Parables of a Father s Love.

Transcription

1 Parables of a Father s Love. Here in Luke we have some of the best known and loved of Jesus parables. You have no doubt heard dozens of sermons on them, strangely they are set for Mothering Sunday and often only get a superficial airing and so we have often missed great truths that may challenge our perceptions of the Gospel. So don t be tempted to switch off but stay with me as we explore something of the culture of the time, that may change the way we think about them. Luke's introduction gives us a major clue to understanding what follows, Jesus had been welcoming and eating with sinners (that is the non Jews) and tax collectors and the Jewish religious leaders were grumbling against him, it was not the kind of behaviour you'd expect from an up and coming Rabbi. So, Luke tells us, Jesus spoke this parable to them. The parables purpose then was to address this situation. In a week when the Un United Kingdom has irreversibly voted to leave the EU, after a campaign that has focussed so wrongly on immigration; parables about loss and leaving seam quite pertinent. Just as the parables challenged the religious leaders of Jesus time they also provide a challenge to us. It exposes us to the Father s heart so that we understand His love and grace towards outsiders, so that we might welcome them and proclaim to them his free, unconditional and total acceptance of them, in Christ. Jesus is the master Storyteller and he grabs people's attention. First, one of a hundred sheep is lost and the shepherd goes out and finds it and there is rejoicing. Secondly, one of ten coins is mislaid, the woman searches and finds it and there is rejoicing. Thirdly, one of two sons is lost, but he returns and there is. complaining. What is going on. Jesus draws us in with these pictures of the lost being found but it would have grated with the Pharisees, Jesus portrays the shepherd, a social outcast, as one who diligently searches for the lost. This shouldn't surprise us as it was to shepherds that the birth of Jesus was announced by a host of Angels. But it doesn't stop here, Jesus shocked their sensitivities by expecting the Pharisees to identify themselves with the shepherd and to shoulder the blame for the loss of the sheep. Jesus seems to be saying The shepherd was responsible for the lost sheep and he sought it out. I seek the lost and so should you. He then portrays a woman as one who searches diligently for the lost coin, a second class citizen whose word was not even admissible in court. Again it

2 was women to whom Jesus first appeared after his resurrection and their report was not immediately accepted. The good news of Jesus is for everyone, the social outcast and poor, for men and women alike. We are told that there will be even greater rejoicing in heaven for a repentant sinner than on earth for the lost sheep or lost coin that was found. In the third parable a patriarch is pictured but he goes and does the unbelievable, he divides his property between his sons at one s request and then when the errant son reappears sometime later as a destitute, the Father does the unacceptable and welcomes him. So we see that the lost son was of greater value than livestock or wealth and there should have been even greater rejoicing. But, we are confronted by the elder brothers attitude and who here has felt really sorry for him? I know I have in the past but hopefully we will begin to see that he was just as lost to his father as the younger brother, his attitude and actions equally damaging to his relationship with his father. For the western mind a lack of understanding of the culture of the time means we miss some of the finer points of what is being said by Jesus.. Why for instance did the shepherd leave 99 sheep in the wilderness where they are surely open to attack and then return home with the one to rejoice. Why did the woman place such significance in the lost coin that she invited others to rejoice with her when she found it, wouldn t that incur a cost? Don t these issues make you ask why? Have we missed something? Let us look at these in turn. In my visits to the Arabian desert I witnessed camels being led out into the desert to find food in the morning and then in the evening camel herds being walked back to the Bedouin camp, also I witnessed the men of the Middle eastern community gathering before dusk to talk, sing and dance, while the women sat quietly talking to each other, off to the side. So the shepherd on finding that one sheep was missing would have left the ninety nine in the desert with the other shepherds, knowing that when he returned at dusk to the homestead, the others would have gathered the flock into the settlements fold for safety and then there would have been rejoicing at the evening gathering that the shepherd and the lost sheep had returned safely. There is imagery here too, of the shepherd joyfully bearing the full weight of the lost sheep on his shoulders, in a similar way Jesus bore the full weight of his people's restoration on his shoulders on the cross.

3 The lost coin was of unusual value to the woman. There are two aspects of rural village life that help us to understand what is going on. Cash is a rare commodity, where subsistence agriculture and bartering of produce fuel the rural economy, so losing one coin would be of significance. Of greater value still is the dowry, that a women would have worn as a necklace or sewn into a shawl. Unlike the western dowry, in the Middle East a dowry is the bride price. The Value that the Father puts on the bride, that is paid by the bridegroom to redeem the bride for himself and this deposit remains her treasured possession and provides for her and her family if the bridegroom dies or leaves her. Jesus often alluded to himself as the bridegroom and his people being the bride, a picture picked up by John in Revelation. That the lost coin was part of that dowry, makes perfect sense to me and the imagery may be worth further reflection, as I think it hints at the reason for the cross. She had lost something of the price that had been paid by the Bridegroom and so she sweeps the house clean to find it and ensure that the value of her redemption is complete. In the same way Our Father God puts a bride price on us for our redemption and the Bridegroom Jesus, pays it in full by dying in our place on the cross. If we were able to lose something of that bride price, would we not search for it until it was found? And so we come to the parable of the lost sons. The Pharisees relief that the story is about a patriarch is soon shattered, when the youngest son asks for his inheritance, (such a request is tantamount to wishing his father was dead), and instead of beating the son and publicly announcing his disgrace, he gives him his share. With no hole in the wall cash machine to draw funds from, the father divides his property between his sons. The younger son must have pawned it in at a low price in the short timescale mentioned. He was a disgrace and his father would have been ridiculed. So he was alienated from his family, later ostracised by the far off community in his sudden destitution and untouchable to the religious community because of his contact with pigs. He had reached rock bottom before he stopped digging. He deserved everything that was thrown at him. It was there that he came to his senses and realised his sin and so 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:

