LUKE 15:25-32
Now
his older son was in the field, and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing,
"And he summoned one of the servants
and began inquiring what these things could be." And he said to him, 'Your brother has come, and your
father has killed the fattened calf
because he has received him back safe and sound.'
But
he became angry and was not willing to go in; and his father came out and began pleading with him. But he
answered and said to his father, 'Look!
For so many years I have been serving you and I have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a young goat, so that I might
celebrate with my friends; but when
this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf
for him.
"And
he said to him, 'Son, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate
and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to
live, and was lost and has been found.'"
INTRODUCTION
A prodigal
son named Robert left home for Paris. Robert awoke one morning to the bitter
realization that his money was gone. All his creditors were hounding him.
Hurriedly he left Paris for a small town in Normandy. But his past caught up
with him. Everything was repossessed. There was nothing to do but to seek work
with one of the local farmers. In that environment something—the wooing of
God’s Spirit in his heart—brought him back to himself.
He
thought of “Twin Oaks” and the gracious orderly life he had left behind.
Wistfully he compared his days with those of the workers on his father’s
plantation. Nostalgically he remembered Christmas back home. The roast turkey
with chestnut stuffing, the platters of fried chicken, the beaten biscuits,
watermelon-rind preserves, pecan pies, spoon bread, and cold floating island.
He
remembered the look in his father’s eyes as he had stood at the head of the
table carving the turkey, the look of tender pride as he had surveyed his
family. Once again he could feel his father’s strong arms around him . . . a
big hand laid tenderly on a little boy’s head that day his puppy had been
killed.
Dimly
he recalled certain moments of growing up when he had thought his father
stuffy, old-fashioned. Now everything in him cried out for some of that
old-fashioned love. That night he crept away from the farm, and on foot made
his way to Cherbourg, where he worked his way back across the Atlantic on a
ship. He was going home.
What
drew the boy back? What drew him home were the love of a father and the love of
a home. Never once did the prodigal son in Luke 15 say, “I will arise and go
back to my house.” There is little in a house to draw someone back to
it. It is love that draws us home. (Peter Marshall, John Doe, Disciple)
Last week,
we left off the Parable of the Prodigal Son at verse 24, where the son started
home. As soon as the father saw him he ran to embrace his son. The father’s
heart was filled with two things: his love for the son and the desire to reach
him before the judgmental villagers do. Suddenly, the villagers are startled by
the sight of this dignified man bolting through town to throw himself upon a
dusty, ragged stranger and to smother him with kisses.
The
son begins to pour out his well-rehearsed speech. “Father, I have sinned against heaven and
against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” The young man spoke
the truth. He was no longer worthy because of his past. He had forfeited every
right to sonship. However, the father does not allow the son to complete his
well-rehearsed speech. The father knew that his son has returned with a
repentant heart. That is all the old man needs to hear. Amazingly, the father
says nothing in response to his son’s words of contrition. His action will say
it all. “Quick! Bring the best robe and put on him.” That robe would
have been the father’s festival robe worn on special occasion; the boy was to
be the guest of honor! “Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.”
The ring symbolized authority, so everyone could see that the son had been
reinstated. Of course, the son was given sandals to indicate he was a freeman.
In those days servants, slaves, and poor people went barefoot. Therefore, the
father is not just clothing his son; he is covering him with honor and
acceptance. “Bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and
celebrate.” The fattened calf was prepared for a special occasion. The
father explains the purpose of this celebration in verse 24. Any person no matter
who you are, if you have not given your life to Jesus Christ, you are estranged
from God and you are dead spiritually. Moreover, if you have not been
reconciled to God through the death of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, the
Bible says you are lost. In the realm of
grace, repentance means the passing from the death of sin to the life of
righteousness. Jesus seldom called people sinners; He called them lost.
The joy of the father of the prodigal son is full because his son who was dead
is now alive; he was lost and is found. Therefore, nothing is to be ordinary.
The prodigal son is to receive the highest honor. Countless multitudes are
still lost in sin, but our God is the God of the lost, and longs for their
return. No matter what you have done, if you return to God, He will receive you
back as a son/daughter.
The
father’s reception of the wayward son is a picture of grace. It is not a
parable about merits. Here is a God who not only accepts the dry-cleaned and
sanitized, but who also runs to the filthy and wayward son who turned his heart
toward home. Here is a God who, as time will make clear, gives not His best
robe but His only Son, Jesus Christ. Here is a God who shouts to the returning
rebel, “Welcome home.”
