Sermon Cloud

TEXT

Luke 15:11-32: "And he said, ‘There was a man who had two sons.  12 And the younger of them said to his father, "Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me." And he divided his property between them.  13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living.  14 And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need.  15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs.  16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.  17 But when he came to himself, he said, "How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger!  18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.  19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.'"  20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.  21 And the son said to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son."  22 But the father said to his servants, "Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet.  23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate.  24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found." And they began to celebrate.  25 Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing.  26 And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant.  27 And he said to him, "Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound."  28 But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him,  29 but he answered his father, "Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends.  30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!"  31 And he said to him, "Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.  32 It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found."'"

INRODUCTION

The story we're looking at today is an incredibly familiar story, even to those who know little of the Bible.  Its imagery and language are ingrained in our culture and it is one of the most widely told and well liked stories of all of history. 

Shakespeare borrowed plot points from this story and alluded to the parable regularly in his dramas.  It has been turned into an opera, a ballet form, and a song.  It has been famously painted by Rembrandt and others.  Both Dickens and Emerson said it was the greatest short story ever told.  It is loved by many and understood by few.  It has been spiritualized, sentimentalized and in many ways stripped of its meaning as we pour into the story what we want it to say. 

In order to keep our hearts tuned to what Jesus is teaching us, we have to remember that this story is being told as a response to the Pharisee's grumbling in verse 2.  Their frustration towards Jesus was bound up in His willing and joyful reception of sinners.  It made them spiteful and angry towards Him.  They would never associate themselves with the kind of people Jesus did.  They kept away from such people because they wanted to protect their righteousness and purity. 

This parable was set in a small Middle East village at a time most of us know little or nothing about.  Since we're not familiar with such a place it is difficult for us to comprehend the scandal of Jesus' story.  The references to the actions of the son, the response of the father, and the reaction of the Pharisees are missed if we don't travel back to this time and try to understand the cultural nuances of the story.  The characters, the plot, and the details Jesus highlights are all important. 

Simply put, this was a culture of shame and honor and the Pharisees placed themselves in the role of the shame police.  Honor was everything to them.  From their flowing robes, long prayers, to their fastidious morality, the Pharisees prized themselves in maintaining holiness in a culture filled with shameful people.  And this story is one long tale of shame with a twist. 

As the story begins (v. 11), the younger son is clearly cast as the bad guy, but as the story moves along, the father and his reaction to his son's actions takes center stage.  Then in a twist at the end, the elder brother is revealed as the true villain of the story.  Everything in this story would have been considered shameful by the religious hearers.   

We're trying to get a sense of how the hearers of this parable would have interpreted it.  If we miss who Jesus was addressing and why he was addressing them, we'll miss the whole point of this story.

We know from last week that both of the brothers are alienated from the father's heart.  The younger brother is irreligious and the older brother is the religious.  The turn in the story happens when Jesus teaches that the religious son actually misses the love of the Father, the Gospel, and the irreligious brother comes in.  In this story, only the prodigal gets the kiss of the Father. 

Isn't that what we're hoping for when we hear the Gospel?  Aren't we hoping to receive His kiss of approval?  The kiss of the Father's approval is the experience of His loving grace towards us.  It is more than just a fact about Him, it is a heart moved to melting gratitude as we sense His pleasure and joy over us. 

That's what we're hoping to find out from this week.  How do we get the kiss of the Father?  How do we experience His grace so that it is a reality to us and not just a nice concept or heart-warming parable?

STUDY

I. RUNNING FROM THE FATHER-re:Defining Sin

Verses 11-12: "And he said, ‘There was a man who had two sons.  12 And the younger of them said to his father, "Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me." And he divided his property between them.'" 

This is a tale of two sons, not simply the prodigal son.  This is important that we keep the two sons in mind throughout the story, even though we're preaching the second part this week. 

The introduction of this story alone would have caused the Pharisees to gasp in horror.  The request of the son to receive what is his would have been utterly shameful and would have demonstrated zero honor and respect for his father, and would have been considered a hateful thing to request.  In this culture, you would not ask for such a thing because it was essentially a request for the father to be dead, or at least dead in the son's heart.    

