The Tale Of Prodigal Brothers

路加福音第15章：1-2节，11-32节
Sermon on Luke 15:11-32

The Tale of the Prodigal Brother ( Luke 15:11-12)
Family! ( Said in a tone of exasperation and with feeling).
Family members! … You love them but sometimes they drive you up the wall. Particularly for the parent-child relationship, or the relationship between siblings- when it’s good it can be very good. But when it’s bad, it can be pretty terrible.
I actually feel like I know the siblings of my good friends very well, even if, in reality, I have not even met them. That’s because my friends often come to me to share (complain?) about what their siblings have done “this time”; this usually starts with “ my brother….”, a shake of the head, and a meaningful look, and we’re off on another tale of woe! If you were a good friend of the older bother in today’s story, I’m sure you would feel indignant on his behalf. I certainly would.
The title of today’s sermon is The Tale of the Prodigal Brother (credit and thanks to Pastor Siow Hwee for this title). In this, Jesus uses the characters in a family to speak to His listeners. From Chapter 15, verse 1-2, we see that there are sinners as Pharisees in the crowd; and thus the parable holds two slightly different ( but interconnected) messages. We will look at each on in turn- firstly from the perspective of the younger brother, and then from that of the older brother.
(A) The Lost Son
Today’s parable sits as the last of a trio, starting with the parable of the lost sheep, that of the lost coin and finally the parable of the prodigal son. All these stories deal with the classic theme of being lost and found again; firstly it’s the sheep that’s lost, then a coin, and finally, a son. These 3 parables show variations on a theme of love, grace and repentance.
The parable of the prodigal son is by far one of the most famous parables in the bible and has been rendered many times in art, or even song, or books of reflection. The phrase “prodigal son” has gone into common usage as meaning “a redeemed returner”.
The crowd would have understood the severity of what the younger son did- he asked his father for his share of his inheritance earlier. This was unheard of in those cultures and very disrespectful, as it was normally only done when his father has passed away. Yet his father did as asked; and the young man left “ for a far country”, and proceeded to squander and spend all this money. He was reduced to a job feeding swines- again, unheard of among Jews and regarded as very very beneath them.
The crowd (in particular the Pharisees) would also have understood how remarkable the father’s response, when the young man finally came to his sense, repented, and went home.
Verse 20- when he had sighted the young man (“still a long way off”), the father’s heart was pounding, and he ran out and embraced him. When the young man tried to deliver his speech;- “ Father, I’ve sinned against God, I’ve sinned against you, I don’t deserve to be called your son ever again..”, he hadn’t even completed the rest of what he had practiced “take me as a hired hand”.. when the father was calling out to the servants. The fatted calf, the family ring, the sandals- all signs of a celebration and homecoming. There was feasting! A wonderful time! Because his son was dead and now alive! Given up for lost and now found! And “they began to have a wonderful time!” (MSG).
Applying the message:
To be prodigal means to be wastefully or recklessly extravagant. Lavishly extravagant- not in a good way, but by way of squandering or being spendthrift.
In this story, then, what has the younger son squandered? His inheritance, the money from share of his Father’s property? His father’s affections, and love and trust? He has foolishly and recklessly thrown away his identity as a beloved son, as the offspring of a home owner and a rich farmer, who had farmhands working for him, who were able to “sit down to three square meals a day”. He threw all that day and instead “packed his bags and left for a distant country”. He turns his back and goes further and further from home.
As we apply this parable to our own lives, we ask if we, like the younger son, have turned out backs on our identity as the children of God, and gone to “a strange and distant land”- namely further and further from God: the “far country”, says St Augustine, “signifies the forgetfulness of God.” Some of you may not know that St Augustine of Hippo, the Bishop of Hippo and certainly a famous one at that, is also known as “ The Prodigal Saint” .
Although Augustine was brought up with best efforts by his very devoted and pious mother Monica, yet he went astray. Beginning for his escapes in school, his thieving and boasting ways, then on to worse and worse things; he ended up very far from God. His mother wept many tears and prayed for him through his sin and foolishness.
One of Augustine’s lasting legacies was his writings- The Confessions of St Augustine- written in his mid-40s, about his conversation experience and his journey with God. He writes about his regrets of his past sins, and, written in the spirit of prayers to God ( based on the Psalms of David), begins with “"For Thou has made us for thyself and our hearts are restless till they rest in Thee”.