The
second part of the parable has to do with the respectable brother and the
rejoicing father. The parable of the prodigal son could have concluded with the
words, “So they began to celebrate.” But then the introductory sentence, “There
was a man who had two sons,” would have had little or no significance. The
story would be incomplete without further reference to the older son. The
father was not only the father of the younger son but also of the older. The
firstborn had been a faithful son who took a personal interest in the farm. Of
course, the son knew that he was the heir. He was out in the farm when everyone
else in the village celebrated the return of his brother. He served his father
well, and his father appreciated his son’s diligence. The parable does not
explain why the old son was the last person to learn about his younger
brother’s return. Perhaps he had gone to inspect a piece of land that was a
long distance from home and that caused him to return home late in the evening.
I.
THE ANGER OF THE SENIOR BROTHER VV. 25-28A
When the older son returned
and heard the music and dancing, he asked one of the servants, “What is going
on?” Within seconds he learned that his younger brother had returned home and
that his father had killed the fattened calf because he had his son back safe
and sound. The sounds of celebration fall on very unsympathetic ears as the
elder brother returns home. Music and dancing are not what he desires in his
father’s house. The news he hears confirms his worst suspicion. That
good-for-nothing brother whom he despises has returned and his father has gone
off the deep end in his celebration.
According
to the custom of those days, the older son was to be the master of ceremonies.
This implies that he would have to mingle with the guests, monitor the supplies
of food and beverages, and keep the celebration going throughout the evening
and into the night. He has no intention of playing such a role. Instead, became
angry and refused to go in. He grumbled that no one ever expressed joy and
happiness about him as the firstborn; no one had a party for the one who stayed
home and served his father. Therefore, he would have nothing to do with his
irresponsible brother, who upon his return had everybody running for him.
Jealousy and envy have set in. His refusal to enter the house is a studied
insult to his father. Publicly he makes clear his disapproval of his father’s
actions. Like a teenager picking a fight with his parents before a house full
of guests, he behaves in a way that is not only hurtful but also humiliating.
But there is even more here; this son would rather not have fellowship with his
father than accept his father’s treatment of his brother. He will not accept
someone who has been a companion of pigs and prostitutes. If that cost his
fellowship with his father, so be it. As the prodigal had insulted the father
by asking him for the inheritance, so the older son offended him by staying
away from the feast.
The
relevance of this section of the parable to the context of Luke 15 is as
obvious. The Pharisees would not have fellowship with Jesus because of His
treatment of people the Pharisees considered prodigals. Thus, they were putting
themselves outside the Father’s house. Refusal to accept all those whom Jesus
Christ accepts is no small sin. It reveals your relationship to God Himself.
II. THE APPEAL OF THE SEEKING FATHER V. 28B
The father could have sent
out a servant to order his son inside. Certainly a father in the Middle East
has such authority. “We will talk about it later, but not now. Get inside,
smile, and do your job. But do not do this—
not now, not this way. We deal with matters like
this behind closed doors.”
However,
the father who humbled himself to run to the returning prodigal humbles himself
to plead to the angry older brother. “He went out and pleaded with him.” His
love for this son is no less profound than his love for the other son. The
first one received a welcome home, but so did the second. He treated both
alike. However, the older son did not want equal treatment; he took it out on
his father, humiliated him in public, even though the father continued to plead
with him.
III. THE COMPLAINT OF THE OLDER
BROTHER VV. 29-30
The older son had only
contempt for his father’s response to his younger brother’s home coming. In the
light of the appeal of the father, the son’s heart is exposed. He speaks angry
words that reveal who he really is. Appearances suggest a son respectful of his
father, completely different from his rebellious brother; anger unveils
attitudes every bit as contemptible as the attitudes that led his brother to
leave home. In fact, what we learn about this older brother may explain why the
younger brother wanted to go to the far country! It is not a pleasant thing to
live under the same roof with a self-righteous person. You can never please or
win his/her approval.
