Well do turn with me back in your Bibles to Luke chapter 15, that's on page 874 of the Church Bibles.
Now the parable we're looking at today, as many of you know, is the third in a trilogy of stories that Jesus tells on the same occasion.
There's the lost sheep, the lost coin, and then the lost son, or the prodigal son as it's become known in our Bibles.
And these parables told in the same situation are really carefully tailored by Jesus to speak to a very specific challenge, a challenge that's posed to him in verses 1 and 2.
So it's helpful for us to start today just by looking at the context of these parables.
Verse 1,
Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to him, and the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying,
This man receives sinners and eats with them.
By this stage in Jesus' career, the Pharisees and the scribes, the religious authorities today, are really viewing Jesus as a threat to them.
He's a threat to their political authority, and he's a threat to their religious authority, isn't he?
He's been performing miracles and healings all around the area.
He's been teaching to great crowds, and a movement's developing behind him.
A movement's developing behind him, and not them.
He's a threat to them.
And really, they'd like any chance they'd have to discredit him.
It looks a lot like the kind of negative politics that we're getting a little bit tired of seeing on TV, isn't it?
They just want some kind of scandal, something to say, look at this guy, are you really listening to him?
They're looking out for him to slip up, and they think they've caught him, don't they?
They think they've caught him.
This man receives sinners and eats with him.
This man receives sinners, or you can also put it, this man welcomes sinners.
What kind of rabbi is this?
What kind of holy man?
What kind of teacher lets these kind of people meet with him?
You can imagine them already planning how they're going to use the dirt that they've just dug up.
They've got the banners they're going to hold up at the back of the next meeting, haven't they?
This man welcomes sinners, a big arrow towards Jesus.
You can imagine them canvassing the crowds as they come in to the hall.
Do you know about the guy you're about to hear?
Do you know about him?
He welcomes sinners.
You can imagine them rubbing their hands with glee.
They've got the trump card for every theological argument they're ever going to have.
Yeah, okay, Jesus says that, but did you see who we had dinner with last night?
This man welcomes sinners, you can't listen to him.
So you just wonder, as you're reading these first few verses, how is Jesus going to respond to this?
How would our politicians today respond to it?
Well, I guess there's some options, aren't there?
Well, I didn't really know who these people were when they came to me.
Oh, they're tax collectors, they're sinners, they're bad people, sorry.
I mean, they came to me, I didn't know.
Or perhaps he might say, well, look, it's not my fault, is it?
They drew near to me, I didn't ask them to come.
It's not my fault if people come towards me.
Or maybe he might try and downplay the situation.
Well, yeah, okay, they're not as good as you guys, Pharisees, but they're not that bad.
They're not really that bad.
There are a lot of options, aren't there, for Jesus to duck the issue, to kind of skirt around the situation.
But in the three parables that he tells, he does nothing like that.
He takes the issue to place on, doesn't he?
You think I welcome sinners?
You don't know how right you are.
He takes their scandal and he makes it a slogan.
I welcome sinners.
I'm afraid if you're hoping for anything more complicated than that today, you've pretty much heard it.
But we're going to be working through that this morning.
The third of the stories which Jesus tells really works this through in great detail.
It shows us how far he would go to welcome sinners.
It's really, in a way, a kind of a verbal cartoon, if you will.
Children are probably delighted to find out there are cartoons in the Bible.
It's a verbal cartoon and it has three scenes, three pictures.
Firstly, Jesus shows us scandalous sin.
He shows us scandalous sin.
Then he shows us a scandalous welcome.
And finally, just to really confound the Pharisees, he turns the picture around on them
and shows them scandalous obedience.
Scandalous sin, scandalous welcome, and scandalous obedience.
But if you hear one thing today, just remember, Jesus welcomes sinners.
So, the first picture we get from Jesus here, the first scene in his story, is from verse 11, isn't it?
There was a man who had two sons.
It starts, and it's a very familiar story, isn't it?
