Listen to the audio of today’s Reflection:
https://soundcloud.com/hapearce/reflection-for-november-14-2024
Luke 15:11-32
The Parable of the Lost Son
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 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. 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.
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 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!’
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.’”
It’s very interesting to me that this parable is commonly taught and preached about the way it is. I think you could make a case that the common interpretation almost misses entirely the point Jesus was making. Or at least, most preachers and teachers fail to put the emphasis where Jesus meant it to be put.
This parable is usually called The Parable of the Prodigal Son, but in our NIV Bible it’s called The Parable of the Lost Son. That’s because it comes right after The Parable of the Lost Sheep – the subject of yesterday’s Reflection – and The Parable of the Lost Coin.
The common interpretation is that Jesus wants us to know that no matter how sinful we might have been in our lives – and especially in areas like wild partying or sexual impropriety – God is ready and willing to forgive us and take us back if we’re willing to ‘come home’ to him.
And that’s not wrong, so that’s an acceptable lesson to draw from the parable for a person who is just starting out on a life of discipleship, or for someone who is just thinking about making a commitment to follow Jesus. For a person in those circumstances, this parable teaches a lesson about God’s unconditional love, and about his willingness to forgive those who repent of their sins and turn back to him.
Actually, for someone who is new to the way of faith, the parable has some pretty interesting details to think about. For one thing, the father in the story, who is understood to represent God, never stops watching down the road, longing for his lost child to come home. And when the father sees the boy trudging down the road, he runs to embrace his returning son. In ancient Hebrew culture, for the head of a family to lay aside his dignity and break into a run like that would be very surprising – a sign of overwhelming joy. And the father embraces the son as he is – probably covered in pig filth. He doesn’t insist on having the boy clean up first.
It also seems really significant that the father cuts off the long confession the son has been rehearsing on the way home. He’s not interested in a long and abject apology. To the father, the fact that the boy is back is what matters. Then the father orders the servants to bring the best robe (which was a symbol of hospitality), a ring (a symbol of membership in the family), and shoes (which symbolized that the son is a free person, not a slave).
So for a young person, or someone at the beginning of their faith journey, the common interpretation of this parable would communicate an important truth: that God is willing – and even eager – to forgive the sins of your past and welcome you to a new life as a cherished member of his family.
But it seems pretty clear that those who are just beginning their life of faith aren’t really the people Jesus most had in mind when he spoke this parable. If you remember, all three of the ‘lost’ parables in Luke 15 – the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, and the Lost Son – all were told by Jesus in response to criticism from deeply religious people. They were criticizing him for welcoming and befriending “sinners” – people like the lost son in the story. So in telling this parable, Jesus was talking to people who thought of “sinners” the same way the older brother in the parable thought of the younger one.
So while this parable might have something important to say to people at the beginning of their life of faith, it seems clear that it was still primarily meant for people like us – for people who think of themselves as trying to obey God’s laws. This parable is a warning to us not to let ourselves think that we are better than others in God’s eyes. It also seems like a warning against falling into a sense of entitlement – against thinking that because we don’t run around scandalously getting drunk in public, consorting with prostitutes, stealing, fighting, etc., that God somehow owes us a favored place in his household.
A sense of entitlement is probably more insidious than a love of wild living. If we allow that spirit of entitlement to take hold in us, we’re bound to wind up being judgmental and condemning, just like the older brother in the parable. We figure we’ve been getting up and coming to church for years while the ‘prodigals’ were staying out late and waking up with hangovers on Sunday mornings – doesn’t that make us entitled to something in God’s eyes?
Actually – and surprisingly – it turns out that maybe it does. Don’t forget that at the end of the parable the father says to the older brother, “You are always with me, and all I have is yours.” But it’s a sad truth that in being entitled, we cheat ourselves out of the privilege of sharing the joy of our God. We stand outside and sulk when the party isn’t about us. It makes more sense to let God worry about whether others are worthy of his love. After all, we can’t claim to be worthy of his love either. So why not just enjoy ourselves, and be happy we’ve been invited to the celebration in the first place?
Let’s pray. Lord, we thank you for your great willingness to forgive us and take us back on those occasions when we have wandered away from your ‘fold.’ Touch our hearts, and make us less and less inclined to judge others, and more and more inclined to join in the celebration when they come home to you. Amen.
Grace and Peace,
Henry
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