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Luke 15:11-32

The parable of the Prodigal son has been referred to as "the crown and pearl of all parables" by Stier. No matter how you look at it, this parable has to make you feel a little uncomfortable. If it doesn't then you probably don't understand it. We should first read the parable and then after we have we can read from Luke 15:1-10. Verses 1-3 really set the scene for us. Thousands of years removed from us I think we miss much of what is going on here. We have the Pharisees criticizing Jesus for accepting the "sinners" and tax collectors. It's rather ironic the choice of words here, sinners, as if the Pharisees have never sinned. The truth of the matter was that Jesus was the only one there who was not a sinner.

No matter how you look at it, the Pharisees and the sinners are really in the same boat, the difference is the perspective, as we will soon see. Jesus drew a parallel between the current situation and the parable he told. The value you get from this parable is directly proportional to the amount of truth with which you evaluate yourself against this story.

We are told that there was a man who had two sons, the younger son asked the father to give him his inheritance. In effect what the son was saying to his father is "I really don't care that much about you, all I care about is what I'm gonna get when you die. Give it to me now so I can do my own thing". In these times his "share" of the father's wealth is tied up in property. The important thing to realize is that the property is a means of income for the younger son. To force the father to sell off his section for the market rate is like selling your share in a successful business. Given time you would probably make ten or a hundred times more money than selling out. Most people would consider it a great insult to sell out their part in the family business.

Much to our surprise, the father grants his request and the son takes all he is given and wastes all his money in a foreign land. In our time we could liken this to taking money from our parents, flying to Los Vegas and drinking, snorting, gambling and spending the money on prostitutes. Perhaps we could invest some of this money in dodgy companies and eventually be declared bankrupt. The fact of the matter is that we are not told how the son spent his money but we do know that he wasted it in ways that were not honourable to god.

Eventually (and we don't know after how long) the younger son's money runs out and he is forced to become a slave to another person in a foreign land. Don't forget that if he had stayed with the father he would have been the master over many servants, now he is forced to become one of those servants and on very poor wages too ! He's even eyeing up the pigs food. Not only is this disappointing and disgusting, in Jewish culture tending the pigs is a very shameful activity. I don't think I can even think of an equally shameful and disgusting job. Perhaps feeding the dogs for someone who is holding illegal dog fights and desiring to eat the food given to the dogs is about as close as I can get.

Finally the son realizes how foolish he has been, he realizes where he is now. He sees he is in a worse state than he would be as a slave to his father. There is a bit of a debate over whether the son is truly repentant or not but as someone who has been "the prodigal son" in his earlier life, I would say that he is truly repentant. Working on that assumption we see he returns to his father, thinking about the words that will get him back into his father's house and working as a servant, sure the work would not be great but it's better than starving to death in the pit with the pigs.

Wandering back slowly, the father sees him from far away. We need to realize that this means the father must have been looking out for him, suspecting that he could come back any day. On first sight the father sprints to him, never mind the social etiquette of the day. For the people of the time it would be unthinkable to image a noble man running. For us we may see the reason for the father running to the son as an opportunity to hit or at least physically abuse him, how dare he show his face on his father's property after insulting him so greatly.

It is here that human understanding ends and grace begins. At the very least we expect the father to express his disappointment in his son. To our surprise this is not the case, as humans we want to see justice, we want to see the son pay for what he did but we still want grace for what we do. Sure we've messed up, but not that bad right ? Sure I've lied but I've never killed anyone. That means I'm an OK person right ? In who's eyes though ? In society's or our perfect and impartial God's eyes ?

The son begins to tell the father how sorry he is and how he would become the fathers ... Then the father cuts him off, he tells the servants to fetch the best robe and a ring for the son. He also tells the servants to kill the fattest calf for a celebration. Now there is a huge celebration for the son, he never expected this but would be really happy none the less.

Later the older son returns from the field to discover the celebration. Wondering what was going on, the older son asks one of the servants what all the celebration is all about. The servant tells him that his brother has returned and his father has killed the fattened calf for them to eat. The older brother is furious when he hears this, how could the father welcome the prodigal son back ? The older son refuses to come in and celebrate so the father comes out to get him. The older son expresses his disgust and asks the what about me question ? The father answers this question. Perhaps the older son understands what he has said, maybe he doesn't, but that's where the parable cuts off.

Often people will say the moral of the story is to not be like the parable son but instead to be more like the older son. After all he was the hardworking son right ? But this is not the case, it's been suggested that this parable is incorrectly labelled and instead it should be named "The parable of the prodigal sons" because both sons are at fault, the interesting thing is that they are at fault in the same way.

