Happy Mothers Day

The Missing Character

The Parable of the Prodigal Son
Luke 15:31 (ESV)
"Son you are always with me and everything I have is yours"

So, tonight in my last post dealing with the parable of the prodigal son, I want to look at the character that Jesus leaves out of the story. I will admit up front, that most of the thoughts from this post come from Tim Keller's book, "The Prodigal God" and his chapter entitled "the True Elder Son".

So, when you look at the context of this parable in the chapter of Luke and what Jesus is doing the day He teaches from this parable, you will realize that the parable of the prodigal son comes right after 2 more parables, the parable of the lost sheep and the parable of the lost coin. In both of the parables that come before the prodigal son something is lost and than someone goes and looks for what is lost and celebrates when the lost item is found. When we get to hearing the parable of the prodigal son we are waiting to see who is going to go out and look for the younger lost brother. But we do not see anyone who goes out and looks like in the previous parable. Why?

When we get into the parable the older brother gets angry when the father celebrates the return of the younger lost son. Why? One of the biggest reasons that the older brother gets upset when the feast begins is as the father explains, after the younger son leaves and takes his part of the inheritance, everything that the father has left is and will belong to the older brother. So when the father gives the feast and celebrates the younger son return it is part of what the older brother is supposed to get. Than the father re-instates the younger son's status back in the family, so now the older brother must give up another portion of what is now his and give it up to the younger lost brother. So the older brother is now upset because this younger rebellious lost son is costing him big in what is his. Why does Jesus make this so explicit and point to this in the end and why does the parable end with the older brother upset at his cost?

I believe the reason Jesus does what He does in this story is that He is showing us and pointing to a true older brother. Jesus is trying to get us to yearn for a perfect loving older brother. An older brother that will chase after us and come and look for us when we are lost. An older brother that is free with His blessings and is willing to give up whatever it would cost to welcome us back into the family of God. Jesus is pointing to Himself and desires us to see that we need Him. Jesus is the perfect older brother, the one who will find us when we are lost and bring us back. Jesus is the perfect older brother who will give up whatever it will cost to have us back, even if it will cost Him his life. Jesus in this parable is leaving Himself out and He wants us to realize that and yearn for Him to be in it. The missing character in Jesus and He is the missing character in our lives unless we give Him the place He needs in our lives.

Do not let Jesus be the missing character from your life, like He is in the parable of the prodigal son.

Quotable Friday

Here is my favorite line from "Prodigal God" by Timothy Keller

"But it if is really true that I am a sinner saved by sheer grace-at God's infinite cost-then there's nothing He cannot ask of me".

The Father

The Parable of the Prodigal Son
Luke 15:20-24, 31-32

“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. Let’s 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.

“ ‘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.’ ”

So I changed my mind. In this post I want to look at the final character in this parable. On Saturday's post I will look at the one person who is missing from this parable, but before I go there I want to spend the next few moments learning about the father in this story and discovering what it reveals for us about our Father in Heaven. 

When you look up the word prodigal in the dictionary you will find that it is defined as; recklessly extravagant or having spent everything. So when you read the story of the prodigal son, and you understand what prodigal means, you will begin to realize that the real prodigal person is the father. First, the father destroys his own name and tears apart his estate and sells off half of what he owns so that he can give what his first son asks for. The father loves the first son so much that he knows it is probably going to turn out bad in the end for this rebellious son, but the father gives it all and sacrifices himself and his name for what the son asks. Then, after the younger son comes slinking back, the father runs, which was shameful for a respected man in that culture, to go and greet and love his rebellious son all the more. The father re-sacrifices himself and some of his wealth to bring back this rebellious son into his home. 

Than the older son becomes rebellious and starts to show his true lostness and what does the father do? The father runs out and chases after his older son. The father pleads with his other lost son that everything he has is now his son's and the father extends a hand of love and forgiveness to this son also. Simply put the father spends everything he has and everything that he is on his two sons and sacrifices totally for each son, trying to bring them back into his life and welcome them home with open arms. 

