What if he was your son? What if you had two sons and the younger came to you with that request? “Dad, give me my inheritance now. Everything that you have worked for, that you have sacrificed for, everything that you have built for yourself and your family over your entire lifetime – half of it is going to be mine when you die anyway. I will be able to do whatever I want to with it. I am tired of waiting. I want what I've got coming to me so I can spend it now.”
What would you think? How would you feel? Would you be hurt? Would you be offended? Would you be angry with your son? Would you write him out of your will? Would you do what the father did here in the text. Would you calculate your net worth, bank accounts, investments, house, car, possessions and divide that value in half. Would you then give half of everything to this son-of-yours knowing full well what he was going to do with it? Knowing full well that within a short time everything that you had built over an entire life-time would be wasted and squandered?
I can't imagine that anybody would. I can't imagine that any one of us would so willingly surrender so much to someone with such a poor sense of responsibility, to someone so lacking in character and good sense. We would think such a father to be incompetent and foolish. We would think that such a father was enabling his son to continue to make poor choices. We would be looking for a life lesson. But the father does nothing of the sort. He simply grants the son his request and waits for his return.
Last week we mentioned the literary term “Hyperbole” (speaking in extremes for the sake of making a point). This is no hyperbole. Jesus is not painting an unrealistic portrait just to make us think a bit harder. Jesus is teaching us about the nature of the forgiveness of our heavenly Father. He is teaching us about the patience and the love that our heavenly father has for us each and every time we wander away from him. Each time we set our sights and build our plans around ideas that are sinful, around ideas that contradict sound reasoning and that call into question our relationship with the Father, he still loves us completely. And then, after we have falllen on our faces he takes us back – no questions asked. He forgives us and restores us just as if we had never left. If the parable is at all extreme it is only because the love that God has for us and the forgiveness that he has for us is extreme. In spite of our sin our heavenly father loves us more than what we could ever imagine.
If we were to characterize the sin of the younger son – there are many that we could point to. The first sin however is one that does not seem to get much attention. Before squandering his father's wealth, before dis-honoring his father with the sinful request, the son was guilty of coveting. The son was guilty of wanting something that had not been given to him – he was guilty of scheming to get something that belonged to the father.
There are of course 10 commandments. Among the ten commandments there are some that seem to get the most attention – sins such as stealing, adultery, murder, worshiping false gods and even dishonoring parents. But the last 2 commandments are tacked on to the back of the list and are seldom talked about. Sometimes we even forget about the sin of coveting. Sometimes we forget that the sin of coveting can cause us so much trouble.
It was the sin of coveting that got the nation of Israel into trouble with their kings. When God led the Israelites into the promised land they were blessed with a theocracy – they were ruled directly by God himself. God gave them laws. God guarded them and protected them. God granted them safety and success and peace. But the Israelites began to look around at the nations around them. The big nations with the big armies and all the wealth and territory had kings. The Israelites looked at the wealth. They looked at the power of these pagan nations and they began to covet. They thought to themselves that God must be holding out on them. So they called Samuel the prophet of the LORD and said to him, we want a king. Samuel warned them, “A king will take your daughters for wives. He will send your sons off to fight his wars. He will make you pay taxes.” But the people didn't listen. They wanted what they wanted and even though it was going to be bad for them God allowed them to have it. God knew that the request was sinful. He knew that if he gave them what they wanted it would hurt them. But God allowed them to have it anyway.
Their first king was Saul. His appearance was exactly what they would have hoped for. He was tall. He was good looking. But he was a terrible king. He led the people away from God. He led them into failure. The nation of Israel suffered because of their king. The next king was David. David was well known because of his faithfulness. His son was Solomon, noted for his wisdom. But the kings after Solomon began to lead them further and further away from God. They led the nation further into sinful practices and pagan influences until the nation of Israel was utterly apostate – they had forsaken the covenant with God and they were overrun by their enemies. Because they had wandered away from God and from his protection, they were conquered and carried off into exile. It all began with the simple sin of coveting.
Likewise with the prodigal son. He saw the wealth of his father. He began to think of all the things that he would be able to spend that money on. He began to think of how much he would be able to enjoy the finer things in life. Never mind the fact that these things were not his, that they were not given to him by God. Instead of trusting God, that he would provide for him all good things, that God would provide for him everything that he needed, instead of seeing everything that he had and even everything that he did not have as a gift from God,he wanted what he wanted and so he cooked up a scheme to get it.