Henri Nouwen also wrote a book based on his meditation of Rembrandt’s painting the Return of the Prodigal Son. In it, he talks about love, and searching for what cannot be found . He says, at the heart is the issue, “To whom do I belong? To God or to the world?”
"I am the prodigal son every time I search for unconditional love where it cannot be found. Why do I keep ignoring the place of true love and persist in looking for it elsewhere? Why do I keep leaving home where I am called a child of God, the Beloved of my Father? I am constantly surprised at how I keep taking the gifts God has given me — my health, my intellectual and emotional gifts — and keep using them to impress people, receive affirmation and praise, and compete for rewards, instead of developing them for the glory of God.
Yes, I often carry them off to a 'distant country' and put them in the service of an exploiting world that does not know their true value. It's almost as if I want to prove to myself and to my world that I do not need God's love, that I can make a life on my own, that I want to be fully independent.
Beneath it all is the great rebellion, the radical 'No' to the Father's love, the unspoken curse: 'I wish you were dead.' The prodigal son's 'No' reflects Adam's original rebellion: his rejection of the God in whose love we are created and by whose love we are sustained. It is the rebellion that places me outside the garden, out of reach of the tree of life. It is the rebellion that makes me dissipate myself in a 'distant country.'
Does that describe you? Rebellious, maybe even a little afraid, constantly running away, trying to make a life for ourselves- wanting the gifts of our Maker, but wanting to spend them on our own terms. After all, God gave us free will, didn’t He? He doesn’t BIND us.
And so this is the first message of the parable for sinners in the crowd, and for ourselves. We CAN come home, if we only repent. Through the years, many, many people have found solace and courage in this message . However, the parable doesn’t end there; Jesus has a little extra for us. The second part of the message is about the older brother- the one who wasn’t that happy to see his errant younger brother return.
(B) The Older Brother
The older brother’s words were: , ‘Look how many years I’ve stayed here serving you, never giving you one moment of grief, but have you ever thrown a party for me and my friends? Then this son of yours who has thrown away your money on whores shows up and you go all out with a feast!’.
There’s no love lost between them, it seems. I can’t bring myself to blame him. Put yourself in his shoes- he was probably there to pick up the pieces when the younger son upset their father by asking for his share, and then had to put up what presumably was extra work when his sibling left home. He’s seen how his father misses his brother badly- verse 20- to the extent that the old man might have been staring at the horizon wishing for the boy to appear again. It doesn’t seem like he himself missed his sibling at all; is this unusual?
If your sibling left home- willingly, on his own volition- would you miss him? I think your parents would miss him quite a bit- that is the nature of the parent- child relationship. I’m not so sure about the sibling relationship though. If you happen to get along really well with your sibling and love him for who he or she is- all is well. But I think there are also instances where you just tolerate your siblings for the sake of your parents. And therein lies the rub. Your sibling relationship comes out of your son-ship; you both have the same parents.
I’ve mentioned earlier conversations with my friends about how their sibling has done yet another silly/ unreasonable/ unwise thing. We normally get the most worked up when it relates to their parents as well; for example, a brother has borrowed money from their elderly parents; or someone’s married, professional sisters are all still living at home, without contributing to the household expenses. But, in the end, we conclude by saying, “if your parents don’t say anything (don’t object), then you can’t say anything”. If your parents, who are so generous and loving to you, extend that same love to your sibling, what can you say? But, but… you say- “I’m not like my sibling! I don’t give any trouble! “…… Isn’t that exactly what the older son said in this parable?
Those words presume that merit and deeds are the foundation of parental affection and love; but they’re not. The parent- child bond is often based on the relationship, pure and simple. I love you because you’re my child. It’s NOT founded on works, or deeds, or merit.
And so it is with our Heavenly Father. We are all brothers and sisters in Christ, bound together in a family. And as we experience His grace and His many blessings and love, we have to learn not to judge others, and covet what God has chosen to bless them with. Children often complain at perceived unfairness in treatment; they may ask, “Why can HE do it and I can’t?” “Why does HE get it and not me?”. Oddly enough, they only ask this about favours and benefits that they want. Nobody ever asks, “why does he get extra homework and I don’t?” “why does she fall sick and have to stay at home, and I can go out?”. Nobody asks why NOT me” when it comes to misfortunes, illnesses and other unhappy things in life.
Coming back to the bible verse- the parable in its context is Jesus response to the grumbling of the Pharisees and scribes because of Jesus’ acceptance of and rejoicing with repentant sinners. Jesus was often seen to be eating with sinners , and this “table fellowship” was significant, because it represented that Jesus was extending to them intimacy and solidarity. Jesus was INCLUDING them, and in doing so, He was demolishing boundaries . This extra bit on this parable (which the earlier 2 parables in this trio didn’t have), is Jesus’ way of driving home his message. It’s His final, forceful response to the grumbling of the Pharisees at His response to sinners . Jesus says- why are you so concerned about possessions- sheep and coins- that are lost but not lost people, the sinners?
So for the second part of the message, we are reminded of the heart of God for the lost. And the message for us must be: are we more concerned about our possessions- our modern day equivalents of sheep and coins (? cars and bank account? toys and clothes?) than with His people? How much of your time this week have you spent on His people (whether it’s missions and outreach, or ministering to brothers and sisters in Christ)?
Conclusion:
To recap: this parable, the third of a trio, concludes the idea of “lost and found”. Through it we are reminded firstly, that WE were lost, and now have been found; secondly, that God extends that same grace and mercy to all who repent and turn back to Him, and thirdly, that we are to have the heart of God, to love His people as He loves them. That last point is very very hard to do- could you love your siblings like your parents love you? Very hard indeed. And yet, we must try, for this is our response to the amazing, tremendous, unbelievable grace and love from our God, the Font of Every Blessing. May God help us as we seek to honour Him and to do His Will in this aspect.
Prayer:
Our Father in Heaven- in the season of Lent and Easter, we’ve meditated on your grace and Jesus’ sacrifice, and marvelled at the wonder of Your grace. Thank you for today’s reminder of how You accept all who repent, based not on our works but your own mercy. And as you remind us that that same grace is extended to all your people, to all who are lost, we pray that you help us to love them as You do. For those who are wandering away from you to “ a strange and distant land”, a “far country”, we pray that You will call them back to Yourself, as the “love that will not let us go” (as the hymn title goes). In Your son’s name we pray, Amen.
(2200 words so far).  

The Story of the Lost Son (Luke 15)
11-12 Then he said, “There was once a man who had two sons. The younger said to his father, ‘Father, I want right now what’s coming to me.’
12-16 “So the father divided the property between them. It wasn’t long before the younger son packed his bags and left for a distant country. There, undisciplined and dissipated, he wasted everything he had. After he had gone through all his money, there was a bad famine all through that country and he began to hurt. He signed on with a citizen there who assigned him to his fields to slop the pigs. He was so hungry he would have eaten the corncobs in the pig slop, but no one would give him any.
17-20 “That brought him to his senses. He said, ‘All those farmhands working for my father sit down to three meals a day, and here I am starving to death. I’m going back to my father. I’ll say to him, Father, I’ve sinned against God, I’ve sinned before you; I don’t deserve to be called your son. Take me on as a hired hand.’ He got right up and went home to his father.
20-21 “When he was still a long way off, his father saw him. His heart pounding, he ran out, embraced him, and kissed him. The son started his speech: ‘Father, I’ve sinned against God, I’ve sinned before you; I don’t deserve to be called your son ever again.’
22-24 “But the father wasn’t listening. He was calling to the servants, ‘Quick. Bring a clean set of clothes and dress him. Put the family ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Then get a grain-fed heifer and roast it. We’re going to feast! We’re going to have a wonderful time! My son is here—given up for dead and now alive! Given up for lost and now found!’ And they began to have a wonderful time.
25-27 “All this time his older son was out in the field. When the day’s work was done he came in. As he approached the house, he heard the music and dancing. Calling over one of the houseboys, he asked what was going on. He told him, ‘Your brother came home. Your father has ordered a feast—barbecued beef!—because he has him home safe and sound.’
28-30 “The older brother stalked off in an angry sulk and refused to join in. His father came out and tried to talk to him, but he wouldn’t listen. The son said, ‘Look how many years I’ve stayed here serving you, never giving you one moment of grief, but have you ever thrown a party for me and my friends? Then this son of yours who has thrown away your money on whores shows up and you go all out with a feast!’
31-32 “His father said, ‘Son, you don’t understand. You’re with me all the time, and everything that is mine is yours—but this is a wonderful time, and we had to celebrate. This brother of yours was dead, and he’s alive! He was lost, and he’s found!’”