Love That Gives True Joy

Today is the first day of spring. This means that the days are finally becoming longer than the nights. It means more sunshine and warmer weather to melt our winter snow. Today in our Gospel reading, we have been treated with one of Jesus’ most wonderful parables. A parable that opens up to our minds the awesome nature of God’s love; a love so profound it melts the deep-freeze of our sin and alienation from God. With His love, God lets us experience true fellowship and happiness.

So let us have a look at this parable. I am sure you will all learn something new about God’s love in the next few minutes. I have gained some important insights into this parable from Dr. Kenneth Bailey who lived much of his life in the Middle East, studying the culture where Jesus spoke this parable.

This parable is about a father and his two sons. The younger son asks his father to give him his share of the inheritance. What an outrageous request! This son is asking his father: “Dad, I can’t wait for you to die. Let me have my share of the inheritance now!” If you think this is outrageous, wait till you see what the father does. He simply gives his son what he asks for! He divides his estate between the two brothers and allows them the freedom to dispose of it.

If you think this story sounds far-fetched, think again. Here Jesus describes our relationship with God. God gave us our bodies and everything else we need to support and enjoy our lives. But instead of finding happiness in trusting God and seeking His will for us, we have all decided to follow our own understanding of what is best for us.

The next part of the story is pretty straightforward. The prodigal son wastes his inheritance with extravagant living. The words Jesus uses to describe how he wasted the money are neutral and do not necessarily imply any immoral behaviour. The point is that he loses all and finds himself in such difficult straights that he comes to his senses. He realizes the cause of his miserable condition is his sin against his father and against God. At this point in the story, the son comes to his senses. He recognizes that even the servants in his father’s house have it better than he does. So he comes up with a plan to make it back into his father’s household. He is going to ask his father to make him a hired worker. This is really a “face-saving plan” in which he will try to save himself. As a hired worker he will be making money and may begin to pay back some of the debt he owes his father.

At some point in our lives, as we pursue a career or a dream and we achieve what we desire, we still feel empty and unfulfilled. We realize that we have lived our lives without God and have ended up wasting so much of the time, talents and treasures God has given us on things that do not satisfy and which have no lasting value. And so we try to find our way back to God—but still on our own terms. We have the illusion that somehow we can make it all up to God.

If the parable were to end here, it would be a good moralistic parable. It would conform fully to the Pharisees expectations about how outcasts should be restored to the community: With a deep sense of sorrow over sin and an equally deep desire to make amends for that sin. They must first show through their actions that they deserve to be readmitted into the community.

But the big surprise is yet to come. The prodigal son has been true to form, predictable in his behaviour. The unpredictable character throughout this parable is the father: First he grants the prodigal’s request and now accepts the prodigal fully back into his household with joy. Jesus paints the father’s actions as a portrait of complete and total grace and unconditional love. The climax of this parable is Jesus’ description of the father’s compassion. The father pours out his love on his son before any confession of repentance: He runs to meet his wayward son; he falls around his neck and showers him with kisses. The father expresses his complete reconciliation and acceptance of his son publicly—and he does this before His son even has the opportunity to say that he is sorry.

The prodigal is clearly shocked at how his father has received him as a son without any sign of disapproval or any questions asked. At this point the prodigal makes his confession, but he omits the part about being made a servant because he has been overwhelmed by grace. He has already received more than he could ask for. Finally, and most importantly, the son sees that the point is not the lost money, but rather the broken relationship he had caused. This he cannot heal. Now he understands that any new relationship can only be a gift from his father. To assume that he can compensate his father with his labour would be an insult. “I am unworthy” is the only appropriate response.

