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Northwest Church of Christ 3904 38th Street NW Canton, Ohio 44718 330-492-5523 Fax: 330-493-7119 |
“The Prodigal - Part II: |
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I. Introduction.
A. The young man who wanted his freedom, who left his
home and family, did not find the kind of life he thought
he’d have when he began his journey. Instead of a highway
to success, he’d traveled an expressway to destruction.
Instead of freedom, he found bondage. Instead of the
fulfillment of his dreams, he found a nightmare. The
pleasure had turned to pain, and the excitement and joy had
become hopeless sorrow.1. The heedless young rebel, who had thrown away
everything good in his life for a brief period of self-
indulgence, was now forced into a lifestyle of
complete self-deprivation.2. Now, it was as bad as it could get, and he was on
the verge of death. There were none of the
pleasures he had dreamed about, and he was over-
whelmed by evils he had never even thought of.3. Despite all of the consequences of his choices, the
prodigal was still not quite ready to go home.
Going home would mean admitting he’d been
foolish and wrong. Going home would mean
confronting the grief he had caused his father, the
shame he had brought upon himself and his family,
the resentment he was sure to have to face from his
older brother.4. Above all, going home would mean accepting
responsibility for his actions, and submitting to
authority once again. The very reasons he’d left
in the first place was to escape these.
B. At first, the disillusioned prodigal did what many try to do
before they truly hit bottom. He desperately tried to devise
a way to weather the crisis and, perhaps, avoid having to
face his sin, and to account for all the harm he had caused.1. His first plan, doing whatever he wanted for
the rest of his life, had fallen apart. So, here
was “plan B” (re-read Luke 15:15).2. The prodigal made the decision to find a job.
That way, he could get back on his feet, get
through this difficult time.3. What he thinks, and does, is not at all
untypical of those caught in the slavery of
sin. “I’m still in control. I can get through
this mess I’ve made of my life and do
better.” Some people waste years under
such a delusion. Some never do come to
themselves and turn to the only real source
of help and hope, God.4. The prodigal “. . . joined himself to a citizen
of that country, . . .” (verse 15). In Jesus’
time on earth, a “citizen” meant one who
had privilege. In lands controlled by Rome,
citizens were usually wealthy foreigners.
The word refers to Roman citizenship, and
that came with privilege and honor. In his
time away from home, the prodigal had
somehow become acquainted with at least
one of these people, and, now, sought him
out.a. For “joined himself,” the Greek text
uses a very descriptive verb which
meant “glue.” The idea appears to
be that this relationship was not the
citizen’s choice.b. The prodigal sought out this person
and just refused to go away. He was
reduced to begging for help from
someone who did not care about him
or his destitution.c. The prodigal’s persistence did get
him a job – feeding pigs.
C. Not only was the prodigal destitute; now he was doing the
most demeaning kind of work. The job was more of an
insult than any kind of act of compassion on the part of the
citizen. It was a way to “unglue” this filthy beggar from
himself.1. The citizen, “. . . sent him into his fields . . .” to
feed the swine (verse 15). This means the prodigal
went to live with the pigs.2. Here was yet another revolting aspect to this story,
as far as the scribes and Pharisees were concerned.
Here was a Jew living among unclean animals, a
sign of spiritual defilement.D. As this was a time of famine (verse 14), even what was fed
to the pigs would have to be meager. But, at least the pigs
did have some food. The prodigal watched the swine eat,
and wished he, too, could have even that little bit of food.1. The word used in verse 16 means “carob pods,”
long, string-bean shaped seed pods that grew on
scrubby, tree-like bushes. The beans inside the
pods were hard, and the pod shells were tough and
leathery. These pods are inedible for humans, and
not even very nutritious for livestock.2. If only he could eat the pods, the prodigal thought,
he would “gladly” have done so.II. The Lesson Of The Prodigal’s Ruin.
A. If the Jewish religious leaders were outraged by the fact
that Jesus sat at the same table with tax collectors and other
sinners, how much more revolting was the thought of a
young man, from a good Jewish home, descending so low
into sin that he found himself longing to share food with
pigs!1. To the Pharisees, he would have essentially become
one of the pigs.2. Even in that “far country,” the prodigal’s situation
made him repulsive to others. “No one gave him
anything” (verse 16).B. We, today, cannot really begin to understand how
loathsome the prodigal would seem to the proud scribes
and Pharisees, obsessed as they were with abstaining from
all types of ceremonial pollution. Jesus, in His parable, had
ascribed to this young man every kind of defilement,
disguise, and dishonor imaginable. He made the prodigal
an object more worthy of contempt than of pity. To these
proud men, he would appear irredeemable.C. From the ruin of the prodigal we can draw a vital lesson
about the nature of sin and its destructive power.1. He is a symbol of the sinner, and of what sin is and
what it does to people.2. All sin is rebellion against a loving heavenly Father.
(I John 3:4: “Whoever commits sin also commits
lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness”). Sin is
violating God’s law, but, more than that, it is an
affront to a good, and gracious, Lawgiver. When
we sin, we show a disdain for God’s fatherly love
as well as for His holy authority. We reject not
only the law, but the One who gave it. Like the
prodigal, we dishonor the Father.3. Also, sin always produces evil consequences. It
separates us from God, and makes us hopeless in
the world (Ephesians 2:12: “. . . having no hope
and without God in the world.”).D. The prodigal among the pigs illustrates the destruction,
the degradation, and the heartache to which sin inevitably
leads. It is the image of spiritual bankruptcy, emptiness,
destitution, and loneliness. At the end of the broad road
(Matthew 7:13), there is no one to help, nowhere to turn,
no earthly hope left.E. Here, the foolish sinner’s “Plan B” has failed as well. We
don’t have the ability to repair our own broken lives. We
cannot possibly atone for the sins we’ve committed.
Without a loving Father, and a gracious Savior, we
confront only death and eternal doom. That’s exactly
where the prodigal found himself. But, he was fortunate.
He “. . . came to himself . . . “ (verse 17).F. Here, the plot finally turns in a direction that is positive,
and gives hope to anyone who has lived the prodigal’s
story. It is the turning point.1. The prodigal is forced, in the pig pen, to see what
he has become, to realize what sin has done in his
life, and to think clearly about the road back from
ruin.2. Now, he decides to come home, to walk away from
sin, to submit to his father’s authority, plead for his
father’s forgiveness. He’s coming home, with a
new plan (re-read verses 17-19).III. Conclusion.
A. Rather than trying to evade responsibility for his sin, he
would confess to it. Rather than running further away, he’d
come home.1. The love of self, and sin, that had once blinded him,
was gone. Now everything he had once turned his
back upon, and left behind, looked appealing.2. He knew he’d permanently forfeited his right to be
a son, but whatever disgrace he might face by going
home was nothing compared to what sin had done
to his life.3. The insight Jesus gave into the mind of the prodigal
is one of the clearest examples of repentance in all
of scripture.B. Now, the father comes back into the story, first in the mind
of his son. He knew his father to be merciful, even if he’d
never given it much thought before. To obtain that mercy,
he would humble himself, admit his sin, and submit to his
father. This is what repentance is. Yes, it would be
embarrassing, and even shameful. But, to the truly penitent
person that doesn’t matter.C. The prodigal “. . . arose and came to his father” (verse 20).
He was coming home.