March 27 2022
Lent 4 March 27 2022
Old Testament: Isaiah 12:1-6 “Give thanks to the Lord, call upon His name”
Psalm: Psalm 102 “Do not hide Thy face from me”
Epistle: 2nd Corinthians 5:16-21 “In Christ, God was reconciling the world”
Gospel: Luke 15:1-3, 11-32 “His Father saw him and had compassion”
Sermon Text: Luke 15:1-3, 11-32
Sermon Title: “The Lost Sons”
Grace to you and peace, from God the Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
The Gospel text this morning is a very familiar one. Perhaps the most famous/popular of Jesus’ parables, the parable of the Prodigal (or lost) Son. What is sometimes lost in this parable is that both of the sons were lost; one due to immoral living; openly rejecting his gracious Father and the other a self-righteous hypocrite, who acted as if he deserved more than he was receiving from the Father. This parable is the last in a series of three parables about “lost things”; the others being the lost sheep and the lost coin. These two parables are also in our lectionary readings in September.
“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. So, Jesus told them this parable … and He said, There was a man who had two sons”. (Luke 15:1-3, 11) Two things are going on here, the sinners are coming to Jesus and the Pharisees/religious leaders are rejecting Him. Of course, we are all sinners, but here sinner is defined as one who is not living according to the rules and regulations of the Pharisees in particular.
Again, keep in mind what we already heard about how both sons were “lost”. The younger brother typifies all those who openly turn away from God to all kinds of external wickedness or worldliness. The older brother is typical of the self-righteous sinner; one who is outwardly a part of God’s people, but who in reality lacks faith; trusting in themselves or something else besides God.
“The younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the share of the property that is coming to me”. (Luke 15:12a) Let me translate that for you. “Father, I am sick and tired of you; of living under your strict rules. I can’t wait for you to die. I wish you were dead. I don’t ever want to see you again. Give me what is mine and I’ll be gone”. The first surprise in this parable is that the father “divided the property between them”. (Luke 15:12b)
The younger son doesn’t wait around long; “not many days later, he gathered all that he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living”. (Luke 15:13) Squandered here implies not just recklessness with money and possessions, but being morally reckless as well.
“And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. So, he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into the field to feed pigs. And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything”. (Luke 15:14-16) The younger son had had everything he needed in his father’s house, but now he had nothing; he was reduced to begging for food; even pigs food; that would have been considered unclean to the Jewish people. He had plenty of time to think about what he had done.
“But when he came to himself, he said, How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called one of your sons. Treat me as you would one of your hired servants”. (Luke 15:17-19)
Here, we have the beginnings of repentance, remembering the words and actions of his loving father in the past, a place where even the slaves are well taken care of; but still not fully trusting in his father’s grace and mercy; still thinking that he had to do something to earn even a little favor from him.
“And he arose and came to his father and while he was still a long ways off, his father saw him and felt compassion and ran and embraced him and kissed him”. (Luke 15:20) This was not what a real son or father listening to the story/parable would have expected; seeing the rejected father, running to embrace the runaway son. That would be humiliating.
“And the son said to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son”. (Luke 15:21) This is all that the son was able to speak before his father interrupted him; “saying to his servants; bring quickly the best robe and put it on him; put a ring upon his hand and shoes upon his feet and bring the fatted calf and kill it; and let us eat and celebrate”. (Luke 15:22-23)
‘For this my son was dead, and is alive again; He was lost, and is found. And they began to celebrate” (Luke 15:24) the fact that the long-lost son had returned home. But not everyone was happy. Just like the Pharisees were not happy that tax collectors and sinners were coming into the kingdom of God; there were some in this family that were not happy about the return of the prodigal son.
“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 to 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 fatted calf, because he has received him back safe and sound”. (Luke 15:25-27) This older son is also lost, even though he is physically still in the father’s house; even though he outwardly obeyed his father’s rules.
“But, he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father; Look, these many years I have served you; I have never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you kill the fatted calf for him”. (Luke 15:28-30)
The older, so called faithful, son clearly does not really love his father or care for his brother. He first brags about his good works and perfect obedience saying that (unlike my wicked brother) “I’ve never disobeyed your commands”. (Luke 15:29b) Then puts down his father; insulting him, just like the younger son did earlier saying; “You never gave” me anything. (Luke 15:29c) The older son literally had literally been given everything he had and yet now claims to never have been given anything. The older son is every bit as lost as his younger brother had been.
Showing great patience, the father “said to him, Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours”; (Luke 15:31) remember the older son had also received his inheritance from the father. “It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead and is alive; he was lost and (now) is found”. (Luke 15:32)
The parable ends without knowing whether or not the older son repented; forgave his brother and was reconciled to his father or whether he held onto his hatred/grudge against his family, suffering eternal loss. Will the Pharisees who heard this parable of Jesus continue to grumble against God and reject those He has called to faith? Will we, who are tempted to act the part of the self-righteous judge, do the same? Will we hold grudges against others in the Father’s house, refusing to forgive others as we have been forgiven by Christ?
The reality is that God found all/each of us and called us to saving faith; when we were far from Him; “while we were still sinners” and “slaves of sin” (Romans 5:8, 6:17a), even though we were “by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind”. (Ephesians 2:3b) But, as we heard in the Epistle this morning, “In Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them”. (2nd Corinthians 5:19a) We are in no position to begrudge His grace given to others.
“For our sake, He made Him to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in Him, we might become the righteousness of God”. (2nd Corinthians 5:21) Christ took the sin and guilt of all of us; of the whole world upon Himself on the cross, that we might be “reconciled to God” and “entrusting to us the message of reconciliation”. (2nd Corinthians 5:20b, 19b)
Christ Jesus came to this world to live the perfect life and become the perfect sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins, that we might receive the gift of eternal life. It is a gift, as nothing we do can contribute anything to our salvation. Believing in Christ and knowing all that He has done for us and for our salvation through His death and bodily resurrection, our new nature strives to forgive as we have been forgiven; repenting (and confessing our sins) daily as we are encouraged to do in the (Small) Catechism; and rejoicing when others who were “lost are found”; when others who were (Spiritually) dead are made alive”. (Luke 15:32b) Amen.
The peace of God …