The Two Sons                                 Luke 15:11-16

Today we’re looking at one of Jesus most famous parables. Actually, this might be his most well-known parable. We’ve all heard this parable many times so this is why I didn’t read the whole thing. But just to recap: the father in the story represents God, the inheritance is both life and God’s grace, the distant land represents the world and all the things it tempts us with, the pig sty is the result of our striving for earthly, representing our disgrace, depression and destruction, and the lost son is all of us, all mankind.

This younger son lives in his father’s house, protected and with his true needs met. But this son sees the world as something to be desired. And in time he sees it as something more desirable than being with his father and family.

All mankind is born into the world loved by God the Father. All our true needs are met. While we are at a young age, we are not mature enough mentally or spiritually to make decisions that go against God. As we grow and mature more and more of the greater world is exposed to us.

I’ve heard people say that the world is changing, kids grow up too fast now. I remember as a child I was protected from the darker aspects of life, I was kept distant from the temptations of life, at least till I was older. Now with the internet and phones in their pockets, our children and grandchildren are confronted with things we never were. These distractions and desires of the world are experienced at a younger age.

So as we can see, this young man took his inheritance and left his father and family behind and went to claim the world alone. Every individual at some point must make the same decision this young man made. Do we use the talents God gave us to avail ourselves of what dazzles us or do we use the life God gave us to honor him and to work for him?

As you look at this man you can see that he forgot or ignored the fact that everything he had been given came from his father, the things he squandered were his father’s things. In our world, a world that looks at work and struggle, at always reaching for what’s next, as the things that earn you a satisfactory life. It can be easy to forget the truth that everything we have in life comes from God. I’m not saying don’t work, don’t try, but recognize that our talents, our strengths, our very lives come from God.

“Father, give me my share of the estate.” We all at one time probably have said this. Maybe not exactly this but I bet at least once all of us have deliberately used the blessings God gave us to gratify ourselves with earthly desires like this young man did. We may even see this in our children, in our friends.

Notice that in our scripture Jesus doesn’t say this young man is a bad person, and neither are we. So if that’s not the reason for this man’s actions, what is?

This man is discontented. As I mentioned before he comes from a wealthy family, he has a secure home, yet he’s discontent. He works and does what his father tells him. I’m sure he tries his best, at least in the beginning. But I bet he sees his friends seemingly enjoying life, not having to obey their fathers, doing what they want without worrying about what their father’s think about it. This man couldn’t see the reward for his work. Or maybe the reward seemed so far off as not to really impact his daily thoughts.

Being Christian is more than just saying we believe in Christ. It’s more than coming to church. Being Christian is a life choice and it requires us to consider God with every decision we make. Like this man we can see these decisions as causing us to miss out on the joys of life. Like this man perhaps heaven seems so far off that it doesn’t inspire our lives or the decisions we make. Like this man, we can see the cloths, the cars, the homes of the well off; the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. Our discontentment with what God gave us causes us to reach for the world instead of heaven.

“’Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property…” Why?                    Why not just tell his son, “Forget about it”? One word; love. The father loved his son so much he let him follow his own path.

God loves us. He loves us so much he sent Jesus to the cross, the greatest demonstration of love ever conceived. But I believe that almost equal to this is God’s demonstration of love through our gift of free choice.

I’ve been asked why would God ever put the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil into the garden knowing what would happen? He did it because without the tree there is no free will. Without the tree we have no choice. Without the tree we are living a life we have no say in. Without the tree, without choice, there is no love. The father in our story loved his son enough to let him go. God loves us so much he will not hold us where we don’t want to be. It is out of love that God will let us walk away from him.

I’ve read this story a lot and this is the first time this next reflection came to me. The father continued to work his land and gain wealth. And because he’s wealthy I can imagine he had people reporting back to him about what his son was doing. He could even have known his son was tending pigs, and he let his son suffer the results of his actions, patiently waiting and hoping for his return.

God is omnipresent. He knows what we are doing. And like the father in the story, God lets us face the consequences of our actions. This does not mean God is cruel, it shows us that he loves us. It is through the costs of our decisions that we grow, that we learn, and hopefully how we come to see God and return to him.

We know the younger son returned to his father, so now let’s look to the older son. We’ve seen how the younger son represents those that fall from God’s grace, but so does the older son.

The older boy may not have squandered what this father gave him, and he did stay and work for his father, but as his story unfolds, we can see he represents those who follow Christ, those who believe in Christ, but stagnate and never learn the true meaning of Christ’s love for us. Jesus went to the cross for us out of love and he asks us to love others at the same level. He doesn’t hint at it, he tells us to love our neighbors.

This older brother represents those Christians who work for God but do it from the wrong position. Luke 15:29, “All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders, yet you never gave me a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.”

“I’ve been slaving for you…” His attitude is one of self-righteousness; look what I did, not look at what God allowed me to do.

Luke 15:30, “But when this son of yours who squandered your property…comes home you kill the fattened calf for him.” This man’s attitude is judgmental. Not only does he judge his brother’s actions and point out that they are sinful, but he is also judging God’s response to his brother’s return.

 Christians should not judge people for what they do but only for whether they accept Christ or not. And Christians should never think God should deny someone when they repent.

This man is jealous because he sees his brother getting something he did not. God is in control. We receive what he chooses, and our work should not be so we receive the bigger prize, it should be to shine a light on God.

Luke 15:31, “My son…you are always with me and everything I have is yours.” The brother is angry because he looked at others and saw what they had but he never recognized what God gave him. We can all get jealous when others seem to gain things easily. But to rid ourselves of these feelings we need to look at what we do have, what God has put in our lives.

This parable of the Lost Son is another one of those Bible stories with multiple layers to be examined and today we looked at a few. We can see some of the things that cause men to turn away from God including discontent and jealousy. We see God will let us wander away from him but that it is not because he dismisses us, it is because he loves us. Our free choice is a gift, a gift he will not take back.

We see that when we mature in faith and really understand all we have is from God and all our work is for God, then we will not look at others judgmentally or with jealousy. We will not be self-righteous.

The very last thing today is this: the younger brother was desperate and destitute when he returned to his father. He returned in poor and dirty cloths, smelling like the pigs he took care of, verse 20, “(the father) ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.”

When Jared accepted Christ two days before his death I didn’t say “Well that’s a good idea but you have to stop all the drugs first.” I received his acceptance of Jesus as true and asked God to help with his addiction.

Too many people think they must completely change their lives before they can stand before God in repentance or that they can’t have questions about God before they approach him.

Too many Christians think someone must get rid of their anger before God will accept them, that someone has to pay restitution for their mistakes before God will accept them, that someone has to end a relationship before they can come to God. There are Christians that think someone has to make a grand public confession to prove their repentance before God will accept them.

Look what our passage shows us. It’s not about God accepting us, it’s about us accepting God. God accepted this man back into the family after he had repented of his sins in his mind. The father hugged and kissed his son in love and welcome before the son had a chance to verbalize his repentance or make amends for his actions.

A heartfelt and honest repentance of sin and acceptance of Christ is what God is looking for. It is not what we physically do or say; there is no one way or correct way to repent and accept Christ. It is what we have in our hearts and our minds that will reap us God’s grace and salvation.

May God’s peace and love be with you all,

Amen.