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Opening
Opening
Wait a minute, that was the wrong passage pastor. I have been to many Easter morning services, and this NOT the text you read for Easter. Where pastor, is the Angel, the empty tomb, where is the Easter story. I agree, but what if the true Easter story is about the result of Easter. What if this year we focus on what the Easter story is about, and that is forgiveness. Our story begins with a man who made a mistake.
We all make mistakes, some are bigger then others. I made a mistake a two weeks ago, life got in the way of “Life.” I did not mow the yard for over two weeks. This week I had to deal with the results of that mistake. I started the mower only to have it die as soon as I started mowing. The grass was to high, so I had to adjust the mower up, and then mow. Before it was over I had to mow, not once, but twice, and then we had to rake the yard.
We understand that decisions have consequences. Lets look at our story and consequences of decisions made.
Body
Body
The youngest son in our story made a decision.
And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them.
He asked for all the money he had coming to him. But he was not supposed to get that money until his father died. His first mistake was to ask for the money, the wealth, before his father was dead. Anyone listening to Jesus story would have been shocked to hear that the son asked for the money before his father’s death. It was a highest level of disrespect to his father. He was saying Dad I only wish you were dead, but I am going to act like you are dead. He then made the second mistake.
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.
He asked for all the money he had coming to him. But he was not supposed to get that money until his father died. His first mistake was to ask for the money, the wealth, before his father was dead. Anyone listening to Jesus story would have been shocked to hear that the son asked for the money before his father’s death. It was a highest level of disrespect to his father. He was saying Dad I only wish you were dead, but I am going to act like you are dead.
His second mistake was to run away. He left his family. He moved to far country. Then he used his money recklessly. He felt his money was going to last forever, and he lived that way. He squandered all his money. All his security, all his future plans were gone.
And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need.
After he had spent all his funds, Life happened. Life happened in the form of a severe famine. With a famine, money is short, the food is gone, hope vanishes. When a famine sets in, parties end, and survival begins.
So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs.
And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.
People do what they need to do survive. He went from playboy, to farm boy. He was used to dining at the finest restaurants, now he hoping to eat with the pigs. He was so hungry he was ready to eat pig food.
People do what they need to do survive. He went from playboy, to farm boy. He was used to dining at the finest restaunts, now he hoping to
His decisions had consequences. The decisions he made at the beginning of the story is what he living out now.
But notice he makes another decision.
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.” ’
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.
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.” ’
“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!
He made the decision to return to his father. But he understands that. even though he is going, home, it will not be the same. We understand that mistakes we have made in the past can and do change our future. He was ready to live, not as a son, but as a servant. But, that is only if, his father would let him come home. Image his shock.
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.
The father does the unthinkable. He welcomes the son back, in fact, he runs to meet him. No father would run to meet a repentant son. The son should instead, come, maybe crawling, to the father, begging for forgiveness.
But that is not the picture we see. Instead, it the father how rushes to the son. He embraces him and kisses him. The father had been watching for the son, and now he had come home, and the father could not wait any longer. He gathers his robe, throws dignity to the wind, and begins to sprint as fast as his aged legs can take him to his long lost son.
Instead of rejection, the son find acceptance.
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.
Matthew, Mark, Luke: Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary, Volume 1 The Parable of the Lost Son (15:11–31)
These items represent full reinstatement into the family. The best robe was probably the father’s own, since the patriarch had the finest robe in the house.
Matthew, Mark, Luke: Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary, Volume 1 The Parable of the Lost Son (15:11–31)
A fattened calf was selected and fed for a special occasion such as a wedding feast. Bailey claims that the choice of a calf over a goat or a sheep indicates that the whole village is to be invited, confirming the father’s desire to reconcile his son to the community
The father forgive him.
Don’t we all want to experience forgiveness.
I read about a father and son who got in a fight. The son Pedro, left home. Later, when the father became ill, he wanted to reconcile with his lost son. He heard his son was living in Mexico City. So the father put the following add in the local newspaper.
Dear Pedro, all is forgiven. Meet me at, and he gave the name of the restarunt they often went to on a April 5th at noon. The father waited for the day to come, he was nervous as he made his way to the meeting place. Image his surprise when he turned the corner and found not just his son, but over 500 men named Pedro looking for forgiveness.
There is a little of that younger son in all of us. We like the Pedro, are looking for forgiveness. Forgiveness made possible by Easter. You see the power of Easter is that Easter forgiveness can reset your entire life. It did for the younger son. Would you say going from wearing rags, and eating with pigs to wearing the finest robe, and eating at a banquet of the fattened calf., is a reset? A new start.
Conclusion
Conclusion
This Easter, we have all made mistakes. Decisions that misled us. We have all, at one time or another, found ourselves in a far county. We have seen the consequences of these decision. We all make mistakes. At the beginning of this message I confessed I had made a mistake, I let the grass go. I had not mowed the grass, so I had mow twice and then to rake the yard. I wish all the mistakes I make were that easy to fit. Most are not. But it all begins with admitting there is a problem. It is hard to to say you have made a mistake, but there is were it begins. Then we need to turn back to God the father. You have an inner younger son, crying out to go back home. Will you let you pride stop you. Is it time in your life for a reset. It is easy, just accept the forgiveness offered to you. This is your time for a RESET.