The Waiting Father
03/14/10
Luke 15:11-32
Pastor Greg Smith
I hope you have discovered and used the church’s web page. [If you are reading this, you obviously have!] It is simple, but it’s usually up to date with the latest information church happenings. One thing you will see there is a great church motto: A Church for the Least, the Last, and the Lost. I do think it’s one of the few church mottos that Jesus might have actually used.
Of course, Jesus’ troupe of disciples wasn’t a church. But it was a traveling demonstration of what the Kingdom of God is all about. Wherever they went people were healed of disease of body, mind, and soul; the oppressed were set free; the people that were usually passed over as if unimportant were given special attention; and even the worst of people were given the Good News— God loved them so much that he was inviting them to come back to himself.
The result was a traveling party that must have been very exciting but also disturbing.
• There were people with stories of healing
• Some freed from the grasp of demons
• Many with a rough past— with all the marks of a hard life— were in that traveling party with Jesus
• Everyone was learning, questioning, celebrating
As you can imagine, not everyone was happy about this. Jesus claimed to be proclaiming the Kingdom of God and demonstrating God’s love and purpose for his creation. But is was this welcoming love that many found disturbing. Look at Luke 15:1-2.
1 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
It doesn’t take much reading between the lines to see what the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were really saying.
This man is not from God for God would not welcome sinners the way Jesus does. God is not like Jesus, eating with known scoundrels and lawbreakers; God is like us, careful in his contacts, scrupulous in associations.
“There should be no good news for sinners,” was the verdict of the scribes and Pharisees. To their minds, Jesus stepped completely outside of God’s will and God’s ways by entering into conversation with sinners and even announcing to them, of all people, that God’s kingdom was at hand and that they could enter in. The Pharisees were sure that God would never do that!
Their argument with Jesus is the setting for three great parables: the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost sons. The stories are Jesus’ answer to the lawyers. They are have this message: Love Cares About the Lost.
First, Jesus told about a shepherd that has 100 sheep and loses one.
He leaves the 99 and goes searching for the one that is lost. When at last he finds the lost sheep, the shepherd joyfully puts the sheep on his shoulders, carries it home and calls his neighbors and friends together for a party. “Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep!”
Jesus was telling the lawyers that the lost, the people with whom they refused to have any contact, are worth seeking and that God rejoices when they are found. The Pharisees were missing the party!
Then Jesus tells the story of the woman who has 10 silver coins and loses one.
She lights up her home (homes in Palestine usually had no windows and only earthen floors) and begins sweeping and carefully searching until she finds the coin. When she does, she calls her friends and neighbors together to celebrate. “Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin!” The party may have cost a lot more than one silver coin was worth!
Jesus applies the story to the Pharisees (verse 10):
“In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God when one sinner repents.”
God is the great party giver and the Pharisees are missing it!
What, then, is God like? Jesus says that God loves the lost and rejoices in their change of heart. Jesus was offering an invitation: come back to God! There is Good News for all — even for tax collectors and sinners.
Jesus didn’t stop there. He continued to drive home his point by telling the parable of the waiting father and the two lost sons.
I’m sure that you will agree that Jesus sketched the portraits of the three characters with great vividness. And this is a timeless story because it’s all about family.
First, there is the younger son who squanders the father’s wealth.
The younger son seems to have a bad case of adolescent rebellion. He was tired of the restrictions of his father’s house and struck out on his own, craving freedom and a good time. But even more, the son wanted his father dead— at least dead in relationship with the son. For that is the only way to get an inheritance! The father didn’t argue with him. The father gave the son his share of the inheritance (that should have been his only when the father was dead) and let the son go.
Jesus’ hearers would have understood the customs. The son’s share was one third of the property, since according to the law recorded in Deuteronomy, the elder son was heir to twice the property of the younger. The younger son was greedy and foolish. He sold the property itself instead of living off the income of the estate. He wasted the capital as well as the interest of his inheritance.
