This sermon was intended to be preached for the 4th Sunday in Lent. An infection had me fever-stricken and reduced to bed rest instead of being at church to preach it. This is a draft which would have been edited were it not for the infection, so it could stand some improvement. Then again, I would say that about every sermon manuscript I prepare. I would edit until Judgment Day if I did not have a deadline to preach it.
LUKE 15:1-3,11b-32
THE FATHER
LAVISHES LOVE ON THE LOST.
In
the name + of Jesus.
The parable of the Prodigal Son is
endearing to us because we all enjoy a happy ending. We think that it is wonderful that a father
would welcome home his wayward son and receive him with a warm embrace. It warms our hearts to hear that the past has
been forgotten and that all the blessings and benefits of sonship have been
restored. It is a wonderful story, but
it is a story that we do not fully appreciate because it is mostly theory for
us. It is also because we tend to see
ourselves in the wrong brother.
Let’s rework this parable for just a
moment. Say you had a brother who
complained about your family. He hated
the rules of the house and boasted all the time how he would do things
better. He does not want to be like your
parents because they are too rigid, too controlling, and too boring. There’s life to live, and they don’t get
it. So, he asks your father to cash in
whatever money was saved up for his college education. Stocks were sold and an IRA was cashed in
with early withdrawal penalties and all.
Then he takes the family car and off he goes to live it up.
After
another day on your father’s farm, sweating out in the field, you come home to
see your brother’s posts on Instagram.
He is holding up his beer with bikini-clad women surrounding him. Hashtag: ThisIsTheGoodLife. It does not take long before he blows his
money on booze and gambling. He also
totaled the car. You aren’t
surprised. Your little brother never
took life seriously, and it finally came back to bite him. He found himself homeless and penniless. Eventually, he decided to hitchhike back
home.
After
another long day of labor, you head home and are greeted by the smell of
barbeque and the sound of a DJ. Then you
learn that this is for your little brother.
Not only was he welcomed back home, but he was being celebrated. There was no lecture, no punishment,
nothing. He was even given a new car to
replace the one he totaled. Would you
join in the party? Could you look at your
brother without any feelings of resentment?
Would you give him a hug? And what
would you think of your father who, apparently, had no problems with your
little brother’s debauchery and defiance?
I think you
can understand the older brother’s outrage—outrage toward the brother who
dishonored his father and flaunted it; outrage toward the father who not only
received little brother back but even celebrated his return. Where is the justice? Why does the greedy, perverted drunkard have
the father’s favor when you have been diligently bearing the cross and laboring
with no fanfare whatsoever?
The older
brother has a point, doesn’t he? Who
could disagree with him? Those who live
obediently, morally, and decently should be rewarded and honored, right? Those who are brazen sinners should be told
that they made their choices and should suffer the consequences for them. Would anyone take the employee that embezzles
from the company and make him the vice president of operations? And if it did happen, would you be happy for
that man?
Jesus’
parables prove that we are not like the heavenly Father. The Father lavishes his love on the
lost. The father certainly could have
crushed his son in harsh judgment, and we would not have blamed him. Even his own son would not have blamed
him. He discovered that a life of sex,
drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll did not satisfy him.
“But,” you protest, “what if is money had not run out? Wouldn’t he have found happiness in the life
he had chosen for himself?” The
answer? Even if he had continued to live
in hedonism, gluttony, and drunkenness, what would he have gained from it? What was his purpose in life—just to get his
next drink? Who did he have that loved
him? As long as he was buying, he
probably had lots of friends. So, why
didn’t anyone take him in when he ran out of money? What woman stuck by his side when times got
tough? The young man had squandered all
his blessings. He knew it, and confessed
it to be so: “I will get up, go to my father, and tell him, ‘Father, I have
sinned against heaven and in your sight.
I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants”’
(Luke 15:18-19). The younger son
finally recognized that in his father’s house he had provision, protection,
life, hope, and a noble purpose.
Separated from his father’s house, he was dying, hopeless, and helpless.
The
younger son had abandoned the father’s house and all its blessings. We would expect him to get what he
deserves. But we are not like the
heavenly Father. “His father saw him
and was filled with compassion. He ran,
hugged his son, and kissed him…. The
father said to his servants, ‘Quick, bring out the best robe and put it on him.
Put a ring on his finger and sandals on
his feet. Bring the fattened calf and
kill it. Let us eat and celebrate, because
this son of mine was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found.’ Then they began to
celebrate” (Luke 15:20-24). The
Father lavishes love on the lost.
