Frequently when Jesus was teaching, those of ill-repute were in the crowd, tax collectors and “other notorious sinners.” Usually, it wasn’t your Sunday School picnic assemblage. Religionistic marshals took note. With no intent of being helpful to the gifted rabbi, they complained. He was seen getting a little too close to the scum, even eating and drinking with them, the winos and gluttons that they were. Reputations are made by who your friends are. True, so why did Jesus seem to prefer, maybe even have a better time with the likes of these?

He answers with parables about what gets lost. In all, something has gone missing but is recovered. Sweet stories of sheep and missing coins They begin with a search for what is missing, ending with return of what is loved and precious to the owner. It’s ok, but nothing earth shattering.

I’m Outa Here!

Yeah, Jesus, but that’s how we want things to be. That’s love. That’s compassion. We all need more of that. We can see the nod in the crowd. You see, make your religion all about altruistic inclusive efforts, and you can get away with those late-night parties with your low-life friends. Yeah, this works just fine.

Perhaps Jesus knew this would happen, how his message would get bent, slanted into what people want to hear. People need small doses sometimes. Break the lesson up into parts, giving a little more as you go along. So there’s a follow up parable, known best as The Prodigal Son.

Everyone likes this one. “A man had two sons….” You know what’s coming, a story about family. Families are hotbeds of conflict, so this is going to be a good tale. Jesus gets straight to it. The younger of the two sons wants his share of his inheritance from his father’s estate now.

Now? Before his dad has kicked the bucket? That’s bold. What’s the deal? Does he feel his old man doesn’t know how to invest his money well and wants to take over?

If only the kid had that much sense, but don’t think so highly of him. Remember as well, this spoke clearly of the disrespect the younger son had for his father and what he had achieved in life. Right away, the crowd’s estimation of the jerk was sliding down fast. But Dad caves to him, giving the kid what he wants. Sure enough, a few days later the ingrate takes off and heads as far away from his father’s home and influence as he can get.

Every parent’s heart is picking up in beats at this point. Worst fears are going to be realized. The spoiled brat doesn’t disappoint. “He wasted all his money on wild living,” Jesus delicately puts it. There have been enough renditions of this story to know what that means; high moral living isn’t a part of it.

Don’t worry. The prodigal got his due. Just as his money ran out, there was an economic downturn, so to speak, a famine. Before long, this good-for-nothing was literally starving. For maybe the first time in his life, he had to do some real work. A person’s belly can be a real motivator. But the only job he could get was feeding pigs, and even then pig-slop looked appetizing to him.

Disgusting! No good Jewish boys should go near bacon. Weren’t pork rind and other swine product off limits, unclean foods the Law called them? Well, this shows it. You reap what you sow. Tough lesson, but it happens.

Hitting bottom is known as when people make choices with consequences that are extremely negative. Yet, some will sit in the pigsty and stay there sinking farther until they are looking up at bottom. Note how the wayward son is unnamed, but in the telling of his story, he has given meaning to “prodigal”. He’s lost. He needs to be found. However, in this story no one goes searching for him. The narrative curves differently from what happens with sheep and coins.

No Hope for the Hopeless

“When he finally came to his senses,…” Jesus says. No one has shown up to take him home. No one rescues him saying it’s all right and we’ll take care of you, shouldering you above the mess you’ve made. In the muck and filth of pigs, out of deep sucking mud, rising from the stench of his own skin comes a realization that would not have enlightened his mind otherwise. He finally came to his senses.

Reversing his thoughts, desires, even his needs, now repentant of what he has done, the pitiful young man makes a decision. He will return home, confess his sin to his father and God, and his unworthiness before them asking only to be a lowly hired hand. Less than son, relinquishing control of his life only asking for a meager existence, he pulls himself away from where he thought the “good life” would lead and heads home on the painful journey of regret and shame.

What he didn’t know as he trudged back along the path that had led to his destitution was how his father spotted his wayward son, “while he was a long distance away.” Perhaps this dad had often looked down this road remembering when his boy had left, run off really, forsaking all the lessons and love of his father. Now, in the space of distance and time between them, the father saw a different man, one defeated by the choices he had made, desperate for only a chance to survive.

But more importantly, the father also saw his son was coming home. Whatever had separated them would be restored. Driven by love and compassion, the father runs to meet him, catching him in an embrace that dissolves all separation.

Is This a Good Thing?

