If I were to ask you to name
one of Jesus’ parables—I bet that many of you would name “The Parable of the Prodigal Son.” It is one of the most beloved parables of all time. William Barclay even called it the greatest short story ever told. Yet, precisely because it is so well known, that familiarity adds a challenge to preaching. Because we think that we know what it says, we can miss hearing it anew in preaching.
Luke begins by telling us that Jesus was with
the tax collectors and sinners. (“Sinners” was a code word for those persons who often were not able to keep the
intricacies of the Jewish Law—such as shepherds and tanners.) These tax collectors and sinner were drawing near to Jesus to hear what he was saying to them. By contrast, those leaders in the faith—people that never would be considered as lost—they were
grumbling because they thought that Jesus was wasting his time with these outsiders. Moreover,
in his eating with them he was breaking the Jewish Law.
In response to their grumbling, Jesus told three
parables that comprise chapter 15: the Parable of the Lost Sheep, the Parable of the Lost Coin, and the Parable of the Prodigal
Son. In all three of these parables, something or someone is lost, and after
diligent effort was found. Therein lies the key to understanding the Parable
of the Prodigal Son.
You know the story. “There was a man who had two sons...” The younger son
decided that he was tired of living under the “old-man’s roof,” and that he could do better on his own. Therefore, he asked his father for his share of the estate. To make such a request in itself was an unthinkable act. He
had broken all the rules of how a son was to behave toward his father. Legally,
the son could have asked his father to establish a will so that he might know what he would receive of the estate. In such a settlement of the estate, the elder son would receive 2/3rd of the assets, and the younger sons
would divide the remaining 1/3rd of the assets. With the 2/3rd, the elder son would provide for his mother’s needs, as well as provide for the needs of any
of his unmarried sisters. However, such a distribution of assets would not occur
until the father had died. Besides, in granting the younger son his share of
the estate, the loss of those assets would thereby decease his family’s future earnings on the capital.
Nevertheless, the father granted his younger
son his wishes. The son then took his share, and left the country before his
father could change his mind. He had money to burn. Friends seemed to come out of the woodwork, and they were willing to help him spend that money. He thought that he never had it so good. He further thought
that his older brother was a “sucker” for hanging around the farm.
Unexpectedly a famine hit the land, and the economy
went sour. Soon he found himself broke, and all his friends had disappeared.
He felt very alone in the world. The only job he could find was that of feeding
pigs for a Gentile farmer. Yet these pigs seemed filled, while he only experienced
an inner hunger. He had “hit-bottom!”
The young man thought of his family back home,
and he decided that home didn’t seem so bad. He knew that even his father’s
servants had plenty to eat. Therefore, he started walking the long road toward
home. On the way, he had plenty of time to practice the speech that he would
give his father.
The scene shifted back to Palestine. The father’s heart had yearned for his son. He had kept a vigilant eye on the long drive up to the “big-house.” Then, one day he saw him in the distance. The
father knew the gait of his son’s walk, and how he held his head. The father
could not believe his eyes—but there coming down the drive was his son. Then
the father did the unthinkable. He gathered up his long robe with a belt, and
he began running toward his son—running as fast as his legs would carry him. Then he began hugging him and kissing him
and weeping for joy. He hugged him so long that it seemed that he wouldn’t
ever let him go. Then the son straightened up, cleared his throat and begin to
give his speech. The father didn’t even allow his son to get out his well-rehearsed
speech. The son may have gone off into a “far country,” but this
boy was still his son. It therefore was impossible for him to be treated like
a servant. The father called his servants and told them to bring the best robe
in his closet, and to put a signet ring on his finger, and bring some shoes for his boy to wear. Then he called out to the
cooks and told them to prepare a BBQ and to invite the whole community. He wanted
everyone to celebrate that his son who had been lost, had been found.
At that point in the story, most of us quite
reading. Perhaps it is because we like “happy endings.” But there is more:
“Now
his elder 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 it meant. And
he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he received him safe and
sound.’ But he was angry and refused to go in.”
I don’t know about you, but I find it very
easy to identify with the elder brother’s anger. His younger brother’s
conduct had been inexcusable! Further, the expenses to throw his brother’s
party, they were going to come out of his share of the estate. His father had
wronged him, and he was furious! Moreover, he let the servants know about it.
Deep down he had not wanted his brother to return.
He thought his brother had not earned the right to come home. The elder brother was thinking just like those Pharisees and scribes that had grumbled about Jesus spending
time with people who had not fulfilled the requirements of the Jewish Law. The elder brother was thinking just like some of the early Christians in Dr. Luke’s
1st century churches, Christians that did not want to welcome into in their churches those who were slaves, the poor, and
the outsiders.
The eldest son’s refusal to come into the
party was embarrassing to the father. So the father left his guests, and went
out into the field to speak to his son. He implored him to come inside and to
join in the party. Then all of the eldest son’s self-centered rage came
pouring out: “I have worked like a slave in getting your farm to make a nice
profit, I have managed your financial affairs, I have watched out for your stock portfolio, I married a woman from the “right
family,” I had the grandchildren that you wanted, and I have devoted my entire life caring for you. And this is what I get from you! Moreover, this sorry younger son of yours (note he does not say “brother”)—he
has not done any of these things. He has spent your assets on prostitutes, liquor, drugs, fast-cars, expensive restaurants,
wild parties, and the best suits that money could buy. Then when he goes broke,
he comes walking down the drive, you welcome him home, and you throw him a party. In
addition, without asking me, you go and spend my inheritance in paying for his “homecoming” party. It’s
just not fair! It’s just not fair!”
Finally, the son paused in his outburst, and
the father broke in. “Son, you will
always be with me, and all that is mine is yours.” The younger son had spent his inheritance, and therefore he has no more inheritance coming to him.
When his father dies, he therefore will be dependent on his older brother’s
generosity.
That is where the story ends. Jesus doesn’t tell us whether the older son can be as generous as his father. The story simply leaves
us with the father and son standing in the field, the father imploring him to come in and be generous with his brother. “Let us rejoice...he was lost and has
been found.”
Henri Nouwen in his book on the prodigal son
recognized the eldest son in himself. He wrote, “I saw my jealously, my anger, my touchiness, doggedness and sullenness, and most of all, my subtle self-righteousness. I saw how much a complainer I was, and how much my thinking and feeling was ridden
with resentment.” (Return of the Prodigal, p. 20)
What of the father in this story? In the end, the father has put aside all the indignities that his sons have heaped on him, all in order
to reach out to both of his sons. The focus of Jesus’ parable is not about
the sons. It is about the father. Moreover,
it is not the son’s party—it is the father’s party.
I recently saw that the movie “Forrest
Gump” on TV. That movie is not about two brothers. Rather, it is
about how Forrest Gump gives unconditional love and acceptance to his true love, Jenny.
He continues to love her and welcome her back, regardless of her leaving him, repeatedly, in order to engage in self-destructive
behavior. Toward the end of the movie, they reunite for one last time.
Jenny is dying of AIDS, and she goes home where he knows she will find
love. Forrest welcomes her home, and he lovingly cares for her until she dies.
Then Forrest steps forward in caring for her now motherless child.
Likewise, in Jesus’ parable of the Prodigal
Son—it’s all about relationships! Moreover, there is plenty of love
to go around for all God’s children.
Dr. William dePrater