The father’s radical love and complete acceptance bring about true repentance. They show how impossible it is to work himself back into his father’s favour. The father alone grants it as a gift. And the father desires that his acceptance of his son be clearly communicated to the community and to his servants. He demonstrates his acceptance by visible means, dressing the prodigal as a son who has been restored—the kiss, the new robe, the ring of authority, and the shoes of a free man. The village would clearly see that the son has been restored to the father’s house, and so they too must receive him back in the same way. The father offers them the opportunity to express their acceptance by sacrificing the fatted calf and having a feast for the community. Restoration to the community comes through feasting with the community at the table of the father and it is in table fellowship that the community expresses its joy over what has happened. For the son had been cut off and been dead to them, but by the father’s acceptance he has been restored to fellowship and brought to life.

Now let me ask you: How did you become a member of God’s household? Did you earn a place in God’s kingdom by your regular attendance at church or by your good deeds in the community? Did you buy your way in by always giving back a tenth of all you received from the Lord? How did you become a member of God’s family? It was God who did it! In Jesus, God ran out of His home in heaven and came into our sinful world. By His death on the cross He earned the right to forgive all your sins. You received that pledge when you were Baptized: In Baptism you were clothed with the robe of Jesus’ righteousness; you were also given the ring of authority, that is the Holy Spirit. The sandals signify that you are a free man and not a servant. Now you belong to an important family. You are free of worry for your future and can relax and enjoy your life. But remember: No amount of good works could have earned any of this for you. Trying to earn God’s favour only proves that you really are not His child, but only a hired hand. His kingdom cannot be bought or earned. We enter it only by His gracious invitation.

But this is not the end of the story. The second part of the parable is about the elder brother. He is in the field when he hears the sound of music. This should have caused him to hurry home to join in the festivities, for he would be required by custom to serve as the steward of the meal so the father could be the gracious host. But his cautious reaction, his questioning and his anger when he finds out the reason for the feast show something is terribly wrong with this son’s relationship to his father.

Into this fury the father enters with a third _expression of unbelievable love and grace. The father gets up from the feast and goes out to plead with his son to join the feast, but the son turns him down, arguing with him in front of everyone at the feast. Another great insult for the father! It shows that there is a break in relationship between him and his father, a break that has existed under the surface for a long time. For although the son had always been physically with the father, his heart had always been far away. He too was lost, only he did not know it. He accuses his father: “Look! All these years I have 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.” This son perceived his father not as a father, but as a boss who must be obeyed. This son did not enjoy the fellowship of his father, but preferred to be away with his own friends. He too could not wait for his father to die so he could do what he wanted with his inheritance. The only difference with him is that he did not have the courage to admit it publicly. He wanted to maintain the public appearance of being “the good son”, yet he was thoroughly a hypocrite. He accuses his brother of having squandered the property “with prostitutes”. How does he know that this is how his brother had lost the money? This only reveals the desire of his own heart. How sad!

This part of the parable is clearly directed at the Pharisees. They tried their utmost to do everything that God required of them, but they missed the point of it all. They thought by doing these things they were earning God’s favour. This was impossible, because by thinking this they were making God into a big boss or task-master and not the gracious Father He is. Because of this false picture of God, the Pharisees judged everyone on how well they followed God’s commandments. They did not welcome sinners and tax collectors as Jesus did. They did not welcome Jesus. They did not welcome the Father. They desired God’s justice and rejected His mercy. In rejecting God’s grace they earned his wrath.

This part of the parable is also directed at us. For whatever applies to the Pharisees in the New Testament age applies to the church in our age. We are those who have been called by God’s grace and have been incorporated into God’s family through Baptism. In that way we are like the older son who is “with the father.” This part about the older son is a warning for us that in our spiritual life we do not look at what we do, but always remain focused on what God is doing for us. Only as we stand in awe of God’s amazing love poured out freely and daily upon us, can we do the things that God wants us to do. And what is that? To do exactly what Jesus was doing: Welcoming sinners into God’s kingdom! As we experience God’s love, we will also find our greatest joy in sharing that love with those who haven’t experienced it. This joy we also share with fellow sinners as we gather around the Lord’s Table and are received by our Lord Jesus. This joy will also continue forever as we will share it together with all the saints with our heavenly Father at the great perpetual wedding feast in heaven. Amen.

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