Calling The Prodigal Home

March 18th:
Luke 15:11-32 (in the New Testament) is one of the most familiar parables that Jesus told; the story of the “prodigal son.”

There are a number of memorable characters in this short story and most of us find ourselves relating to one or the other of them. However, what often gets missed as we follow the progress of this run away boy is that this “made-up” story was addressed to two groups of real people.

It struck me that if we are going to get any real value out of this bit of teaching we might want to take a look at who the story was being told to.

The first group was “tax collectors and "sinners." Jesus had a habit of reaching out to those people who were the outcasts of society. Tax collectors were Jews who worked for the Roman government and they were considered to be the worst kind of traitors. The Romans didn’t care how much money the tax collectors collected as long as they got their cut. So, tax collectors basically extorted money from everyone and used Roman soldiers for protection.

“Sinners” is a word that would have included people like prostitutes, the physically crippled and even lepers. These were the members of society that honest, decent people avoided. These were the members of this society that were considered to be un-redeemable. I would assume that when you’ve been told for years that you are not acceptable that after a time you wouldn’t even want to try anymore. Jesus was a ray of hope for people who had no hope.

The other “real” people in the story were the “Pharisees and the teachers of the law.” They were the ones who spent their lives telling people what they could and could not do. They were the ones who determined who the “real sinners” were and who was “in” and who was “out.” They weren’t very “gracious” and they didn’t offer a lot of “mercy.” They were “hardnosed religious types.”

It was to these two groups of “real” people that Jesus told this story about two sons. The older son was a good boy. He stayed home, he did his work and he followed the rules. The younger son was just the opposite. He turned his back on his “decent” family and ran off to do the kinds of things that decent people don’t do. In fact, he went so far away and so far off the deep end that his family considered him dead. He was lost to them physically, emotionally and spiritually.

Most of the story is about how this “prodigal son” came to his senses and decided to return home to his father, but the point of the story isn’t so much about his decision to return as it is about the responses of his father and his older brother.

The older brother could only see how he, himself, had been “offended.” He was acting morally superior, which was bad enough but his real problem was that he had no mercy in his life. He had no forgiveness in his heart, no grace to offer. He wanted his brother to stay dead. The father (on the other hand) saw what was really happening. He loved his son and understood that the son was stepping from death back into life. The father was willing to forgive and welcome his “lost son” back into the family.

But we have to come back to the fact that this make believe story was being told to two groups of real people and the implications are pretty clear. The tax collectors and sinners are the “son who walked away” from the family. They were the ones who had made poor choices and had found themselves far away and lost. The Pharisees and teachers of the Law were the “elder son” who chose to be offended and had forgotten about things like mercy and grace. They cared more about being right than they did about these other people. At least on the surface, they were the ones who were following the rules and doing their jobs, but they had no heart.

And the application is also fairly clear. If you have wandered away and your life is coming apart IT IS TIME TO COME HOME. Your heavenly Father is waiting for you to come and will welcome you back into the family. He wants you to move from death to life.

If you have never strayed then you need to remember that IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU! Be grateful for all that you have been given and learn to care about those “lost” brothers and sisters. Don’t turn them away. Invite them home. This is OUR job.