First, we have to remember that this is not a stand-alone parable. It is the third in a set of three parables about things that are lost. The first one, Luke 15:3-7 is about one sheep out of 100 getting lost. The second one, 15:8-10, is about one in ten coins getting lost. And the Prodigal Son is about one of two sons getting lost. Perhaps it would be better to study all three as a group, but we’ll discover that the Prodigal Son is quite enough to cover in one sermon. The other two will show up as the gospel reading in September.
There is a very important ancient text we need to keep in mind to understand this parable. You won’t find it in your Bibles unless it includes the apocryphal texts of the Old Testament. The text we need is Sirach 33:20-24:
“To son or wife, to brother or friend,
Do not give power over yourself as long as you live;
And do not give your property to another,
In case you change your mind and must ask for it.
While you are still alive and have breath in you,
Do not let anyone take your place;
For it is better that your children should ask from you
Than that you should look to the hand of your children.
Excel in all that you do;
Bring no stain upon your honor.
At the time when you end the days of your life,
In the hour of death, distribute your inheritance.”
Keep that passage in your mind because Jesus plays on that advice in the parable.
So a man has two sons. The younger son asks a very shameful thing, “Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.” Basically he’s saying, “Father, you’re dead to me. Just get on with dying so I can my hands on your property.” So much for the commandment to honor your father and mother!
A wise father would condemn such a request and refuse. But what does this father do? He gives in! He divides the property between his sons.
The younger son then does another very shameful thing. He sells the property! Commentator Joel Green notes this, “The division of an estate during the lifetime of the father is one thing; actually disposing of one’s inheritance by turning it into transportable capital during his lifetime is quite another, and it is at this point that the younger son’s shocking breach of familial ties surfaces dramatically. The parable outlines a series of acts that lead from one level of infamy to the next: the request for his in heritance in v 12 now gives way to his actual disposal of the same, his departure, and his squandering of his resources while living as though he were a Gentile.” (New International Commentary of the New Testament, Gospel of Luke, Pg. 580)
This son has not only rejected his father and his brother. He’s rejected his religion, his culture and his country. This guy is the scum of the earth. He’s a lowlife. He’s a scoundrel. He’s filth. If you find parallels between yourself and him – particularly if you had a wild youth – don’t. He’s worse than you ever dreamed of being! And he’s not going to get better!
After he’s quickly blown all the property and money countless generations of his ancestors labored to create he’s in trouble. Because of a famine he hires himself out as a laborer to someone in the foreign land who sends him to feed pigs. Remember pigs are unclean animals to Jews. Jews don’t eat them, they also don’t touch them or have any dealings with them at all. Our prodigal would have gladly eaten the pigs slop – garbage as it is – but he’s not even getting that. He’s now lower than an unclean animal.
He comes to his senses and realizes he’d be better off returning home. He thinks, “How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.’”
Notice two things from this. We learn something about the father’s nature. This father was a wealthy landowner. We know because he has a number of hired hands. Life is hard, and hired hands were always paid subsistence wages. I’ve mentioned this before. You’d work all day today to earn enough money to buy food for yourself so you could survive to work all day tomorrow to once again earn enough to buy food. Money was hard to come by, even for the wealthy. You got what you had and you held on to it firmly. There was very little in the way of generosity. But here we discover that the father makes it a regular habit to pay in excess, “How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough, and to spare…”
In other words, the father’s pretty generous not only with the prodigal son but also people who are his laborers, not his relatives. We realize that all along this father isn’t all that careful with the property.
The second thing is that while this prodigal son is returning to his father he isn’t really repenting. He isn’t saying, “Father, I’m sorry. I really really blew it! Please forgive me and take me back.” No, this is more of a business calculation. He’ll return to his father and work as a day laborer because he knows his father is generous to the day laborers. So he sets off for home.
Now we see even more deeply into the nature of the father. People of wealth and status walked places. They didn’t run. The held their heads high and with dignity. I’m reminded of the line from the movie The Princess Diaries where Julie Andrews says to her niece played by Anne Hathaway, “We never run. We hasten.”
