When Jesus was explaining to his disciples the necessity of his departure, He told them he was going to the Father. Phillip exclaimed, “show us the Father and we will be satisfied.” (John 14:8). I think we would all agree with him. If we could only see clearly the true and full nature of God the Father, we would be totally satisfied. We can locate all our disappointments with life in our distorted perception of the image of God the Father. If we really knew him the way the Son does, we would be as fulfilled in our identity as Jesus.
Jesus told a series of parables in Luke 15, which offer some invaluable clues in knowing God the Father. The setting is the atmosphere of querulous Jewish leaders upset that Jesus is entertaining sinners and undesirables. Their lives are filled with finding fault with everything outside their narrow religious scruples where people might actually rejoice.
Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” Luke 15:1-2 (ESV)
So, Jesus tells three parables that conclude with people celebrating. First, there is the lost sheep. The shepherd has one hundred sheep but loses one. He leaves the 99 and goes in search of the lost one. When he finds it, he comes back and throws a celebration party. Jesus says that angels rejoice over repenting sinners. Second, there is the lost coin. A woman loses one of her ten coins and gives priority to finding it. When she does she calls her neighbors and they have a party. Jesus says the angels celebrate when a sinner repents.
Then we find a long parable concerning two sons of a certain father. One is openly rebellious and the other is hopelessly religious. We commonly call the first boy the prodigal son. He clearly doesn’t understand the dynamic of a real father/son relationship. His distorted image of his father allows him to conclude that he can do better if the ties are cut. He does not see his father as the source of his blessings and demands his part of the inheritance be given to him immediately. This is tantamount to wishing his father were dead. He can’t see himself depending on his father for the rest of his life. He must make it on his own.
This is an accurate picture of mankind in general. We have been GIVEN life, but we take it for granted and think we can use it any way we please. We certainly don’t want anyone telling us what to do with it. So we embark on our personal venture to find ourselves outside the seemingly limited relationship with the God who created and gave us life. After all, if we acknowledge him as our source, we will be forced to be grateful, and in some way obligated. We don’t need those strings attached, so we demand independence and head off into the far country.
The far country looks fabulous from a distance, but once there, almost everyone has the same story. Disillusionment is rampant. The son ends up feeding pigs just to survive. He has long abandoned a meaningful vocation and now works simply to get enough to eat. There is no dignity in his work. He is Jewish and spends his days feeding the swine he despises. Here no one gives him anything. He has to make it on his own. It is not like back home where the father gave him everything he needed.
The story turns. Jesus said, “He came to himself.” Independence is blinding. It is impossible to see the privileges surrounding us when we are fixated on being self-sufficient. However, God’s grace is evident as he opens our eyes. That really is a hog pen! It is not a penthouse—even though we are paying penthouse prices for it. The pre-conversion grace of God is absolutely necessary, or we would all spend our lives misnaming hog pens and actually thinking slop was caviar.
The boy begins to think differently. His father’s servants have it better than he does. He composes a humble speech that he hopes will get him a job as a servant in his father’s house. He knows that he has no more inheritance coming. He has abandoned his rights as a son. He knows what he must do. He begins his journey homeward so hungry he is willing to eat crow if it comes with a morsel of bread. As he is practicing his speech his father sees him coming and runs out to meet him.
Now the crux of the matter! He begins the speech. The father interrupts with a new robe that covers his ragged and soiled clothes, a ring of authority, and new shoes that sons (not servants) wear. Here we have the opportunity for real repentance. The boy is thinking one way and the father is thinking another. If the boy relentlessly holds on to his distorted image of his father, he will get nothing. The father doesn’t allow for disqualified sons to stay in his house as servants. He can receive mercy and be a son, or he will have to go back to the hog pen. The father is intent on erasing every vestige of the poverty bought by independence. The boy can put his speech away and accept the benefits he doesn’t deserve or he can demand to be treated according to his merits. If he does not receive the mercy, he is both foolish and lost.
