MAY 3rd, 2026 PASTOR DON PIEPER
A Gospel of Grace LUKE 15:1-10; 11-32
“HOME SWEET HOME”
Jesus' Prodigal Son parable is a classic. I remember being surpised to find it included in my college level classic literature text book. It's easily Jesus' most well known story inspiring great works of art like Rembrandt's famous painting, Giger's sculpture and numerous stories and movies.
My favorite such film tells the story of how a rebellious son, ignoring the wishes of his father, rushes headlong into trouble, putting distance between himself and his father as he does so winding up in a dreaded dentist office as opposed to a pig sty. Like Jesus’ famous story parable it is a father-son story, only this one takes place in the deep blue sea – a fish tale, that is all about Finding Nemo…!
[* run scene # 17 from the film, ‘Finding Nemo’]
In both Nemo and the Prodigal, a son is lost, things wind up going down the toilet – literally in Nemo's case, both show how a lost son who ultimately “comes to his senses” realizes what he has lost, and both celebrate the love of a father – “one dedicated father, if you ask me!”
Jesus' parable of the prodigal son, or the prodigal God as Timothy Keller famously referred to it, articulates Luke's Gospel of grace in a concise story. Here, is the ultimate good news! Well, it's good news for almost everyone. Maybe not so much for the fatted calf. When the prodigal son returned, the poor fatted calf saw his life flash before his eyes! “I have a bad feeling about this!”
Jesus' parable reveals at least three powerful insights. One, it reveals the reckless, unconditional nature of the Father's love for us. Consider some of the details in Jesus' story. Jesus begins by telling us that “A man had two sons. The younger 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.” (Luke 15:11-12)
If you listen closely you can almost hear Jesus' original audience gasp: “Wait – what?!” It's a shocking intro. For one thing, a younger son wasn't legally entitled to anything. The bulk, if not the entirety of a landowner's estate, always went to the eldest son. The father should've said, “Who do you think you are? You're not entitled to anything!” Worse yet, this selfish sapling is asking for his inheri-tance while his father is still alive. It's an insult upon insult. The insolent curr is basicly telling his dad, “I wish you were dead!” He's dishonored his father in an honor based society. And if that was not shocking enough, the father gave the presumptious pup everything he asked for! Jesus' story has barely begun and his audience is already groaning in their seats: “That's outrageous!”
But Jesus is not finished shocking his audience. Once he gets what he wants the pup squanders daddy's money on reckless living and as soon as the money’s gone, his fair weather friends skeedoodle, leaving him alone and penniless. Desperate, he takes on a job no self-respecting Jew would touch – feeding pigs. The image is not only of a young man living in a pig sty, surrounded and covered in filth, but of an infidel who has totally lost all self respect and is totally disconnected from God – for Jews don’t eat anything associated with pigs much less eat with them! It's not just physiclly unclean...
Eventually, though, the lad “finally came to his senses”, (Luke 15:17), and he realizes not only what he has lost..., “At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare and here I am dying of hunger”, but he realizes even more significantly that he himself is lost, “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.” (Luke 15:18)
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He rehearses this little speech in the hopes of regaining entry into his father’s household, and heads for home... But his father, who’s been standing by the window day after day with a pair of binoculars in hand, “sees him while he's still a long way off, and filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him on the spot!” (Luke 15:20)
Again, Jesus' original audience lets out a gasp of dismay. Adult men did not run in public. To do so was not only risky, as men were dressed in tunics, gowns and sandles, but it was considered unmanly. It was viewed as dishonorable behavior in a culture, once again, that prizes honor above all else, even to this day. It's an act of utter recklessness.
And that, my friends, is Jesus' point! He is painting a picture of the reckless, unconditional love of God as visible in this Father's love for his rebellious, runaway son. The lovesick father’s speech echoes the theme presented in the preceding two parables of the lost sheep and lost coin: “We must celebrate with a feast, for this son of mine was dead and is now alive, he was lost but now is found.” (Luke 15:24)
It’s the ultimate Hollywood ending. In fact, Hollywood has retold this story with all kinds of varying twists and alterations. When Indiana Jones and his father reconcile at the end of that film the director even has them riding off together into the sunset. But hold on! The happy ending in Jesus’ story occurs at verse 24 – the parable doesn’t end until verse 32! What’s with that?
The anticlimactic ending to the story, with one son, the willful, conniving son, with rings on his fingers and robes on his shoulders, whooping it up inside the house at a party held in his honor, and the other son, the obedient, hard working, trust worthy son, standing outside in the cold, arms crossed and feet fixed, with his Father pleading for him to join the party is not exactly the typical Hollywood finish. Why does Jesus end his parable here? Where’s the closure? What's with the cliffhanger ending?
