The parable of the prodigal son is one of those parables that everyone gets. We all know the story and we all know what it means. This is one of those times that we can easily see ourselves in the words of Christ. We can easily identify with and see ourselves in the prodigal son, both in the bad and the good. Because of this ease of relatability, we tend to gloss over and speed through the story. After all, we know it. But maybe we don’t know it as well as we think we do.
Let’s start by asking this question: To whom did Jesus speak this parable? Who was the intended audience? Luke records that the “tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear [Jesus}.” That must be who Jesus was speaking to. If that is your answer, then you are wrong. Luke goes on to say that the “Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” You see, it was the tax collectors and sinners Jesus was addressing. They were the guests of Jesus, the invited ones. The Pharisees and scribes, they were the ones who were not invited. They were the ones who were not welcome. They were the ones who sat in disapproval of who Jesus kept company with; in this case, the tax collectors and sinners.
As Jesus recounts this parable, we see several figures appear: a father and two sons. The younger son wanted what was coming to him, most likely at the death of his father. However, the father is not dead and the son wants what he is promised. It was a gutsy request of the son to ask the father for his share of in the heritance because he was telling his father that he essentially wished that his father was dead so he could get what would be his.
Who is this son? We can easily deduce that we are this son. We act in ways that are all about us, with no regard for our brother. We act as if it’s all about me and that’s all that matters. Yes, we are this son. And what does this son do when he gets what he wants, what he is deserved? He goes off and squanders all that he has until he has nothing.
The good news is that we can say that while we are like this son, at least we are not like the Pharisees and the scribes. What a relief! Did we forget who Jesus was telling this parable to? It was spoken to the Pharisees and the scribes. Whether we want to admit it or not, that’s us. We are the Pharisees and scribes, not concerned with the needs of our neighbor but solely with ourselves and our needs and wants and desires. It was all about them, just like it’s all about us.
If the Pharisees and scribes are identified as the younger son, do we really have to ask who the father in the parable is? Of course the father in the parable is God our heavenly Father. This father does not act like he is supposed to act. We would imagine this father to be cut to the heart at what his son had asked of him. Instead, the father acts in a way that is not proper. He runs to the son. A man of his stature does not run. Running in such a way would have been embarrassing. Secondly, why would he run after his son who more or less told him he wanted him dead and embrace him? It doesn’t make sense what the father did. But it does make sense because this was the father’s son. Even after all that the son has done in his wasteful life, at the end of the day, this is his son. He doesn’t chastise him for squandering all that he gave him. He doesn’t give him the “I told you so” speech. No, he gives to him the royal treatment: jewelry, clothing, food and drink, a great party – the works.
For you and I, our heavenly Father does nothing short of that for us. He gives to us the “best robe” as we are robed in Christ’s righteousness. You and I receive from God the gift of His name in our Baptism, marking us as those who have been redeemed by Christ. We are given that sonship that the young son had given up before his journey. We receive the fattened calf that was killed for the party, but we don’t receive it in the form of a calf. We receive it in the form of the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. This Lamb of God was slaughtered for us upon Calvary, His blood washing over us to forgive us all of our sins in His sacrifice for us. The words that the father uses in the parable are descriptive of us as well: “For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.” That’s us. Dead in our trespasses of sin, but made alive in the waters of Baptism. The image of God lost upon us in the Fall, but found and restored again by Christ’s death and resurrection.
The father treated His son as royalty. Everything his son had done was forgiven and forgotten. The Father, you see, doesn’t change. He is always the loving and caring and compassionate Father. And He always receives His dear children through the atoning work of His only-begotten Son, the Son that is of the same substance as He, the Son that is God in the flesh, the Son that takes away the sins of the world!
What the parable of the prodigal son tells us, what it tells you, is that you can go back home! In fact, when a sinner repents and returns to the Father, it is a happy day, a glorious day, a day to celebrate, a day to rejoice and give thanks. Indeed, “there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” The sacrifice has been offered and the banquet table has been set because you are home in the house of your father!
Today we celebrate and partake in the foretaste of the heavenly feast to come. Better than any fatted calf, the Lamb of God has been slain, once for all. The Lamb of God, who once was dead, now lives and reigns victorious, and today we feast on this Lamb with the King of Kings Himself as baptized and restored children of His heavenly, royal household! Today our Lord of lords and King of kings deigns to not only feast with us, but to serve us with His very Body and Blood. Here He lavishly welcomes, embraces, kisses, and feeds all His children with His free and undeserved gifts of Fatherly divine goodness, mercy, love, and peace.
God our heavenly Father has the last word in all of this. He is the one who never turns His back on the children who turn their backs on Him. He is the Father who comes running to us after we have run away from Him. There is always hope for the prodigal son and so there is hope for us as well. In Jesus’ name, amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, amen.