

because

this

brother

of yours

not just

this son

of mine

but this

brother

of yours

was dead

and is

alive again

he was

lost

and he's

found

we don't

really know

how the

story

ends

right

Jesus

again

curtain

falls

cliffhanger

open ending

is this

son

coming

inside

or not

is he

going to

stay a

slave

or is he

going to

become

free

is he

going to

live in

self-righteous

resentment

and bitterness

or is he

going to

have the

father's

joy

but it

closes

he's

still

dead

and he's

still

lost

and the

implication

of this

open ending

for us

as the

family

of God

is

Jesus

is calling

us

to have

God's

own

beating

heart

for

sinners

he wants

the heart

of God

to be

our heart

and so the

question as we

come to this

table

and we

commit ourselves

and renew

our relationship

with this

amazing

gracious

good

generous

and glorious

father

the question

for us

is if God

the father

is daily

scanning

the horizon

he's daily

seeking

for the

lost to be

found

and the

dead

to be

made

alive

and for

people

that are

far off

in a

far

country

coming

back

to their

true

home

how can

we

as

sons

of the

father

and daughters

of the

father

not also

be seeking

those same

people

that the

father

is seeking

and if

God

himself

is running

down the

road

for

alienated

sinners

with

undeserved

costly

grace

to welcome

them

warmly

into

his

feast

the question

is how

could we

do

anything

less

and if

God

is embracing

all the

strangers

around you

if you look

around you

there's probably

a few people

that you just

don't even

know

absolute

strangers

if God

is embracing

all the

strangers

who are

sitting around

you with

compassion

and calling

them his

sons and

his daughters

how can

we not

embrace them

as well

and reach

out to them

and begin

to build

relationships

with them

to say

well you're

a son

of the

father

so you're

my brother

and you're

a daughter

of the

father

so you're

my sister

you know

if God

has declared

someone

in his

family

forgiven

who

are we

to not

also

forgive

them

if God

if God

looks at the

person that's

sitting next

to you

today

or the

person

sitting

next to

you

later

this

week

in your

community

group

and he

he's

declared

that person

is no longer

lost but

they're found

they're no longer

dead but

they're alive

and if he's

rejoicing over

that person

then who are

we to have

a cold

and a hard

heart

toward them

who are

we to be

lacking

in joy

who are

we to

refuse

the father's

joy that

he has

for that

other

person

you see

if God

has accepted

people who

are coming

to this

table

with his

most precious

gifts

if God

has spared

no expense

to restore

them from

absolute shame

to the

highest place

of honor

if God

has given

them his

robe and

his ring

and his

sandals

and his

fattened

calf

then how

can we

not also

accept

and honor

those

whom God

has accepted

and honored

at great

cost

to himself

Paul says

the apostle

Paul in

Romans 12

he says

be devoted

to one

another

and honor

one another

above yourselves

another translation

says love

one another

with mutual

affection

and outdo

one another

in showing

honor

you see the

father's not

only seeking

to reconcile

his sons

to himself

but what he

wants to do

is reconcile

his sinful

kids

with each

other

and the

question of

this parable

is will

this family

of the

father

be reunited

in love?

Will this

family of the

father live

together in

unity

and joy

and peace?

Will we

as the people

of God

learn how to

live happily

ever after

given all

that God

has done

to make

that possible?

So I want

you to think

about that

as we come

to this table

in the name

of the father

son and

holy spirit

amen