Where does the younger son end up? In a pigpen longing to eat pig food. Jesus’ listeners would have known what this meant: the younger son had sunk so low as to loose his status as a Jew. Pigs were the epitome of uncleanness and if a Jew took care of them that person was thereafter regarded as a Gentile and an outcast from the community. Every conscientious Jewish father would have rejected a pig-feeding son like this as having become that same as an unclean Gentile.
As the sordid details of the story developed — the selfishness, the lust, and the humiliation — I’m sure that the Pharisees nodded their heads in recognition. Who else could this irresponsible son represent but the tax collectors and sinners who wasted their spiritual inheritance? They were Jews that failed grasp their heritage.
But as Jesus’ story continued, the younger son “comes to his senses.” Look at verse 17.
‘How many of my father’s 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.
When “he came to his senses,” the younger son realized his condition: he was near death, a sinner and unworthy to be called his father’s child. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” Jesus had taught. The younger son illustrates what it means to be “poor in spirit”: he knew his need. He got up and returned to the father making no claims. He just wanted to be hired on like anyone else. It was his only hope.
Many never return to the Father’s house for this reason: they don’t come to a place of repentance. They never experience the poverty of spirit that Jesus spoke of. They don’t acknowledge their need. They ignore the smell of the pigpen and continue to call it a resort. They don’t acknowledge that their sin against the Father leaves them deserving only a servant’s place.
But, now Jesus turns to the central figure of the story: the father.
What had the father been doing as the son went into the far country? He was patiently, patiently waiting. As the father went about his daily routine he always had an eye on the road, hoping and waiting, patiently waiting.
The battered, wasted son lumbered toward home rehearsing his speech— “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son…” and so on. He barely got a foot on the walkway that went up to the house before the father was on his way with arms outstretched. Before the son could say a word, the arms of his father were around his neck. There was kissing and hugging, then a call for a robe, a ring and shoes. The son was not only welcomed, but also honored. It was very much a royal welcome.
And then it was time for the party! The father said,
‘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.
Like the shepherd who found his lost sheep, like the woman who found the lost coin, there was great rejoicing.
The lawyers needed no commentary to tell them who the father represented. Though they didn’t customarily refer to God as Father, they knew that Jesus did. Jesus was saying, “There is good news for sinners — the good news of a Father’s welcome, and the great joy of a lost son returned. This is what God is truly like. This is why I bring good news even to wayward and wandering prodigals.”
There is a third character in this story: the older son
Thus far, Jesus had only made the message of the lost sheep and lost coin more detailed and personal. But when he turned to the portrait of the older son, he was making a new point that was aimed directly at the conscience of the Pharisees and lawyers.
The news of little brother’s arrival, followed by an unscheduled feast with the sounds of music and the aromas of roasting luxuries, grated on the older son. This was not fair! He protested to his father (see verse 29):
‘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!’
What scribe or Pharisee could have missed the message? The portrait of that elder brother was a mirror of their own narrowness and selfishness. The elder son’s words were their words. They had protested against Jesus’ compassion for the outcasts of their society. They, who prided themselves in knowing and following God’s ways, found themselves portrayed as diametrically opposite of God.
But before we cavalierly put aside the elder brother’s protest, shouldn’t we think through what he says first? I hear very noble themes like justice, fairness, and reward for faithfulness to one’s duty. Don’t you think it would have been more just if the younger son had worked a few years on the ranch and proved himself before they had the big party? Wouldn’t it have been better for everyone — including the younger brother — if the ring, robe, and feast were held by as a promised reward for a job well done? Isn’t this the kind of “handout” mentality that’s behind so many of our nation’s problems?
The elder brother’s protest in the name of fairness and justice has a point but, but while the debate continues, a party is in full swing. We could be missing the party, too! Why?
Maybe we feel like we must deserve to take a place at the Father’s table enter before we into the celebration. But God says, if you would only come join the party! Rejoice in the grace of God that accepts sinners without years of service to prove their worth. Rejoice in God’s amazing grace. Rejoice that any person can come with sorrow for their sins and a desire to return to the Father and be accepted as an honored member of the family.