A man has two sons, and the second of his sons has itchy feet.
He doesn't want to stay at home.
He doesn't want to live with his father.
However, he wants to go off and explore and make his way in the world himself.
So, he demands his share of the estate now.
He asks his dad to cash up whatever savings he's got set aside for him,
and to give them to him now, so he can go out into the world.
But he doesn't invest that money wisely, does he?
He hasn't taken this money from dad so he can start up a new business on his own.
No.
Verse 13 we read, don't we?
Not many days later, the younger son gathered all that he had and took a journey into a far country,
and there he squandered his property in reckless living.
He gathers up his money, and he squanders it.
The words are literally, he gathers it up, and he scatters it.
It's a complete waste.
He takes all his dad's hard-earned money,
and he spends it in the way that probably only young men know how,
in this far country.
And the money dries up,
and there's a famine.
And he's alone in this far country, isn't he?
Far away from his family, far away from anyone he knows,
he's alone, and he's desperate.
And he ends up with nowhere to turn,
but to hire himself out as a pig herd.
Verses 15 and 16.
So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country,
who sent him into his fields to feed pigs.
And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate.
And no one gave him anything.
Jesus knows his audience here, doesn't he?
He's deliberately painting a picture for the Pharisees,
of the most disgusting, the most unpleasant,
the most objectionable character imaginable.
This man in the eyes of the Pharisees would be the lowest possible person,
wouldn't he?
He's rejected his family,
he's left them,
and squandered all his money.
He's sold himself into the service of a Gentile,
a non-Jew,
and now he's living with pigs.
Not only is he living with pigs,
but he's made himself low in the pigs, hasn't he?
He's longing for their food.
You can imagine,
we call it the parable of the prodigal son,
well, therefore we're hearing this as the parable of pig,
boy.
That's probably all they've heard by this point.
This is pig boy here.
He's the lowest of the low.
Deuteronomy 14, verse 8,
The pig is unclean for you.
Their flesh you shall not eat,
and their carcasses you shall not touch.
Well, here's the son in that far old country,
and he's longing for the food of the pigs, isn't he?
He's as low as it gets for the Pharisees.
That's probably where their attention would be, isn't it?
Our attention in our tradition
has normally been one stage further up that scale of his decline, hasn't it?
We call it the parable of the prodigal son.
Now, I had to Google that word.
It's not a word I've ever used outside this context.
Prodigal, a prodigal is someone who spends money wastefully, isn't it?
Someone who spends money wastefully.
So, the Pharisees focus on the pig connection.
We, historically, have tended to focus on how wasteful this boy is.
But the real offense is earlier on in the story, isn't it?
Actually, the real offense is not his profession,
it's not the fact he's a pig herd,
and it's not his spending habits.
These are symptoms of the boy's problem.
The real offense that this boy commits
is earlier on, right in verse 12,
it's his attitude towards his father.
Hear the cold words of verse 12 again.
Father, give me the share of property that's coming to me.
He's asking for his inheritance, isn't he?
And there's something really distasteful about it, isn't it?
It's generally distasteful to think about
inheriting something from someone who's still alive, isn't it?
It's a distasteful idea.
Catherine had a friend at university
who was a wealthy only son.
And he was a very prudent boy.
And he liked to go to seminars on inheritance tax planning.
And he would take notes,
and he would feed these back to his parents.
Now you might say,
and in that context, I didn't know the boy,
it may have been prudent financial planning.
But there's something distasteful about it, isn't there?
There's something distasteful about imagining the inheritance
before they're even gone.
But this son takes it a step further.
He doesn't just imagine it.
He reaches out to take it,
and he asks for it now.
Dad,
you know that money that I'm going to have when you're gone?
Well, actually, I quite like it now.
You know that field,
that field where you grew up,
where you grew up,
where you've always loved living,
and you've grown your crops there for years?
Well, I know I'm going to have that when you die,
so why don't you just give it to me now?
