Once upon a time, there was a man with two sons. The older
son was dutifully obedient, but the younger son was willful and independent.
One day, the younger son grew tired of living in his father’s home. After
demanding his share of the family inheritance, he went away to a far country.
There he lived extravagantly for a time….until the money ran
out. Then down to the depths he plunged, the depths of feeding pigs. Here he
realized his folly and thought out a plan: to return and ask to serve his father
as a servant.
As he neared home, his father came running to meet him.
There was no criticism or judgment, only love and acceptance. A great party was
quickly prepared to celebrate the son’s homecoming.
When the older brother came in after a long day in the
fields, the festivities caught him by surprise. On finding out the reason, he
utterly refused to join in. The father left the party to plead with him—but the
son angrily responded,
“I’ve been serving you for years, never breaking a single
command. But you never gave me even a little party with my friends. Then this
rascal shows back up, having wasted everything you gave him, and you pull out
all the stops—for him!”
The father answered,
“You are always with me, and all that I have is yours. It
was right to rejoice at the homecoming of one who we thought was dead!”
How did the older son respond? What happened next? We don’t
know for sure, because that’s where Jesus ended His parable of the Lost Son in
Luke 15.
I’ve been thinking about this parable the past few days,
because a Bible study group I am part of looked at Luke 15 last Thursday.
Reading the chapter, listening to a children’s version of the story, and
discussing it with the group recalled to my mind another study I had taken part
in, years ago.
That book/video series was Tim Keller’s The Prodigal God. It’s been so long since the latter study, but
some of the concepts have really stuck with me. I will try to specify which
points I know come from Keller’s book – and hopefully I won’t miss any!
But my focus isn’t on what Keller shared about the story—as
good as that was. My focus is on the personal application…for me, in this
season.
As Keller points out, there’s not just one son in this
story: there are two. A lot of the attention of the story and the readers is
usually on the younger son, the prodigal* who returns home. But after his
interrupted speech in verse 21, the younger son fades into the background of
the story and a new dynamic takes center stage.
See, the older son was the ‘good kid’….or was he really? His
response to the father in verses 29-30 reveals a heart that while outwardly
obedient was inwardly resentful and even hateful. Some of us can easily see
ourselves in the beginning of the story—a child living recklessly and
thoughtlessly, who only later comes to his senses. But how many of us are
willing to own up to the times we’ve been like the older son: self-righteous
and angry that we don’t get what we “deserve”. {I believe one person can go
through seasons of being either one of these.}
Keller argues that this story represented both of the groups
of people Jesus was addressing (tax collectors & sinners vs. Pharisees
& scribes – see vs. 1-2). The first group were like the younger son, and
the elder son pictured the second group. Working hard to earn God’s favor and
blessings. Angry that some people would just waltz in and get it regardless of
the bad things they had done. Feeling like they deserved success and
recognition for their stellar behavior.
[Well, it’s a week later and I’m just wrapping this up and
finally posting it. I’ll do a separate post with the more personal
application.]
*One of Keller’s excellent reminders is the original meaning
of the word ‘prodigal,’ referring to extravagance (see verse 13). The way I
typically think of this word (as a person who got off track) is because of this
story—it’s changed the use of the word. Thus Keller’s title, The Prodigal [Extravagant] God.