So what does this father teach us about our Heavenly and perfect Father? First, His love is sacrificial. God knew that loving us, His rebellious and moral children, would mean total and complete sacrifice, even to the point of death. Second, we can never escape or run to far from God's love and even when we come back skulking God will open His arms wide and welcome us back just like we had never left or ran from Him. Third, God and His grace for us, is abundant and will never run out. Just like when the younger son came back and the father gave him more again after he had spent all of his, God will give us grace and love continually. This also means that even when we spend and waste the blessings God has given us from Him, He will freely and unconditionally give us more when we seek with a forgiveness. Fourth, whether we are rebellious and outside of the church, or moral and lost inside the church, God our Father will chase after us and continually seek us out to welcome us into His family and give us His blessings and love. This important to realize because even after we enter a church door and call ourselves "Christians", God is still chasing after us sharing His love and compassion to us and desiring us and a relationship with Him. Lastly, this father teaches and shows to us about our Heavenly Father, that if and when we enter His home, there will be a celebration and great feast. God desires for us to come home and come inside the family so that He can celebrate and we enjoy the feast of God and explore and enjoy His many blessings.

I pray that next time you read through this parable or hear someone teach on it, that you will remember and rejoice in everything the father in this story can teach us about our true, perfect, and loving Heavenly father. 

The way of moral conformity

The Parable of the Prodigal Son
Luke 15:29-30
But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve 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!’

In this post I want to look at the root of the older son's problem and how most times we in the church, myself included, are more like the older son and less like the younger son. Many times, myself included again, we in the church are just as lost and sinful in our moralism, like those rebellious sons out in the world. Let's start to realize this lost and sinful state by examining the older son in greater detail.

So, the older brother is the son who stayed close to home, living with his father, never asking his father for anything, and simply following the rules set down by his father. The older son did what was right in the eyes of the father and always was looking out to make sure that the wealth and goods of the father were taken care of. The older son was in complete control of himself and very self disciplined and always did what was right. The older son look like the good son and was respectful and of high honor in the town thanks to the name of his father. The older son knew that once his younger brother left, everything that was left in the house and the estate was his and when his father was gone, would be his to keep and run. But just like the younger son, the older son wanted his father's stuff and not his father. He gets mad when the father makes a decisions and welcomes his brother back with open arms. It was the father's wealth, not the love of his father, that defined and made the older son happy and fulfilled. Simply put the older son's moral life and "good" actions were keeping him lost from the father just like the younger son. And what is the scariest thing about the older son is that he is more lost than the younger son, because he thinks he is ok when in reality he is just as lost and as far away from the father as the younger son.

Now let's look at some ways that we are just like the older son. We are just like the older son when we obey God to get things. When life does not go our way and life does not give us what we want we become angry and bitter at life and God. We become the older son when we have an inability to handle suffering because being good and "right" does not give us good results. When we do good and it does not pay off, we become confused and enraged. We are an older brother when our image is one of being hard working, moral and good, members of a special group, and extremely smart and savvy. Another sign of an older brother is someone who is living a life of fear based and result based compliance and obedience to God rather than a life of joy and love for God. Finally the older brothers might be diligent and faithful in prayer but there is no wonder, awe, intimacy, and delight with God. When we start to go down this list, we begin to realize, because I know I did, that we are just like the older brother and we need to begin to enjoy the Father and His love for us, rather than doing what is right to get the results we want.

Tomorrow we will look at the one person who is missing from this story. 

The older angery brother

Parable of the Prodigal Son

Luke 15:25-30

“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 I’ve 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!’

So now we come to the second lost son in this parable. This lost son is the focus of the second half of the story, and I believe the real reason that Jesus was teaching from this parable. We will look at this son over the next 2 post because I believe he is that important for us to look at. If you go back and read the first few verse of chapter 15, you will see that Jesus is teaching not only to His disciples and other sinners, but also to the Pharisees. I think Jesus is teaching this story to pin point the Pharisees and more importantly the life of moralism. 