The younger son knew that he would have received a third of his inheritance when his father died.  His brother would have been given two thirds.  But instead of being content with waiting, the younger son asks for his inheritance now.  He wants to be done with this family and to live his own life.  "Give me the share of the property that is coming to me..."  This son has no interest in managing his father's wealth.  He has no interest in staying close to the father.  This father was clearly wealthy as we can see by the ring, the robe, the servants and the fattened calf.  These were all for those who would have had great wealth tied up in their land. 

This young man wanted his father's goods, but not his father.  The father would have been responsible for shaming his son.  Beating him, casting him out publicly and then holding a funeral as if the son had died would have been the only way for him to maintain his honor and integrity.  Public humiliation of this sort could have led to the son's death.  Obviously the son knew his father wouldn't kill him.  The Pharisees would have been waiting for the father to respond to protect his own honor.

Instead of reacting by shaming his son, he takes the shame upon himself and gives the son what he asks.  He would have had to liquidate his assets to give his son what he requested.  No son would have received this kind of request.  The father's response would have been shameful to the Pharisees as well.  No self-respecting father would have allowed him to get away with such a dishonorable action.

Where was the older son? The older son should have stepped in to protect the father.  He should have maintained the honor of the family by stepping in and protecting his father's honor.  Instead, the brother is not around.  Both the younger and the older sons were trying to get control of the father.  Sin is running from God to get control.   

1- Sin is running from God to get control

Sin is essentially doing whatever it takes to say to God, "I can do what I want and will control my own life." 

Sin is desiring the Father's goods without a desire for the Father.  This is how Jesus shows us the essence of sin.  He could have told a parable about a murderer or thief, but instead Jesus comes up with the example of someone who is saying, "Give me my inheritance and leave me the hell alone.  Let me be independent and don't tell me what to do.  Just give it to me and in my heart you'll be dead."   It is a filial suicide.  It is a way of killing the father in his affections.

The older brother is saying to the father, "I have obeyed you and now demand control because of what I've done."  The younger brother wants control of his life by running, and the older wants control of his life by staying.  Neither of them wants the father.  They both are desperately trying to gain control. 

It isn't just that you've done terrible things, but why have you done these things?  Why specifically, not just generally?  What are you hoping for in doing those things?  Now, it isn't just that you've done really good things for God, but why have you done these things?  Why specifically, not just generally?  What are you hoping for in being obedient? 

Sin is a relational issue.  It is a way of running from God and keeping control of your life and attempting to be your own lord (I'll do what I want), or your own savior (my good deeds are enough).    

Verse 13: "Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living." 

He continues his shameful actions by rebelling against his father and getting rid of his inheritance, his birthright.  The son sold his portion of the estate, did it quickly and a much reduced cost so that he could get money in his hand immediately.  He had such little value for his father and his father's property that he was willing to get rid of it without thought.  This would have been utterly shameful.  Who would do this?  Who would care so little about his family and his father that he would willingly sell his birthright?

He then leaves to journey into a far country, into Gentile land.  This was a place where you would only travel to if necessary, and when you left you would shake the dust off of your feet because it would have been considered unclean.  The Pharisees would have gasped again.  This would have been so horrific that the religious leaders would be cursing this boy and hoping for his death.

He squandered what he had and blew it on pursuing sinful pleasures.  What was he looking for?  What was his heart yearning for?  Why do you think he pursued this with such zeal and urgency?  He was searching for home. 

2- Sin is seeking a home where there is no home. 

What is home?  Home is not a place.  Both the younger brother AND the older brother are away from home.  Home is a relationship.  Without a home, you have no sense of belonging and acceptance. 

The point is that the prodigal was looking for home.  He wanted to go where he would feel acceptance and belonging.  He was looking for a place where he would feel loved and treasured or perhaps honored and respected. 

Henry Nouwen wrote a book on the parable of the prodigal son.  Although I don't agree with Nouwen's theology on most issues, on this particular issue I think he nailed it.  Nouwen is speaking about the results of running from home when he says:

Home is the center of my being, where I can hear the voice that says "You are my beloved, in whom I am well pleased."  Jesus made it clear that the same voice that he heard in the Jordan river and on Mt. Tabor, can be heard by me.  He makes it clear that there is a home with the Father.  But if I decide to keep control...if I go out into the world, I'll keep running around asking everything "Do you really love me?  Do you really love me?"...I give all the power to the voices of the world.  It's the world that defines me then.  The world's love is full of "if's."  Yes I love you "if" you're good looking, "if" you're intelligent, "if" you're well off, "if" you have connections, "if" you're productive...endless "if's."