4 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. But note this, he did not repent in the far off land, he had a found a way to get back home and maybe, with his carefully rehearsed speech and a whole lot of mercy from his father, he might be able to earn his way back into his father s good books. He was not a repentant son, he was a destitute and hungry son. In the first series of the BBCs excellent Musketeers drama, there is a scene where the evil Cardinal Richelieu has been poisoned and is fighting for his life and he says to the beautiful assassin Lady De Winter, I am not ready to die, my account with God has not yet balanced. Many people feel that they can get right with God by leading a good life, a moral life, a religious life. But the question will always be, have I done enough. The returning son hoped to work his way back in favour but was about to find out what kind of a father he really had. He sets off for home and we all know the story, the father sees him a long way off and runs to meet him. Despite his best efforts to blurt out his rehearsed speech, he is welcomed back and reclothed and a big celebration ensues, The dead son returns and is alive. These parables challenge our understanding of the Gospel. The parable of the Prodigal son appears to teach that forgiveness is available to the sinner, without the need for atonement: there is no saviour, no suffering, no cross. The lost sheep and the lost coin do nothing to refute this view either. Dr Kenneth Bailey in his excellent book The Cross and the Prodigal says this Islam claims that in this story, the Prodigal is saved without a saviour, the prodigal returns, the father forgives. If man seeks forgiveness, says Islam, God is merciful and will forgive, The incarnation, the cross and resurrection are quite unnecessary. But just as these requisites are absent from the parables, so also there is no allusion to Jesus either. We must remember that these are parables and not allegories, we have no right to expect an exact correspondence, point by point, between the story and the message, they show us what we must do, not what God has done for us. But at the same time, although there there is no mention of atonement for sins the cross and the incarnation are implied and dramatically present in the story, as we will see.

5 Looking closer at the parable we are told that the father saw the son from afar and had compassion. At that range he probably could not see the destitution of his return and even if he had the habit of scanning the horizon each day in the hope of the son s return, he would have been moved by relief and joy, so why did he have compassion? Well what follows gives us the reason, the father runs through the streets to meet the son while he is still far off. One of the things that struck me about middle eastern men of standing was the graceful elegance of their dress and gait. Kenneth Bailey explains. A man of his age and position always walks in a slow dignified fashion and although he has not run anywhere for any purpose in 40 years, he yet races down the road like a teenager to welcome his home coming son. The whole village would know that the returning son was in disgrace and some sort of punishment and ostracism was inevitable and he would face ruthless hostility, ridicule and insults. Yet the father takes on himself the shame and humiliation due to the prodigal, running the gauntlet of the people's attacks in his stead. Rom 5v6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. And v8...but God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. The father embraces and kisses the Son. Children would ordinarily kiss their fathers hands as a sign of loving submission but here the father repeatedly kisses the sons cheek (for that is what the word means). When Middle Eastern families fall out and are then reconciled there is a ceremony of reconciliation, where the heads of the families kiss each other. So the father s actions go beyond love for his son, the repeated kissing is a public declaration that the offence is forgiven and the son is reconciled to him. The younger son begins his rehearsed speech of unworthiness but is cut short of saying that he wants to become a servant. Why? I think the son is overwhelmed by his father s public declaration of undeserved forgiveness and begins to comprehend what Grace has been out poured by the father. What started out as a hungry sons hope of becoming a servant, leads to forgiveness and reinstatement as a Son. The endorsements that follow speak further of that reconciliation. The father s best robe is the one that the father wears in celebration, it will cover his shame but also will be an obvious sign to the servants and wider community of being accepted by the father. Isaiah 61v10

