Embracing God's Love: The Prodigal Son's Journey

Jesus responds with a parable. How many of you know the story he's about to tell is going to be distinctly responding to that problem, right? So when he goes now to tell this story, tell this parable, he has direct intention to respond to this supposed problem, right? It looks like, according to these Pharisees and the scribes, these are the church leaders, the people who would have been the heads of their society, the people who went to all the fancy colleges and studied all the cool stuff who seemed important enough to stand on a stage or a city square. [00:37:19]

The first story opens in verse four and says this: what man among you, if he has had a hundred sheep and lost one of them, does not leave the 99 to the open pasture, go after the one which is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing, and when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost. I tell you that in the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than 99 righteous persons who need no repentance. [00:39:06]

Then he tells a second story that says almost the exact same thing but in a different way: or what woman, if she has 10 silver coins and loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost. In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. [00:41:41]

The way that parables are often told is when there's a baseline set, there's a system that is set, we immediately jump back and begin to see how that pattern is going to be broken. This is where the primary message of what's about to be taught is. So on that, it says this: there is one choice of who they are. This is the first piece of how they're telling the story, how Jesus is telling these stories. [00:44:16]

The father saw him, felt compassion for him, ran and embraced and kissed him. And the son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. But the father said to his slaves, quickly bring out the best robe, put it on him, put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet, kill the fattened calf and let us eat and celebrate. [00:47:06]

This is the image we're given of the father is all he is doing is waiting for the return of his son. And when he sees him from a long way off, so this means nobody else saw him yet, right? You got like all the hired hands, you got all the people working in the household, and only one person sees him, the father who was looking for him. [00:51:07]

This is the way that Jesus critiques the Pharisees, the scribes. Do you not know that you received not just the invitation, but this is your house? You should be the ones welcoming, right? You should be the ones who eat ribs. This is the moment. It's your time to shine because that which has been lost is found, and this is our invitation to rejoice at the greatness of what has happened. [01:01:41]

This is the core of the Gospel: there is a God whose heart is to love me this dramatically. But there's then this moment where little by little we begin to not quite look like that son. We begin to look like the older son. We have this moment where that love of God, that heart of God that once animated everything we did begins to sort of falter. [01:02:05]

This is the message that Jesus is really preaching, right? There is no more beautiful story than that moment that so many of us receive when we find God, where we feel like the prodigal son has returned, right? This moment where you were given grace and mercy and righteousness that never belonged to you. You did nothing to earn it except have faith in Jesus. [01:02:20]

This is the kind of finding that this son needed to receive. He begs him with an invitation to come into the party and celebrate. He is begging his son to draw near. This is how we begin to understand who is truly lost in this scenario because there are many who have been lost and found, but there is one who doesn't realize they've lost their way. It's the older brother. [01:03:35]

Are we actually sitting with God, inviting the lost and welcoming them with open arms the same way that Jesus sits with sinners and tax collectors? This is really the question that Jesus leaves us with. Are you actually going to accept this invitation and walk out all that God is welcoming in, walk out all that God is welcoming us into alongside him? [01:06:23]

I thank you that you have given us a radical welcome. You have called us into life where only death was seen. I thank you that you continue to move in great power and you call us to love people well, to represent you on the earth. I ask that you would show us how to love people like you do, to welcome in even those who don't look like us or think like us or live like us. [01:08:04]