Other translations of the sermon:
(Luke 15: 1 – 3, 11b – 32)
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.”
3 Then Jesus told them this parable: (Parable of the lost sheep)
(Luke 15:11-32, 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 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. “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.’”
(NIV)
Dear Congregation!
Crooks, corrupt thieves, prostitutes and sinners gathered around Jesus. And Jesus stayed with them instead of turning his back on them. This is what the Pharisees and scribes expected him to do - their laws prohibited them to have fellowship with such people. But for Jesus there are no walls, no boundaries – his accepting love applies to everyone. This the Pharisees could not face or allow and they accused him. Subsequently Jesus told them one of the most beautiful parables of the New Testament. This parable actually contains the essence, the core of the Gospel.
We know this parable as the “Parable of the lost Son”. I feel this description does not fit the actual message. The description “Parable of two sons” also doesn’t quite seem to capture it. How should we call it then? Let’s look at the parable closely. The Pharisees are reproaching Jesus that he accepts the sinners and eats with them. He does not justify nor defend himself. He doesn’t apologize either. Jesus does not accuse them either. He simply tells this parable and thereby explains his actions.
We see three main characters in the parable: the father and his two sons. The younger son goes to his father and says “Give me my portion of the inheritance!” I want to go, be free, become independent, I don’t always want to be told what to do. There is no wrong thinking in wanting to stand on your own two feet. On the contrary, it is clever and sensible, because as the younger brother he had no secure future on the farm. He receives his portion and leaves. Now it is said about him: ‘He squandered his wealth in wild living’. This is where his decision went wrong – he lived contrary to God’s commandments and turned into a heathen, his misused freedom led to a renunciation of the laws and the religious order of his people. He did not only lose his belongings, but also his honour and his belief. He forgot that even in freedom he still lived from what his father had given him. He did not bring about his own freedom, it was given to him, entrusted to him. With freedom comes responsibility. But he destroyed it and his life. Only when he lay broken and in need, he remembered his father and his home. Only now he realises: my father has many hired servants who have food to spare and I am starving to death. He who did not want to be a son anymore, realises that he cannot live without the father. Now he thinks about going home, how he can go home. He wants to admit his guilt: ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you, I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants’.
How does the father react? When the son asks for his share, he goes and gives it to him. No fight, no reproach – he simply lets him go. Does the father have no love, doesn’t it matter to him? We don’t know how the father felt at that moment. Was he worried or sad, or hurt? We only know that the father waited daily for the return of his son.
The father knew that the son needed him. It says: ‘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’. He saw him, he was filled with compassion, and he ran. Back then this was unheard of behaviour for a father. But the father knows that the son needs him. The father does not know that the son wants to confess his guilt, the father does not wait for this – it is not a prerequisite for him to accept him again. He was filled with compassion and he ran! The father took the first step without asking any questions, he knew that his son needed him. He lets everything be brought to his son: a robe, sandals, a ring, and accepts him as his son and not as a servant. He, who did not want to be son anymore, was a son again. The father asks for a fattened calf to be killed, there is a feast, and great joy, for the son who was dead is alive again; he was lost and is found again.
And we? Are we like the younger son? Don’t we also want to be free, away from the father, no regulations, decide freely; be able to do what we want, far away from God, at least during the week? God lets us go but waits for us to think of him, he waits for us to come back, because he knows that we need him. When we come, he runs to meet us. Unheard of! In his son he comes and goes all the way up unto the terrible cross – and all this because he knows that we need him!
Now we come to the older son: He was in the fields, hardworking as always and a good, faithful and obedient son to his father. After work he came home and heard the dancing and singing. He was told by a slave that his brother had returned and that the fattened calf had been killed for him. He became angry and didn’t want to go inside. He says to 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. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ We can understand the anger of the older son. He doesn’t want to be a brother to his younger brother anymore – your son, he says, not my brother. At the same time he does not want to be son to his father anymore. He separates himself from his father. His jealousy drives him to this. He doesn’t understand the behaviour, the love of the father. And we? Are we not often like the older brother too, faithful, conscientious and devout, but we become annoyed if God’s love also applies to someone we don’t like or that isn’t like us.
What does the father do? The father remains a loving father to this son too. ‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours’. The father does not scold him, accuse him, doesn’t say: how can you be so callous and not forgive your brother, not be happy about his return. He only says “My son, my son!” he speaks to him with tenderness and means nothing is between them. ‘You always had what your brother has found again’. You were always with me! That is what it is all about. That is the goal and the meaning of our life! Could it be that we, like the second brother, don’t recognize what we have? That is why the parable should be called “The Parable of the loving father”.
This is the answer that Jesus gives the Pharisees upon their accusation. ‘Because I have a father that loves unconditionally, I too love unconditionally, the sinners too’. Last Sunday we heard Jesus tell us the Parable about the kingdom of God, the great wedding feast, in which the king, God, invites everyone, the good and the bad.
Dear congregation! The end of the Parable remains open ended. We do not know if the older brother went in to the feast or whether he stayed outside. Do we go to the sinner, to the one that everyone despises? Or do we rather stay outside without forgiveness, without accepting love? We only know that the love of the father applies to both and that the father knows that both sons need him and his love – he wants them to be with him! His love applies to both – the younger one not because he repented; the older one not because he was diligent, loyal and faithful, but because the father was a FATHER, and his love so great, so unconditional, limitless. We can be angry about this, like the Pharisees were, or we can simply be amazed. But because this is true, his love applies to each and every one of us. Therefore we can celebrate and be full of joy, we can praise and worship him and be with him. Therefore we can honour God’s love by trying to love in the same way the father did. Therefore we dare not set new boundaries or conditions, we dare not say: Yes, with Jesus, but not with everyone he has fellowship with. Sitting at the table with Jesus, yes, but not with those who are not part of me or those who are different from me.
May God fill us with his accepting and unifying love!
Amen