A Father and His Two Sons
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A Father and His Two Sons
by Rev. K.C. Dinardo
Good Morning. It is great to be here. I am a friend of Buck Day’s and you all know that Leslee, his wife, works at Hope Church, so I get see her very often and she is a joy to work with.
Have you ever been lost? Ever experience that feeling of really being lost and in kind of a panic situation where you didn’t know how to find your home? I had an experience like that in college. I went to Luther College in Decorah, Iowa and for J-Term one year we went to London for a whole month. We got to see plays and we got to ride the Tube and go to different pubs. It was a wonderful month. We saw many different plays; but one day we were going to this place called the Shakespeare Theater in the Round. So it was a little bit away and we traveled as a group—there were about twenty of us. I remember I was kind of toward the back and we were chatting as we were walking and turning streets and going down different avenues and then we hit the Tube, which is their underground subway system. We walked in and everyone had to put your ticket in a little thing and then pick it up and then the doors open and you walk through. Well, for some reason, my ticket got stuck. So I was kind of panicking but I was trying to get it through and then I had to go to the cashier. Finally by the time I got it through, my whole group was way ahead of me. I went down to find them; I finally got down to the platform and there were two different trains you could go on and they were both leaving. My heart sank. And I must say I panicked a little. I thought, “Where am I going and how do I get to where I was?” So I said a little prayer and I was able to, very slowly but surely, remember the roads that we took. One thing being a group of twenty people, you’re not afraid at all. I mean, here I am in this different country as a college student; I just wanted to pick up the phone and call my mom. But, I couldn’t do that. Anyway, I finally did make my way back to our hotel and ended up staying there for the whole day by myself. No one even knew I was gone. But, that feeling of lost was really overwhelming and it was scary and I didn’t know the outcome and if I would be safe or taken care of.
This morning’s parable tells of a father and his two sons. It is really about not just a parable of the lost son, maybe you have heard it that way, or it is a prodigal son; but it is about both of his sons and in the end, they are both lost in their own ways. It talks about being welcomed at the party and the indication is still out there, especially for that older son. One father reaches out to both of them and welcomes them in.
Please pray with me.
Heavenly Father, thank you for calling us home. Let this story fall afresh on us this morning by the power of your Holy Spirit. May we be awakened to life in you, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Luke 15:11
This passage starts out,
Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons.” (Jesus continued, so he already had been speaking to this group of people; who is his audience? Well in verse 15:1, we find out.) “Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” (This is his two audiences. The two camps—the outward sinners who represent the younger brother and the Pharisees who are self-righteous, and they represent the older brother.)
Verse 12:
The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.” (The younger son asks for his inheritance. This is a pretty bold move, especially in the culture of that time. First of all, to request your inheritance before the father dies is like a slap in the face; but what is more, the father gives it to him. The elder son would have received two-thirds of the estate and the younger son would have received one-third. So to give the younger son his inheritance would have meant that the father would have to sell off land and livestock and take a hit on his reputation in society. It was a big deal that the younger son asks for the inheritance. And it was a really big deal that the father gives it to him. Author Ken Bailey writes of the Jewish custom called Kezazah. It is a Hebrew word for ‘the cutting off’, which is a ceremony surrounding a Jewish boy who takes his inheritance and loses it among Gentiles. It is invoked if the boy tries to return to the community. This will come into play later on.)
Verses 13-16:
“Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.” (Verses 13-16 are self-discovery time. The younger son goes out and spends it all. He lives it up. Birth order plays a role here. The younger one is the self-discovering free-spirit where the older brother is obedient and follows the rules. On his self-indulging quest, the younger brother has all the money he wants and anything his appetite desires. Then, something he doesn’t expect— the money runs out and what’s more, a famine comes. The famine would have been very ugly; people starving, dying, stealing from one another just to survive, there was no communication or technology back then to ask for help—a land falling apart. So, to survive, he does the unfathomable, he goes to work for a Gentile and feeds the guy’s pigs—a Jewish sacrilege. He is absolutely as low as you can go, for him, especially.)
