Repentance and Resentment (Luke 15:11-32)

Luke 15:32: “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.”

This week we continue our series on the stories Jesus told, with a look at one of the most famous parables of all, the Parable of the Prodigal Son.

Repentance and Resentment (Luke 15:11-32)

Who do you think  you are?

How do you see yourself? What labels would you give to yourself?

The BBC show ‘Who do you think you are?’ answers the question by looking at people’s ancestry. Who they are descended from. It sees our identity as being linked with our parents and their parents and so on. Our identity, it claims is rooted in our family relationships.

So, are we defined by our genealogy? People today, often prefer to see themselves as self-defined. But there is no escaping our family relationships. In fact the New Testament has two genealogies for Jesus’ human family.

The genealogy of Jesus in Luke, goes back to Adam and finishes:

“… the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.”

There is a sense in which Adam is seen as the son of God. This also connects with the idea in Genesis 1, that we are created in the image of God. The same word is used to describe how Adam’s son, Seth is connected to Adam:

“When Adam had lived one hundred thirty years, he became the father of a son in his likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth.” (Genesis 5:3)

In other words, the image is passed on from one generation to the next. We are all in the image of God, because we are all descended from Adam. We are also all children of God, because we are descended from Adam.

 As Christians, this is doubly true, because through Jesus we are re-adopted into God’s family. Indeed, Jesus taught us to pray to God, as ‘Our Father…’ explicitly affirming that we are his children.

But do you see yourself first and foremost as a child of God? Do you think God sees you in that way? Do you think of God as your Father? If so, what kind of Father do you think he is? What kind of Father does Jesus say he is?

To answer that question Jesus tells a story. It is one of his most famous parables and is normally called the Parable of the Prodigal Son.

Context and Key

Jesus introduces the three key characters right at the start of the Parable: “There was a man who had two sons.”

The first part of the story focuses on the younger son, who runs away with his share of money, squanders it all and becomes destitute before finally returning home to see if he can get any help from his father.

The second part then focusses on the father’s reaction to his younger son’s homecoming, which is to welcome him with open arms and throw a huge part to celebrate his return.

The third part of the story then focuses on the older son, who is refusing to join the party and is angry that his father has welcomed his younger brother with such enthusiasm when he had acted so badly.

As we have seen with parables like this, it is important to understand the key. In this case, who does the father, the younger son and the older son represent?

The context helps us here. This story comes in the context of Jesus welcoming tax-collectors and sinners to hear him, whilst the Pharisees are grumbling that Jesus is welcoming such people.

It is clear then, that the younger son represents the sinners and tax-collectors. In fact, the tax-collectors were despised because they had betrayed their own nation of Jews and sided with the non-Jewish or gentile Romans in order to make money. The younger son, grabs the money from his father and runs off with it to a gentile land, a fact underlined by the fact that he ends up feeding pigs, that Jews would never own.

It is also clear that the older son represents the Pharisees. Both the Pharisees and the older son are grumbling that people who have behaved wickedly are being welcomed enthusiastically.

And so, the father in the story most naturally represents God. Jesus, who teaches us to call God, ‘our Father,’ is using this story to teach both the sinners and tax-collectors what kind of Father, this God is. But he is also challenging them to consider how they understand their relationship to God. So let’s look at each in turn.

The Younger Son

At the start of the story, the younger son does not care about his family or his dad. He doesn’t want the family relationships. He just wants the family money. In a move that would have been universally condemned, he asks his father for a share in his inheritance before the father has died or even close to death. And when the father rather surprisingly agrees to the request, rather than farming the land and flocks alongside his father, he sells off the estate and runs away to a foreign land to live it up. In doing so he shows utter contempt to his father and utter contempt to the family’s inheritance.

But life without God, often does not live up to its promise. So, for the younger son. His money soon runs out, and he is left destitute.

The he comes to a realisation. He has nowhere else to turn. So, he hatches a plan. He would go back, acknowledge his wickedness and plead to be treated like a hired man. Notice, that the son, does not plan to return and dare to ask to be treated as a son, but simply as a hired servant. Someone paid by his dad, who could maybe then earn enough money to eventually pay his dad back. That’s the best kind of relationship he thinks he can hope for.

