Luke 15:1-2 reads: “Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, ‘This man receives sinners and eats with them.” 

The notorious, irreligious, and outcast gathered to hear Jesus. Representatives of the religious establishment were also present to catch this upstart rabbi saying something to use against him. Even better, they catch him doing something to discredit him. Jesus shared food, friendship, and fellowship with the ragamuffins around him. The religious leaders concluded Jesus could not be a man of God, much less the Son of God. God would not receive sinners and eat with them. So they grumbled against Jesus.

Jesus responded by telling the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son. These parables make one point: Lost people matter to God. To understand one of these parables is to understand them all. They share a common outline: (1) A valuable possession is lost; (2) the lost thing is recovered; (3) a party is thrown to celebrate. To ignore the unity of these parables is to get to the movie late or leave early. But do not join them at the hip so they cannot stand alone. These stories make beautiful music together. They also sing sweetly as soloists. Though they address the same theme, they have distinct nuances. 

• They have different protagonists: a shepherd, a woman, and a father. 
• There are different lost things: a lamb, a coin, and a son. 
• The lost things have different proportional value: the lamb is 1/100, the coin is 1/10, and the son is 1/2. 
• They get lost in different places: in the field, in the house, and in the far country. 
• The lost things have different natures: the lamb is dumb; the coin is inanimate; and the son is volitional. 
• These valuables get lost in different ways: the lamb through preoccupation, the coin through negligence, the son through miscalculation. 
• There are different responses: the shepherd purposely neglects the ninety-nine, the woman turns her house upside down, and the father sits on the porch and waits. 

These parables are united but unique. They are interdependent. Because this third parable is longer, more dramatic, and better than the first two, we forget that it makes the same point. The Parable of the Prodigal Son is not about the prodigal son. The father is the star of this story. The prodigal’s role is to spotlight the love of the father. He is no more significant than the elder brother. The award for best actor in a supporting role should not go to the fattened calf. The elder brother was not mad because his brother came home. He was upset because his father killed the fattened calf for him. 

• The prodigal son speaks to the tax collectors and sinners. 
• The elder brother speaks to the scribes and Pharisees. 

 The father is the one talking. What can we learn from this lovesick father? 

The Father Permitted His Son To Take Advantage of Him.

This parable is a picture of divine paternity. God is our heavenly Father in Christ, who meets his children’s needs. He even provides things we do not need. This is not a contrast between needs and wants. With sovereign prodigality, God gives what we do not deserve, have no right to ask for, and do not know what to do with. This parable is a case in point. 

Verses 11-12 read: “There was a man who had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.”  

The son said, “Dad, I have an inheritance coming. But I can’t wait until you die. I want what’s coming to me now!” What an incredible request! In effect, the son said, “I wish you were dead.” He did not want a relationship. He wanted his father’s stuff. The only thing more shocking than this son’s request is the father’s response. Verse 12 says: “And he divided his property between them.” It should read: “So the father slapped this boy in his mouth and sent him to his room. The end.” Yet the father executed his will and gave the younger son one-third of his estate. Verse 13 says, “Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living.” After getting his money, the boy packed everything to start a new life in the “far country.”

Why did this father let his son take advantage of him? Love made him do it. Some parents give children anything they want in the name of love. Over-indulgence is not love. It is weak, foolish, and irresponsible parenting. True love caused this father to allow his son to take advantage of him. The Father loved him and wanted a relationship based on love. This is the heartbeat of God. God wants to have a personal relationship with us based on love. For that to happen, God must let us be free to reject him. Some people serve God for rules. They view God as an angry tyrant, waiting to body-slam sinners into hell. That’s not God, and that’s not what he is about. Others serve God for rewards. They view God as Santa Claus, with a throne room filled with presents for those who are nice. That’s not God, and that’s not what he is about. God wants us to serve him because of relationship. 

A king fell in love with a peasant girl. Because of his high position and her lowly estate, he had to proceed strategically. He could order her to marry him. But you cannot demand true love. Or he could shower her with expensive gifts. But you cannot buy true love. So he dressed as a peasant and went into the field to work beside her. A relationship ensued. It got to a point where she loved him so much that it did not matter who he was, king or commoner. Only then was it safe to reveal his identity. 

The Father Eagerly Awaited His Song’s Return

There is good news and bad news here. I’ll give you the good news first.

God is waiting on you to come home. I do not know any parent who would honor this boy’s selfish request. If a parent did, I could only see it happening with anger, disgust, and finality. Something like this: “Okay, I’ll give you the money. But while I’m writing the check, pack your bags.” Shortly afterwards, the boy comes down the stairs with his bags to find his dad at the front door with a check in hand. The father hands the boy the check and slams the door as he exits, hissing, “And don’t come back!” That is not what this father does. He waited for the prodigal to come home. He left the door open for his son. He left his room prepared for his return. He kept his place at the table set. He even fattened a calf for the homecoming celebration. That’s the good news of amazing grace: You may have wasted God’s fortune, but you have not exhausted God’s love. 

