June 15, 2025
Prodigal
Luke 15:11-32
The art of short story writing and storytelling has been an enduring art form that has made an impact on generation after generation. The charm of short stories is that they immediately engage the reader or listener, mentally stimulate them, emotionally connect with them, and convey a deep message in a short time. Another reason it has endured is that those who create short stories can use a variety of methods to communicate them. It can be from the verbal stories shared by the Jewish Nation as they marched to the promised land, to the printed book of my childhood, and the short format of social media platforms today. Whichever one you prefer, they all play off the craft of short storytelling. Several years ago, a group of literary scholars was asked to come up with what they thought the best short story of all time was. I thought about how I would have answered this question. Maybe it was “To Build a Fire” by Jack London, or perhaps “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe, or thinking about Poe, maybe it could be “The Raven”, but I guess that’s more of a poem than a short story. Maybe it’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”, “The Monkey’s Paw”, or “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”. All of those unnerved me as a kid and have since stuck with me because of their jarring narratives, but none of these were what the scholars picked. Over 70% said the greatest short story ever told was the story of the Prodigal Son told by Jesus. They said they chose this because it was the story that you can read time and time again, and each time it makes an impact and leaves a lasting impression. This has been true of this story since Jesus first shared it 2,000 years ago. We find it in the 15th chapter of the book of Luke. It was the third of three stories that Jesus told to a crowd that included some religious leaders who had been getting upset because Jesus had been fraternizing with sinners. Jesus knew the problem wasn’t that He was hanging out with sinners because everyone has sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. The problem was that the religious leaders did not understand God’s forgiveness. Jesus told them some parables to help them understand what forgiveness was all about. He told them a story of a coin that was lost by carelessness, but also about the joy that was experienced once the lost coin was found. He told them a story of a foolish sheep who wandered away from the flock, but again told of the joy that happened when that sheep was found and brought back. However, after the first two, He goes into His most memorable of the three parables. This would have been the one that upset the religious leaders the most because it was about forgiving blatant and arrogant rebellion, which the religious had a hard time forgiving. Therefore, this morning I want us to look at this parable. It is the parable that many believe we have mislabeled as “The Prodigal Son” because, as we will see, this story is about much more than just the prodigal son. We have to start somewhere, so let’s start with the prodigal son.
The Prodigal Son - Luke 15:11-19
To illustrate the point further, Jesus told them this story: “A man had two sons. The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now before you die.’ So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons. “A few days later, this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living. About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything. “When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”’
Jesus starts this story by telling us it’s about a man and his two sons. We see from even the first words of Jesus that this story is going to be about more than just the prodigal. However, that’s who Jesus is speaking of when He speaks of the younger son. That’s the one most people are familiar with. The word prodigal is a Church Word that many people misunderstand. Most of the time, we think the word is used to describe people who have gone wayward in life, but that’s not true, even though it does describe the young man in this story. Instead, “prodigal” means recklessly wasteful, and this son fits that definition perfectly. As the story begins, the son does the unthinkable. He disrespects his father by asking for his portion of the inheritance before the father dies. For reasons we are not told, the father obliged, and the son set off for the big city with his fortune. A young man setting off for the big city was not something abnormal. Many young men did the same. They went to the big city to seek their fortune, to start a business, or to learn a trade. They usually went to the big city to work or get an education in order to establish a life for the future of their families, but not this young man. This journey to the city is where he received the name “prodigal”. Jesus tells us this young man didn’t go with any motive other than to indulge his every desire in the big city. This was why he got the name “prodigal”. He was wasteful in everything he did. It was not only his money that he wasted. He wasted his time, he wasted his talents, and he wasted his relationship with his father. As usually happens when one is not diligent in being a good steward of their finances (managing them as God calls us to), the money and the good times run out. Sin always does that in our lives. When the sin starts, it’s fun and exciting, and we think the good times will never end. However, when the consequences of sin come calling, we lose more than we ever thought because, as God tells us in Scripture, all sin leads to death (Romans 6:23). There is one more thing that this young man is going to lose — he is about to lose all of his dignity. Jesus continues the story by telling us that around the time the son's money ran out, a famine hit the land, and the son began to starve. I’m sure he never imagined when he set out from his home that he would ever be in this position. However, because of his sin, he was at death's door and had to do the unthinkable as a Jew. It wasn’t that a farmer came and asked if he needed a job, but the son went and begged to do something that Jews were commanded never to do — he begged a gentile farmer to let him feed his pigs (Leviticus 11:7). It seems like the young man had hit rock bottom and the world had no more use for him so it had thrown him out, but just when he thought it couldn’t get worse, he started to be jealous, not of the “friends” he once had, but of the very pigs he was feeding. In this moment of despair, the young man realized something that he had never realized before — he had sinned.
