"The Prodigal Son" by Steve Eason
Luke 15:1-3, 11-24
Download Sermon Audio
Myers Park Presbyterian Church
April 3, 2011
Dr. Steven P. Eason
The Prodigal Son
Luke 15:1-3, 11-24
* * *
I’ve chosen the Parable of the Prodigal Son to preach on this week and next. It’s a story Jesus told about two sons. This week I want to focus on the younger of the two.
* * *
Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. 2And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” 3So he told them this parable:
11Then Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.’
So he divided his property between them. 13A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. 14When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. 15So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. 16He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything.
17But when he came to himself he said,
‘How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! 18I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; 19I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.”’
20So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. 21Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
22But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; 24for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate.
* * *
The Church pulls out the prodigal son from time to time and talks about him as if he is the poster child for all “bad boys and girls.” He’s our scapegoat – the one we put all of our sins on and then chase out into the wilderness. We can look at the prodigal and say, “Thank God I’m not like him!” But is that really true?
You have to remember that Jesus made up this entire story. It never happened, but yet it happens all the time. People do squander their lives, sometimes in big, bold public ways. We’ve seen that. Other times it’s more private, more personal, hidden from public view.
Would it be fair to say that there is a prodigal within each of us? Is there some part each one of us that is susceptible to pride, envy, lust, greed, entitlement; a life that is in some way “squandered” upon ourselves?
The worst thing is not that there is a prodigal within us, but that we cannot always admit that there is. John writes, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1:8) At some level, we probably all know that we are sinful; we just don’t want everyone else to know, at least, not how much!
Jesus has this prodigal out there. His sins are on display. They are public. He wishes his father dead. He takes his inheritance and blows it. Maybe he was a dreamer. Maybe he had some legitimate mental illness. Maybe he was an addict. He could have even been a product of his environment. Jesus spends no time analyzing him. That’s not the point of the parable. He simply gets lost, real lost. For a Jew to end up in a pigpen is the worst possible scenario. Pork was deemed unclean. So Jesus has this guy at the bottom.
He comes to himself in the pigpen and thinks up a plan. “I’ll go home and ask to be a hired hand on my father’s farm.” That’s sort of interesting. It makes you wonder if the only reason he was coming home was because he was hungry. If that was the case, then he’s still living a self-centered life. He’s not sorry for what he did to his father; he’s just sorry for what he did to himself. He’s still selfish. Maybe it’s a little of both. We don’t know. Again, Jesus doesn’t give you any information here. He just has him come home with his plan.
But his plan is too short-sighted. It says,
‘But while he was still off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him.’ (Luke 15:20b)
Jesus puts no hesitation or reserve in the father. The forgiveness is sitting there waiting for this boy to come home.
And look, once again what Jesus doesn’t do with the story. He doesn’t have the father grab the robe, the ring, the sandals and the fatted calf and go out to the pigpen to beg the boy to come home. He doesn’t take the party to the pigpen. This younger son has to come to his senses. He has to get up and he has to move towards the grace. The grace is there before he moves. In fact, the perceived grace in his father may be the very reason he did move. His coming home doesn’t cause the father to be gracious. He goes home because he knows his father already is. He just can’t imagine how much!
When this son gets home and begins to lay out his plan to be made a hired servant, he doesn’t get to finish his speech before he is interrupted by the father’s grace. He gets the robe, the family’s signet ring, sandals, and a party with a fatted calf, with all of his friends. He gets his life back – not because he deserves it, but because that is the nature of the Father’s love.
There are at least two ways to look at this younger son part of the story. The first is that there is a prodigal within me that needs to be forgiven. Of the prodigal son, Henri Nouwen writes,
I am the prodigal son every time I search for unconditional love where it cannot be found. Why do I keep ignoring the place of true love and persist in looking for it elsewhere? Why do I keep leaving home where I am called a child of God, the Beloved of my Father?
(Henri Nouwen, The Return of the Prodigal Son, p. 43)
The other view is that there are people like this whom I need to forgive. How do you forgive someone like this prodigal when it seems so unfair – when they don’t deserve it? It feels like endorsement or indulgence. We all want that grace to be there at the gate when we need it. We’re just not so quick to dispense it when others do. In fact, it is when we are aware of our own forgiveness that we are then able to grant it to others.
There is no fatted calf at this Communion Table, but there are symbols of the body and blood of Jesus Christ, God’s only Son. There is a celebration here at someone else’s expense. This is a Table of forgiveness and grace that precedes our repentance. It interrupts our small plans and overwhelms us with grace. This is a Table where you get your life back, not because you deserve it, but because it is the very nature of the Father’s love.
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Congregation: Amen
Download 2011 04-03 Celebrate Bulletin
Comments