The Prodigal Son

Many Christmas stories have sentimental value for us.

Many of those stories we love point toward a collective longing that we have. They point toward a deeper story.

Theodore Geisel - raised a Lutheran

Another storyteller, Jesus, told stories called parables that asked big questions.

Luke 15:1-2 NLT
[1] Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. [2] This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them!

You couldn't get a more different audience than the tax collectors and the pharisees.

Jesus tells them 3 stories, we'll be looking at the 3rd one.

Each of the characters in the stories represent the different audiences. And many of us are in the story.

Luke 15:11-12 NLT
[11] To illustrate the point further, Jesus told them this story: “A man had two sons. [12] The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now before you die.’ So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons.

Luke 15:13 NLT
[13] “A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living.

Luke 15:14 NLT
[14] About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve.

Luke 15:15-16 NLT
[15] He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. [16] The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything.

As Jesus told this story to the crowd, they knew that Jesus was talking about the tax collectors and overt sinners as he spoke about the younger brother.

The younger brother represents all of us at some point in our lives too.

Luke 15:17-19 NLT
[17] “When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! [18] I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, [19] and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”’

Luke 15:20 NLT
[20] “So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.

Luke 15:21-22 NLT
[21] His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.’ [22] “But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet.

Luke 15:23-24 NLT
[23] And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, [24] for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began.

Luke 15:25-27 NLT
[25] “Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working. When he returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house, [26] and he asked one of the servants what was going on. [27] ‘Your brother is back,’ he was told, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf. We are celebrating because of his safe return.’

Luke 15:28 NLT
[28] “The older brother was angry and wouldn’t go in. His father came out and begged him,

Luke 15:29-32 NLT
[29] but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. [30] Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!’ [31] “His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. [32] We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!’”

self indulgence and self righteousness both lead to slavery, not lasting joy

  1. Am I lost in my obligation?
    1. Many of us get busy for God
    2. Serve, give, get involved
    3. You can do all the right things and not love God
    4. More about duty than delight
  2. Am I lost in my arrogance?
    1. Am I magnifying accomplishments but minimizing shortcomings
    2. Am I unwilling to look at my blindspots when someone points them out to me?
  3. Am I lost in my entitlement?
    1. The younger and older brother are both entitled.
    2. Don't approach God like a math problem
  4. Am I lost in my judgementalism?
    1. The older son does not refer to the younger brother as his brother.
    2. Are you saying "those people"?
    3. Have you stopped identifying with your younger brother?
  5. Am I lost in my unforgiveness?

"Of the Seven Deadly Sins, anger is possibly the most fun. To lick your wounds, to smack your lips over grievances long past, to roll over your tongue the prospect of bitter confrontations still to come to savor to the last toothsome morsel both the pain you are given and the pain you are giving back--in many ways it is a feast fit for a king. The chief drawback is that what you are wolfing down is yourself. The skeleton at the feast is you."

Frederick Buechner

true repentance is always the path to the father's party

2 Corinthians 7:10 NLT
[10] For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death.

Romans 2:4 NLT
[4] Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?

my pride will keep me from joining and enjoying the father's party

real joy is experienced in the presence of the Father around his tree

Titus 3:3-7 NLT
[3] Once we, too, were foolish and disobedient. We were misled and became slaves to many lusts and pleasures. Our lives were full of evil and envy, and we hated each other. [4] But— When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, [5] he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. [6] He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior. [7] Because of his grace he made us right in his sight and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life.

Galatians 4:4-7 NLT
[4] But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. [5] God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. [6] And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.” [7] Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir.