Return of the Lost Son

Fourth Sunday in Lent, C

March 10, 2013

Luke 15:11-32

Introduction

The Parable of the Prodigal Son has got to be the one of most difficult passage to preach; not because not enough has been said about it, but because it has been preached so often. It is doubtless that countless people have found the Lord because of the preaching of this parable. But so much have been said about this, it’s hard to say any thing more. It has been preached so often, it does not startle us anymore. We forget that this is the story how sadly lost we humans are—and how deep is God’s love toward us.

The Parable of the Lost Son is a story how far away we can drift from God, and how joyfully God receives us on our return.

I.    The Descent into Sin and Death (Luke 15:11-16)

A.    The first stage of the descent into sin is independence from God. The moment we think we can live apart from God, the seed of sin is planted into our heart.

The younger son asked his father his inheritance (v. 12). John Wesley says, “See the root of all sin! A desire of disposing of ourselves; of independency on God!” (Notes Upon the New Testament). The passage says that “he divided to them his substance”—the Greek word is βιος, bios, ‘life’. The origin of sin is a life separated with God!

            Why did the father just give the younger son his inheritance? “The father fulfills the request of the son out of profound respect for his freedom, and lets him go for the same reason. God neither holds nor pulls anyone by force” (The Orthodox Study Bible, 1993).

B.     The second stage of the descent into sin is separation from God. After the younger son received his inheritance, he “gathered all together” (by probably selling off his inheritance for money), “and took a journey into a far country” (v. 13). Living in sin is living apart from God: “Far from God: God was not in all his thoughts” (Notes Upon the New Testament).

C.     The third stage of the descent into sin is living riotously (John Wesley New Testament). “Riotously” here is the Greek word ασωτος asōtos, meaning “dissolutely, profligately” (Thayer’s Definition). The word can be parsed as α a- ‘not’ and σωζω sōzō, ‘safe’—a word which is associated with the word “salvation”. Another translation may be “and there he wasted his property on prodigal living”. The prodigal son was living an ‘unsafe’ life, that is, dangerous—or in other words, he is living his life as an ‘unsaved’ person!

D.    The fourth stage of the descent into sin is living in destitution. After the younger son has squandered his father’s property on prostitutes (see v. 30) and—no doubt—in other forms of indulgence and excess, “he began to be in want” (v. 14). Furthermore, “there arose a mighty famine in the land”. As of his money is gone, and even if he had money, he could not buy anything. A profligate lifestyle will always lead to the depletion of one’s resources!

E.     The final stage of the descent into sin is death. It is literally a dead end. “And he went and joined himself with a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields, to feed swine” (v. 15). The meat of pigs is unclean in the Torah, and for a Jew to be reduced to feeding pigs, it must have been the closest thing to death! He was so hungry, “he would fain have filled his belly with the husks (κερατιον, keration, ‘carob pods’, used for fattening swine but also food for the lower classes) that the swine did eat” because no one gave him anything to eat (v. 16).

But in the lowest part of our lives, we may come to a point where we see how far we have fallen, and how much we are in need for God.

II. The Ascent into Life and God (Luke 15:17-24)

A.    The first step into the ascent to life is realization. In the lowest point of his life, the younger son comes to a realization (which is literally what the Greek says: εις εαυτον δε ελθιων, eis eauton de elthiōn, ‘and he came to himself’). He realized how far he has fallen: “How many hired servants of my father have bread enough and to spare, and I am perishing with hunger” (v. 17).

B.     The second step into the ascent to life is repentance. Repentance is a change of mind. He sets himself to return to his father and ask for his forgiveness: "I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee: I am no more worthy to be called thy son; make me as one of thy hired servants " (v. 18-19). Often when we think about our sins, we feel that we are no longer worthy to be called children of God. But little does the younger son know of his father's reception.

C.     The third step into the ascent to life is return. "The lost son resolved to return to his father, he began to execute his resolution" (Notes Upon the New Testament). From the "far country", which represents a life separated from God, the younger son returns to the "near country", to be with his father again. And he did not have to travel all the way: "But while he was yet a great way off, his father saw him,"--the father had been waiting for him after all!--"and his bowels yearned, and he ran, and fell on his neck and kissed him" (v. 20). "The father's tender actions show he never ceased looking for the return of his son, just as God always longs for the return of every sinner to his loving embrace" (The Orthodox Study Bible).

D.    The fourth step into the ascent to life is restoration. The acts of realization, repentance, and return is our part. But when we have returned, it is now God's part. The younger son was not even able to finish his "prepared script", his prayer of repentance:  "Interrupting him before he had finished what he intended to say. So does God frequently cut an earnest confession short by a display of his pardoning love" (Notes Upon the New Testament). The father then proceeds to give his son symbols of sonship: the robe, the ring, and the sandals. The robe is a symbol of righteousness (Isaiah 61:10); the ring is a symbol of the father's authority (Haggai 2:23). Sandals simply mean that he doesn't have to walk around barefoot like a slave. From being "dead", the father restored the younger son to being "alive", from being "lost" to being "found" (v. 30; cf. 32).

E.     The final step into the ascent to life is rejoicing. The father ordered a feast to celebrate the return of his son. "Both here, and wherever else this word occurs, whether in the Old or New Testament, it implies nothing of levity, but a solid, serious, religious, heartfelt joy..." (Notes Upon the New Testament). Jesus said, "There is joy in the presence of the angels of God, over one sinner that repenteth" (Luke 15:10).