It is not too hard to know when I have left home spiritually.  Resentment, jealousy, desire for revenge, lust, greed, ambition, and rivalry are all obvious signs that I have left home.  That I'm letting the world define me with its love full of "if's."  But when I'm home with the Father, when I know I'm the beloved, I can confront, console, admonish, and encourage without any fear of rejection or need for affirmation.  I can suffer persecution without desire for revenge, or receive praise without using it as proof of my goodness.  

This is the terrible irony of sin.  If you try to get away from the Father to get control of your life, you will end up giving control of your life to something else.  That's why the prodigal was out of control and was starving.

Worry and anxiety, according to Nouwen, are proofs that you've left home spiritually and have become a prodigal.  How could he say that?  Anxiety means you've been trying to find bread some place else.  This is why we're eaten up with anxiety.  Our hearts are telling us if we just had that, then we'd be home, then we'd have rest, then we'd have joy, then I'd know I'm loved, then I'd know I'm accepted. 

Yet for every time our hearts tell us to go get that, we sadly come to realize we've walked away from the only true home to pursue a promise that never satisfies, never comes through, and only fails us.  And each time we do, each time we leave home, each time we try to get control by getting that, we become more enslaved until we realize that we're unable to come to our senses.      

Most of us aren't going to walk away from the Father in the way that the prodigal son did.  We usually think of sins in these big ways.  But the truth is that every time I forget how much grace, love, and acceptance I have with the Father, I begin to seek for these things elsewhere.

We run from the Father when we no longer believe that the Father loves us and is fully satisfied in what Jesus did for us.  We run because we're dying to get out, when in fact what we're really wanting is to get in.  We're trying to make ourselves right, acceptable, beautiful, valuable, and clean.  We want the kiss of the Father, but we're afraid we'll never get it so we flee and try to find those kisses from false lovers. 

Verse 14: "And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need." 

He left the protection of his father's care and blew his inheritance and found himself in circumstances that he had no control over.  He could control leaving, he could control his spending, but he couldn't control the famine that came.  A famine is coming for all of us at some point, whether we've made good decisions or bad, but it compounds the problem when we have been running from God when it hits.

Verse 15: "So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs." 

He "glued" himself or "attached" himself to a Gentile citizen of the country.  Some rich guy who owned property used this man's hopelessness as a way of making him his slave.  He no longer had any control, certainly not the control over his life he was seeking when he left.  He had become a slave to sin both spiritually and now physically.  Sin enslaves us holistically. 

He was forced to "feed the pigs," perhaps one of the worst jobs for anyone at this time.  It would have been on fields that could not grow crops or vegetation because the pigs would destroy it.  They would be kept in a field that was rocky and the pigs would have been fed "pods" which had barely any nutrition.  For a Jewish man, this would have been the worst possible scenario.  Pigs were considered an "unclean" animal and would have further shamed himself, his father, and the Jews which he represented.

No Jewish boy would have ever stooped so low.  This is so outrageous, so vile and disgusting, and so off the charts, that it would have been considered the worst possible picture of a Jewish son.  It is as bad as it could get.  This young man is left homeless, helpless, in despair and without hope.

Verse 16: "And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything."

They were probably carob pods that were common in this day.  They grew easily and were hearty and could withstand a famine.  They had a sweet substance inside but they were virtually useless for nourishment.  They were useless for anything else other than to mash up and give to pigs that would eat anything. 

3- Sin is trying to satisfy our hunger with everything but God

In a classic picture of sin, Jesus shows us that when we run from God we're trying to feast on and fill our hunger with things that will never nourish and satisfy us.  We willingly eat the scraps, not because our passions are too strong, but because they're too weak.  We're so beaten down by our spiritual famine that we're willing to settle for the shallow husks of this world.  We can't imagine what it would be like to feast at our Father's table.  And the insanity of running weakens our passion for a true feast.  We begin to forget the nourishment we once had and resign to accept our famine. 

