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Northwest Church of Christ 3904 38th Street NW Canton, Ohio 44718 330-492-5523 Fax: 330-493-7119 |
“The Father - Part II: |
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I. Introduction.
A. Imagine you are one of the household servants on the day
the prodigal son returns home. You are startled to see the
master of the house hurrying out into the road and, then,
running with his robes held high. Calling no one to go with
him, the father nonetheless has servants following him,
trying to keep up, with no idea why he was running and
what had brought on this odd, in fact embarrassing,
behavior.1. To some observers, the scene would appear
comical.2. To others, it would be considered shameful and
abnormal, as if this man had suddenly lost his
mind.B. Now, as one of the servants coming after the master, you
see another figure. What a sight he is! Dirty, torn
garments and, as you approached closer, the smell of a
pigsty. Yet, your master doesn’t hesitate. He embraces
the young man and begins kissing him. Almost before the
panting servants could take in this remarkable scene, the
father turns to them and orders them to go on a series of
urgent errands. The best Greek texts tell us the father
introduced all these orders with the adverb “Quickly!” He
wanted no delay.C. Now the servants understand what the father is
commanding. He wants to have a feast for his son – the
young man in the tattered, stinking clothes. The father
wants to celebrate his son’s return, and to treat him like
some sort of honored dignitary. How strange! How
incredible! After what this boy did.1. Recall what the word “prodigal” means.
Extravagant, extreme. One who uses his
resources mostly for the purpose of merrymaking.
Lavish, immoderate.2. Here we have a picture of not only such a son, but,
now, such a father (re-read verses 22 and 23).3. The father was ordering that the very best be used,
and provided, to honor the dishonorable boy. He
was extending to his lost son an extravagant grace.D. Now, put yourself in the shoes of the son. He must have
been stunned. After everything he’d done, and sin had
done to him, he could hardly understand what was
happening. The father ignored the son’s prepared speech,
and was calling for a celebration. Instead of a dour lack of
judgment, the broad smile had not left the father’s face.
Instead of an order to leave, there had been a warm
embrace, and kisses of welcome. Instead of maybe staying
with his family as a servant, the prodigal was being
lavished with gifts. The robe, the ring, and the sandals.
Everyone hearing Jesus’ story knew what these gifts meant.
They were all generous favors which this boy by no means
deserved.II. A Picture Of Extravagant Grace.
A. What did these three gifts mean? What did they represent,
to the son who’d come home, to the father who ordered
them to be brought, and to those hearing the parable?B. The sandals represented the gift of being declared a son.
These really sound like the least of the three gifts, but they
are actually highly significant. They represent an
unmistakable symbol of the father’s acceptance of his
returning son.1. In those times, hired servants and household slaves
customarily went barefoot. Only masters and their
children had footwear. What the sandals said was
that the prodigal’s father was restoring the son’s
status, and privileges.2. Even though he’d been dishonored, and shamed,
to anyone with children the father’s joy is
completely understandable. What was unusual –
indeed, remarkable – was the lengths to which he
went to forgive the son. If he at least did not make
the boy work off a part of his debt, by compelling
him to be a servant, that was kindness beyond
comprehension.3. The natural question would be: “Shouldn’t the
father withhold at least some privileges, until the
son demonstrated how serious he was about his
repentance?” Don’t you want to see the results of
that repentance, first? Give it a year, maybe two,
to find out if the son was serious before you grant
him full rights.4. But, here, there is no hint of such hesitation. The
father accepts his son completely and immediately –
no questions asked.C. Then, there’s the robe, the gift of honor. Those of a higher
economic class had quality clothing. Just as today, we keep
certain clothes for more formal occasions, so people then
had choice clothing for use when it was called for. An
expensive, ornate, embroidered floor-length garment of the
highest quality fabric and workmanship.1. The closest parallel today might be an expensive
tuxedo that stays in the closet except for perhaps
once, or twice, a year. Every head of a well-to-do
family at that time would have had a special
garment like that, the “. . . best robe . . .” (v. 22).
The Greek expression in this verse means “first-
ranking garment.”2. The father wanted to trade the tattered rags the boy
wore for the most beautiful piece of clothing the
father owned. And, putting that robe on the boy
was a mark of great honor.D. Third, the ring. This was the gift of authority. This would
be a signet ring, which had the family seal on it. When the
ring was pressed into melted wax, or soft clay, on a legal
document, it served as an authorization for whatever the
document provided for.E. In addition to these items, the father orders a celebration.
1. All of this sent a clear message from this father:
“The best of all that I have is yours. You are now
fully restored as my son, and elevated to a position
of honor in this household.”2. Done as this was, publicly, no one could question
whether the father really meant all this or not. It
was another self-sacrificing act on the father’s part.
