The Prodigal Son - Luke 15

Last week I heard a really interesting take on the Prodigal Son!

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWopbpBYSbc

Jesus told them this story: “A man had two sons. The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now before you die.’ So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons.
“A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living. About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything.
“When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”’
“So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.’
“But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began.
“Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working. When he returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house, and he asked one of the servants what was going on. ‘Your brother is back,’ he was told, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf. We are celebrating because of his safe return.’
“The older brother was angry and wouldn’t go in. His father came out and begged him, but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!’
“His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!’”

The Gospel is great, but what if it was even GREATER than what we thought.

So we always go on as we share the Gospel, that Christ died for the sins of mankind, that no matter what we've done, the Cross of Jesus is greater, to overcome all sins!

We must repent and be baptized (Acts 2:38).

God reveals himself to us, so that we can believe (Mat 11:27; John 6:44)
In chapter 15 in the Gospel of Luke, the first two verses are so important -

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

For this reason, Jesus tells them 3 parables - The Parable of the Lost Sheep, The Parable of the Lost Coin and the Parable of the Prodigal Son.

In all three Parables, Jesus is explaining to them why it is, that he eats with tax collectors and sinners, to respond to their grumbling. Jesus teaches them about the Father's love for everyone. How much worth he finds in everyone.

If I had 100 chocolate bars. If I lost one, it will not even be an issue, I probably wouldn't notice, and if I did, it really would not matter, because of the 99 I have left! God does not work that way with us. He cares so much about each one of us individually, to the point that there is great celebration at the end of each one of these parables - as the lost sheep is found, the lost coin is found, and the lost son returns home.

This is all straightforward - the new insight I got from the message, is that this is only the beginning of God's great love! The second son had who stayed home, while his brother was out spending all his father's money. When he hears about the party in honor of his brother's return, he blows up in anger! He represents the Pharisees who are grumbling about Jesus hanging with the sinners. This next verse is so key:

28 But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him,

Pharisees are the Proud religious jews who believe they have been made right with God through their good actions. This leads them to judge/condemn sinners. Jesus comes to rebuke them. Setting the standards so high that no one could ever be good enough to please the Father. As disciples of Christ, we must then be very careful not to play the Pharisee's game by judging them back!

The whole point of these three Parables was to show the Pharisees why he was after sinners. But this did not mean by any means that they were not to be part of the kingdom, and of the celebration. The pharisees are in sin! If they truly loved the sinners they would be celebrating that Jesus had come to make a way for them. But for this reason, they are like the lost sheep, the lost coin. No matter how much condemning and shaming they have done, we must be as Christ, agents of reconciliation, loving them, serving them, and leading them to God. In the Parable, the father came out to invite the angry son to join them in the celebrating, we must do the same, as we try to reflect the Father's love.