Sermon Tone Analysis

Text: Luke 15:1-2; 11-32

Theme: "Every thought the human race has ever had about how to spiritually connect to God has been wrong.

Whether in Eastern thought or Western thought, whether in ancient, modern, or postmodern eras, regardless of whether a person is of a religious persuasion or a secular persuasion, it's all been wrong."

Date: 08/27/17 File name: The Prodigal Sons.wpd

ID Number:

The gospel that Jesus preached was a radical gospel.

It was radical in that Jesus redefined God, redefined sin, and redefined salvation.

This morning’s text is one of the most well-known — and beloved — of Jesus’ parables.

Jesus was a master storyteller, and there are few of his stories better than this one.

His stories were unequaled analogies clarifying spiritual truth.

This story has, for centuries, been labeled as “The Parable of the Prodigal Son” — singular; the son.

That’s a great mistake.

It is a story about two sons.

Jesus tells a story about a younger, and an older brother.

You are meant to compare, and contrast them, and if you do not you will miss the radical nature of the gospel.

We ought to rightly title the story as “The Parable of the Prodigal Sons.”

Both sons are wasteful of their father’s extravagant love, and mercy — only in different ways.

Here is what Jesus is saying through this parable: “Every thought the human race has ever had about how to spiritually connect to God has been wrong.

Whether in Eastern thought or Western thought, whether in ancient, modern, or postmodern eras, regardless of whether a person is of a religious persuasion or a secular persuasion, it’s all been wrong.”

Jesus came to shatter all existing human thought about how one comes to God.

And he does so in this parable.

The story is in two acts: Act 1 — The Lost Younger Brother, and Act 2 — The Lost Older Brother.

Let’s look at these two acts, and then consider the radical nature of what Jesus is saying about God, sin, and salvation.

I. ACT 1 — THE LOST YOUNGER BROTHER

“Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons.

12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’

So he divided his property between them.

13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living.”

(Luke 15:11–13, NIV84)

A. THE AUDACITY OF THE YOUNGER BROTHER’S REQUEST

1. the younger brother comes to the father, and says, “Father, give me a my share of the estate.”

2. the original hearers of Jesus’s parable would have been absolutely astounded at this

a. in that era, in this situation, at the death of the father the estate would have been divided between these two sons

1) the older son would’ve received two thirds, and the younger son one third

a) the rule was that the oldest son got a double portion of what all the other children got

b) but that happened when the father died

b. to ask for the inheritance while the father is still alive, is to wish him dead

1) the younger son is essentially saying, “I want your stuff, dad, but I don’t want you.”

a) here is a flagrant violation of the 5th Commandment — Honor your mother and father

2) He wants the father’s things, but he doesn’t want the father

a) here is a flagrant violation of the 10th Commandment — You must not covet

c. the younger son sees his relationship with his father as a means to an end, and he’s tired of waiting — he wants his inheritance now

3. this is absolutely unheard of

a. the listeners of this story would’ve taken an immediate dislike to the younger son

1) he is the villain of the story

2) he is evil

B. THE ASTONISHING GRACE IN THE FATHER’S RESPONSE

1. if the listeners of Jesus are antagonized by the behavior of the younger son, they are astonished by the grace of the father’s response — “so he divided his property between them”

a. in that culture, in that era, there would've been only one option available to the father — to drive the son out of the house

1) this son is acting wickedly: the father should have no choice but to drive the son out with violence

2. but this father doesn't do that

a. what does he do?

1) he divides his property between the older and younger brother

b. in vs 12, most Bibles use the word "property" while some translate it as livelihood which gives a little better idea of what is going on in the passage

c. the word is actually bios from which we get our word biology, and mean life

1) what the passage is really saying is that the father divided his life between them

2) why would Jesus say that?

d. many of us here this morning do not understand the relationship that people in the past had to their land

1) this father's wealth was tied up in his land

2) to give his younger son his part of the inheritance meant the father must liquidate 1/3 of his land, 1/3 of his livestock, perhaps even 1/3 of any slaves he owned

ILLUS.

Many of you have seen the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical "Oklahoma."

It's a story set in Oklahoma Territory outside the town of Claremore in 1906.

It tells the story of Curly McLain, a cowboy, and his romance with farm girl Laurey Williams.

Curly is a cowboy while Laurey comes from a family of sod busters — farmers, and by nature are rivals.

But regardless of whether one is a cowboy or farmer there is this unique tie to the land that we are made aware of in a line from the musical's theme song when Curly sings: "We know we belong to the land, And the land we belong to is grand!"

Did you catch the lyric?

It's not, "the land that belongs to us" - it's "we belong to the land."

I grew up in suburban St. Louis.

It was hard for me to grasp the idea of belonging to the land, and I still don’t really get it.

But if you grew up on a farm, you do.

3. the Jews identified with the land

a. every time God spoke to the Hebrews about the blessings he would give them it always involved promise of the land

b. the father in this parable would have identified with his land

1) to lose your land was to lose yourself, and to lose even part of your land was to lose part of your standing in the community

4. this son is asking his father to tear his life apart

a. and he does

b.

Jesus' listeners would been appalled at the story

1) they would've been appalled at the audacity of the younger son

2) and they would've been appalled at the generosity of the father

c. these kind of events simply don't happen

5. this father is enduring one of the very worst things that any human being can endure — rejected love

a. when someone treats us like this what do we do?

1) what we do is we get mad, and we reject, and we perhaps even retaliate

2) we do these things in order to minimize our love for the person who has hurt us so deeply

b. but, as we shall see in the story, this father endures the agony of rejected love

C. THE ACKNOWLEDGMENT IN THE YOUNGER BROTHER’S SECOND REQUEST

1. once the younger son receives his inheritance he walks out of his father’s life and heads for the far country — that meant Gentile territory

a. vs. 13 tells us the sad story.

"And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living."

(Luke 15:13, KJV)

1) I've always liked the King James version here were it refers to the young boys "riotous living"

ILLUS.

With a pocket full of money, the boy headed straight for the big city.

He buys a loft apartment in the theater district and outfits it with all the coolest electronics stuff money can buy — a 60 inch-wide big-screen TV with surround-sound, a stereo system that will blast his neighbors out of their apartment, the biggest, baddest multimedia computer system there is with tons of 3-D action games.

He buys a restored 67 Camaro with a deep black finish.

And he begins to party big time, hitting the casinos, the bars, and the places where the “beautiful people” hang out.

He spends money hand over fist.

But then, there is an economic downturn, and in a relatively short period of time he is broke.