LUKE 15: 15:1-3, 11-32
Tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to Jesus, but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
So to them Jesus addressed this parable: “A man had two sons, and the younger son said to his father, ‘Father give me the share of your estate that should come to me.’ So the father divided the property between them.
After a few days, the younger son collected all his belongings and set off to a distant country where he squandered his inheritance on a life of dissipation. When he had freely spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he found himself in dire need. So he hired himself out to one of the local citizens who sent him to his farm to tend the swine. And he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed, but nobody gave him any.
Coming to his senses he thought, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have more than enough food to eat, but here am I, dying from hunger. I shall get up and go to my father and I shall say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers.”’
So he got up and went back to his father. While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him. His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son.’
But his father ordered his servants, ‘Quickly bring the finest robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Take the fattened calf and slaughter it. Then let us celebrate with a feast, because this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found.’
Then the celebration began. Now the older son had been out in the field and, on his way back, as he neared the house, he heard the sound of music and dancing. He called one of the servants and asked what this might mean. The servant said to him, ‘Your brother has returned and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
He became angry, and when he refused to enter the house, his father came out and pleaded with him. He said to his father in reply, ‘Look, all these years I served you and not once did I disobey your orders; yet you never gave me even a young goat to feast on with my friends. But when your son returns who swallowed up your property with prostitutes, for him you slaughter the fattened calf.’
He said to him, ‘My son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours. But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’”
THE JOURNEY HOME
Where do you belong? The two sons in this story both start in a home with a loving father, a father who is wealthy, and who is very generous. Despite all of this, Jesus tells us that neither of the sons feels like he belongs. And it is money that divides them from their father.
The younger son wants his inheritance NOW. This means that he sees his father as already dead – there is no love. The father seems to be foolish in agreeing to this request, and the younger son predictably wastes all of the money.
How was the older son doing all this time? He was doing his duty, but we can see that he also felt that he didn’t belong in the speech he gives the father. He resents the welcome that the father gave to the younger son. It seems that he has been carefully calculating how much he is owed, and he is mad because the father has wasted so much money on the good for nothing younger son.
So where do the two sons stand at the end of the story? The younger son has made a dramatic decision to return to his father, expecting to be treated like a servant, someone who only works for pay. But the father welcomes him back with compassion, hugs him, treats him like an honoured guest, and throws a massive celebration. The younger son knows that he belongs.
The older son ends up outside the celebration, rejecting his father’s pleas to join in the feast. He still doesn’t feel like he belongs. The compassionate father seems to have failed.
Jesus is telling us that we all belong to our loving God, our Father in heaven. To all who are far away, a royal welcome awaits. But to us who are faithful, dutiful “older” sons and daughters Jesus is pleading that we join in the heavenly celebration for the returning “younger” siblings.
Are you ready to see that Jesus himself goes on the journey to the Cross so that all sinners, all of us, can find our way home?