Sure, it is more than generous of the dad. He could have kicked that stupid kid back into the next pigpen, right what the jerk deserved anyway. Evidently, this father’s love had never changed; he hoped and prayed this day would come and he could have his son back with him. The question may be if this is a good thing for their relationship. People do a lot of bad things and will do anything to get out of it. Is the dad just setting himself up for more hurt later on down the road?

Smart. No one is blaming the dad for his love he still has for the son. But love alone won’t do it. While the son knows he has done wrong, it has to be expressed, admitted, sealed between them what has happened. He confesses how he disregarded the sacred relationship of son to father and how that also violated his relationship with God.

Yet, herein is also a difference from when he sat in the pigsty. Unlike before, he doesn’t ask for what he wants. He doesn’t ask to be taken on even as a hired hand or servant to the father. He leaves that judgement to the father. He has come to his senses one more time. He cannot control what the father will do but only trust there will be mercy.

And there is. Not just acceptance and forgiveness, but extravagant mercy, undeserved in the measure it is given. In his joy, the father calls for a fine robe, sandals, and a ring to dress his son, covering him again as beloved son and calls for a great feast to celebrate. “This son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.” Lost in who he was, now found in what he has become. Reversal brings joyful restoration and more, celebration in heaven over repentance and returning to God.

“Meanwhile, The Older Son….”

Here this third parable takes a turn unlike the other two. The party is in full swing. Food, dancing, laughter and lots of “welcome home” for the wayward son whose rejoined his family.

But the older son had missed it. He’d always been the “good child”, the one who met all expectations bringing honor to his father unlike his kid brother. Even that day, he'd been out in the fields, overseeing his father’s workers and minding the family business. Finding a midday, midweek party was the last thing he expected as he came home. He doesn’t take it well, won’t even go inside the house.

When his father hears his older son is there, he goes out to talk with him. Uh, seems like this dad is always going out to look for his boys. Chasing kids is his full-time job. Good point. Big brother explodes. For years, he’d been the one who stayed, not the slacker like his brother. For years, he followed orders, doing everything according to as his father said. Did he ever get a big party? No, not once. But now his kid brother gets an all-day fiesta with filet mignon as the main course.

This for the guy who’d taken the family wealth and thrown it away on wild women and that kind of lifestyle? It wasn’t right, just not fair. What kind of father would do this?

That depends. What are you looking for here? Justice? Due reward? You think “reap what you sow” should be the primary principle for the younger son? Turning back, repentance means nothing in that kind of world. Lock him into that pigpen and throw away the key. It’s what he deserves.

Interesting, isn’t it? The son who had stayed the closest to his father may have been the son who was as far away from his dad’s heart as you can get, just as lost as his brother. The younger son, even as he sat among the pigs, knew his father’s generous, unending love. He knew no matter how far the distance between them, he could always go home. The older one who in his faithfulness had never strayed away never saw it, never realized how much his father had missed and grieved the lost son. More significantly, he didn’t feel or share that loss with his father. All he saw in his brother’s return was what he didn’t get. A party, a one-day hoopla and time off from work.

Dad knows and reassures him of his love. Their relationship will not change. Neither will his inheritance. The younger son has spent his, and the older son will still get what’s left. That’s fair. Yet, the father also explains what this day meant. All that time, the father had felt and feared the worst. Now though, it was as if his son had died, would never come home, but has come back and come back to a new life. So as in the other narratives, the lost has now been found.

Ok, so that’s it? What did big brother do? How did he answer his father? Did he join the party, welcome his brother, or pack his bags and take off himself?

Jesus doesn’t say. He leaves it there. What do you think? Was his father’s answer enough, or did the older son remain in his anger and sense of injustice?

Nice touch there. Not a sermon, do-this-or-else kind of holy-hell threat. Just put it out there, let them know where God stands, let people come to their senses on their own. Even so, does this mean you can get away with anything? Take off, have a good time. Do like the rich guy did. Eat, drink, be merry and when it all falls apart, just go home with your tail between your legs. God has this covered.

One doesn’t have to read the Bible to understand you reap what you sow. People are behavioral. Freedom to make choices is God-given. Choices have consequences. But once made, consequences can sometimes choose the unintended for you. You’d think people would make choices that have positive consequences. Yet, some of them are slow learners and take longer. But when reversals are made, and grace is attained, heaven throws a party.

You going to be mad at God for that?

Luke 15:1-3, 11-32