The Prodigal God. Luke 15: The Prodigal God. Where do we go to find a faultless father?

Transcription

1 The Prodigal God Where do we go to find a faultless father? I love my father. He is a kind man with great integrity, and is still good company. But he is not perfect! The Prodigal God Luke 15:11-32 Morning Services St Stephens, Belrose I can illustrate his imperfections with a mistake he and mum made the day that I was born. They called me David Campbell Ritchie. According to my grandmother, Campbell was not a good choice. My grandmother belonged to the McDonald clam. In 1692 a member of the Campbell clan, Robert Campbell organised a massacre of 38 McDonalds. It became known as the Glencoe massacre. According to my grandmother, no one in their right mind would call her grandson, Campbell! My dad was clearly not perfect.

2 There is another famous Campbell who has a less-than-perfect father Australian singer, David Campbell. 1 In an interview with the ABC he said this, It s pretty widely known that I was adopted by my grandmother and she brought me up as her son. For the first 11 years I thought she was my mother (and that my mother was my older sister). My grandmother instilled in me the feeling that adopted kids are wanted. I remember this guy Jimmy Barnes visited once or twice, when I was quite young. He dropped off a cassette on day. I remember him being fun and loud. I put the tape on and thought, That s not for me. That s terrible stuff, it s very loud and offensive. I was 11 when I found out that Jimmy Barnes was my father. 2 It was certainly a shock to find out that my sister was my mother! Jimmy Barnes was only 16 years old when he fathered David Campbell, not nearly old enough to be a perfect dad. It is very likely that you had less-than-perfect dad. Some dads were absent. Some were critical and rejecting. Some were abusive. And many of us have longed for and still long to find someone who could fill the void left by the imperfections of our dads. And perhaps find a faultless father-figure? The Bible says that we meet our true father in its pages and through Jesus Christ. Luke 15 certainly makes this very clear.

3 Read Luke 15:1-3a. Jesus then tells three parables (or riddles) which are primarily aimed at the self-righteousness of people like the Pharisees. The third riddle is often called The Prodigal Son. The word prodigal means recklessly and wastefully extravagant. In this parable it is the father who is recklessly and wastefully extravagant in his love for his son. This morning, I m focussing on the relationship between the father and the youngest son. There are three things we learn about this father. 1. sets us free to reject him: The first is in verses Read these verses. Kenneth Bailey was an American missionary who spent many years as a missionary in Lebanon. Kenneth Bailey was brought up in the middle East by missionary parents. He immersed himself in the peasant culture that Jesus would have been born into and been so familiar with. In his book, Poet and Peasant he makes an interesting point: For over 15 years I have been asking people of all walks of life from Morocco to India and from Turkey to the Sudan about the implications of a son s request for his inheritance while the father is still living. The answer has almost always been emphatically the same. The conversation runs as follows: Has anyone ever made such a request at your village? Never! Could anyone ever make such a request? Impossible! If anyone ever did, what would happen? His father would beat him, of course! Why?

4 This request means he wants his father to die! Notice that the younger son doesn t just ask for ownership of his inheritance. He also asks for the right to sell it. Which is what he does. Verse 13 makes it clear that he has converted his inheritance into cash. This is unheard of. It s like saying, Dad I want you to die. In fact I can t wait for you to die! And the amazing thing is that the father lets him reject him. Years ago I had a friend who share how tough and controlling her father was towards her. He was an atheist. Our friend learned about Jesus at primary school, and asked her dad if she go to the local youth group and church on Sunday. In fact, repeatedly refused until she was an older teenager. Her dad tried to force her into his own image. You can t do that as a parent, especially as our children become adults. Sadly, some of my church friends are still trying to manipulate and control their grown-up children. The father in this story is willing to give his sons the freedom to reject his love. That is what our heavenly Father does to us: He lets us go, if we want to go. We turn our backs on him, we push him to the sidelines, we ignore him, we disobey him And he lets us. Of course the consequences are ultimately catastrophic. Read verses Over my dead body! he said and refused her request.

5 It is certainly starvation that drives him home And perhaps a desire to make amends (read vs 17-19). There were three levels of workers on a landowner s property in those days: a) Bondservants. These were like upper class slaves. Competent and trusted. Often treated like the family they lived with. b) Slaves who did most of the menial work. c) Hired hands. Casual labourers from the village. The son is not asking to come home. He doesn t want to make it awkward for his father and brother. He is prepared to live in the village and work for his living Perhaps pay back his father. And that presents its own problems. When a Jewish landowner sold a field to a Gentile, the community expressed its displeasure through a ceremony called, kezazah. A senior relative would bring a container of dried corn and nuts and break it open in the presence of children. The children would gather the nuts and corn and say, this man is cut off from his inheritance! Kezazah means cutting off. Clearly the younger son has sold out to the Gentiles. When he returns to his community, word will get around. People will gather to taunt him, abuse him, perhaps even strike him, and perhaps perform the kezazah ceremony to show their scorn, anger and rejection. It s going to be very humiliating. 2. That takes us to the second feature of the father in this story. We read in vs 20 that, while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him: he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. In the Middle East older men do not run! (according to Kenneth Bailey). Aristotle said, Great men never run in public.

6 There is a sense in which the father is doing this for the sake of his son, out of great compassion. He knows what the village will do to him. He turns the public humiliation towards himself so that his wayward son doesn t have to bear it himself. People are watching. And as they watch they see the father, embrace him and kiss his son clear demonstrations of reconciliation and forgiveness. Our heavenly Father is like that: He is willing to be ashamed and humiliated for our sakes. Emptying himself of the privileges of being God s Son, Jesus entered our world, born into a peasant family, grew up, experienced great pain and rejection and descended to the very bottom of the universe when he died a shameful death on a cross. And he did all that for us, so that we might never experience God s eternal judgement on our shameful treatment of him. And he did all that out for great compassion. Paul said, God demonstrated his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Through Jesus, our heavenly Father stands in our place so that we can come home. 3. And when we do, God treats us like royalty. Read vs He doesn t stand there with a withering, disapproving glare when we turn back to him. He celebrates. Read vs 7 and 10. He is glad to have us back. He is pleased when we return.

7 Conclusion: It saddened me when I heard Greg Norman say that he wished his golfing prowess would bring him his father s approval. It saddened me when one of my neighbours shared with me the pain of his father s on-going disapproval, even now, as his father comes toward the end of his life. The reality is that even if our fathers do change, it won t really undo all the damage that s been done, the wounds in our psyches. We need to know and be known by our heavenly Father Who loves us so deeply that he would allow us to reject his love Who will do anything and everything to stand in our place so that we can come home.,. And who celebrates when we do. It is a wonderful thing to come into God s family and to receive his forgiveness and acceptance and healing. Do you need to come home today?