“The Parable of the Merciful Father”
Luke 15:1-3, 11-32
3/18/07
Today we have before us a very well-known parable of
Jesus, often called “The Parable of the Prodigal
Son”. But a better title for this parable might be
“The Parable of the Merciful Father,” because the point of
the parable is less about the son(s) and more about the father.
Given the kind of sons this father has, most fathers might well disown
both of them or force them to work their way back into his favor.
But not this father. With the father character in this parable
Jesus shows you what kind of heavenly Father God is and how
compassionate, merciful, and forgiving He is towards you, the prodigal
son, for the sake of His Son, Jesus Christ.
The Pharisees and scribes to whom this parable was
directed, however, focused on what it takes to be a good son, rather
than on what a good Father God is towards wayward sons. A good
son, according to the Pharisees, would have been one who was obedient
to the Law and the traditions of the Jewish elders. Those who did
not have or keep these laws and traditions the Pharisees considered
less pious, holy, and righteous than themselves; they labeled such
people as sinners. So, the Gentiles fell into this category;
prostitutes and criminals fell into this category; and tax-collectors
fell into this category. Tax collectors collected taxes for the
Roman government. It was another means by which the Jews were
kept subject to the Roman Empire. The collectors were either
Roman officers or hired Jews who did the work. Not only were they
working for the oppressive government, but they also had the habit of
collecting more than required and keeping the excess for
themselves. So, they were hated by the Jewish people and regarded
as some of the worst of sinners. The Pharisees would never have
thought of associating with either tax-collectors or sinners.
They kept themselves aloof from them and viewed themselves as holier
than others.
We like to think that we aren’t like them, but
the fact is, we all have a little Pharisee living within us, and he
always thinks he’s less of a sinner than others, always thinking
he gains his Father’s approval by his holy and righteous
living. Would you spend time eating and socializing with the
sinners and tax-collectors of our age - homeless people, prostitutes,
criminals, homosexuals, or IRS agents? Would you classify
yourself as much of a sinner as they?
But look at how Jesus treated tax-collectors and
sinners. He welcomed their company and ate with them. Not
that He condoned their sinful behavior. A woman caught in
adultery was once brought to Jesus by the Pharisees. They brought
her to Him to test Him, telling Him that Moses commanded that such a
person be stoned. “What then do you say?” they asked
Him. And Jesus said, “Let him who is without sin cast the
first stone.” And they all began to leave, the oldest ones
first. But then Jesus turned to the woman. He told her that
He did not condemn her for her sin. But He did not then say,
“All right, now you can go home and return to your life of
prostitution.” No... He said, “Go and sin no
more.” This is how Jesus treats sinners. He has
compassion on you, forgiving you your sins, but also tells you to
forsake your sins. He does not condone your sins or give you the
license to continue to live in them. You do not get to hold onto
your sins. He takes them with Him to the cross and sheds His
blood for them. Homosexuality, prostitution, stealing, abortion,
gossiping, and so on are all sins worthy of death in God’s
eyes. You put Jesus on the cross with these sins. But Jesus
died on the cross to save you from these sins and their wages -
death. God does not want you to perish; He wants to have mercy on
you and He wants you to live. Jesus’ mercy shown towards
this adulterous woman reveals God’s heart towards all
sinners. It shows you that for Christ’s sake you have a
merciful heavenly Father. And with this parable of the prodigal
son that mercy is illustrated.
There are three characters in this story: The
younger son (otherwise known as the prodigal son), the father, and the
older son. First, let’s take a look at the younger
son. The younger son is easily labeled a sinner. What a son
he is! He’s greedy for independence, so he demands his
inheritance from his father, which, when you think about it, was
another way of saying, in essence, that he wished his father were dead,
because that’s when you got your father’s inheritance -
after his death. But the father graciously grants his son’s
request, because he loves his son. He even gives his older son
his part of the inheritance, too, which is already a clue that
there’s something wrong with that son as well, but we’ll
come back to him.
Once the younger son has his inheritance, what does
he do with it? He squanders it in a distant country, far away
from his father. That’s what sin does to you - it drives
you away from your heavenly Father and separates you from Him.
And in this distant country, things go from bad to worse for prodigal
sons. This son begins to be in want; he falls into despair.
He’s forced to live with the pigs. He has nothing to
eat. He’s as low as he can go. But then he comes to
himself. The son recognizes his wrongs, and he’s going to
confess his sin to his father, only he doesn’t count on the
father’s mercy; he thinks the father will take him back only if
he offers some kind of deal to his father, some way in which he thinks
he’ll be able to repay his father for his sins and work his way
back into his father’s good graces. On this basis he hopes
that his father will forgive him and take him back. Caught in
your own sins, you too have often behaved this way towards your
heavenly Father, thinking you must work your way back into His good
graces somehow, whether it be by your good behavior, your good
repentance, your good prayers, or your promises to amend your
life. With this deal in his pocket, the younger son returns to
his father.
But now let’s look at the father. What
is this father like? The father is waiting for his son to come
back home. He longs for his son and looks for his return.
