Let’s think back to where all this started: people who thought they knew more about the Kingdom of God than Jesus did asked how He could eat with sinners. As we’ve seen, our merciful and gracious God invites everyone into His house.  As such, eating with sinners doesn’t contradict God’s teachings at all; it reinforces them.  If God forgives and Christ forgives, as in this story, and we are called to be Christlike than we should do the same.

How else can this parable inform our actions?  Well, while of course it is comforting to acknowledge the reality that we are all forgiven when we repent and are welcome in the Father’s house, we must not stop at accepting that mercy. 

We must extend it to others.  Yes, God is revealing aspects of His character here, but in doing so, it begs us to implement the same.

If God welcomes sinners home, then certainly those who trust in God should do likewise. If God has compassion, then certainly those who love God should be compassionate as well.

Just like we were called to be like Jesus who was the perfect younger brother without the disobedience and the perfect older brother without the pride, we are also called to be like the father.

We should not just be the one who is forgiven, but also the one who forgives.  This may mean allowing myself to get a little uncomfortable, check my ego at the door, and surrender to how God wants me to live as His follower.

Let us not just be the ones who are welcomed home, but also the ones who welcome others home. 

Let us not just be the ones who receive compassion, but the ones who offer it well.

God’s compassion is described by Jesus not simply to show how willing God is to forgive, but to invite us to become like God and show the same compassion to others.

We’ve covered so much ground together!

Where do you see yourself in this parable? Ask God to reveal that to you.  Where is your distant country?  Are you there now?  Do you need to turn from it and to God? Have you turned away from sin, but still need to accept forgiveness? 

If you have been delivered from a distant country, spend time praising him this week for that!

Tomorrow will bring another short testimony and then our time in this series will come to a close.  Before we get there, though, take 4 minutes to watch this video. You’ll be grateful you did! I’d love it if you leave your reactions in the comments.

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Today, we are going to bask in the glory that is God, our good, good Father.  Isn’t it incredible that this God we have, the creator of heaven and earth, has chosen, first and foremost, to be a father?!  He could have literally picked any role He wanted to, and yet He chose to be a father. 

He’s OUR father.  That doesn’t just mean you and I, or the just people we congregate with on Sundays, if that’s something we do.  It means ALL believers of ALL time, past, current, and future!  He is the Father to all of us! When Jesus taught us to pray “Our Father…” he was connecting all believers together with Himself in three syllables. (Jesus didn’t say, “Say, My Father,” but rather the 1^st person plural, “our”).  Here’s a little tidbit for you:  Until Jesus taught us how to pray, God was only “Father” in the Old Testament.  The “our” was introduced by Jesus. 

There’s something to understand about our Father’s love though: it doesn’t force itself on us.  We can choose to walk in the light with Him or not.  If he compelled us to love Him, that wouldn’t be very remarkable at all.  That would be a dictatorship as opposed to a reciprocal relationship and would take the beauty out of knowing Him.  His love is there for the taking if we choose it.  Remember the sun metaphor? God’s love does not depend on our repentance.  It is there before we repent.  The father invited the son into the party before he apologized, and Christ dies while we were still sinners.

Consider this quote from Arthur Freeman:

The father loves each son and gives each the freedom to be what he can, but he cannot give them freedom they will not take nor adequately understand. The father seems to realize, beyond the customs of his society, the need of his sons to be themselves. But he also knows their need for his love and a home. How their stories will be completed is up to them. The fact that the parable is not completed makes it certain that the father’s love is not dependent upon an appropriate completion of the story. The father’s love is only dependent on himself and remains part of his character.

Arthur Freeman

So here we have a situation where we can accept God’s love or reject it.  We know neither how the younger son fared at the celebration nor how he lived with his father after his return. We also do not know whether the elder son ever reconciled himself with his brother, his father, or himself. But we do know that the father was merciful. By knowing this and not the rest from what Jesus tells us here, we have further proof that God’s mercy is extended whether or not we are ready to accept it.

