I. The Word: Luke 15:11-24

¹¹ Then He said: “A certain man had two sons. ¹² And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood. ¹³ And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. ¹⁴ But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. ¹⁵ Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. ¹⁶ And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.

¹⁷ “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! ¹⁸ I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, ¹⁹ and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”’

²⁰ “And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. ²¹ And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

²² “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring^[a] out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. ²³ And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; ²⁴ for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.

II. Reflection Questions:

1. How have you traditionally defined the word “repentance?”
2. The first of Martin Luther’s 95 theses reads, “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said ‘Repent,” He intended that the entire life of believers should be repentance.” Of what do you find yourself repenting more often: words, deeds, thoughts, or the motivations behind those things?

Who isn’t familiar with the parable known as “The Prodigal Son?” It is one of the most-used stories in the Bible for illustrating humanity’s need for repentance, and the depth of forgiveness offered by our Heavenly Father.  As a quick refresher:  A son asks for his share of his father’s inheritance, leaves home, squanders everything in a “what happens in A Far Country, stays in A Far Country” lifestyle that leaves him penniless and living with a herd of pigs (side note: for a Jewish man, this HAS to be bottom-of-the-barrel). Finally, the young man decides that, although he has forfeited his familial position, even working as a hired hand for his father would be better than his current situation.  So he heads for home, his father spots him from a great way off, the father races to his son, and before the son can ask for a job, the father restores the son to his former position in the family with a robe, a ring, and a fatted calf (to eat, not to wear).  Cue the lights, altar call, Sinner’s Prayer, “Good night, everybody!”

Unfortunately, if we stop there, we get only half of the story.  Jesus started this story in verse 11 by saying, “A certain man had TWO sons.”  An older son and a younger son.  Two brothers.  To understand this parable fully, we MUST look at what Jesus has to say about BOTH sons. When the younger brother asked for his inheritance, essentially he was saying, “Father, I care more about what you have than about you.  I want what is mine, and then I want nothing more to do with you.  For all I care, you could be dead!”  The appropriate traditional response to this would be to take the boy out and stone him, or to drive him out of the home with nothing.  But this father acquiesces, and divides everything he has between the sons.  Verse 12 says that he divided to them his “livelihood.”(NKJV)  In other words, from that point forward, the father was essentially a tenant on the Elder Brother’s property.

Jump ahead, and we see that, indeed, the Father restored the Younger Brother to the family, and threw a great feast celebrating the return of the lost to the living.  But where is the Elder Brother?  The son who didn’t squander his inheritance on sinful living?  Outside the house, refusing to come in to the celebration.  When the father goes out and implores the Elder Brother to join the celebration, the EB reveals his true nature.  Although he avoided the sinful living that the YB pursued, the EB’s motivation behind staying with the father and diligently working was revealed to be the same as the YB: to get the father’s stuff.  In verses 29-30, he says (my paraphrase), “Look old man! I’ve spent my whole life doing the right things and avoiding the bad things, and I never even got a little get-together with my friends.  And now, your son (not my brother—your son, your problem) comes waltzing back in here after blowing every penny of his inheritance on the worst kind of sinful living, and you just welcome him back and throw him a massive celebration.”

Now, what does this have to do with repentance?  Everything!  Both sons wanted the father’s stuff, and not the father.  The Younger Brother was more obvious, as those who reject God outright often are.  However, the Elder Brother’s motivations, while harder to identify up front, were no different than his brother’s.  Although he spent a lifetime doing good things and avoiding bad things, ultimately he did these things to get the father’s “stuff,” rather than doing them FOR the father.  Fast forward to today:  where is the altar call for the Elder brother? Where is the call to repent for what John Gerstner calls, “your damnable good works?” If the motivation behind our good deeds is to “go to Heaven,” “escape Hell,” or some other benefit to ourselves, we are just like the Elder Brother, obeying to get the Father’s “stuff” and not the Father.  True repentance, true change involves daily unmasking and removing the idols of our hearts which truly motivate our actions.

Prayer

“Heavenly Father, don’t let us look at repentance just as a first step toward salvation, but as a daily step-by-step part of the sanctification process.  As we seek deeper and more intimate knowledge of You, help us to unmask the idols of our hearts and take them to the Cross. Father, our desire is to pursue You, and not Your “stuff.” We ask this in the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.  Amen.”