In verse 17-20:
“When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ So he got up and went to his father.” (Something profound happens here in the story. Something internal happens. In his utter brokenness, the text says “he came to his senses”. He comes up with a plan. He has hit the bottom rung but he comes up with a plan. Here I am lost, alone; no one is helping me. Verse 16 says: “no one gave him anything”. Think about that for a minute. It must have been a pretty dire situation. So he thinks: surely I could go work for my father. Even the guys that work for my dad have something to eat.)
My husband, Mike, and I made it through all seven seasons of “Lost,” the T.V. show. We started watching it from the beginning and even though there were a couple seasons we felt like giving up, we hung in there to the bitter end. Basically the show is about a bunch of people who crash on an island where this secret government called the DHARMA Initiative is doing experiments on electromagnetism. The characters are developed through a series of flash backs that tie it all together. The problem is that most people who started watching “Lost,” even a season or even two seasons in, were completely lost. The show even has these special episodes with subscripts to catch everyone up explaining the background of each character. But people were lost watching “Lost.” It is not fun to watch a T.V. show where you are completely lost as to what is going on. Being lost, no matter what the level, is not a pleasant experience; how much more to be lost in life, to truly have a loss of identity, confusion about future, overwhelmed with life. This younger son lost it all, but after coming to his senses, he has a plan. It is pretty remarkable he even has a plan. The fact that he has enough courage and strength and humility tells us that God has reached into his life in a powerful way.
The rest of verse 20 reads:
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him.” (John Ortberg, in his sermon entitled “Coming Home”, on this same text, paints a picture of the father, heartbroken, looking over the horizon every day for that son, thinking that he might see him. And then he sees something far away and he knows right away. The way somebody walks is a real distinct thing. The way you can tell someone from behind by their familiar gait, he sees his son. He knows that walk. He knows that boy.) And the rest of that verse says: “he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.” (the words here for “ran” in Greek actually means “raced”. The father raced to him. What is so amazing about this race is that in the culture, at that time, no patriarch would have run. No man of dignity, dressed in an elaborate ornate robe, would have run. On top of that it was not fitting for a man of his prestige to show his bare legs in public; and that is exactly what would have had to happen for him to race to his son. The Father would have to pull up his robe and run toward him and that is what he does. And besides, the father is thinking of Kezazah. “What if the village gets to my boy first.” They symbolize the cutting off by breaking a pot at the boy’s feet, as if to say “Your life is now broken. You are no longer welcome back. You have broken trusts, broken community and worst of all you have broken the heart of your father.” And yet this father races to outrun those who might cut him off and welcomes him back, even throwing him a great feast.)
The son squeezes out these words…verse 21-24
“The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring 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’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.” (The father puts image and prestige, his own pride, aside to welcome his son. What’s more, he barely lets him speak before he gives him a kiss, a ring, a robe and the prized fattened calf. People at that time would rarely eat meat and to kill the fattened calf would mean many, many people would come to this feast of celebration. This is a big deal. Imagine the best meal you have ever had and that would be the appetizer.)
And now, the older brother…verse 25-27
“Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ (Meanwhile, what was the older son doing? He is out in the field doing what is right. He is doing what he has always done—the right thing, the obedient thing. But why? So many times we have heard this parable and read it like, “Oh, the wayward son and the good son, the perfect son. Here we find the son, in the older brother, who is just as lost. And what is worse, he doesn’t even know it.)
Verse 28-30
“The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ (We see anger. We find out where his heart truly is. This is vengeful. He responds to his father by saying “Look!” His words are dripping with disrespect. And how does he speak of his brother? He says, “this son of yours.” He doesn’t even call him brother. He paints a picture of his whole life as one who has been slaving. How sad. How ungrateful. How depressing. He throws in prostitutes as a way of assuming the worst. It never said anything about prostitutes. Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. Here we see a son that is riddled with pride and self-righteousness, who has no care for his brother or his father. He has done what is right all these years to get the power, to get the upper hand and to control the father’s love and in the end to get the award of the estate. But he has missed out on the entire meaning of life. It is all about relationships. The older son has no genuine relationship with either the father or the younger son. This older son is truly lost, as well. The older son has lived his whole life expecting that his goodness will pay off. He has been, in a sense, controlling his father with his goodness.)