It's incredible, isn't it?
It's outrageous and offensive.
I wish you were dead already, frankly,
so that I could inherit from you.
I don't want you.
I just want your stuff.
It's exaggerated,
and it's extreme and outrageous.
I don't want you.
I just want your stuff.
But this story isn't really about honouring our inheritance, is it?
It's not a story that Jesus tells to teach us
that we need to honour our parents,
so perhaps a valid application.
When it comes down to it,
it's actually a picture of our relationship with God, isn't it?
That's why Jesus tells this story.
And when it comes down to it,
our sin against God
is actually exactly the same, really.
I don't want you.
I want your stuff.
That's the attitude we show towards God.
I don't want you.
I want your stuff.
The real scandal of sin
is not ceremonial uncleanness,
as the Pharisees have it,
or outward appearances.
It's the attitude that we have towards God.
We don't want him.
We want his stuff.
That was the problem in the Garden of Eden, wasn't it?
God made Adam and Eve.
He made them,
and he puts them in a beautiful garden.
And he fills it with all the kind of food
they could possibly want.
He makes them rulers
over the whole animal kingdom.
They have everything good.
And God walks with them in the garden.
That's an incredible statement, isn't it?
God walked with them in the garden.
But they wanted just that one fruit
they weren't allowed, didn't they?
Just wanted that one fruit
they couldn't have.
And when they reached out
and took that fruit,
well, they said to God,
well,
I don't really want you.
I just want your stuff.
Actually,
I'd rather take your blessings
and ignore you.
The trade-off seems ludicrous
when we see it in the garden,
doesn't it?
It seems ludicrous.
They had the opportunity
to walk with God.
To walk with God.
But they choose an apple instead.
It's a ludicrous trade.
We know, don't we,
but it's a trade
that we make every day.
It's a trade that we make
when we try to enjoy God's world
while ignoring him.
It's a trade we make
when we try to enjoy
all the gifts that God's given us
without submitting
to his righteous rules.
The catechism teaches us,
doesn't it,
that man's chief end
is to glorify God
and to enjoy him forever.
Well, our sin is subtle.
Our sin is subtle
and we just try
and shortcut that a little bit.
We decide that our chief end
is to enjoy God's blessings
and to glorify them forever.
Not to glorify God
and not to enjoy God
but to glorify his blessings
and to enjoy them.
And when we try to seize
those blessings of God,
when we try to seize those blessings
while ignoring him,
we're really just showing
the same attitude
that the Sullyman story shows,
aren't we?
That same scandalous attitude
to God.
I don't want you.
I just want your stuff.
See, Jesus knows
the scandal of sin,
doesn't he?
And he lays it there
for us here.
It's that attitude that says,
look God,
I don't want you.
I just want your stuff.
So in the first picture,
Jesus doesn't talk to you
as he does.
He clearly knows
how sinful sin is.
But he moves on
in the second picture
to show that in spite of sin
and the scandal of sin,
there's a scandal of welcome
on offer.
The son comes to his senses
in verses 17 and 18.
But when he came to himself,
he says,
how many of my father's
hired servants
have more than enough bread,
but I perish here with hunger.
He works out that
even his dad's servants,
even his dad's slaves,
do better in life than he does.
He's got no right
to expect anything
from his dad,
but maybe,
just maybe,
he'll take him back
as a servant
and he'll at least
have bread again.
So he comes back
from the far country
and you can imagine him
as he walks back
that long distance.
He'll be tired
and hungry.
He'll be filthy
from the pigsty.
People will be seeing him
and they'll be walking
on the other side
of the street,
won't they?
They won't want
to look at him.
But the father sees him
from a distance
and what's he going to do?
What's he going to do
when he sees him?
This foyer has caused him
so much offence.
Is he going to go inside
and knock the door?
Is he going to bolt up?
Is he going to wait there
sternly at the gate?
Wait there sternly,
holding the moral high ground.