“How hard is it to really follow Christ? Does it require tremendous sacrifice? Will he demand that I live in a foreign land away from my beloved family? Will I have to sell all possessions and become poor?” Oh, it is harder than that. You will have to give up your merit system of relating to God. You will have to admit your existing poverty and receive what you have no right to and could never earn. It will crush your selfish pride and render you a helpless but grateful son of God. You will wear a robe you did not sew and could not buy. It is the righteousness of Christ himself. With it on, you can always go into the presence of the Father. You will display the ring of authority. The ring gives you access to the resources laid up by the Father. It is the name of Jesus that, when used, gets the attention of every angel in heaven and strikes fear in every demon in hell. You will wear the shoes of the preparation of peace. You can stand in any situation because you have the gospel in your heart.
But there is a party! The father has killed the fattened calf for the celebration. All the servants and neighbors have come to celebrate the repentance of the sinner/son. Everyone is excited and enjoying the occasion. Well, everybody but the older brother. He too lives in a far country. He lives in the religious pen, which is just as confining as the hog pen, and when your nose has been cleared, it stinks just as much. Religion, as a system to make life work, stinks! He is angry and refuses to join the celebration.
The good news is relayed to him first by one of the servants. “Your brother who was lost is found and your father has killed the fattened calf and we are all so happy. Come on in.” The good news only makes him madder. He reveals that he too has a distorted image of the father. He thought life was about keeping rules and doing one’s duty. Oh, he had unsatisfied longings too! He expresses his frustration when his father came out to entreat him to join the party. He deserves more than the recalcitrant brother. He has dutifully done that which he perceived pleased the father. Maybe he should have asked what the father really wanted. It is obvious that the father wanted to celebrate, and the boy couldn’t comply. He just didn’t get it. He had misjudged the father. Now he stands outside the party unable to join the celebration and nursing some unmet desires. He always wanted a goat so that he could have a party with his friends, but never got it. Perhaps he was waiting until he did a little more or conformed to the rules a bit better.
It is a sad picture. There is an excited father. His lost son is back in his place. He was dead to him, but now he is alive to him. The older son stands with head drooped. In his hand is his résumé. He has served well. He has kept the rules. His heart aches. He can’t come to terms with the reality before him. The laughter and frivolity irritate him. He remains outside the celebration.
Tim Keller points out something in the parable that opens our perspective to the full image of God. The older son in that culture was responsible for the welfare of the family—including prodigal siblings. That is why the law concerning the firstborn was instituted. He received more because he was more responsible for the continuation of the family. In the previous parables, someone went out to get that which was lost. In this one that element is missing. The older son should have been out there looking in every hog pen for his brother. Instead, he was too busy establishing his own rights. Instead of going to find his lost brother, he was angry that the lost brother found his way home. In actuality, the younger brother had no remaining inheritance. Even the fattened calf was part of the older brother’s inheritance. No wonder he could not rejoice.
But if you know the whole story of history, you know that there was an older brother that took seriously his responsibility to go after the lost ones. He went into the far country at his own peril to rescue those who had abandoned their original home. He redeemed them from their slave masters and brought them to the Father and shared his inheritance with them. They now have the same rights and privileges in the kingdom as he does. He is not only their Savior but also their joint heir.
He comes today. He comes for the prodigal living in the far country of rebellion and the one living in the far country of religion. We don’t even have to clean up first. When, because of paralyzing guilt, we cannot come home from the hog pen or we cannot come into the house, he comes to us.
What an older brother! What a Savior!
“He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature . . .” Hebrews 1:3 (ESV)
Now we know the true nature of the Father. We can be satisfied. What a celebration!
SYNERGY - Better Together: October 01, 2010 click for more > Five Pillars of New Testament Discipleship: : October 15, 2010 click for more > Family Reunion Retreat: December 03, 2010 click for more >