So what about you? How have you broken God's command not to covet? What things have you set your sights on that God has not given to you? Are there things in your life that you think you should have? Are there things that you feel God has with held from you? Have you ever gotten angry at God because he has taken something or maybe even someone away from you. Do you feel like God has cheated you out of what you deserve?
The book of James has this to say: “You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. [3] You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. [4] You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” (James 4:2-4) So often we are motivated by our passions. So often we are motivated by the things that we see in the world around us. We want to be happy. We want to be successful. We want to be in love. That isn't too much to ask is it? Those are all good things that God has given, that God has created. Those are all things that God wants us to have. Is it so bad for us to want them.
But what if God has not given them? What if we have asked and God has not responded to our request? What if we have asked God to give something that he hasn't given? What if we have asked him to take something away that still remains? Is it wrong for us to want them? Is it wrong for us to still try to get them? Is it wrong for us to complain that we don't have them?
Was it wrong for the prodigal son to desire his inheritance? He was the son. He was the heir. It would be his eventually.
Was it wrong for the Israelites to desire a king? Kings were effective in raising armies. They were successful in promoting the wellbeing of the nation – look at all of the advancements made in ancient societies under the influence of kings – look at all of the inventions and innovations that came because the societies were organized under one ruler. Was it bad for the nation of Israel to desire a level playing field with the world around them?
Is it wrong for you to desire a happy family, a loving spouse? A job? A house? A friendship? Fulfillment? Satisfaction? Are these sinful desires? They are if they get in the way. They are if we refuse to be content until we have them.
If you look at the text of the parable, just in terms of the space that it occupies on the page – the bulk of the parable is really not even about the son. Yes Jesus tells us about the son. He tell us about his sin of coveting, and all the other sins that he committed, but the real meat of the story, the part that Jesus is really itching to tell, the part of the story that gets the most attention is the part about the father. Jesus wants us to understand just how much love and just how much forgiveness the father has for his son.
As Jesus tells the parable, we learn that son hit the bottom. His poor choices finally got the better of him and he made his way home. He realized his situation and decided to go back, even planning out the speech that he was going to give to his father. But while the son was still a long ways off the father saw him. That can only lead us to believe that he was searching for him – he was sitting outside on his front porch scanning the horizon with the thought that “maybe today will be the day that my son returns.” The wise yet loving father knew that his son would squander his wealth. He knew that he would completely fail and he knew that when he did he would have no where else to go. He held out for the hope that his son would return. And return he did. When the father saw the son, he didn't pretend to be coy. He didn't stand in the door way with his feet set and his arms crossed, with a stern look on his face and demanding look in his eyes. He didn't demand a full apology. Of all the things that he could have done, that we probably would have done he simply got down and ran.
In Jesus' day and age, Important people didn't run. People who ran were in a hurry. People who were in a hurry were worried about making other people wait. If you were important, you had everyone else worried about waiting for you. This father didn't care about dignity or honor when he saw his son. He just ran.
The Son began to sputter out his rehearsed apology but the father barely even heard. As the son was still trying to get the words out the father interrupted, calling out to his servants, “Get some clothes, not just any clothes the best we have, get some shoes, get a ring for his finger” (the ring was something that would be worn by a son to show that he was an heir to the estate). In an instant the son was forgiven. He was reinstated as a son. Even though he had squandered his inheritance he was again an heir. He was back in the family just like he never left.
And then to further demonstrate how completely the forgiveness had been given, there was a celebration that was thrown. They killed the fattened calf – the animal that was being saved and prepared for a special feast – for a special celebration, for a special occasion. The return of the son was just such and occasion. The explanation that the father gives for all of this: “My son was lost and he is found, he was dead and he is alive again.”
And such is God the Father's response to you. It doesn't matter the sin. It doesn't matter how small you might think it is, it doesn't matter how big you might think it is. If you have sinned, if you have wandered from God's truth, God is waiting, hoping against hope for you to come to your senses, realize where you have failed and return. He is planning a celebration to be held in your honor. If you have already returned, then you already know. You have already felt his love and forgiveness, you have already felt his embrace around you. You have already been re-clothed with his righteousness. You are already enjoying the feast of forgiveness and salvation and joy.
In St John's first epistle he writes “If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us, but if we confess our sins God is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” God is waiting in the wings with forgiveness. God is already planning the celebration for sinners who repent and return. God is longing for every sinner to repent so that his celebration can begin.
Amen.
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