The Prophet Jeremiah puts in this way:  Jeremiah 2:13: "for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water."

Jesus is teaching us that sin is running from God to gain control of your life, it's seeking a home where there is no home, and it is trying to satisfy your hunger with everything but Him. 

But this doesn't bring us to the Father.  Even deep and profound awareness of our sin doesn't require we turn in faith and joy to what Jesus has done for us.  And merely feeling bad for what we've done and being aware of our sin doesn't bring us the kiss of the Father. 

II.  COMING TO OUR SENSES-True Repentance

Verse 17: "But when he came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger!'"

He begins to wake from his insanity.  He realizes that even his father's servants have more than enough food, enough bread.  Even his father's servants are provided for and cared for.  His father was kind and merciful.  He is reminded of his father's generosity and loving stewardship.  That is the beginning of repentance, to wake from your coma of sin, to realize the generosity of your Father in heaven, and to trust in His grace to receive you back. 

Repentance is always more than just realizing you've done something wrong.  For repentance to be true, it must also have with it a confidence that God will make it right.  It is a heart-breaking realization that I've sinned against God, but it is also a trusting faith that knows I can come to Him on some other basis than my goodness.  Without knowing that the Father is willing to forgive, we will be left with only the shame and weight of sin without the hope of reconciliation.  This creates a self-reconciling, or rather, self-saving need to stop breaking the law as a way to give us a sense of security and hope that all will be well.  Unfortunately, this only breeds anxiety and more insanity.  It never assures us we're "ok" because unless we significantly diminish the standards of the law, we'll only have despair over even our best attempts to be good enough for Him to love us.  If we're honest, we know that the only way He could possibly love us is if He does so not out of our worth, but out of His worth.  Not on the basis of our performance, but on the basis of His.  Not on the security of our future righteousness, but on the perfection of His.  Not even on the depth of our love for Him, but on the basis of His love for us.

Repentance isn't just looking at the broken rules; it's looking at the motivation for our actions beneath those broken rules. 

In a religious grid, repentance is abnormal (you only repent when you feel like you screwed up, and that is rare).  But there is no kiss of God.  There is no experience of His grace.  Religious people mistake their superior attitude towards others as the acceptance of the Father.  The feeling for them is pleasurable, but it's not the kiss of the Father.

In an irreligious grid, repentance is unnecessary.  Coming to your senses is more than just feeling guilt about what you've done (irreligious), and it is more than just breaking the rules (religious).

Coming to your senses is far more than realizing we've been breaking this rule or that rule.  Coming to your senses is realizing that you've been running from the Father, and that is why a particular sin, thing or person has captured and enslaved you. 

Verses 18-19: "I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.  19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.'"

He realized that he sinned against God first and foremost.  He realized he has lost all rights and has no expectation of becoming a son again.  He still wanted to be at least a worker for wages under his father's care than to continue away from him.

In this shame/honor culture, it was the only way you could begin to restore your honor.  He would need to come back and work his way back, earn his way into favor, and take the shame due to him and from enough work and labor deposit enough honor into his account to eventually recover honor to his father, his family, and to himself.

The father could have accepted this plea, but was not bound to do so.  He could more easily reject his offer and not even meet with him.  He would sit in his home as his servants rejected this request for mercy.  If the father loved him, he could accept the offer of the son and the best the son could do would be to work his way back.  This was if the father desperately wanted to the son back but still wanted to maintain his honor.  This would make sense since everyone would have known about how much he had lost his honor and how shamed he was.  He would never respond the way he did in this next verse.

The Jews would have thought Jesus was soft on sin and that he didn't understand God's holiness and justice.  They would have said, "Someone has to pay, there needs to be a sin offering.  Someone must administer justice!"

The Pharisees make their converts pay before they come in.  They have to wallow in their sin and earn their way back. 

They wanted someone to pay, and what Jesus seemed to be telling them was that it was free and there was no payment, no offering, no sacrifice for sins against this holy, perfect and just God.  Is that true?  Is Jesus just casually brushing off God's holiness?  Not at all.