Imagine you were the son, heading home. Wouldn’t you be fearing the utter deserved rejection and judgement of the father? What would you be expecting.

The Father

The story, then switches to the perspective of the Father. Will he reject and judge the son, as he deserves? Will he accept his plan to become a hired hand and pay back the money he took?

The answer to both those questions is, “No!” He neither rejects his son, or takes him back as a hired hand. Rather, he reinstates him as his son.

The father runs to greet him as soon as he sees him. Then before the son even has a chance to offer to be a hired servant, he calls to his servants to bring out a robe for him to wear, a ring to put on his finger, and sandals on his feet. All symbols to show that he is to be treated as a son.

 Then he throws an enormous feast, which involved slaughtering the fattened calf. This would have involved the whole village being invited to celebrate together the return of his son.

Why does he do this? He tells us: “For this son of mine, was dead and is alive again, he was lost, but now he is found.” (Luke 15:23)

Notice, the emphasis on the relationship: “this son of mine.” Here is the utter joy of restoration and reconciliation, when a parent is reunited with a child.

For nearly twenty years, the story of the loss of Madeleine McCann has been in the news. Her parents still desperately hoping that she might somehow be found alive again. Imagine the ecstatic joy they would have if their daughter did turn up and they were reconciled once more.

That Jesus says, is what it is like for God, when people repent when they return to him. This is the kind of father, Jesus means when he talks about God as ‘our Father.’

 But this is not easy for everyone to understand.

The Older Son

Let’s turn to the older son. Remember he represents the Pharisees who are grumbling about Jesus welcoming back the sinners.

Many people instinctively feel sorry for the older son or relate to him. After all, the son who has treated his dad and family so badly is being welcomed back with a lavish celebration. Isn’t his father condoning wrong behaviour? Surely, it’s no wonder the older son becomes angry.

But the problem is that the older son, has stopped seeing his brother and dad as family members. He only sees right and wrong, crime and lack of punishment.

Notice how the older son speaks to his dad, when he comes out to plead with him to come and join the celebration. First of all, although the younger son begins his speech to his dad, with, ‘Father’, and the father begins his speech to the older son a bit later, with the words, ‘My son’, the older son, does not address his father at all.

Then look at how he describes his relationship to his dad. “All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders.” He sees himself not as a son, but as a slave. That’s one step below the ‘hired hand’ that his younger brother had hoped to become, a dogsbody that is not even paid to work for his dad. He may not have squandered his dad’s money, or been disloyal to the family business, on the surface he looked like a good son, but the inner reality was, that he saw himself as a slave and his relationship with his dad not as a father to a son, but as a boss to an employee.

 Finally, look at how he describes his brother to his dad, “This son of yours.” He recognises the family relationship of the dad to the younger son, but distances himself from them.

The older son, in his desire to be seen as the more righteous one, has lost touch with the heart of God. In so doing he denies his own status as his Father’s son and instead just sits in judgement on his brother and his father. He has forgotten who he is.

Who do you think you are?

Jesus tells this story, to show what he means when he calls God, “Our Father.” God is like the Father in this story. But he also tells it to help us ask who we think we are in relation to God.

So, who do you think you are in relation to God?

• Maybe you relate to the younger son as one who has always rejected God as in any way important to you, but now you are realising this is no way to live. Now you are wondering whether there may be a way for God to help you, if only you could show you can work for him.

The good news is, that God still sees you as his child. Return to him and he will be absolutely delighted and fully reinstate you as his son or daughter in his family. No need to pay him back, the welcome is full and instant. Just start living as one of the family.

• Or maybe you relate to the older son. You struggle with grace. You think life is about right and wrong. You see God as a taskmaster and not as a father. You cannot bring yourself to accept God’s gracious welcome to sinners.

If so, read again what the father says at the end of the story:

“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.'” (Luke 15:32)

Hear once more the father’s invitation to come and join the party, to return to the heart of the family, in tune with God’s love and compassion and welcoming sinners back as your brothers and sisters in Christ.