So what does all this mean for us?  There’s a very specific call to action for those who desire to apply this particular teaching to their lives.  Are you here for it? Let’s discuss tomorrow.

Fondly,

Helen

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Today is going to be a short one!  So far we have seen how the father didn’t respond as expected when it came to his younger son’s departure and return.  He also would have turned some heads when it came to how he responded to his older son as well.

Remember last week how we highlighted how disrespectful the older son was? Well, given how we now know how patriarchal Middle Eastern society was, how do you think it should have gone over once the older son got his two cents in?

Not very well at all.

Again, the father could have met his son with physical blows in response to how the son addressed him and rejected the party invite.

Did he do this?

No!  He tenderly responds with, “My son…”

Despite the hissy fit, the father STILL wanted him at the feast.  The father wanted BOTH sons there.  It didn’t matter how they sinned.  He wanted BOTH of his children, which, as we saw, represents two ways to sin.  The “traditional” sinners AND the Pharisees! Together! At the feast! 

The father wasn’t about to disown the younger, but he wasn’t about to disown the older, either. As long as the older could swallow his pride, he could enter the feast.  In fact, his pride was the only thing standing in the way between him and celebrating with His father! The choice was all his.  In turn, it’s also the very the same choice Jesus was presenting to the Pharisees. 

It’s the same choice we have today. Can we swallow our pride so we can truly be in the presence of our Father?

You see, the father’s love was offered wholly AND equally to both sons.  Both were wrong, but both belong to him.  Jesus isn’t pitting the two brothers against each other.  He isn’t saying one is more or less right than the other.  He is leveling the playing field by saying both are wrong.  The father alone is the righteous character in this story.

If the father isn’t segregating by types of sin than neither should we.  He alone is the one who is righteous enough to judge and save!

Yes, different sins carry different consequences, but let’s stop thinking we are better OR worse than someone because either they or us sin differently. If God allows both into His presence than so should we….and we should do so in love, not apprehensively or resentfully, because that is not the example we have playing out here. 

We are almost done with our time together in this series, but first I have a bit more to share with you.  Join me tomorrow? 

Until then,

Helen

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Accompanying Playlist

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Well, we know how the father left things when his son abandoned him.  But how about when the son returned?  It’s this second father/son interaction we are focusing on today. 

With the father acting as gracious upon his son’s return as he did when the son left, we can notice that the son’s poor choices and disobedience were bookended with the father’s mercy and grace. 

The father doesn’t ignore his son.  He doesn’t wait for him to come to him, with flat affect and no emotion.  He RUNS to his son!

We know from Jesus and Luke’s storytelling that this father was very wealthy with landholdings and servants.  Do you think a man of that stature would have run to anyone? Not a chance!  Such frolicking would have been reserved for children or young men engaging in sport.

Middle Eastern patriarchs did not run.

Not only did the father disregard what would have been acceptable behavior, he also totally preempted his son’s apology by extending forgiveness right on the spot! Remember how the son had a whole plan of how he would redeem himself by becoming a servant?  Not even his best laid plan could compare to what his father had in mind!

Nothing is good enough for the son! The father isn’t holding past transgressions against him.  Not in how he left and not in how he squandered money.  It’s ALL water under the bridge. 

Some scholars maintain that the robe the father calls for was either the father’s own robe or a robe only reserved for distinguished quests.  Nonetheless, we see him pulling out all the stops.  If, indeed, it was the former, that would be completely representative of the son’s reinstatement into the family.

In either case, the father is sending a clear message: he is not waiting for debts to be paid (which would have been customary as we learned in week 1) or for the son to grovel.  No one needs to earn their way back into that family.  Their place is secured just in the very fact that they came back.  The father’s love never went away so nothing had to be done to earn it back.

Unsure?