To answer that, we need the context. Consider, for instance, who his original audience is: “The Pharisees and religious teachers were complaining that Jesus was associating with notorious sinners, even eating with them, so Jesus told them these stories...” (Luke 15:2-3) This parable was told not merely to convey to sinners how much God loved them as much as it was to convey to those who considered them selves right with God that if they couldn’t love on those who were estranged that perhaps they weren’t so righteous after all – that in fact, they didn’t really get it. The cliffhanger ending forces the listener to decide for themselves, does the elder brother join the party, or not?
That's the parable's second great insight. It's told to compel the older son in us to a new way of thinking and responding to the other prodigals around us. Will we share our inheritance or not?
God’s love and forgiveness extended equally to the virtuous elder brother but that son, too busy comparing himself to his sibling, was blinded to the truth about himself. As Henri Nouwen put it:
“The lost, resentful ‘saint’ is so hard to reach. I know from my own life, how diligently I have tried to be good, acceptable, and a worthy example for others. But with all of that there came a seriousness, a moralistic intensity – and even a touch of fanaticism – that made it increasingly difficult to feel at home in my Father’s house. I became less free, less spontaneous, less playful…
The more I reflect on the elder son in me, the more I realize how deeply rooted this form of lost-ness really is and how hard it is to return home from there. Returning home from a lustful escapade seems so much easier than returning home from a cold anger that has rooted itself in the deepest corners of my being.” (Henri Nouwen) That's the parable's third insight – it's a call to come home!
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Jesus told it to thaw those frozen in the icy chill of anger or superiority, to reconcile all who wind up estranged from their Father and to help us grasp the messy magnitude of the Father’s reckless love for us. But it's also a call to come home – a story that unveils God's promise to all who come to their senses! “When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, 'At home even the servants (have everything they need). I will go home to my Father...' And so he returned home to his father..., who ran to him and embraced him (and welcomed him home). And so the party began!”
(Luke 15:17-20, 24)
A few weeks ago I referred to the film, Field of Dreams, where Kevin Costner plays the role of a young man who grew up estranged from his father. As he explains to a friend, “At one point I even refused to play catch with him. When I was 17, I packed my things, said something awful to him and left. After a while I wanted to come home, but didn’t know how…”
Then one day he hears a voice that says to him, “If you build it, he will come.” He sees a vision of a baseball field in the midst of his corn fields. He builds it and his childhood hero, Shoeless Joe Jackson, comes to play ball, but it is not for Joe that the field was built. One day, a young man walks on to the field whom Kevin instantly recognizes, and at long last the two play catch together.
The two talk about what heaven is like. His father tells him it is the place where dreams come true. Then he pauses, and asks him what seems like a strange question: Is this heaven? Why does he get a base ball field, located in the middle of nowhere in rural Iowa, confused with heaven? Because it is the place where dreams come true – where the father and his children are at last reconciled.
“If you build it, he will come.” If we build it, if we create a safe place where people who are hurting or estranged from their heavenly Father can reconnect and experience the unconditional love of Jesus Christ, He will come – the Holy Spirit, who pours out the love of the Father into hearts and lives stuck in a rut . That's why our focus here at Redeemer is to build a come as you are sanctuary for both kinds of lost sons and daughters – a safe place people can come as they are and come to belong! “For we know how dearly God loves us because He's given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts w/his love”
(Romans 5:5)
There is a celebration in the making, as both sons come to their senses, and come home at last, kicking up there heels with their love sick Father whose heart is full to bursting. “Let the celebration begin! For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now is found!” (Luke 15:32)
Dave Roever, a Viet Nam vet, spoke of the pain he was in upon his return: ‘I’d heard of how others were being treated upon reentry. Looking back I’ve come to realize that the greatest fear I’ve ever known is fear of rejection. I watched as the wife of the man in the bed next to me walked in, took a look at him, and tossed her wedding ring at his feet... Then my young bride walked in and saw me lying there in a body cast. She leaned over and softly said, “I love you Davey.” And then she kissed me on my broken, chapped lips and said, “Welcome home!”’
(from Phillip Yancy's book ,What's So Amazing About Grace?)
That's a glimpse of the bride of Christ at her best, the church at large living up to her potential!
That’s our vision, to be a come as you are refuge from the storms of life, no matter how self-induced they may be, to be the body of Christ in this place and time, loving and “accepting each other just as Christ has accepted us...to the glory of God”, to articulate to the wounded...: Welcome home!
(Romans 15:7)
Let's pray... Lord, help us to help others feel welcome among us. Nudge us to reach out and invite and then to go out of our way to greet and welcome those you send our way! In Jesus' name!