He didn’t want the son to leave in the first place, but he
wouldn’t force him to stay. And when he finally does see
his son still a long way off, he doesn't wait for the son to come to
him, but runs to his son, throws his arms around him, kisses him, and
gives him all kinds of gifts (a robe, a ring, sandals, and he even
kills the fattened calf for a feast). And He does all of this
before the son can even get a word of confession out. Then,
notice what affect the father’s love has on this son. He
still confesses his sins, but look what’s now missing - any
attempt at deal-making with his father. The son has come to
realize that his father doesn’t care about the money he’s
lost, but his son. The lost relationship with his son needed to
be repaired, but it couldn’t be repaired by any attempts on the
part of the son; there was nothing in the way of either money or work
that he could offer to restore the relationship with his father.
It could only be restored through the father’s forgiveness and
mercy, and it is that forgiveness and mercy that has overwhelmed this
repentant son.
Now, the father loves his older son too, but that
son is angry that the father has accepted his wayward son back, and
with such a celebration besides. And yet the father is merciful
to this older son as well. He goes out to him and pleads with him
not to be angry either at him or his brother. God wants to have
compassion even on Pharisees and lead them to repentance, too.
God has sacrificed His Son, Jesus, for all sinners. God wants all
to repent and come to a knowledge of the truth that He is compassionate
and merciful towards us for Christ’s sake. The trouble is
that Pharisees don’t recognize that they too are sinners and are
in need of the Father’s mercy and forgiveness just as much as all
the rest of God’s prodigal sons.
This is pictured by the older son in the
parable. The older son is angry, self-righteous, jealous, and
begrudging. He considers himself the good son, because of his
obedience, and thinks he deserves a party, a party, however, with his
friends, not with his father and brother. He thinks he’s
the obedient son, and yet he is disrespectful to his father, not even
referring to him as his father, like his younger brother did. But
in his eyes he’s not like his brother, the sinner. Surely,
the father must love him more than his prodigal brother. But
instead of punishing his younger son like he should have, the father
shows him forgiveness, mercy, and compassion, which is unjust in the
eyes of the older son. So he distances himself both from his
father and from his brother. He is not even willing to go into
the house where his father and brother are celebrating and even refers
to his brother as 'your son' when speaking to his father. You
must confess that you too are often like this son, according to the
little Pharisee that lives within you, either refusing to go into your
heavenly Father’s house of worship with your so-called hypocrite
brothers and sisters or holding yourself aloof and above them, even
while still going to church with them, because you consider them to be
worse sinners than you and beyond the Father’s forgiveness.
So, we see that this older son, too, is a kind of
prodigal son. He begrudges the compassion and mercy that the
father has on all sinners, and he thinks his father owes him for his
obedience. The father, in his mercy and compassion, comes out to
this older son too and entreats him, begging him to come in and not
separate himself from the rest of the family. Like the younger
son, he is also in need of repentance. But does he repent?
Will he be drawn in by the father’s love? You’re not
told.
You’re not told, because both of these sons
represent you at different times. You were made a son of God at
your Baptism. There the blood of God’s only-begotten Son,
Jesus Christ, was sprinkled upon you, your sins were washed away, you
were given new birth and the Holy Spirit, and you were clothed with
Christ’s righteousness. You are the chief of sinners, and
yet Jesus gave His life on the cross for you. In His compassion
God grants you in Jesus His abundant mercy, pardon, and peace.
But at times you want to act like the younger prodigal son, at other
times like the older prodigal son. Like the younger son, you want
your will to be done, not the Father’s. You rather enjoy
squandering the riches of His grace, abusing His forgiveness, taking
advantage of His mercy, and you give yourself over to the passing
pleasures of sin. But your merciful Father comes after you with
His Word, seeking to bring you back to your senses with His Law,
calling you back to Himself with His Gospel, and you return to your
Father in repentance and receive His forgiveness for Christ’s
sake. Sometimes you try to make deals with God, but you end up
realizing that you can’t work for His mercy; it’s been paid
for with the blood of Jesus. And yet, like the older son and the
Pharisees you’re often quick to judge your brothers who have
fallen into sin as you have, and you begrudge them the same
forgiveness. You think you deserve God’s mercy, because of
your obedience or your good repentance, and you get angry when God
chooses to pardon rather than punish those whom you think are more
sinful than you are. But your heavenly Father has mercy even upon
Pharisaical Christians and forgives this sin too, when you repent and
confess that you are just as much in need of His mercy as the next
sinner.
The fact is, both sons are sinners and in need of
repentance, neither son deserves the father's love and compassion, and
yet the father loves both of them and has mercy on both of them.
God has sent His Son to die for all sinners. He has claimed you
through Baptism as His beloved son in Jesus. And He wills that
you continue to repent of your sin and rejoice in His mercy and
compassion. He wants you to join in the feast He has prepared for
you and all His wayward but repentant sons. And today we all join
together as forgiven prodigals at the feast of the Lord’s Supper,
where our Father feeds us with the body and blood of His Son, Jesus
Christ, who was sacrificed for us. Here He gives you the
inheritance of eternal life that Jesus, your Brother, won for you
through His obedient life and His sacrificial death. So today, as
the Lord causes you to come to your senses and leads you to confess
yourself as a prodigal son, both as one who has gone off to some
distant country and squandered the riches of God’s grace, and as
one who is righteous in his own eyes and looks down on other sinners,
you need not despair that God will forgive you, but you can remind
yourself that you are His baptized son, that God is your compassionate
and merciful Father for Jesus’ sake, and that He will always
welcome you home with open arms. Amen.