I’ll provide proof in the text later in the week, but for now consider this analogy:

Does the sun still shine on cloudy days? Of course. We are simply beneath the cloud covering so we can’t perceive it to be so.  If you were to take a flight on that same cloudy day, for example, would you notice the light above the clouds? Yes! Again, of course!  We have no bearing whatsoever on the sun’s ability to shine. Rather, we are more or less inclined to perceive it’s reality in relation to our proximity to it.

So it is with the father’s love.  It is there. It’s not going anywhere, yet sometimes when we travel to distant countries, far from our Fathers house, it can seem as though that is not so.  The enemy will even try to trick us into thinking its gone forever or until we pay some price.  That’s simply not true.

Grounded in love, the father restored the son and then some.  This is especially ironic since the son added insult to injury when he left.  The father though? He responds with grace on top of grace.

The fattened calf is another prime example of the father’s extravagant love.  That would have been the choiciest meat and reserved for only the finest of occasions.  This feast would have been one that had the whole town talking.  It would be Page Six material for sure.

Let’s consider all of what we went over the last two days so far in light of who Jesus was talking to: the sinners he was eating with and the Pharisees.  He would have been challenging their current mindset with this story: God’s love and forgiveness can pardon and restore any and every kind of sin or wrongdoing. Intentional acts of ill will? Harm? Murder? Self-sabotaging? Addictions? It doesn’t matter to God. All are welcome home.  

In the father’s home there is always abundant room with food and grace to spare.

No sin is a match for His grace.  Incase that is something you need to hear today: no sin is a match for His grace.  Go to Him! Let Him welcome you home! 

If you have time, sit with that for a bit today.  Tomorrow we will look at the 3^rd way the father surprised the listeners.  There’s a valuable lesson in it for us.

Until tomorrow,

Helen

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What we are going over today is often overlooked, but its really not our fault! The ending of the parable differs depending on which version we read.  Don’t get me wrong, the tried and true translations end in the same way, but if you venture into a storybook or children’s version you will surely notice some differences.

Some don’t mention the older brother at all.  Others do, but picture him going arm-in-arm with his father and brother into the party. 

But did that actually happen? 

We actually don’t know because Jesus doesn’t tell us.  It’s an open-ended ending, with the older brother left in an alienated state. 

Wait, what?!  The obedient son is left outside of the feast while the “more” sinful son is joyously celebrating inside? Yep. That’s exactly how this is playing out.

The Pharisees surely would have seen this as a grave injustice.  Afterall, they do everything correctly…right?!  We know, that not really the case.

Can the Pharisees enter the party (i.e., the Kingdom)?  It depends. 

Will they admit their wrongdoings and repent, or will they remain Pharisees, so close yet so far from the celebration?  They are so close they can see it.  They can smell it.  They can hear it.  But will they join?  That’s totally up to them and their next move. It’s not the older brother’s wrongdoing but his righteousness that is keeping him from sharing in the feast.

As we wrap up our second week together, let’s reflect on these words from Timothy Keller:

The heart of the two brothers were the same. Both sons resented their fathers authority and sought ways of getting out from under it. They each wanted to get into a position in which they could tell the father what to do. Each one, in other words, rebelled but one did so by being very bad and the other by being extremely good. Both were lost sons. Neither son loved the father for himself. They were both using the father for their own self-centered ends rather than loving, enjoying, and serving him for his own sake. This means that you can rebel against God and be alienated from him, either by breaking his rules or by keeping all of them diligently.

Timothy Keller, Prodigal God

Remember: regardless of how we rebel, God is there to accept every single one of us who turn back toward Him.

Next week, we are going to put together everything we have learned so far. We are going to recognize what all this tells us about the father figure, which, in turn, will teach us how we ought to respond. 

See you back here tomorrow for the last portion of our time together? I sure hope so!

-Helen

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Now is the time we are going to take a closer look at the other two parables in Luke 15 that have to do with something of value being lost.  In doing so, we will be equipped with some keen insight into this story of the two lost brothers. 