You come to me.
And then I'll think,
well,
how am I going to deal with you?
No,
that's not what we see
in verse 20,
is it?
And he arose
and came to his father
but while he was still
a long way off,
his father saw him
and felt compassion
and ran
and embraced him
and kissed him.
There's no thought here
of how this is going to look
to outsiders,
is it?
The father doesn't stop
and think,
well,
the neighbours are going
to talk about this.
He's not too proud
to go out
and meet his son,
is he?
Or keen to stand
on that moral high ground,
well,
he's caused me effects,
he'd better come to me.
He doesn't feel anger
but he feels compassion
for the son
that comes back,
doesn't he?
He runs to embrace his son.
He embraces him,
literally,
it's as he drapes himself
on his son's neck.
You can imagine
the boy saying,
Dad, Dad,
you don't know
where I've been,
you can't touch me.
But he doesn't wait
for that kind of explanation,
does he?
He kisses him.
He embraces him
and he kisses him.
If they were scandalized
by the boy's sin,
you can imagine
the Pharisee's going to be
equally scandalized
by the father's welcome here.
The boy's sin
was scandalous.
You can't just welcome
him back like that.
You can't even touch him.
This is pig boy
after all.
But we see Jesus' intention
pretty clearly here,
don't we?
He's shown us a picture
of the worst kind of sinner.
He's shown us a picture
of someone so detestable
that they couldn't even
be allowed in the life society.
And now he said,
well, imagine the worst
kind of sinner,
imagine the warmest
possible welcome.
That's what it means
when I say I welcome
sinners.
Imagine the worst
kind of sinner
and the warmest
possible welcome.
Well, that's exactly
what I'm about,
Jesus says.
That's exactly
what I'm here for.
Sometimes we can find
ourselves so ashamed
of perhaps what we've
done,
what we see ourselves
to have done,
that we can't imagine
that anyone would not
have anything to do
with this,
can't we?
We perhaps think about
things we've said
or thought,
that maybe no one
knows,
things we've done,
and we look around
ourselves,
maybe on the bus,
maybe in church,
maybe at work,
and we just think,
if they knew what
I'd done,
if they knew what
I said,
if they knew who
I really was,
the kind of person
I am,
don't you want
anything to do
with me?
And if we think
that of people,
well, we think that
even more of God,
don't we?
If he really knows
who I am,
the kind of offense
I've caused him,
can you want anything
to do with me?
Well, the story says
he does, doesn't it?
That's what the story
shows.
Imagine the worst
kind of sinner,
the worst person
you can imagine,
worse even than
yourself,
and imagine the
warmest kind of
welcome.
That's what Jesus
offers him.
That's what he says
he gives.
The image of the
father running to
the lost son is a
picture of what
Jesus offers to us.
It's a small picture,
isn't it,
as he runs with
compassion,
a small picture of
what Jesus has done
for us on a
cosmic scale.
Remember those
words that Paul
spoke earlier.
Jesus, though he
was God,
though he was
with God in the
beginning,
though he was in
the form of God,
did not count
equality with God
a thing to be
grasped,
but emptied
himself by taking
on the form of
a servant,
being born in the
likeness of man,
and being found in
human form,
he humbled himself
by becoming
obedient to the
point of death,
even death on a
cross.
Jesus, just like
that father, was
moved by compassion
to leave his
throne in heaven
so that he
could welcome
people like us.
Not considering
his dignity, not
considering who he
was in comparison
to us, Jesus'
incarnation is part
of that scandalous
welcome, isn't it?
a welcome that
would have been
scandalous to the
Pharisees, perhaps
more scandalous than
sin itself, God
entering our world
to meet with us.
That's exactly what
Jesus means,
doesn't it?
It's exactly what
Jesus means in this
passage.
It's exactly what he
means when he says
he welcomed sins.
And do you notice
that the welcome
doesn't stop there?
It doesn't stop at
the embrace.