Eight times in Scripture, we see the phrase “I have sinned”. The Pharaoh at the time of the Exodus, Balaam, Saul, Judas, Job, Achan, David, and the prodigal son all spoke this phrase. Most of these only understood they were sinners and did nothing with their realization. Those who not only came to the understanding that they were sinners, but also repented, are the ones who saw compassion that this world could never offer. The prodigal son was one of those. He understood he had sinned and knew that nothing he could do could save him from his predicament. He knew his only hope was the father whom he sinned against. That’s who he was going to turn to. Maybe, just maybe, the father would let him be a servant at his house. He had everything rehearsed in his repentance, and he set off for home.
In this parable, we can all identify as the prodigal, and I think that this is one of the reasons that this story is so memorable. Just as Scripture tells us, we have all gone astray and have wasted many of the blessings God has given us on things of this world that don’t have an eternal impact. Our time, our talents, our money — we all have done it, and we all have sinned against God. However, as a follower of Christ, we have all come to the same point the prodigal son came to here. We have sinned against God, and we must turn to Him because He is our only hope. When we do, we experience everything the prodigal son did when he turned back to the forgiving Father.
The Forgiving Father - Luke 15:20-24
“So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.’ “But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began.
As the prodigal comes to the Father, we see the Father’s character on display. We need to understand that in this story, while those who have been born again are represented by the prodigal, it is God who is represented by the Father. The very first thing we learn about the Father is not something that we are told, but rather it is something that is implied. The Father was waiting and watching for the son to return. His love had never wavered for his son, and day after day, he watched in faith for him to return. The Father loves and has compassion for all those who are lost and wants them all to return to Him (1 Timothy 2:4-6). Just as shocking as the prodigal's actions and to begin this story, so are the actions of the Father. Fathers, especially ones who were in the right and who were sinned against, never ran. I mean, NEVER ran. However, not the Father in Jesus' story. As soon as the son turned to him in faith, the Father ran to meet him with love and compassion the world never showed, nor could it. When the Father met the son, the son tried to repeat his recited words of repentance, but it wasn’t the words that invoked the Father's response. It was his faith that moved the Father to meet him with grace. The Father's response was so full of mercy and grace that the son did not expect. He did not receive the repose he deserved, but instead he was given a robe — a symbol of honor. He was given a ring, which was a symbol of authority because he was a son of the Father, and sandals were given, which were a symbol of being a free man. The Father went above and beyond anything the son deserved. The Father was a loving and gracious man. He lavished everything he had upon this son, who was once dead but was brought back to life. He was lost, but now he was found, all because of the grace of the Father. As a follower of Jesus, you cannot help but look at the Father’s actions here and remember all God has done for you. You were lost in your sin, but by faith, when you came to God through Jesus, He not only forgave you, but He embraced you. He clothed you in His righteousness. He gave you a place of honor by adopting you into the royal family of the King of Kings. He set you free from the slavery of sin. Not because you deserve it, but because He is a good Father. Even though the Father's love is on display here and in our lives, it is the highlight of all of history. It’s not the main point of the story. Remember, Jesus is addressing a bunch of religious leaders who are upset. The main point of the story lies within the response of the second son.
The Graceless Son - Luke 15:25-32
“Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working. When he returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house, and he asked one of the servants what was going on. ‘Your brother is back,’ he was told, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf. We are celebrating because of his safe return.’ “The older brother was angry and wouldn’t go in. His father came out and begged him, but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time, you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!’ “His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!”
The son was angry. He was angry that the other son found salvation while he remained faithful to the father. He was not looking for the lost son to return. He was too busy being about the Father’s business. He did not see anything except the celebration, and he was upset because he had never been celebrated. He refused to celebrate the Salvation his brother found, so the Father came and talked to him. He reminded him because of his faithful service that the Father had belonged to the Son. He needed to understand that his brother was dead, but had been brought back to life. The oldest son couldn’t see past his jealousy. He could not rejoice in the Father's love, joy, and eagerness to receive the lost. Can you imagine what would have happened in this story if the brother were the one who had met him in the field? I think we would have seen a very different story because the son would have never returned to the Father — he would have been sent away. This brother was the point of the story because that is exactly who the religious leaders gathered there were acting like. They were being gatekeepers to grace. When we gatekeep grace, we miss the beauty and meaning of the Gospel. Jesus died for all the unrighteous and the self-righteous alike. Don’t hinder anyone from coming to Jesus, but rejoice when they experience the Salvation that you have experienced. It doesn’t matter your past. With Jesus, all that matters is your future.
So, which character in this story do you identify with? All of us should identify with the prodigal because we were all there at one time, in desperate need of Salvation, with our only hope being turning to the Father. With it being Father's Day, I hope that we as Fathers look to the Father to understand how to be a Godly Father. It is who we need to identify with because being a Father is more than just having a child. A Father models their behavior to look like God and His care for us. As Fathers, we must be compassionate. We must love unconditionally. We must have mercy, we must have grace, we must be present in our children's lives, we must lovingly correct, and we must lead our families spiritually. We must try to identify with God and love our families, and lead our families just as Christ leads the church. We need to make sure we never identify with the religious leaders. We can never, as a church, not be inviting to whosoever will come. We can never find ourselves unforgiving and jealous of those Jesus saves. We must rejoice just as they do in heaven when a sinner comes to the Savior.
