As dad’s go, I’ve got a great one. For the most part I’m a pretty good daughter.
I hate telling this story. But here goes. My parents moved to Reno while I was in college and I visited during my breaks from classes. You should know that I am a third-generation pastor. At 19 I basically knew everything. After several billion decades of ministry my dad became the pastor of Reno Nazarene. It was a small church, but good people. I helpedout when I was home with music or preaching. I mean he let me think that I was helping at least. Kind of how you do with kids, right? I was about to leave Reno for San Diego and I suddenly had so many ideas about how the church could be better. I took the time to thoughtfully write them out. All of the things my dad should do to make his church better. Things like find someone to play guitar and do contemporary music instead of hymns. Start a young adult Bible Study. You know, the basics. I printed them off and gave them to my dad. Helpful, right? My dad isn’t one to talk about his feelings, but my Mother has always been a reasonably good interpreter. She explained that my letter was basically soul crushing. I realized that I had seriously disrespected my dad. Let’s break this down. Inheritances are given to sons after their father dies. People these days often leave home and seek their fortune. In Jesus day, that just wasn’t done. You stayed home and worked the family business and took care of your parents in their old age. Shame and disrespect. First the young son declares his father as good as dead and then he sells off his portion of the family land for cash to party. Land that had likely been passed down for generations. I hope you understand that Jesus could not have painted a more desperate situation than the prodigal son. Serving foreigners, not only working with pigs but wanting to eat their slop. The moment when the father sees his son from a long way out and runs to see him is priceless. What you might not realize is that this just wasn’t done. The elder authority would not run. It was undignified. And yet his joy is unstoppable. Sunday we rested a moment on the phrase “Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.” This is it right here. God’s forgiveness.Knowing how much God has forgiven us, how can we withhold forgiveness from others who ask it? Enter older brother. He lost his temper for sure. Do you hear the incredible self-centeredness? “…celebration for me and my friends… This son of yours…” Here he dresses down dad in front of everyone at the party. He shows no more respect than his younger brother. Tradition says that the older brother would have received a double portion of the inheritance. When the Father divided up the estate he would have received his double portion at the same time. The older son was likely working the family farm with dad this whole time and the fattened calf was cutting in on his profits! During his lifetime, Luke was seeing non-Jews respond to God’s salvation. Reading through the New Testament we also see that the Jewish Christians weren’t always excited about that. After all, they had carefully faithfully observed the law. Here are these pagans, joining in and just like that they are children of God? It just didn’t seem fair. Which brings us to the point. God is not fair. God is gracious and just. To conclude this story, Jesus doesn’t exactly spell out a happy ending. He leaves you wondering, so did the older son go back into the party? Did the younger son work the fields as a hired hand? Did the brothers duel to the death? Like any open-ended story, you’re meant to wonder about the outcome, and wonder which son am I? Thankfully my dad forgave me because he loves me. And you can know that whether you’re the older or the younger son, God is also faithful to forgive a repentant heart. Luke 15.11-32 11 To illustrate the point further, Jesus told them this story: “A man had two sons. 12 The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now before you die.’ So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons. 13 “A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living. 14 About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. 15 He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. 16 The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything. 17 “When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! 18 I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, 19 and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”’ 20 “So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. 21 His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.’ 22 “But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. 23 And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, 24 for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began. 25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working. When he returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house, 26 and he asked one of the servants what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother is back,’ he was told, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf. We are celebrating because of his safe return.’ 28 “The older brother was angry and wouldn’t go in. His father came out and begged him, 29 but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. 30 Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!’ 31 “His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. 32 We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!’”
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AuthorThe Pastors of Cornerstone Wesleyan Church Archives
July 2017
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