Don’t miss the party! We are the church of “The Least, the Last, and the Lost.” But the real turning point for any Christian is when that realize that “The Least, the Last, and the Lost” is not someone else, it’s you! It’s about me! I have been least, last and, very lost. With that, the message of Jesus’ parables comes alive. I am invited to be embraced by the Father, I am invited to put on a royal robe, I am invited a joyous party.
The message to the lawyers was clear: they were mistaken in their understanding of God. But even more, they were mistaken in their understanding of themselves. They, too, are as lost as any tax collector or prostitute. As much as the son in the pig pen, they need — we need — to come to ourselves, turn around, and come to the celebration that the Father is giving.
“What is God like?” The scribes and Pharisees had one answer. Jesus had a very different one. Jesus’ answer is the only lasting and authoritative one, the only answer that we can stake our life on. We must hear Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, saying, “God is like me.” Like me, so welcoming, so indiscriminate about with whom I keep company.
What a welcome word this is! We can hear it at the “pigpen” points of our lives and follow its call all the way home. We can hear it from the Father’s house and let it lead us out of our pride and self-righteousness. Wasteful younger children and spiteful elder children can hear it and meet together at the feast.
The Father rejoices whenever someone repents, whether it is repentance from squandered wealth and heritage, or repentance from self-righteous jealousy. Whoever we are, we are invited! Come join the feast!
Let me summarize the message into three great truths to remember.
First, God’s love is lavish!
Jesus’ story is not meant to give a model of parenting!
So, if you are ready to return to God, God is waiting for you.
I love how Corrie Ten Boom put it years ago: “No pit is so deep that God isn’t deeper still.”
Finally, God is generous with his mercy and grace— and we Christians need to have the same generosity.
Romans 15:7 is a great verse to remember. I like it best in the New Revised Standard Version.
Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.
God welcomed you home! Let’s welcome each other.
Pastor Greg Smith
I hope you have discovered and used the church’s web page. [If you are reading this, you obviously have!] It is simple, but it’s usually up to date with the latest information church happenings. One thing you will see there is a great church motto: A Church for the Least, the Last, and the Lost. I do think it’s one of the few church mottos that Jesus might have actually used.
Of course, Jesus’ troupe of disciples wasn’t a church. But it was a traveling demonstration of what the Kingdom of God is all about. Wherever they went people were healed of disease of body, mind, and soul; the oppressed were set free; the people that were usually passed over as if unimportant were given special attention; and even the worst of people were given the Good News— God loved them so much that he was inviting them to come back to himself.
The result was a traveling party that must have been very exciting but also disturbing.
• There were people with stories of healing
• Some freed from the grasp of demons
• Many with a rough past— with all the marks of a hard life— were in that traveling party with Jesus
• Everyone was learning, questioning, celebrating
As you can imagine, not everyone was happy about this. Jesus claimed to be proclaiming the Kingdom of God and demonstrating God’s love and purpose for his creation. But is was this welcoming love that many found disturbing. Look at Luke 15:1-2.
1 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
It doesn’t take much reading between the lines to see what the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were really saying.
This man is not from God for God would not welcome sinners the way Jesus does. God is not like Jesus, eating with known scoundrels and lawbreakers; God is like us, careful in his contacts, scrupulous in associations.
“There should be no good news for sinners,” was the verdict of the scribes and Pharisees. To their minds, Jesus stepped completely outside of God’s will and God’s ways by entering into conversation with sinners and even announcing to them, of all people, that God’s kingdom was at hand and that they could enter in. The Pharisees were sure that God would never do that!
Their argument with Jesus is the setting for three great parables: the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost sons. The stories are Jesus’ answer to the lawyers. They are have this message: Love Cares About the Lost.
First, Jesus told about a shepherd that has 100 sheep and loses one.