There is also a very practical reason why rich people didn’t run. Men wore robes. Have you ever tried running in a long robe? Have the women ever tried running a full sprint in a dress? You have one of two options. Either you get all tangled up in your robe and you fall… or, you hike your dress or robe up high enough it doesn’t interfere with your legs!
So, imagine this scene (And I’m sorry that once you get this image in your head you’ll never get it out again!). You have a rich elderly man sitting on his porch and he sees his long lost son coming up the lane. He’s so excited that this man, who should be acting like a dignified elderly gentleman, hikes up his robes to his waste (He’s not wearing any underwear because it hasn’t been invented yet!) and as best an old man can run –with a robe held up to his waste with his hands- he goes running down the street calling out to his son!
Oh dear, it’s time to blush! This man has given in to his shameful son’s request. He pays his laborers too much. And he runs around exposing himself to the whole town! If you thought your parents were embarrassing when you were a teenager, your parents had nothing on this guy!
He runs to meet his shameful, unclean, and because he was dealing with pigs, ritually defiled son and adds to all his shameful acts by publically embracing him. Before his son can even get out his pseudo-repentance business proposition the father has said to the slaves, “Quickly, bring out robe – the best one – and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.”
Remember Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. That coat was more than just colorful. It was a symbol of the father’s favor and it was a sign of high authority. Here the father gives his son the full measure of family authority. And more; the ring put on his finger would be the signet ring. It would have had a raised pattern of the family seal on it. When signing a contract it would have been pressed into hot wax and affixed to the document as a seal. In other words, the father just gave the prodigal full legal rights of any family member and power over the property – which, incidentally, is supposed to go to his brother; the one who’s been faithful all along.
Is there any wonder why the elder brother is upset when he finds out about the celebration as he’s coming in from working in the fields? He is livid beyond all belief! His dad just gave his prodigal brother power over what’s left of the property!
The younger son acts shamefully. The father acts shamefully. Now we’ll discover that the elder son acts shamefully too; and has been for some time.
He refuses to go in to his father. This is a serious breach of honoring of father and mother. He leverages his father into leaving the celebration and meeting him in his own place and on his own terms. In other words, this son is a scoundrel too. If Jesus’ original audience was backing this older son as the good guy of the story they aren’t anymore. Sure, he’s right to be angry. But there are ways to be angry with your parents without acting shamefully.
As he talks to his father we discover more bad things about this elder son. Notice, he never calls his father, “Father.” He never acknowledges his brother as brother either. He says to his father, “This son of yours…” He answers his father, “Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends.”
Remember, the father pays the hired hands generously, but this son has never laid claim to his role in the family. Of his own choice he has lived like a slave. He has refused to recognize his brother as brother. He has refused to recognize his father as father. He has refused to accept his father’s invitation to the celebration. He has refused all family connections. His phrase, “… you have never given me even a young goat to celebrate with my friends,” greatens his distance even more; for he has not wanted a goat to celebrate with his family. If he can celebrate he says he wants to celebrate with his friends, not his father or any family member.
Believe it or not all this only scratches the surface of this parable. It teaches us many many things. There are two I want to bring up now, and a third one we’ll bring up in next week’s sermon.
Notice how totally dysfunctional this family is. My one seminary professor said we should not call this the parable of the Prodigal Son. We should call it the parable of the shameful father and his two shameful sons. If one of this parable’s teachings is to show something about the family of God then we’d better be willing to accept that the church isn’t going to be a Pollyanna sweet family system.
If you ever study the Jewish scriptures carefully to see how their relationship with God went you realize it looks like a really really bad marriage. But no matter how bad the people act God hangs in there with them.
Finally the biggest thrust of the parable is the need to celebrate restoration into the family. Broken and messed up as it all is – in other words, all too normal – when a lost one is restored there is joy. We should not react with anger or jealousy when we see God’s grace extended to others. We should react with joy, even when it doesn’t seem fair. That is the role of the elder brother – the one who cries that it isn’t fair. Unwittingly however, these people have also distanced themselves from the family. They just didn’t realize it.
May your family be better than the family in the parable. May you find joy in God’s mercy so that you can rejoice in what God has done in claiming you, and also rejoice in seeing God’s claim be made upon others too.
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