The younger son demanded what was his from the father, he wanted to use the fathers wealth in the ways he saw fit. The older son wanted to earn his share of the father's wealth, but at the end of the day all he wanted was the father's wealth. So both sons did not love the father, and both sons were not close to the father. The younger son was distant physically whereas the older son is distant from the father spiritually.So if both sons are at fault what do we learn ? We learn to be more like the father, he loves both of his sons and showers them with all that he has not because either son has earned it, but instead because the father operates in grace.

We need to remember that God is always for us, no matter how badly we screw up, that he'll still run to us and hug us when we return. There will be times in our lives (hopefully not too many) when we are the younger son. We need to know that we should not feel guilty about this. Instead we should repent and run back to the father to start over again. We also need to know that we may at times be like the older son, we may be in church but not worshipping God with our hearts. We may look like we are close to God physically but we may be spiritually dead. We need to know in this case too that God will not abandon us, we need to put him first again. We must do this through a living relationship with God, we can't try to earn God's favor.

A man named Bill Subritzky who could be regarded as one of New Zealand's spiritual fathers was once like the older son. He was successful in business, on many committees in his local church, and very highly regarded in his church. In his testimony he talks about feeling very dead in his spirit, his family life was a disaster and he kept being nagged by the spirit to respond to altar calls. He decided that he could not come forward because he was afraid of what people would think of him. Come to think of it, I was like this too. For him (and myself) there came a time of decision, a time when you know that you can continue living a spiritually dead life where nothing would change. The alternative choice is to put aside your pride and realize you were not putting God first in your life. This is a scary choice to make as you know it's going to turn your life upside down, but I can tell you that this choice is worth the hard road ahead.

Bill chose to put his pride aside and came forward, he publicly told his story and changed his life. He dedicated his life to living by the spirit and operating in spiritual gifts like healing. He also teaches what he has learnt for others to also serve in this ministry.

On the other hand perhaps the most famous story of the younger son is told in the book of Ecclesiastes. In this book Solomon who was given great knowledge and great wealth, tells us about all that he has strived for and all that he tried to do in his life. He had 700 wives and 300 concubines. He tells us he has tried everything he could to make himself happy. At the end he sums the book up with this: "The end of the matter; all that has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of all people". We all have a spirit of worship in us, we all want to make something the purpose for our lives. Some people will strive after wealth, fame, others after possessions, their families, their jobs and others causes to better all of humankind. Making these things alone your sole purpose will not make you happy. Putting God first and then seeking after improving the world and your own self will make you happy as you live by God's ways. It's by doing so that you will abide in his love.

I mentioned that I was like the younger son. I grew up in a christian home but for me church was not at all interesting. I wasn't sure why the people really went. I figured it was to score brownie points with God and for the social aspect. I was pretty sure that God existed but had never experienced him, never heard his voice or felt the spirit. I longed for the day when he would speak to me, but that day never came. The voice of my friends was much louder than the voice of the gospel and the voices of my parents. I did what I wanted believing that although God reigned and was powerful, I felt that the bible was an outdated book and could not apply to our times.

This is a common misconception of people who have not read much of the bible. They think it's just a history of what happened and no use to us. The fact of the matter is that nothing has changed that much in history. We still have the exact same sin that they had back then today the difference is that we indulge in historical snobbery and say that we are not foolish enough to worship other gods. We do, we just don't call them gods or worship then in the same ways as they used to. Living like the younger son was very lonely, I could never meet the approval of my friends, and could never depend on things to be they way I wanted them to be. I kept living life feeling like there was something more to it, I could never be completely happy, and sometimes I was so miserable.

It wasn't till years later when I started to live for God that things started to change, when church became more than a social event. It became an opportunity to learn about God and to glimpse into the gospel in a way I never had before, then I felt something when we worshipped. It wasn't until then that things started to change. I was questioning why I was doing things the way I was, I trusted in God's way and found it made me happier than I had ever remembered being.

It was in learning more about God's word that I realised the bible was relevant in today's world. The truth is that there has always been war, famine, natural disasters, sexual sin, murders, slaves and the worship of money and fame throughout all of the times in the bible and also in the history I know about our modern era. God knew that the same issues would always be around so that's why he gave us his living word. While it does not directly address issues like cloning and stem cell research, it give us a solid foundation and enough knowledge to know what God would have us do.