He leaves the 99 and goes searching for the one that is lost. When at last he finds the lost sheep, the shepherd joyfully puts the sheep on his shoulders, carries it home and calls his neighbors and friends together for a party. “Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep!”
Jesus was telling the lawyers that the lost, the people with whom they refused to have any contact, are worth seeking and that God rejoices when they are found. The Pharisees were missing the party!
Then Jesus tells the story of the woman who has 10 silver coins and loses one.
She lights up her home (homes in Palestine usually had no windows and only earthen floors) and begins sweeping and carefully searching until she finds the coin. When she does, she calls her friends and neighbors together to celebrate. “Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin!” The party may have cost a lot more than one silver coin was worth!
Jesus applies the story to the Pharisees (verse 10):
“In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God when one sinner repents.”
God is the great party giver and the Pharisees are missing it!
What, then, is God like? Jesus says that God loves the lost and rejoices in their change of heart. Jesus was offering an invitation: come back to God! There is Good News for all — even for tax collectors and sinners.
Jesus didn’t stop there. He continued to drive home his point by telling the parable of the waiting father and the two lost sons.
I’m sure that you will agree that Jesus sketched the portraits of the three characters with great vividness. And this is a timeless story because it’s all about family.
First, there is the younger son who squanders the father’s wealth.
The younger son seems to have a bad case of adolescent rebellion. He was tired of the restrictions of his father’s house and struck out on his own, craving freedom and a good time. But even more, the son wanted his father dead— at least dead in relationship with the son. For that is the only way to get an inheritance! The father didn’t argue with him. The father gave the son his share of the inheritance (that should have been his only when the father was dead) and let the son go.
Jesus’ hearers would have understood the customs. The son’s share was one third of the property, since according to the law recorded in Deuteronomy, the elder son was heir to twice the property of the younger. The younger son was greedy and foolish. He sold the property itself instead of living off the income of the estate. He wasted the capital as well as the interest of his inheritance.
Where does the younger son end up? In a pigpen longing to eat pig food. Jesus’ listeners would have known what this meant: the younger son had sunk so low as to loose his status as a Jew. Pigs were the epitome of uncleanness and if a Jew took care of them that person was thereafter regarded as a Gentile and an outcast from the community. Every conscientious Jewish father would have rejected a pig-feeding son like this as having become that same as an unclean Gentile.
As the sordid details of the story developed — the selfishness, the lust, and the humiliation — I’m sure that the Pharisees nodded their heads in recognition. Who else could this irresponsible son represent but the tax collectors and sinners who wasted their spiritual inheritance? They were Jews that failed grasp their heritage.
But as Jesus’ story continued, the younger son “comes to his senses.” Look at verse 17.
‘How many of my father’s 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.
When “he came to his senses,” the younger son realized his condition: he was near death, a sinner and unworthy to be called his father’s child. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” Jesus had taught. The younger son illustrates what it means to be “poor in spirit”: he knew his need. He got up and returned to the father making no claims. He just wanted to be hired on like anyone else. It was his only hope.
Many never return to the Father’s house for this reason: they don’t come to a place of repentance. They never experience the poverty of spirit that Jesus spoke of. They don’t acknowledge their need. They ignore the smell of the pigpen and continue to call it a resort. They don’t acknowledge that their sin against the Father leaves them deserving only a servant’s place.
But, now Jesus turns to the central figure of the story: the father.
What had the father been doing as the son went into the far country? He was patiently, patiently waiting. As the father went about his daily routine he always had an eye on the road, hoping and waiting, patiently waiting.
The battered, wasted son lumbered toward home rehearsing his speech— “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son…” and so on. He barely got a foot on the walkway that went up to the house before the father was on his way with arms outstretched. Before the son could say a word, the arms of his father were around his neck. There was kissing and hugging, then a call for a robe, a ring and shoes. The son was not only welcomed, but also honored. It was very much a royal welcome.
And then it was time for the party! The father said,
‘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.