Jesus' story carries
on, doesn't it?
The son starts to
speak, he's got that
story rehearsed.
Father, I've sinned
against you, just, I
know I don't deserve
a place at your
table anymore, I'm
not your son anymore,
just treat me like a
servant.
The son starts to
speak, but his
father won't have
any of it, he's not
interested.
Before he's even got
there, we read,
don't we, bring
quickly the best
robe and put it on
him and put it on
a ring on his
hand and shoes on
his feet and bring
the fattened calf and
kill it and let us
eat and celebrate.
He puts him in the
best robes and he
throws him a feast.
Why?
Verse 24.
For this my son was
dead and is alive
again.
He was lost and is
found.
When Jesus welcomes
back, he doesn't
just welcome us as
servants, does he?
He's not just
welcoming us back as
people who can now
serve him.
He welcomes us
back as family.
He invites us to
feast with him.
Do you remember the
original accusation of
the scribes and the
Pharisees?
This man receives
sinners and eats
with them.
Well, that's exactly
our God, isn't it?
That's exactly the
Jesus of the Bible.
This man welcomes
sinners and eats
with them.
It's one of the
things that we
remember when we
share the Lord's
Supper, isn't it?
When we share the
Lord's Supper and the
bread and the wine is
handed out.
Well, isn't that
Jesus coming to
eat with us?
To eat with us as
his family accepted
in him.
And it's a sign and
a foretaste of what
we're one day going
to enjoy in the new
creation, that
marriage supper of
the Lamb, when we
feast with him in
heaven.
Jesus doesn't just
welcome sinners, but
he chooses to eat
with them as family.
We have a scandalous
sin to come to
terms with, but we
also have a scandalous
welcome.
Thirdly, the third
scene in this story,
the lens focuses again,
doesn't it?
We've had the
younger son, we've
had the father, and
now the scene shifts
to the older son.
And like the
Pharisees, he's not
impressed by his
father's behavior.
He's not impressed
at all.
Verse 25, now his
older son was in the
field, and as he
came and drew near to
the house, he heard
music and dancing.
And he called one of
the servants and
asked what these
things meant.
And he said to him,
your brother has
come and your father
has killed the
fattened calf, because
he received him back
safe and sound.
But he was angry and
refused to go in.
It feels a bit like
his older son's got
a point, doesn't
it, when we hear
him in this verse.
Well, he's been
working in the fields
all these years.
He's been an obedient
son.
He's done everything a
son would be expected
to do, while his
father, while his
brother has wasted
everything.
He's gone away,
disrespected his
father, brought shame
on the family, wasted
money.
And which one of
the ones get in the
party?
You can imagine the
Pharisees nodding
along, remembering
the proverbs they
heard as a child,
whoever works for
land has plenty of
bread, but he who
follows worthless
pursuits lacks sense.
And everything says
here that the older
brother should be the
one who's getting the
party, not the younger
one, not this fool
who's wasted his money
and had to come back
in such a pitiful
state.
But the words in
verse 29 give away,
they give away what
this older brother is
thinking, what his
real problem is.
Speaking to his
father, he says,
look, these many
years I've served you
and I never disobeyed
your command, yet you
never gave me a young
goat that I might
celebrate with my
friends.
His problem isn't
that he's still angry
with his brother's
disrespect.
It isn't that he
feels like some kind
of shame's been
brought in the
family.
He's not jealous of
his father's attention
at all, is he?
He's jealous of his
father's stuff.
You never gave me a
goat.
On the surface of it,
the older brother and
the younger brother
couldn't be more
different, could they?
The one is obedient
and diligent and
respectable.
The other is this
kind of happy-go-lucky
waster who really
couldn't be any good
for family at all.
They couldn't be any
more different on the
face of it, but their
hearts are exactly the
same.
Their hearts are exactly
the same.
Despite their
experiences, they don't
either of them love
their father particularly.
They just want his
stuff.
