Fourth Sunday in Lent (C)
March 30, 2025
Text:
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
This parable is not about the
son, but about the father for the son, or even better, for his sons. We call this parable “The Prodigal Son,” but
it would be more appropriate to call it “The Prodigal Father.” “Prodigal” means reckless, wasteful, or
extravagant… which, to be sure, describes the younger son’s behavior and
disposal of his inheritance. But even
more, it describes the behavior of the father toward his sons. Yes, his sons. Let me explain.
First, we should note, the father
character represents God. The younger
son, of course, is the reckless sinner… like the tax collectors and prostitutes
Jesus is always hanging around, the sinners who draw near to Jesus, whom He
receives, and with whom He eats. Ah, but
the older son… he represents those who grumble about Jesus receiving
sinners and eating with them. He
represents those who think they are righteous and need no
repentance. Specifically in our text, he
represents the Pharisees and scribes, the Jewish religious establishment. But we could also say that he represents the
“good Christian folk” who always maintain an outward piety and
respectability, who outwardly obey God’s Commandments (which is
good, by the way), but who inwardly resent God’s mercy toward obvious
sinners.
Toward both sons, in his great love
and mercy, the father in this parable, is prodigal.
Behold the prodigality of the father
toward his reckless son. You have to
understand what this son is saying to his father. When he asks for his share of the
inheritance, he is essentially saying to his father, "I wish you’d drop
dead! I want my money now. I want to live for myself. And I don’t want you around to spoil it for
me.” Now, what would any parent in their
right mind say in response? “Listen
here, Sonny! I can just as easily write you
out of the inheritance. You want to know
what it’s like to live without me? We
can make that happen. Take a hike,
Junior!” And by the way, the whole
community, not to mention everybody gathered here this morning, would have
stood up and cheered!
But that’s not what the father
does. No, no. He’s prodigal, reckless. If we didn’t know he represents God in the
story, we might even be tempted to call him foolish. He gives the son what he wants. And hang on to this until we get to the older
son: He doesn’t just give the younger son his share. He divides the property between the sons. Both of them.
Assuming there were only the two, 1/3 of the property would have gone to
the reckless and despicable younger son, 2/3 to the older and “responsible”
son, for according to custom, the oldest boy gets twice as much inheritance as
everybody else.
Well, we know what the younger son
is going to do. We could have told
the father this would happen. The
good-for-nothing so and so gathers up all his ill-gotten gains and sets out on
a journey to a far-off country. As far
away from his father and his goody-two-shoes brother as he can get. A self-imposed exile. You know, like sinners who turn their back on
God, gather up as many of His gifts as they can from this life, and run as far
away from Him as possible. And he
squanders it all in reckless, prodigal living.
But what is the father doing all
this time? He’s waiting. He’s watching. He’s praying.
He’s hoping against hope. He’s
loving his estranged son. Maybe some of
you parents can relate to this father.
Maybe your children have made some prodigal decisions about their
lives. Maybe they’ve gone astray,
wandered various distances from you, and from God. Maybe they’ve wandered very far away. Here is a Scripture that can be of great
comfort to you. Be like this
father. Wait. Watch.
Pray. Love. Hope. Speak the truth, yes, of course. But remember, God’s Word is not only Law, but
Law and Gospel. And the Gospel
must predominate. Wait on the Lord. Wait and watch. Pray for the child’s repentance. Be ever ready to forgive and restore. To speak words of grace and mercy. And no matter what, keep loving.
That is all this earthly father does
to this point, to bring back his younger son.
What else can he do? But the
heavenly Father is working His work.
He is bringing this prodigal son to the end of himself. To rock bottom. All his resources stripped away by his own
sin. He finds himself where no good
Jewish boy ought to be. Working for
Gentiles. Feeding unclean pigs. Starving.
In the midst of a famine. Longing
to be fed with pods from the pig slop.
And now the beginning of the
turn. Just the beginning. But it is a beginning. I’ll go back to my father. I’ll make a great show of repentance. I’ll confess that I’ve sinned against heaven
and before you, Dad. I’m no longer
worthy to be called your son. Make me as
one of you hired servants. It will be a
humiliation. But at least I’ll be warm
and well-fed. And I can pay off my
sin over time. This, by the way, is
the kind of repentance Pharisees and “good Christian folk” can respect. Works of satisfaction. Salvation that is earned. So, the boy sets out for home.
And there is the father, waiting,
watching, praying, and loving. And
then… Could it be? It must be.
It is! It’s my boy! And note this: While the younger son is
still a long way off… in physical distance, yes. But we know his heart is still a long
way off, thinking he will come and work off his sins, bribe the
old man to take him in… While he is still a long way off, the father has
compassion… before the son can even confess! Before he can even begin to beg
forgiveness! Before the father even
knows the son is sorry… the father has compassion,
and he runs, and he embraces his long-lost son. What recklessness! What prodigality! No self-respecting man in the ancient world
(or even the Middle East today), especially a man of means, ever, for any
reason, runs. To do that, he’d
have to hike up his robes. That would be
like showing his underpants in public.
And to embrace this… rebellious, good-for-nothing, so and
so? It’s an embarrassment! All the onlookers are scandalized.
But the father is more prodigal
yet! The son begins his confession: I
have sinned against heaven and before you.
I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Yes.
True. That is what God has shown
you in His Law. But the father cuts him
off there. None of this “hired servant”
business. None of this “I’ll work it
off” nonsense. Quick! Bring him a change of clothes. (And frankly, he could do with a bath. The boy smells like a pigsty!) Put the best robe on him. Put a ring on his hand. The family signet ring. I’m giving him access to the checkbook
again. And for goodness’ sake, get him
some shoes so he can walk home.