It was forgiveness, and grace, taken as far as it
could go.F. This represents a powerful reminder that the father of the
story is not only representative of a loving, and gracious,
God, but of a self-sacrificing, and equally loving, Son.1. Here is how Paul describes our Savior (read
Philippians 2:5-8).a. The literal translation of “. . . made
Himself . . . ,” in verse 7, is “emptied
Himself.” He did not do this by ceasing to
be God and not by divesting Himself of His
divine nature or attributes.b. Christ “emptied Himself” by taking a real,
authentic human nature upon Himself,
covering His heavenly glory with earthly
humanity.c. He stepped down from glory, and majesty,
to become a man, to put Himself on our
level.d. Then, he humbled Himself even further by
accepting the worst kind of death, like the
most evil person in the world. He suffered
“. . . even the death of the cross” (verse 8).2. If the behavior of the father in the parable seems
exaggerated, remember the disgrace of that father
could not even begin to compare with the
humiliation, and humility, of the Christ.G. The Father of all, and His only begotten Son, receive
sinners who are exactly like the prodigal – unclean,
clothed, spiritually, in filthy rags, without anything to offer,
and nothing to commend them to Jehovah or Christ. We
are received with joy. In Romans 4:5, Paul says God
“. . . justifies the ungodly, . . .”H. The scribes and Pharisees refused to see Jesus’ ministry
as the activity of God. They refused to accept the
“unclean” sinners whom Jesus welcomed. How badly they
misunderstood what true glory looks like!1. Christ stepped down from heaven and its glory, to
die and to rise again to an even greater glory and
higher honor.2. His suffering, and death, put on display the greatest
features of eternal glory: the extravagant grace of a
loving, and forgiving, Father. This is also in
Philippians 2 (read verses 9-11).I. As Jesus described the scene, the crowd might well have
been both stunned, and perplexed, by the father’s behavior.
He did everything that was exactly opposite to what anyone
would have thought he should do. It was contrary to
society’s customs. It went against everything they knew
about justice. And it made a mockery of common sense.1. This boy instantly had the same rights and
privileges as his elder brother, who had never
openly rebelled the way the prodigal did.2. It was as if everything had never happened. The
father was forgetting the past and beginning again
with his son at that moment.J. What was Jesus’ message? God’s extravagant, generous,
forgiving grace triumphs over every kind of sin. God’s
grace saves sinners, even the worst of sinners. And when
He forgives, He elevates the reborn sinner to a position of
privilege, and blessing, that goes far beyond anything we
could ever expect, or deserve, or imagine (read
Ephesians 3:20-21).III. Conclusion.
A. While the grace and privilege extended to this son in the
story may seem exaggerated, it isn’t really extreme enough
to serve as a proper illustration of the grace of God toward
repentant sinners. Human words and imagery are
inadequate to illustrate the reality of God’s generous
mercy.1. But, this whole idea of such lavish love for sinners
was foreign to the legalistic minds of the scribes
and Pharisees.2. They understood the concept of privilege, but they
believed such privilege from God could only be
obtained through a system of words and personal
merit. Jesus showed them, in this and the previous
two parables, that they were seriously wrong. The
law they counted on to earn themselves eternal life
would, instead, condemn them to eternal death.3. Jesus was telling them, and everyone, to confess
their need for divine grace and repent of their self-
righteousness and pride.B. Having symbolically honored his penitent son, the father
now would publicly honor him with a feast of celebration:
“ ‘. . . bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and
be merry;’ ” (Luke 15:23).1. The great joy of the father is made evident in his
next words: “ ‘for this my son was dead and is alive
again; he was lost and is found . . .’ ” (Luke 15:24).2. The celebration was not about the son’s behavior.
Even his penitent attitude didn’t merit this kind of
happiness. The celebration was in honor of the
father’s goodness to his undeserving son. The
father is rejoicing, not because the son has done
something to earn his favor, but because he now
had the long-awaited opportunity to forgive his son
and to restore his son to the family.C. It was the father who gave the boy back his life and his
privileges. It was the father who forgave him, and restored
him to the position of a son. It was the father who gave his
child true freedom and showered him with love That’s
what heaven’s joy celebrates: the grace of a loving Father
to penitent, altogether unworthy, sinners. Heaven’s joy
doesn’t end when a sinner comes home, it just begins.
Heaven is an eternity of celebrating the joy of our heavenly
Father.D. The parable’s father is an image of the Christ (just as were
the shepherd and the woman in Jesus’ first two parables
(Luke 15). He is the One who bore the sinners’
punishment. He is the One who invites the sinner to come
to Him. He embraces all who do come.1. He replaces the rotten rags of our sin with the
perfect robe of His own righteousness (Isaiah 61:10:
“I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be
joyful in my God; for He has clothed me with the
garments of salvation. He has covered me with the
robe of righteousness, . . .”).2. Christ offers forgiveness, honor, full access to His
riches, and the full right to pray in His name. He is
eager to forgive sinners. He runs to embrace the
lost. And, all heaven rejoices “. . . over one sinner
who repents . . .” (Luke 15:7).E. But, this is not the end of the story. The elder brother now
becomes the central character. The story itself takes a turn
that provides a wholly different conclusion, and a different
message. In fact, this is the message Jesus intended to
convey all along.