• No matter what you have done, God still loves you.
• No matter what you have done, God still cares about you. 
• No matter what you have done, God still wants you home. 

Am I talking to you? Have you left the Father’s house? Are you in a far country? Has your heart rebelled against God? I have good news: God is waiting for you to come home!

A high schooler left home after a fight with his parents. He felt awful and wanted to come home. But he was ashamed to ask their forgiveness in person. So he wrote a letter of apology. He told them he would be driving by the house the next day. If they forgave him and he could return, they should hang the blue sheets from his bed on the clothesline as a sign. When he passed by the next day, he was to discover the parents had dyed all the sheets in the house blue and hung them in the yard! God hung his son on the cross to declare that he is waiting for you to come home.

God is waiting on you to come home. When the sheep was lost, the shepherd searched until he found it. When the piece of silver was lost, the woman searched carefully until she found it. But that is not the case in this parable. The father did not look for his son. He did not file a missing person’s report with the police. He did not put his son’s picture on the side of a milk carton. He waited. If he wanted his son home so badly, why did he not search for him, like the protagonists in the first two stories? Remember the nature of the son. Sheep are dumb animals. Coins are inanimate objects. The prodigal was a free moral agent. He chose to leave, and must choose to come home. Likewise, God will not go to the far country and drag you out of the bar or kidnap you from your hoodlum friends. He is not going to force you home and lock you in your room. You must decide to come home.

A man was given a check for a sizable amount by a multi-millionaire. He went to the bank to cash it. But the teller said she could not do it. He asked if she had heard of the man who gave him the check. She had. He asked if she knew how much he was worth. She did. Then he demanded to know why she could not cash the check. She responded, “You haven’t endorsed it.”

The blood of Jesus is sufficient to pay for your sins. You must endorse it by faith. This young man wasted his inheritance on the ultimate spring break in the big city. When his small fortune was depleted. And he hit rock bottom. Verse 17-19 says: “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.’”

This is the turning point of the story. The young man came to his senses. He woke up and realized he did not have to live the way he was living. Because your heavenly Father is who he is, you do not have to be what you have been. You can come home today. 

The father Freely Restored His Son With Joy.

Notice two aspects of the father’s restoration of his wayward son.  

Free Restoration. Verses 17-19 say: “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.” 

As the boy returned home, he prepared a speech that included an apology and request for work. In verse 12, he said to his father, “Give me…” In verse 19, he plans to say to his father, “Treat me as one of your hired servants.” He wanted to negotiate his way back into the house by asking for a job as a bond servant. Little did he know that his father had been waiting and watching for him to come home. Verse 20 says, “And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.”

When the father saw his returning son, he was moved with compassion – not anger, disgust, or apprehension. This is our God. 2 Peter 3:9 says, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promises as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” Moved with compassion, the father ran to meet the prodigal.

In the ancient Near East, men of age, wealth, or status did not run. In Luke 19, Zacchaeus ran and climbed a tree to see Jesus. Men did not do that. But this Father ran to meet his son. God is willing to lose his dignity to get his children back home. He overtook his son, embraced him, and showered him with kisses. Once they caught their composure, the boy started his prepared speech. His father cut him off, saying, “I don’t want to hear it. All that matters is that you’re home.” This is the restoring grace of God. The finished work of Christ has paid the price for your sins. What sin is keeping you from God? Let me give you the right answer in four words: IT. DOES. NOT. MATTER. Come home to God! 

Joyful Restoration. Verse 22-24 says, “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.”

The father ordered the servants to put the best robe on his son, the robe reserved for the man of the house. This is what God did for us at the cross. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” The father ordered the servants to put a “ring on his hand,” signifying his authority in the house. He also ordered them to put “shoes on his feet.” Servants go barefoot, not sons. Finally, he ordered the servants to “bring the fattened calf and kill it.” It was time for a party. This call for celebration is the punchline of Luke 15. The religious leaders ask, “If Jesus knows God, why does he party with sinners?” Jesus asks, “If you know God, why haven’t you joined the party?” That’s the point of Luke 15: Join the party!

This is the mother-of-all parties. In verse 6, the shepherd said to his neighbors and friends, “Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost!” In verse 9, the woman said to her neighbors and friends, “Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.” In verse 24, the father says, “For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.” This is not just a lost-and-found party. It’s a dead-and-alive party. For them to party, the fattened calf had to die. The fattened calf is the Christ figure in the story.

• It’s because Jesus died that we have a reason to rejoice. 
• It’s because he died that we can party. 
• It’s because he died that we can celebrate.

The deacons examined a boy who wanted to join the church. They asked, “How did you get saved?” His answer was, “God did his did his part, and I did my part.” They thought something was wrong with his doctrine, so they questioned further, “What was God’s part and what was your part?” He explained, “My part was the sinning; God’s part was the saving.”

I was sinking deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore 
Very deeply stained within, sinking to rise no more 
But the Master of the sea heard my despairing cry
And from the waters lifted me, now saved and I 

Love lifted me; love lifted me
When nothing else would help, love lifted me