We are not
like the heavenly Father. We think in
terms of fairness and consequences. Good
people go to heaven; that’s fair. Bad
people go to hell; those are the consequences.
It makes sense, doesn’t it? Not
to the Father. He lavishes love on the
lost.
Well, it
sure did not make sense to the older brother.
When he heard how graciously the father had taken back his younger
brother, he was upset. When he learned
that the father did not hold little brother responsible for his actions, he was
incensed. The older brother had been the
good son. He protested to his father, “Look,
these many years I’ve been serving you, and I never disobeyed your command”
(Luke 15:29). He was convinced that
he had earned better treatment. Once
again, that seems fair, doesn’t it?
Dear Christian friends, repent! You may credit yourself with obedience to the
Father because you have not been guilty of the brazen sins of others. You are no criminals. And you may take pride in the way you have
served your Father in heaven. You have
done good works, and others have benefited from them. But you and I fail to understand this: We are
not the natural-born children of God.
Our place in his family has not been earned, and it is not
deserved. As St. Paul reminds us, “We
carried out the desires of the sinful flesh and its thoughts. Like all the others, we were by nature
objects of God’s wrath” (Ephesians 2:3).
The older
brother forgot his place in the father’s house.
He was not there because he had worked his way into it. He did nothing to belong to the father’s
house, except be born into it, which is an act of grace. We often think of people who have been born
into families of affluence. They are
often vilified as people who have won life’s lottery, as if they filled out the
right forms or paid off the right people to be born into that family. The rich kid is in the rich family because of
God’s doing. While the rich kid benefits
from his father’s wealth, he really owns nothing. It is all the father’s possession, and he
shares it with his children.
This is
the case with the older brother. The
father even told him so. Trying to
appease him, “The father said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all
that I have is yours’” (Luke 15:31).
Whatever the son had was his by grace.
All the goods and the blessings belonged to the father who graciously
bestowed them on his son. And he was not
stingy. All that the father had belonged
to the son as well. The father’s lavish
love was given to him, too.
The Father
lavishes his love on the lost. This grace
is even more evident when it comes to the family of God. For, no one is automatically in God’s
family. We are by nature sinful, objects
of wrath, and outside of God’s kingdom. All
are lost. And yet, God has been pleased
to bring us into his family. He gives us
new birth to a new life. This was done
for us through Jesus Christ.
Jesus is
the son who left the mansions of heaven to go to this world where he associated
with prostitutes, tax collectors, and sinners.
He squandered all he had on these sinners, including you and me. Jesus poured out his life, his breath, his
body, and his blood for the sake of sinners.
The payment he made for your sins and mine and for the sins of the whole
world is the life of the Son of God. It
is this reckless love that sent Jesus to the cross where he was forsaken by his
Father because of our sins. Cut off from
his Father, there was only death and damnation for Jesus. This is the ransom price for you. This is Jesus’ reckless spending which
purchased and won you from all sins, from death, and from the power of the
devil. This is his lavish love for you.
Then the
Son, who squandered all things to redeem you, rose from the dead. He ascended to heaven where his Father
received him back with joy and celebrating.
Jesus of Nazareth was given all majesty, power, and glory. He has been given all authority to rule over
heaven and earth and to forgive sins. In
both cases, he lavishes his love on the lost.
And he continues to squander his grace upon all people. When he covered your debts and paid for all
your past sins, he did not say, “Okay, your debt has been covered. But now we are done. Rather, he continues to apply the ransom
price for the sins you still commit. He
has even spent himself on the sins of people who prefer a life apart from the
Father’s house. Since they continue in
stubborn unbelief, they receive no benefit from Jesus’ payment, but the payment
was made for them. And he does not
regard this grace as a waste. This
lavish love is for all the lost.
The Father
lavishes his love on the lost. He sent
his Son to ensure that you would not be left outside of the Father’s
house. Outside of the Father’s house is
only death, hopelessness, and helplessness.
Inside the Father’s house is all that you need for body and life, for
time and eternity. Jesus has poured out
his life, his breath, his body, and his blood to win it for you. And now he bestows on you new life. He breathes his Holy Spirit into you. He gives you his body and blood for your
forgiveness. All this so that you would
be his.
The
apostle John promises us, “To all who did receive him, to those who believe
in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12). And if you are God’s children, then all that
is the Father’s is yours. His love is
yours. His mercy is yours. His kingdom is yours. And thanks to Jesus’ reckless spending and
lavish love, you are his forever.
In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy
Spirit. Amen.
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