March 18, 2007 Lent 4
Luke 15:1?3a, 11?32

In the parable of the Prodigal Son, who is the main character? Be careful now. There are three people: the Father, the Younger Son who leaves home, and the Elder Son who stays home. The title of the parable may be the Prodigal Son or the Lost Son, but the character that Jesus wants to emphasize is the Father. This is shown in verse two of this chapter where the reason is told why Jesus told this parable.

The Father is like Jesus; he welcomes sinners and eats with them. He welcomes home the Younger Son who had wasted his inheritance in sinful living. He also invites the Elder Son to come into the banquet. In the parable, the Elder Son is not in the class of the sinners, but in the class of the Pharisees and teachers of the law who muttered against Jesus.

This parable is about eating and partying. This is an expression of human relationships and mutual love. When the Younger Son had lots of money to spend in wild living, he probably had a lot of friends who were willing to help him spend the money. And as long as he had money they were friends. Then he spent all his money and there was severe famine. He was sent out into the field, away from people. He could not even enjoy the company of eating with the pigs. This Younger Son was a sinner in the true Biblical sense. He had done bad things in his wild living, and he became ritually unclean by living with the pigs. The Pharisees and teachers of the law would call him a sinner and refuse to eat with him. This is the official judgment against this Son. He was a sinner. And yet, his Father, like Jesus; welcomes this sinner and eats with him. The Father says,

Jesus loves all people and wants to have fellowship with all people, both sinners and good people. He is like the Father who wants the Elder Son to join the festivities. It is easy to understand the feelings of the Elder Son. It is not fair. It is not right. It is more than just jealousy; it is a sense of righteousness. The Younger Son should be punished, not held in honor. But the Father�fs love is so great that he cannot hold forgiven sin against his Younger Son. And for the Elder Son, he cannot allow grudges and misgivings come in the way of true brotherhood and family. He said,

Will the Elder Son go into the party or stay outside? The parable stops here, because at this point you and I have to make the decision for the Elder Son. We have to decide what we would do. Would you go into the party or stay in your room and pout? Jesus is trying to tell the Pharisees, and we who are like the Pharisees, to come into the party, to welcome sinners and eat with them.

But it is difficult to do that. We can only do it when we know and trust the Father. The Prodigal Son came home because he trusted his Father not to drive him away. He remembered the love of that Father who would give his son an early inheritance, who would legally die for that son so he could have the inheritance that could only come when the Father died. The Father died for that son. And when the Son came to his senses in the middle of the pig pen, he remembered his father�fs love and had the faith or trust that his father would forgive him and receive him, if not as a son, then as a hired servant. Only when we know Jesus can we become like the Prodigal Son and come home in faith and trust, confessing our sin and pleading for mercy. Only when we realize that he died so that we can be free, and that we have used our freedom for sin, only then can we really come home to Jesus. When the Holy Spirit works in our hearts and makes us come to our senses, come to faith, then we can come back to Jesus with fear and trembling and shame, and yet with hope and the joy of being forgiven.

The Elder Son can only go into the party when he knows the love of the Father. The Father renews his promise of love and support.

Then he can love his Younger Brother in the same way as his father does. His brother had been dead and is alive again; his brother was lost but is now found again. But he can only accept his brother because the Father accepts him, and the Father shows how to do that, by receiving him back into the family and celebrating with a feast, because he is that happy!

God does not want us to go off like the Younger Son and live in sin. He wants us to stay close to home, in the church and in our families where we can pray together and celebrate the love we have for each other. He does not want us to be aloof like the Elder Brother either. He wants us to live as harmonious family. And that will happen when there is a feeling of love and trust. It is the job of the parents to create and to teach that to their children. They should learn to be like the Father in the parable. They will learn to be a good parent when they learn how God the Father loves his family. They will learn to be a good parent when they learn how God the Father loved his Son. Jesus was like the Prodigal Son. He left his Heavenly Home and came down to this earth. He gave up all the riches of heaven. He ate and had fellowship with sinners. And when he was arrested, even his close friends ran away and left him. He took the sins of the world upon himself. Then in the midst of the suffering and shame, like the Prodigal Son, he trusted in the love of his Father. �gFather, into your hands I comment my spirit,�h he said. He died on the cross. But on the third day he arose from the dead. It was like returning home to his Father.

This is how we learn the love God. This is how parents and children learn to love and trust each other. May all of our families be blessed in love and trust.

Amen.

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