Learn why the story isn’t about the prodigal son, but the son that chose not to bring his bro back.
11 Jesus continued: There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, Father, give me my share of the estate. So he divided his property between them. 13 Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. 17 When he came to his senses, he said, How many of my fathers hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants. 20 So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. 21 The son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. 22 But the father said to his servants, Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Lets have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found. So they began to celebrate. 25 Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 Your brother has come, he replied, and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound. 28 The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, Look! All these years Ive been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him! 31 My son, the father said, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found. (Luke 15:11-32 NIV)
Jesus taught in parables so people could understand very hard ideas in very easy to remember stories. At the same time, some people, people who dont want to understand, heard parables and thought they were nothing more than stories. But you and I know better than that. Parables are so fun and simple that every time you read them, there is something new for us to learn. This is probably one of the hardest parables you will ever unlock. The audience of this parable is multifaceted, meaning that Jesus isnt addressing who youd think hes addressing and hes addressing those who you think hes addressing at a deeper level. The two types of people Jesus is addressing are immoral outsiders and moral insiders, or how I want to define them: older siblings and younger siblings. First, the younger sibling. Lets read verses 11 -16.
- The younger sibling wants his fathers things, but not his father. This means that his relationship to his father was a means to an end. Now he was getting tired of that relationship and he wants out. Look at what he says in verse 12, give me my share
- Some of us are only interested in what we can get out of something or somebody or some situation. Thats what this guy did.
- Traditionally, if this was a real story, this younger sibling would have been beaten with a bat until he was half dead. But his father, surprisingly said, okay.
- The word property we see here doesnt mean stuff in the Greek. In the Greek, the word, bios is used, which means life as in the word, biology that was a little extra.
- In verse 13, the younger sibling squandered his bios in wild living. Aka, his life was over and now he was dead, not only to his family but also to himself.
- Knowing that he was dead, in verse 17, the younger sibling says, I cant go back to the family as a son, so Ill go back like an indentured servant.
So in verse 20, he resolves himself and goes back home.
- I dont want you to think that just because in verse 20, that this father, who is a metaphor for God, runs like a madman after you, because youre the younger sibling, who throws away his or her life in stupidness, that everything is going to be okay when you decide youre dumbness brings you to humility and therefore back to square one. Its not universal forgiveness time without any atonement. Its not a universal love no matter what.
- What is really being said here is that if youre willing to humble yourself and resign yourself from the relationship, then and only then will you go seek God who is waiting for you. And because of that, there will be an opportunity for reconciliation.
- The older brother was furious. The reason he was furious was because, lets look at verse 29 All these years Ive been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders
- He thought sin was a breaking a list of rules. Sin isnt breaking rules, like most of us think. Sin is putting yourself in the place of God as Savior, Lord and Judge.
- The older brother was one of those guys who always went to church and never did anything wrong, but clearly, he was wrong. Clearly, he just like the younger brother, but his plan was different than the younger brother. The older brother thought he could get what he wanted by faking a relationship with his father.
- He thought he earned something or deserves something better. But he didnt deserve anything better, nor did he earn anything.
- Sin, very simply is the act of avoiding God and relationship with him, for whatever reason.
- Some of us do things for the sake of doing things and are disingenuous (fake) about it.
- Jesus shows us that a mean who has violated virtually nothing on the list of moral misbehaviors can be every bit as lost and sinful and spiritually lost as the guy who profligate and immoral.
- We need Gods initiating love.
- In the story, the father first comes to both the sons in forgiveness.
- We must learn how to repent of the sin under all our other sins and under all our righteousness.
- We have to stop ourselves from trying to replace God with ourselves.
- We must delve into an intimate relationship with God through prayer.
I would tell you that we are going to look at this passage again from a different lens, but I wont do that to you kids. I will tell you one thing, there is a person left out of this story. That was intentional. I want you to think about who was left out. Lets go to our memory verse today. What do we need to escape the shackles of our particular brand of lostness? Thats simple, Malachi 3:17a.
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