Like the shepherd who found his lost sheep, like the woman who found the lost coin, there was great rejoicing.
The lawyers needed no commentary to tell them who the father represented. Though they didn’t customarily refer to God as Father, they knew that Jesus did. Jesus was saying, “There is good news for sinners — the good news of a Father’s welcome, and the great joy of a lost son returned. This is what God is truly like. This is why I bring good news even to wayward and wandering prodigals.”
There is a third character in this story: the older son
Thus far, Jesus had only made the message of the lost sheep and lost coin more detailed and personal. But when he turned to the portrait of the older son, he was making a new point that was aimed directly at the conscience of the Pharisees and lawyers.
The news of little brother’s arrival, followed by an unscheduled feast with the sounds of music and the aromas of roasting luxuries, grated on the older son. This was not fair! He protested to his father (see verse 29):
‘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!’
What scribe or Pharisee could have missed the message? The portrait of that elder brother was a mirror of their own narrowness and selfishness. The elder son’s words were their words. They had protested against Jesus’ compassion for the outcasts of their society. They, who prided themselves in knowing and following God’s ways, found themselves portrayed as diametrically opposite of God.
But before we cavalierly put aside the elder brother’s protest, shouldn’t we think through what he says first? I hear very noble themes like justice, fairness, and reward for faithfulness to one’s duty. Don’t you think it would have been more just if the younger son had worked a few years on the ranch and proved himself before they had the big party? Wouldn’t it have been better for everyone — including the younger brother — if the ring, robe, and feast were held by as a promised reward for a job well done? Isn’t this the kind of “handout” mentality that’s behind so many of our nation’s problems?
The elder brother’s protest in the name of fairness and justice has a point but, but while the debate continues, a party is in full swing. We could be missing the party, too! Why?
Maybe we feel like we must deserve to take a place at the Father’s table enter before we into the celebration. But God says, if you would only come join the party! Rejoice in the grace of God that accepts sinners without years of service to prove their worth. Rejoice in God’s amazing grace. Rejoice that any person can come with sorrow for their sins and a desire to return to the Father and be accepted as an honored member of the family.
Don’t miss the party! We are the church of “The Least, the Last, and the Lost.” But the real turning point for any Christian is when that realize that “The Least, the Last, and the Lost” is not someone else, it’s you! It’s about me! I have been least, last and, very lost. With that, the message of Jesus’ parables comes alive. I am invited to be embraced by the Father, I am invited to put on a royal robe, I am invited a joyous party.
The message to the lawyers was clear: they were mistaken in their understanding of God. But even more, they were mistaken in their understanding of themselves. They, too, are as lost as any tax collector or prostitute. As much as the son in the pig pen, they need — we need — to come to ourselves, turn around, and come to the celebration that the Father is giving.
“What is God like?” The scribes and Pharisees had one answer. Jesus had a very different one. Jesus’ answer is the only lasting and authoritative one, the only answer that we can stake our life on. We must hear Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, saying, “God is like me.” Like me, so welcoming, so indiscriminate about with whom I keep company.
What a welcome word this is! We can hear it at the “pigpen” points of our lives and follow its call all the way home. We can hear it from the Father’s house and let it lead us out of our pride and self-righteousness. Wasteful younger children and spiteful elder children can hear it and meet together at the feast.
The Father rejoices whenever someone repents, whether it is repentance from squandered wealth and heritage, or repentance from self-righteous jealousy. Whoever we are, we are invited! Come join the feast!
Let me summarize the message into three great truths to remember.
First, God’s love is lavish!
Jesus’ story is not meant to give a model of parenting!
So, if you are ready to return to God, God is waiting for you.
I love how Corrie Ten Boom put it years ago: “No pit is so deep that God isn’t deeper still.”
Finally, God is generous with his mercy and grace— and we Christians need to have the same generosity.
Romans 15:7 is a great verse to remember. I like it best in the New Revised Standard Version.
Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.
God welcomed you home! Let’s welcome each other.