6 I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness. In the same way when we respond to the out pouring of God s Grace through Jesus death in our place, our sins are laid on him on the cross and his covering righteousness is laid on us. The ring is most likely the Father s signet ring, it is a sign of being trusted in a remarkable way and having authority over the servants. The shoes too speak of freedom in the Father s presence, servants and slaves went barefoot in the house. The father wanted a loving son not a grateful servant. We too can know freedom in our Father God s presence, as the sin that separated us has been covered by Jesus, taking its punishment in our stead. The killing of the fatted calf indicates the extent of the celebration that ensues, it is enough for the whole community and its purpose is to demonstrate his reconciliation to the father and the whole community to the son. Meanwhile, out in the fields the older son has been working and approaching the house, hears the joyous celebrations going on. He should have been informed but whatever, he should have been eager to enter and join in the joy, whatever its source. He calls one of the boys who would have gathered outside the party and asks questions to find out the reason for the feast, he must have asked whether the brother returned rich or poor and in disgrace, as he is aware of the details when talking to the father later on. By custom, the elder son should have been barefoot at the door welcoming the guests and ensuring they are fed and watered, a gesture by which the father says, my older son is your servant, it would be his place to pay particular honour to the special guest for whom the occasion is celebrated. By entering the celebration, the brother would be seen to join the family in honouring the Prodigal, something that most of us would find hard to stomach. But the act of not honouring the Prodigal is tantamount to publicly dishonouring the father, however this is not out of character. For the western listener the first few verses of the parable are more loaded than we understand them to be. We are told that the man has two sons and that the property is divided between the sons, at which point the middle eastern listener would expect the older son to enter the dialogue, for within the traditional role of the older son, he should have firstly refuse his share, in protest at its implications, for it surely meant that he too was happy with the father being as dead. Secondly, he should have remonstrated with his

7 brother and tried to reconcile the rift of relationship, his silence implied refusal of his customary and community responsibility and indicates that the relationship with his father was also not what it should be. Meanwhile back at the feast, the father hears of his son s refusal to join in. He should as custom dictated, demonstrate public displeasure at this insult and punish him for his public insolence. But instead, for the second time in one day, the father comes down and out of the house, offering in public humiliation an unexpected demonstration of love and entreats him to come and celebrate. Instead of being stunned by the an awareness of the price paid by the fathers public demonstration of unmerited love, the older son doubles the insult by publicly answering back. His complaint has a number of issues but the most significant of them is that he demonstrates the attitude and spirit of a slave, not even a servant, much less a son. He felt that his obedience to the father was not his own choice, he felt bonded like a slave. The father wants loving sons, the younger returns wanting to be a servant and in some way earn his way back; yet is reconciled as a beloved son. The older son feels like a slave, he has no choice in his mind other than to work slavishly for the father. He also accuses the father of favouritism by giving the Prodigal the fatted calf when he hasn't even had a goat kid to celebrate. This accusation shows a misunderstanding of what the father is doing. He clearly sees feasting as a reward for obedience; he has never been disobedient yet hasn t even been given a goat kid, yet the Prodigal is given the fatted calf. The father gently reminds him that he is always there for him and that everything the father owned passed to him when the estate was split, he could not dispose of it but it is his. His inheritance will not be affected by the prodigals return but they had to celebrate the return of the lost brother. The final entreaty to the older son is neither an apology for the feast or a reproach to the son but rather it is an appeal to understand the Grace he has given. The fathers only option, as is consistent with his character is to demonstrate the same humiliating public demonstration of grace and love. The prodigal was dead and is alive. The older son is likewise dead, can he come to life too?

8 It is easy to identify the character of the older son in the Pharisees, indeed they must have thought Jesus was too. Jesus is describing two types of people, one is lawless without being religious, the other is Lawless but religious. Both rebel and break the father s heart. Both end up in a far off country, one physically, the other spiritually. The same undeserved love and unexpected grace is demonstrated in public humiliation to both. One understands and experiences that love and grace, the other as far as we know does not and remains lost, for the end of the story is missing. The final curtain has dropped, the last scene remains un played and the listener must decide what his response will be. So what about you, what about me. What about those of us who have experienced God s unmerited love and Grace and responded in repentance and faith, don t we want others who haven't, to experience it too and proclaim His free, unconditional and total acceptance of them in Christ? Would we accept the presentable and respectable outsider differently to the destitute, the immigrant or asylum seeker. Do we expect to see some sign of repentance or change of life first? Or do we truly believe that it is by God s Grace alone that we have been saved and not through any form of works? Who do you identify with in the story, do you identify with the prodigal? Have you experienced or still need to know the unconditional love and acceptance of the Father. Or do you identify with the older brother, does your legalistic religion appear more like slavery? Do you struggle to demonstrate God s unconditional love and grace to outsiders? The same undeserved love and unexpected grace is demonstrated to both, in public humiliation by the sinless Jesus, dying for our sin. In this parable it is as though Jesus is saying to the Pharisees, your inability to accept sinners and rejoice at their reconciliation with God is an offence to me, but even now, in the same way that it was offered and accepted by the younger son, God s love and grace is open to you, that you might be reconciled to the Father and each other. So have you seen and comprehended the Father love for us, in sending Jesus, who, as Paul tells us in Philippians being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death even death on a cross!

9 What appeared to many as injustice and defeat was in fact God s justice, punishing man s sin in his sinless son and Jesus victory over sin and death, that we might not die in our sin but gain eternal life through him, and like the returning prodigal, covering us in his best robe of righteousness, forgiven and reconciled to the Father. Let us pray