Tim Keller, renowned author and pastor, sometimes called the C.S. Lewis of our generation, wrote a book entitled, The Prodigal God. He unfolds this very parable in such fresh and beautiful ways. He sets up the book by explaining what the word “prodigal” means. It does not mean wayward, as many of us have thought; but rather recklessly extravagant, or having spent everything. It means to spend until you have nothing left and so Keller says it applies to the father in this story as much as to the younger son. Keller writes, “Jesus is showing us the God of great expenditure, who is nothing if not prodigal toward us, his children. God’s reckless grace is our greatest hope—a life changing experience.” God’s reckless grace; our greatest hope. Keller talks about the role of the older brother in this parable and how greatly he falls short of what he can and should be. You see this parable is the third of three stories about being lost. The first is about the lost sheep and the shepherd goes and finds it. The second is about the lost coin and the woman goes and finds it. The third is our parable today about the lost son. But why does no one go and find him? Keller asserts that this should have been the role of the older brother. Just as with Cain and Abel when God tells the resentful and proud older brother, you are your brother’s keeper. The true older brother would have gone out and found the younger brother and brought him back into the family fold, even at the cost of losing some of the estate which remained which was rightfully now the older brother’s.
Verse 31-32:
“‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 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.’” (In the phrase “my son” the father is showing great endearment. He does not repay the older brother’s stern words with more stern words, but simply diffuses it all and wants to welcome him in, as well.)
Two lost sons, one loving father—it’s as simple as that. Some of us fall into the camp of the younger brother. We want to live life our way, on our terms. We want it all now and we don’t want to wait. Maybe we are living in secret ways that are reckless and ungodly. Maybe you have ventured a few steps away. Maybe you are so far gone you don’t know how to return. You are thinking—I am not worthy of God’s love and forgiveness. The truth is, you are right. You are not worthy. No one is. But the cross was where God spent it all. God has spent recklessly on us. On the cross Jesus is broken and totally cut off. Jesus becomes Kezazah, cut off, so that we can come home, truly come home. What a beautiful gift!
Many of us are like the older brother—we are going to perform our way to heaven. We are going to give and serve until it hurts and make sure everyone can see what a great job we are doing for God. We are going to mumble in judgment at others even as we go through the motions of living a Christian life. The problem with the older son is that he really doesn’t know he is lost; so in a way, that is even worse. His bitterness and anger goes so deep he can’t even celebrate in his brother’s homecoming. At the end of the day he has a ‘that’s not fair’ attitude.
Many years ago I was the youth director at Aldrich Presbyterian Church in South Minneapolis. We were doing a study with our youth on the dangers of pornography. We showed a video clip from Dr. James Dobson interviewing Ted Bundy, the serial rapist and killer. The interview was done in prison just before Bundy was going to be electrocuted. To my knowledge it was the only interview he gave and just watching it was pretty creepy. Bundy had started out dabbling in pornography at a young age and then headed down an evil road that simply overcame him. While Dobson was interviewing him the prison lights were flickering because they were testing the electrical power for Bundy’s impending doom. In prison, Ted Bundy apparently gave his life to the Lord and asked for forgiveness for all he had done in this life. I remember thinking, even as we showed the students that clip, is that fair? Is that really how it works? The thought of Purgatory was sounding pretty good to me about then. That is the anger of the older brother. It is not fair! And he is right. It’s not. A gift is a gift is a gift and Jesus really did pay it all, both for the one who is visibly, waywardly lost and for the one who follows the rule to a tee. Jesus died for both of those brothers and he died for all of us and in the end we are all lost. The problem is, some of us don’t think so.
The story of one father who truly loved both of his sons. Amen.