Moral conformity and living a life that looks morally good is the problem for the second lost son. This son is older, thinks he is wiser, and feels like he has more to loose than his younger brother. The older brother is furious because he feels that he has done everything the father has asked. The older son has played by the rules, done the good deed, and lived by the code of his fathers house. Yet, the older brother says, your other stupid, sinful, rebellious son shows up smelling like pigs and you just give him the world back. The older son is not liking his father's justice system. The older brother feels like the father has no right to make the decisions about this younger brother without consulting him because everything that the father has left is "technically" his anyway. The older brother is starting to show that he wants to be in control of the wealth and home of his father now too, just like his younger brother back in the beginning of the story. The older son is just as lost and alienated from his father as the younger rebellious son, he just did not know it. And the bottom line is both sons had the same heart. 

How many times do we realize we are like this older son? I would guess that on most days we do not associate ourselves with the older son. We look at our lives and see the sin and rebellion and start to think just like the younger son, realizing that we need God's forgiveness from direct rebellion and selfishness. But I truly believe that we are more like the older son than we think we are and I would even guess, as far as my life, that I am much more like the older son on most days and in more ways. How many times do I try and control what God does with his wealth and blessing? How many times do I try and tell God how to use His justice and mercy? When do I get upset and ask God why He had to bring back the rebellious child? How many times do I think God has made a mistake in saving others? How many times do I judge others for their sins and look down on others because I feel I am better? When we start to ask ourselves these questions we beginning to realize that we are just like the older son. And when we start to associate with the older son more it opens the door to a realization that we are more and more like him. 

In the next post we will discover more of the older lost son's problems and see how we are more like and just as lost from the father as he is.

The Way of Self Discovery

^{The Prodigal Son}

^{Luke 15:11-20a}

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 father’s hired men 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 men.’ ²⁰ So he got up and went to his father.

This is the story of the younger brother and lost son. When most people read or hear the parable of the prodigal son taught, they think of the younger first son in the story. They read the younger son asking for his part of his dad's wealth and read as he runs off and spends it all. Everyone reads this parable and thinks that this son is the main focus of the story. But this part of the story is only the first half of the story. The older brother and other lost son is the focus and character of the second half of the parable, which we will look at tomorrow night. First lets discover a few things about this lost younger son.

So the younger son goes to the father and ask for his share of the wealth. He is simply asking his father to tear his life apart so he could get what he wants now. This son is full of disrespect and is only seeing the father as a way to his desires and wants. The younger son wants to be in control and demands what he wants right now and to take total control of what he thinks is his. He does not like to take orders and follow the rules and wants to discover what is fun and what freedom is outside of the rules and codes from his dad's house. This younger son is set for a life of self-discovery and only cares about what makes him feel good and gives him freedom. This younger son humiliates his father and family and becomes self-indulgent and self centered. This son thinks that the only way to salvation is freedom and controlling his life himself away from the father and the father's house. The younger son wanted to be in position to tell the father what he wanted him to do, which was give him what he felt deserved. Simply put, the younger son wanted to be his own savior.

How many times are we like the younger son? We think that freedom and a life that we can control is the way to live. How many times do we want to control our own lives and take the reigns on what will happen next? How many times do we think romance, money, sex, entertainment, success, and self awareness is the way to find happiness and the way to freedom? I discover and think that most times we are just like the younger son in the way we act, think, and live. We forget that God is our loving Father and that everything we have is His. We forget that God loves us and wants whats best for us and will give us the true freedom we need. Many times we think like the younger son and think we can be our own savior when in reality the only Savior we need is from our perfect Father. I think we are more like the younger son than we think we are. So next time you read this parable, realize that we are just like the younger son many times and see how he responds and do likewise.