Prodigal. Reckless. But there is even more extravagance. Slaughter the fattened calf! (There are only two reasons you would
slaughter the fattened calf, by the way: 1. If the King is coming to your
home for a visit, or 2. If the first-born is getting married. So… talk about prodigality!) For this, my son, was dead, and is alive
again. He was lost, and is found. He's back in my home, and in my arms. My son.
My son. And at the father’s
mercy, by his grace alone, the turn is complete. The repentance is true. The son is forgiven. The son is restored.
We love this story, because we know
it is about God’s mercy to sinners. We
love to identify with this younger son.
And we should. This is good and
right. This is how God is to us. We are the rebellious, good-for-nothing so
and sos, the sinners, who blow all of God’s blessings in reckless living. And thanks to our Father working His
work, we come back, time and time again.
Now, by nature, we come back thinking we can work our way back
into God’s good graces. And we know, He
will have none of it. He runs to
us. In the flesh of Christ, God runs
to us. And embraces us. Even in the ragged robes and stinking filth
of our sin. He embraces us. And commands His servants… Now, who might
they be? The Christian pastors!... to
put the very best robes on us. Christ’s
spotless robes of righteousness.
Baptism. Absolution. He puts the ring on our finger. The signet ring. We bear the Name of our holy God, and we’re
God’s own children. He puts shoes on our
feet. Readiness to go the way of
Christ. And… the Sacrifice. Not the fattened calf, but the Lamb of God
who takes away the sin of the world, and that means our sin. The cross.
His sin-atoning death. The empty
tomb. His bodily resurrection. For us!
And now He throws a Feast. His
true Body. His true Blood. For our forgiveness, life, and
salvation. How prodigal God is toward
us.
But as we said, the father in the
parable is prodigal toward both sons.
After all, the older son, too, received his share of the property. And good for him for staying with Dad and
working the fields. But we see, now, in
the heart of the older brother, that he, too, squanders the father’s prodigal
love… by resentment. He hears the music…
this would be the ritual music that indicates the fattened calf has been
slaughtered. It sure seems doubtful
the king is coming to our house today, and I know I’m not getting married. So he calls a servant. What is the meaning of this? And the servant preaches the father’s
mercy: Your brother has come, and your father has forgiven him all his
sins! Isn’t it wonderful? And now we’re feasting and dancing. Well, the older brother is enraged. For that wretch?! He folds his arms and refuses to go in.
Is this not all-too-often us,
as well? Those sinners who do those
despicably sinful things ought to get what’s coming to them. You know, the real sinners. Good for God for excusing my sins, but
really? You’re going to forgive them? Don’t You know what they’ve done? Don’t You know who they are? And here I’ve been doing my duty all these
years, coming to Church every Sunday, giving an offering, doing the right
things to the best of my ability, voting the right way, raising a family, being
respectable. (Which is good, by the way.) Well, for tax-collectors and sinners and
rebellious sons who devour the property with prostitutes (which is slander,
incidentally… he assumes his brother visited prostitutes, and maybe he
did, maybe he didn’t, but we don’t know that from the text)…. Anyway, for them, You’ll kill the
fattened calf. But I don’t even get a
scrawny old goat to celebrate with my friends.
See, it’s pure ungratefulness.
And arrogance. Pride, the deadly
sin that goeth before a fall.
But behold the prodigality of
the father toward his elder son. He
goes out to him! He goes to this
son, too, while he is a long way off.
And he begs him to come into the feast and join the
celebration. This is for you, too, my
boy! And after all, all that’s mine
is yours. And you are always with me. That is reward in itself. You are my son! What more do you need? But we must celebrate. Not, “it was fitting,” as our English
translation has it. This is the word for
divine necessity. It is divinely
necessary for us to celebrate and be glad.
For this, your brother, was dead, and is alive. He was lost, and is found. And so with you, my son, if you only had eyes
to see.
What will happen? Will the older son go in? Jesus leaves the story there, in the
question. For many of the Pharisees and
scribes, we know that they would not.
For all-too-many Christians who think they are righteous and need
no repentance, they won’t either. But
that’s not true for all. While he
was still a long way off, the Lord Jesus came to the Pharisee, Saul, who
became the Apostle Paul, the preacher of grace to the Gentiles. Many are the Pharisaical Christians who, in
time of personal moral failure, are faced with the stark clarity of their utter
depravity. Christ Jesus comes to them in
the sweet and forgiving Words of His Gospel.
And forgiven and restored, they come into the Feast. And what about you? Well, here you are, and the Table is
set. The Father has done His work. You hear the music that accompanies the Sacrifice. And God has come out to you in the flesh of
His Son. He has spoken His Word. Invited you to the Feast. You could refuse, but why on earth would
you? By God’s grace, you will come.
Behold God’s prodigality to
one and all. Some of us are the younger
son, obvious sinners, who know we are here by grace alone. Some of us are the older son, and have to be
reminded that we, too, are sinners, here solely by the Father’s grace. Most of us have probably been both sons at
one time or another in our life. But
here we are, because Jesus has come to us in love and compassion,
forgiving our sins. The Lamb has been
slaughtered, and the Feast is on the Table.
God says to you and to me, I forgive you all your sins. I love you.
You belong to me. It is reckless,
this love and mercy of God.
Wasteful. Extravagant. And it is for sinners just like us. Covered by the blood of the Sacrifice. Restored to family and community. Home in our Father’s House. This is not just a parable. This is the true story of our Prodigal God. And it’s the story of your life. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X,
and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.