The Pharisees would see this as the first honorable thing in the story so far.  Of course he should make amends and restore honor to his father by working for him and paying back every last penny, though it would take more than a lifetime. 

III.  THE KISS OF THE FATHER

Verse 20: "And he arose and came to his father.  But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him."

What?  This was a verb for sprinting in a race.  Old nobleman would never sprint.  It was not dignified.  Patriarchs were supposed to maintain honor and poise for themselves and for their family.  Any noble man would have sentenced the son to a lifetime of labor, not to the joy of his kisses.  More shame is compounded.

The father willingly takes the shame of his son upon himself.  The father feels compassion for his son, he's looking at the horizon for his son.  He's putting all his energy in searching for him.  Then, of all the ridiculous and shameful responses, he sees his son in the distance and he runs after him.  He would have lifted up his robes and shamed himself even more.   It would have been an embarrassing dishonor to show your legs and whatever else happened to become exposed.  The father allows his son's filth to get on him.  He "falls upon" his son and begins to kiss him with incredible intensity and affection.  He overtakes him, and kisses over and over.  He showers him and lavishes him with affection. 

When did the son receive the father's kisses?  Was it before the speech or after?  Before!  The father sees the son, runs hard after him, seizes the son, grabs him and kisses him and does all this before the son utters a word.  It's the father's kindness that leads the son to repentance.  It's the father's love that comes first so that son could respond.  Without the father loving the son already, before he even left, the son would have had no confidence he could ever return, nor would he try.  He already was counting on his father's character and already knew his father would welcome him back in.  How?  Because his father had already shown his son what kind of merciful, gracious, loving and gloriously forgiving father he was before a word could be spoken in repentance.  In other words, the son understood that he could turn to his father in repentance.  

You need a Father's love before you'll come to your senses.  You need a God like this to have any hope that he'll receive you back.

Is this verse teaching something different than the parable of the lost sheep and lost coin in the beginning of the chapter?  In those parables, the shepherd went looking for the sheep and the woman went searching for the coin.  Both of them took initiative first.  Yet this verse seems to teach that we have to take the initiative?  No it doesn't.

Where is the slap to the son's face?  Where is the public humiliation his son deserved?  Why is this father continuing to destroy his reputation?    The Pharisees would not have been able to comprehend what Jesus was teaching them.  They would have been utterly disgusted.  They had no categories to accept this.  They didn't understand grace.  This was the nail in the coffin for the Pharisees.  An honorable and moral man losing all care for his reputation and with no demands just welcomes this boy back with what appears to be no cost at all. 

But the son understood the father's love.  Look at the next verse.

Verse 21: "And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'" 

He receives the father's kisses, the father's grace, and what does the son say to him?  "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.  I am no longer worthy to be called your son."  What is missing?  His plan to work back his father's favor is missing for a reason.  He knows that he doesn't need to earn it, his father's overflowing heart welcomes him back in. 

Verse 22: "But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet.'" 

He clothes him in his recovered identity as a son!  We're not used to seeing God unrestrained like this are we?  We're not used to seeing Him so eager, so willing.  We're not used to seeing God so delighted and so happy.  He is utterly rejoicing, completely over the top, and absolutely joyous as he pours his loving kindness upon any son or daughter he runs after. 

This is the best robe reserved for royal celebration.  He has it thrown on over his filth and covers him and shares his father's dignity and honor.  He places his ring upon him, showing he had full authority of the father.  He is not only a son, but he has his father's authority, and he puts shoes on his feet.  Shoes were only worn and owned by the leaders, and servants went without.  He's treating his son as a prince, as a true son, as an authority for his family.  In one swift movement, he receives full sonship.  His father's love not only pardons and forgives, it lavishes him with his restored identity. 

This is a picture, no less, of the abounding and infinite joy of God.  The angels of heaven rejoice with God over one sinner who repents (v. 7). 

Verse 23: "And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate." 

They throw a party.  The celebration is the joy of a loving father who welcomed in his son.  They eat the fattened calf, reserved only for the most important celebrations.  This was completely unacceptable in the eyes of the Pharisees.  How much more shame could the father pour on his own head?  This was ridiculous. 

Verse 24: "‘For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.' And they began to celebrate." 