In the first parable, we have a shepherd who goes out to find his lost sheep.  That seems reasonable enough.  Then, we have a woman who searches for a lost coin.  In both instances, something is lost and someone sets out to find it.  By the time the listeners heard the third story, they would have expected to hear the same pattern, but it never comes.  No one searches for him. Why? 

Jesus is highlighting what didn’t happen so the audience could process what should have happened.  As rabbi, Jesus was certainly familiar with old testament scriptures.  He would have known about another story way back in Genesis about another set of brothers.  In that case, the older brother was also proud and resentful, and yet he was told that he was his brother’s keeper.  It’s the story of Cain and Abel. 

The elder brother in the story should have gone after the younger brother and restored him back into the family.  Likewise, the Pharisees should go after the sinners and bring them into their spiritual family as heirs to the kingdom.  Yet, they do not, and this older brother doesn’t either. The younger brother gets a Pharisee for a brother instead.

Can you see where this is going? 

We have a perfect older brother in Jesus.  He is sent by the Father to reveal God’s love for all His children and to offer Himself as the way home.

Just as we saw last week that Jesus was the younger brother without being rebellious, now we see that He is also the older brother without being resentful.  He does His Father’s bidding and seeks to find those who are lost to bring them back home.  Amen?!  Amen!

Today, spend some time praying about how you can be more like Jesus as the perfect younger brother and perfect older brother.

There’s one more aspect to the older brother I want to introduce you to. It’s how the parable ends…or doesn’t end, rather.  What do I mean by this?  Let’s review it tomorrow!

-Helen

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We will never find God unless He first seeks us, but we should remember that He can do so in very different ways. Sometimes, God jumps on us dramatically as He does with the younger son and we will have an acute sense of His love. Sometimes, He quietly and patiently tries to get us to come around to His way of thinking, as in the case of the older son.

How can we tell if He is working on us now? If we begin to sense our lostness and find ourselves wanting to escape it, we can recognize that such an inclination is not something we could have generated on our own. Such a process requires help, and if it’s happening it’s a good indication that the Holy Spirit is already at work. That’s a great sign! That tinge of conviction is the feeling I warned you about on Sunday, but we agreed to press into the convictions as opposed to ignore them.  Right?! 

Also, through the grace and mercy of God, there is a way out of allowing sin to rule over us.  It is through repentance.  If you missed that day, go back to Day 6 to see what we mean by repent.  Now, let’s look at repentance in light of the older brother.

When Pharisees sin they feel terrible and repent. You see, as pompous as they could be at times, they were first and foremost authorities on Jewish law and tradition.  As such, they may have even punished themselves (I don’t recommend that extreme).  When they finish being remorseful, however, they remain elder brothers. They didn’t quite nail down the idea of completely turning from old behaviors in favor of going toward God. They may have turned away from outward behaviors, but their hearts and minds remained unchanged.

Pride in his good deeds, rather than remorse over his bad deeds, was keeping the older son out of the party (i.e., salvation). The elder brother’s problem is his self-righteousness.  In this particular instance of sin, we must repent of why we do things right as well as what we do wrong. 

Did we take that volunteer role so we could look good? Did we share a story on social media because it elevated us, but not Him? Perhaps not, but if so, we must repent of the intentions behind our actions. If not, we risk staying an older brother. Pharisees repent of their sins, but Christians repent for the very roots of their self-righteousness as well. We must admit that we’ve put our ultimate hope and trust in things other than God.

Sit with this message for a little bit, if needed.  It’s OK. Perhaps this is the first time that you’ve seen yourself resembling the older brother.  Go to God with that, and allow Him to change you from the inside out. What do you need to repent of?  An outright sin or perhaps something more beneath the surface?

The hardest part of this teaching to digest is now past us.  Tomorrow we are going to focus on how the older brother figure relates to the character of Jesus, and you won’t want to miss it. 

Thank you so much for going on this worthwhile journey with me today. You are all in my prayers!

-Helen

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