A few weeks ago, Rob, our boss, volunteered me to speak at an event we were having near a girl's school in Farmington, CT. Well, it turned out to be a terrible weekend for about every boarding school student we knew, and as a result, no one could come.
However, writing this talk was a richly rewarding experience. People prayed for me that I would learn new things about myself and God - and that definitely happened.
For some reason, several weeks ago, the parable of the Prodigal Son was on my mind. Perhaps my spirit needed reassurance of God's love. I also might have been thinking about how the role of the elder son played into the story - since that is the character I most resemble in the parable.
Jesus actually highlights the character of the elder son, if you look closely at the story. He is preaching this story both to reckless sinners, and reckless stuck-up religious freaks (who think they know everything). He points the story to these latter group of people - making sure they are aware that, not only are they rejecting God's mercy, but they are failing to enjoy and relish in a great party. May I never think I am beyond God's mercy and grace.
Here is the talk, as I have it written out in my notes:
A few weeks ago, a good friend of mine from high school posted some old photos of us on facebook. Photos of us from high school. Be warned – a couple years from now, your friends will be posting embarrassing photos of you too.
However I was really struck by two of the photos I was tagged in. I looked like two different people. In one of them, which was taken at our prep school – I looked like a little J.Crew model with a smile that was really contrived and fake.
In the other, I looked like a stoned-out girl (like most of my friends) who rejected the conformity that we lived in at school.
I was caught between two worlds. In school, at Episcopal Academy, I played the Christian girl role – no drinking, no cussing, always modest. But I was never really myself, and I really resented the fact that this “Christian role” put so many boundaries on my freedom. I was starting to resent my faith.
On the weekends, however it was a slightly different story. The rebellious side of me came out. But this was never who I really was either. And what was harder was that my friends really knew that.
So why was I living a life of split-personalities?
I realize as I look back that my view of God was split in two ways; being really good and thinking that my life was all about conformity to God’s rules; and being really bad and going wildly in the other direction away from all I knew was right. The tension was enormous. Though I had been raised in a Christian home and had called myself a Christian for many years, I was unaware that there was a third option – an invitation to know this God better and understand what a life based on Him really meant.
So you might be surprised to know that there are actually two ways to run away from God - either by being very, very bad; or by being very, very good. Really? You can run from God by being good?
But how is that possible, you may ask?
Well, Jesus shows us how it’s possible in the story of the Prodigal Son, which is actually a story about two sons and a father – and how they deal with three things REJECTION, REUNION, and REDEMPTION.
Like watching a movie, Jesus told his listeners this parable to connect them with certain recognizable themes of human nature and therefore teach them what it means to put faith in Him.
So as we read the story, keep those three words in mind: REJECTION, REUNION, and REDEMPTION
READ Luke 15:11-32
REJECTION – a wrong view of God
Remember the three R’s we’re looking for? REJECTION, REUNION, and REDEMPTION
How do we see REJECTION in this story? These two sons that reject their father in different ways.
YOUNGER SON
We see the younger son rejecting his father by immediately demanding his full share of the estate (basically wishing he were dead). He squanders it and is obviously reckless in his stewardship of the money. It kind of reminds me of Paris Hilton; as one of the more reckless heiress’ of the Hilton fortune.
We don’t know exactly why the son rejects his father, but he obviously thinks that he can have a better life far away from home and far away from his father.
How do we see rejection with the elder son? It is far more subtle. Though he obeys everything his father tells him to do, he thinks of himself as a slave in his father’s house, and not as a son. The elder son has no real love for his father.
It was kind of like how I viewed God when I was in high school. My obedience was far more out of an attitude of slavery than love. Like the elder son’s relationship with his father, my faith was characterized more by resentment than joy, and I saw myself as more of a slave than a child of a Father.
Jesus shows us through these two sons that we can also reject God in similar ways. Like the younger son, we reject God when we decide that what we want for our lives is FAR better than what God wants. We say, “Give me what you have NOW.. and I’ll spend it in exactly the opposite way you said.”
Like the elder son, we can also reject God by viewing Him as a slave master, not thinking he really loves us. We therefore don’t really love Him and end up living out of bondage to Him.
Both of these rejections are called sin. It’s what separates us from God and all that He wants for us.
REUNION – the Father goes out to meet them
Let’s turn to the second R letter. Do you remember what is was? REUNION
The Father is in an interesting situation. He has two sons that bitterly hate him and respond to him in vastly different ways. One son outrightly denies him; and the other seemingly respects him for a long time, but is only paying lip service. What is amazing is that the Father goes out of his way to BOTH of them to receive them back into relationship with himself.
With the younger son, he excessively expresses his joy at his son’s return – even though the son only expects his father to take him back as a servant at best. It’s kind of like one of those classic movie scenes where you can almost see the Father running at slow motion toward his son, face full of emotion. We don’t really know what the son’s face showed, probably dread, shock, and then joy. But this reunion is backed up with the best the father can offer, a great party.
When the older son refuses to come join the party, the father also goes out to him, pleading with him; and ultimately inviting him to better understand what kind of father he actually is – one that would never deny his son anything – if only his son would see that this relationship is one of freedom and joy, not slavery.
I know for me; I was finally blown away when I realized that God not only ran out to forgive me for my rebellion and distrust of Him, but also for the ways I had viewed Him as a task-master.
REDEMPTION
So we have REJECTION, REUNION, and now REDEMPTION
Redemption means to buy or win back. It also means to free from captivity by payment.
The younger son is offered redemption – total acceptance back into the family. It would be like if at boarding school, a student that was expelled was allowed to come back, and not only allowed to come back, but placed in the honor classes and given the best seats on student councils.
In this story, the younger son takes up his father’s offer, and is thoroughly invited back into relationship with his dad. He is clothed with a new life, called redemption.
It is interesting however that we don’t know whether the elder son takes up his father’s offer to come join the party.
But here’s the Good News for both of them, if they receive the father’s offer, they have full rights again as sons, and a greater understanding of their father’s love for them that will change EVERYTHING.
CONCL
This is where Jesus leaves us in the story.
As the narrator, Jesus shows us that there are two ways to rebel against God. Like a true or false question, we can either agree with what Jesus says about Himself, or we cannot. However, there are two ways to disagree – one of them being far less subtle than the other. Both of these are called sin. This is the REJECTION illustrated in the story.
We can strike out in opposition to a relationship with God by saying we know what’s best for ourselves however we feel is right; by either being very good or very bad.
In all of this though, there was a price to be paid. Jesus tells this parable to point to himself, that the only way to be in a relationship with God is through Him. God can’t just receive us back into relationship with Himself without the problem of sin being dealt with.
The Cross was where the ultimate price was paid for ransom from our captivity to sin. This is where the REUNION is offered and REDEMPTION can be ours. Without Christ’s death on a Cross, we cannot be in relationship with God; because this Father must punish sin, by death. However, if, when offered this opportunity for REUNION, we take it, the Good News is that we then have a New Life – REDEMPTION.
When I realized this, summer going into my junior year of high school, it changed everything. Though I was already a Christian, I accepted this invitation to know God better as the Father that really does offer everything that is good to us.
How about you? What’s your impression of Christianity? Is it all rule-keeping? Is it more about what you’ve done for God; or is it about what God has done for us? This story is one of many examples in the Bible that shows us the Good News - that being a Christian is about God coming out to meet us in our rejection of Him through Jesus Christ.
Do you stand there before God like the self-sufficient son, thinking that you can come to God with your good works? Or will you be like the younger son and decide to wear that cloak and join the party that was made for you?