The
older brother has an attitude of contempt for his father. The “look!” of verse
29 is full of disrespect, as is the litany of complaints. Clearly he has
rehearsed these in his mind over the years, carefully calculating and storing
up his grievances. He has stayed home not because he loves his father, but
because working in his fields was a way of getting what he wanted. He has
shared his father’s house but not his father’s heart. At the same time he is
full of contempt for his brother. “This son of yours” says volume. He will not
accept him as “my brother.” In his heart, the older brother has written his
younger brother out of the family and out of his life. However, despite his
protests, complaints, and accusations, this older brother is more like his
younger brother than he realizes. He is full of concern for himself. He is
selfish. He is intensely self-centered, judging things only by how they satisfy
his own interest. He cares nothing for his father’s longings or his brother’s
needs. He is self-indulgent and resentful, angry that his father has not
catered to his wishes. Most of all, he is no better than a servant. The
self-righteous son saw himself as a servant and not a son. Listen to what he
says, “All these years I have been slaving for you and never disobeyed your
orders.” He did not understand what sonship meant and thus failed to see
what fatherhood implied. He knows nothing of the joy of being a son. The
younger brother was willing to become a servant; this son had been one in heart
all along. He now stands exposed. This respectable son is in fact, a rebel,
lost in his father’s house. He is so close to his father and yet so far from
him.
He
accused his father of not giving him anything of worth, not even a young goat
to have a feast with his friends. His words to his father were sharp and
bitter. He refused to address his father as “father” and to refer to his
brother as “brother.” The absence of the title father in the address is
meant as a deliberate affront. Second, to call his brother “this son of
yours” is both a continuation of the offense to his father and a definite
break in family relations. In effect he is saying, "I am not his brother
and you are not my father." Third, he accuses his brother of squandering
his father’s property, but the misused money was inherited and rightfully
belonged to his brother. And last, to shame his brother he imputes sexual
immorality to him even though he was not there to witness the way he lived his
life in the far country. With such scathing words, he grieved his father as
much as the prodigal son had done by his wild living. What a penetrating
portrait of the self-righteous and the religious! Morally respectable and
publicly approved, such a person may be much farther from the Father than the
prodigal in the pigpen.
IV. THE CHOICE OF THE OLDER BROTHER
VV. 31-32
The father’s grace persists
despite this outburst. A normal father would be furious at such an
attack. However, this father is different. He explains carefully, and says in
effect, “We had to celebrate and be glad; we had no choice. Because of who I
am, a father, I rejoice over lost sons who return. Joy is the only possibility.
Not to rejoice would be to deny who I am.” The father is clear. He will not
cancel the party, because he cannot. He is a gracious father who rejoices over
lost children that are found.
Neither
will the heavenly Father cancel the celebration. His heart aches too, over the
lost son, whether he is partying in the far country or working in the family’s
farm. When sinners repent and come home, He must welcome them with outstretched
arms, and He must share a joyful meal with them. What Jesus is doing with the
tax collectors and sinners is what the Father does in heaven.
Both
the elder and younger were sons of the father, and the father addressed the
elder son as tenderly as he had addressed the younger son. The father taught
his son the significance of sonship; to be always in the presence of the father
as heir. The father was saying to his older son, because you are my child, I am
your father, and because the prodigal son is my child, he is your brother. The
father’s words link the brothers inseparably to each other and the father.
The
parable of the prodigal begins with the younger son away from home, and his
elder brother staying at home, although he was never at home. But the parable
ends with the younger son home, and the elder one refusing to enter the home.
Actually, the older brother was as much a prodigal as the younger. The younger
son came back from a far country to a father’s heart and home. The elder went
into the far country of smug self-satisfaction and sullen resentment.
There
is a fascinating omission in the parable. There is no ending. Did the older
brother enter or not. You may be attending church regularly but your heart may
be as far away from the heavenly Father as the older brother. Or you may be in
the far country scattering what God has given you. Perhaps the money has run
out and famine has set in. The heavenly Father is saying to you the door to
your Father’s house is wide open. To all such people the Lord’s story invites
you to “Come home.”
The
bottom line is this. What you know of God is seen in how you view yourself as
lost and how you deal with others as lost. God’s heart aches over those who are
lost; God’s heart rejoices over those who are found. How well you know Jesus
Christ is revealed by whether or not you rejoice as He does. In this parable we
see that the attitude and conduct of the Pharisees and the scribes were similar
to the older brother than they realize. We who are Christians today have to be
careful of the way we treat lost people who are coming to Christ, else we
become just like the elder brother who refused to come home to celebrate with
the family.
No
matter your background, what you have done, how far you have gone in sin and no
matter your condition in life, the Heavenly Father with outstretched arms is
inviting you to return home.
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