They just want his
stuff.
The two brothers want
exactly the same thing.
The difference is just
how they go about
getting it.
One of them is pretty
honest.
Dad, I quite like your
inheritance.
I'm going to take it
and spend it.
The other one is more
scheming, isn't it?
Dad, I'd like your
inheritance, so I'm
going to work for it.
But they're exactly the
same.
Exactly the same at home.
In the book of Job,
God holds Job out as an
example of righteous
obedience, doesn't he?
God holds Job out as an
example of righteous
obedience, and Satan
comes to God and says,
does Job fear God for
no reason?
Job, well, Job only
loves you because you've
given him so much.
Does Job fear God for
no reason?
He only loves you for
your stuff.
Take away your
blessings, Satan says,
and he will curse you
to your face.
Take away your
blessings and he will
curse you to your
face.
Well, Job passes the
test in the book of
Job, doesn't he?
But that older brother
fails him.
He fails him over a
roast dinner.
The challenge that we
have here for the
Pharisees, and perhaps
for many of us as
well, is that being
respectable in the
eyes of the church and
in the eyes of the
world doesn't mean that
we have the right
attitude towards God,
does it?
It doesn't mean that we
have the right attitude
to God.
You can see how Jesus
is framing this now.
Imagine the worst kind
of sinner.
Well, your heart's just
the same.
Think about those tax
collectors that the
Pharisees and scribes.
Your hearts are just
the same.
If our obedience is just
another way to get at
God's blessings, to seize
on his gifts for
ourselves while still
really ignoring him, if
our obedience isn't an
expression of love, but we
see it as a kind of
service to try and earn
his blessing, then it's
just as much sin as the
prodigal son's wasteful
disrespect, isn't it?
The two brothers couldn't
be more different on the
surface, but they have
the same sinful hearts.
But what's fantastic
about this parable is that
they may have the same
hearts, they also have
the same father, don't
they?
Can you imagine how the
father might respond to
this son?
He's been longing for his
younger son to come home.
Longing for it.
He's always wanted to see
his younger son back.
The son's come back, he's
throwing a party, and the
older brother, rather than
joining in, he's throwing a
strop outside.
He's having a tantrum.
You can imagine how this
father could come out and
speak to his son.
He could speak in anger,
couldn't he?
You can imagine the things
that could be done.
He could rebuke him,
reprove him.
But what word, what word
does Jesus use here?
Well, verse 28, the older
son was angry and refused
to go in.
His father came out and
entreated him.
He shows him the same
compassion, doesn't he,
that he showed the younger
son.
He comes out with
gentleness, with pleading
and entreating.
Look, you've got everything,
my son.
You are always with me, and
all that I have is mine.
It was fitting to celebrate
and be glad.
For this, your brother was
dead, and is alive.
He was lost and is found.
He knows what's going on in
the older brother's heart, and
he comes out to plead with
him, to reason with him.
Jesus' message to the
Pharisees isn't, I've come
for the sinners, so you've
got no interest here.
It's, I've come for the
sinners.
I've come for the worst
kind of sinners, and that
includes you.
Jesus welcomes sinners,
whether they look like
they're in open rebellion
like the younger son, or
whether they're respectively
trying to coerce God's
blessings, like the older
one.
So very simply this morning,
I hope we've seen from
this parable that Jesus has
really one message to
whoever we are, and that
is that the Pharisees have
got it spot on right.
He welcomes sinners, he
welcomes sinners, and he
delights to eat with them.
So whether your own sin is
really quite like the younger
sons, that open rebellion,
going off into the far-off
country, ignoring God
openly, or whether it's that
more respectable kind, where we
attend church not so much for
the love of God, but for the
desire to coerce his blessing
from him.
But whether I suspect the
men in this is somewhere in
between, the message is the
same, isn't it?
The message is the same.
I welcome sinners.
That's what Jesus says.
I welcome sinners.
And I eat with them.
Amen.