The father declares the changed status of the son, purely by the father's grace.  "This my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to celebrate."

He runs after his son, he kisses him and covers his filth, he gives him full status as his own son, he places the robe, the ring, the shoes upon his feet, publicly declares to all that though his son was dead, he's alive again; and though he was lost, he is now found.  And they begin to celebrate with and rejoice in a feast for all to hear and see. 

The Pharisees would have heard this story with nothing but contempt for the boy and the father.  They would have seen this as a shameful parable that didn't make any sense to them at all. 

Jesus, realizing their hard hearts, shows them that their representative in this story was the elder brother. 

IV.  The Disgust of the Pharisees

Verses 25-31: "Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing.  26 And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant.  27 And he said to him, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.'  28 But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him,  29 but he answered his father, 'Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends.  30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!'  31 And he said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.'" 

They could identify with the older brother; they were the older brother.  They would have understood his response and embraced it.  Finally someone was making sense of this whole thing.  Finally someone is going to protect the family's honor and the father's honor, even if the father would not. 

In verse 31, the father says to the elder brother, ‘Son, everything I have is yours...'  This is actually true.  Legally, everything that the father had at this point was promised to the son.  Everything the younger brother had a right to is gone.  This is why he's so upset.  When the father calls the servants to bring the robe, it's the elder brother's robe.  When he says to bring the ring, it's the elder brother's ring.  When he says bring the calf, it's the elder brother's calf.  The pouring out of grace upon the younger son and the party and feast were at the expense of what rightfully was the older brother's. 

V. The Gospel of this Story

You don't just need to come to an awareness of your sin.  You don't just need to come to your senses in repentance.  You need an elder brother to foot the cost of the bill.

There is no way that the younger son can be brought in without the expense of the elder brother.  It was at an incredible cost to the older brother, yet for the prodigal it was free. 

Jesus is teaches us that this broken, sinful, filthy and shameful younger son can only come in at the expense of the older brother.  And sadly, his elder brother is hateful, spiteful, angry, selfish and stingy with his inheritance. 

Not you and I.  You and I have a different kind of elder brother don't we.  There is a True Elder Brother.  His name is Jesus, and He did love the Father and obeyed Him completely.  Never did Jesus disobey His Father.  He came and loved His Father with all his heart, mind, soul and strength and loved his neighbor as himself.  He earned the robe.  He earned the ring.  He earned the right, not only to receive a sacrifice, but to become the sacrifice. 

At the very end of our Elder Brother's life, instead of getting a robe from the Father, He was given a mock robe from the soldiers.  Instead of getting a ring of authority, He was given a crown made of thorns.  Instead of being clothed in majesty, He was stripped naked and put on display for all to see.  He didn't get the joy and the wine, He took the sorrow and received the bitterness of vinegar upon the cross. 

And the Gospel is this glorious truth.  The only way to be clothed in the Father's royal robes is for our Elder brother to be stripped.  The only way for us to get the ring of authority is for Jesus to give His up.  He obeyed, He earned them, He rightfully owns them, they're His inheritance.  But Jesus scandalously gives them up so that we can have them. 

Jesus is teaching that every other god is waiting on the porch, but not our God.  Our God comes running after us, throws Himself on us and engulfs us and kisses us with His grace.  Every other god waits for you to clean up before he approves you.  This is why there is no joy with any other god.  But our God approves us and cleans us up Himself.  This is why our God has so much joy; His confidence of our repentance, our sincerity, our cleanliness, our righteousness, isn't in us but in Him!  He's fully satisfied, He's incredibly joyful, He takes great pleasure and delight in forgiving us because the ground of forgiveness is Him! 

Salvation is totally free, but it is overwhelmingly costly.  It is far more costly than the religious could ever imagine, and it is far more freeing than the prodigal could ever hope for. 

Jesus is calling us to come home to the Father.  Come home and He promises us the same kind of reception.  Come home and he'll wrap us in His righteous robes and bring us to the face of a rejoicing Father.  Come home and he'll throw a party for us now, through our lives, and it will climax at the great wedding feast of the Bride (the church) and the Bridegroom (Jesus). 

If there's no music and joy in our hearts, we still haven't grasped the incredible love that our Father has for us in this story.  Come home!