Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
This automated analysis scores the text on the likely presence of emotional, language, and social tones. There are no right or wrong scores; this is just an indication of tones readers or listeners may pick up from the text.
A score of 0.5 or higher indicates the tone is likely present.
Emotion Tone
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Conscientiousness
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Extraversion
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Agreeableness
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The Context
Fact number 1 - Leading parables
The parable tells us that there are two sons but today, due to time, we will only look at one of them.
So, what’s going on here in this story.
Most of us are familiar with this parable, and probably have heard it here and there – a lost young boy coming home.
The lost boy, or we may call him the “wasteful” boy hence the term “Prodigal”, comes at the heel of the other two “Lost” stories told by Jesus.
They are the “Lost Sheep” and the “Lost Coin.”
That’s fact number 1.
Fact number 2 - Relationship building
is that we must remember that Luke’s Jesus is talking about Kingdom life.
What that means is that Luke is giving us a glimpse of the activity in heaven.
Certainly, this is not all of it but enough to help us understand the character of God.
Now that’s really important as you are seeking to build a relationship with Christ and from Christ, you get to know the Father in heaven.
Jesus says that
Fact number 3 - Cultural expressions
when you are reading not just today’s parable, you must read it not with Western eyes but with an Eastern mindset of their culture.
Not only will this give you the true meaning of the parable but will allow you to immerse deeper into God’s words.
So now, we begin our parable knowing that,
What is happening here?
Or should I say, “How dare you!”
The Disgrace
This maniac, brave enough to say such a thing to the father is ridiculous.
No youngest son is allowed to say that to the father of the house, “Give me my share of the inheritance (estate)!”
In Eastern culture, the passing of the inheritance is governed by the
Law of Primogeniture
What that is is the oldest son in the household will receive the majority of the inheritance first then the rest will be divided among the youngest and the rest of the household after the death of the father.
The money is not to gain the wealth of the oldest but for the security of the family name.
But out comes this ruthless guy wanting no part of the family but only focusing on his wealth for his own sakes and gains.
Can you imagine how angry the father should be?
Can you imagine how much “face” he is losing in front of the entire village?
Having a son that he loves so much (we will know later on) to come up while he is still alive is a complete disrespect to his father.
The son is pretty much walking over his dad’s dead body!
Out of love and full of shame, “…he divided his property between them.”
Yes, that’s right, “his” property.
Although the younger son thinks that his father is dead, while he is still alive, the property is still his.
If we just pause here, you can already see how much the father has already gone through.
The Eastern culture is all about honour for the elder.
No one dares to treat someone that is older than you this way.
It was a shock!
It was a culture shock to those that are listening to the parable around Jesus.
Those people would be,
Now, the younger son has gotten what he wanted.
Where is he going?
The Fallout
The Bible tells us that he left town for another country.
Somewhere that he would be the stranger of the land where nobody would know who he is.
What was the younger son’s motive here?
Remember, he wanted nothing to do with his family so he set foot in new lands where nobody would know who he is.
He can start a new life, and enjoy the money that he’s got in wild living!
If you’ve been to Las Vegas, to me, it is a different place.
I wouldn’t tell you how times I’ve been there but each time I visit, I find it mesmerizing.
It’s like a drug that you get addicted to and want so badly because all that it satisfies is the flesh.
It fulfills what society is selling you, sex, drugs, and money.
That’s how the culture of the world lures you in and away from God.
I am not saying that the entire Las Vegas county is like that but it is the “the Stripe” that I am talking about.
It is an ungodly place.
It is where most ungodly people would “…squander their wealth in wild living.”
And that’s exactly where the younger son was headed to, ungodly territories.
It is so ever-dangerous when one decides to leave the presence of God.
A person would fall easily into temptation and into sin which pulls them further and further away from God.
Their conscience will grow silent and their innate nature of knowing good and evil becomes numb.
The culture says, “do this…ok, I’ll go that way.” “Do that…ok, I’ll follow.”
And sooner or later, doubt will begin to grow.
The book of James describes such a person like this,
The younger son decides to remove himself from the protection of the family.
He chose to not receive support from his father but instead, turn to the world’s culture.
In other words, a Christian, which is a son or daughter of God chooses to run away from the loving-kindness of their heavenly Father and begin on a self-destructive, selfish, and self-centered path toward death.
If a person chooses on that journey, they should not have any expectation from God from their erratic and unstable behaviours!
What are these erratic and unstable behaviours, you ask?
The Prodigal
Part of his erratic behaviour included extravagant, reckless, and wasteful spending on sex and power!
How do we know that?
The older brother from the story tells us that his younger brother had spent money on prostitution.
A degrading act against the family and against God.
More is that he had spent money to gain power.
If you look at verse 15, you see that he “…hired himself out to a citizen of that country…” How do you hire yourself out?
Most likely is that he had made some connections with power friends when he had money.
Flashing his blings when he still had them.
Now, he has to rely on his so-called “friends” just to survive.
In fact, if you think about it, when Jesus describes how the younger son had spent everything, he’s also indicating that he’s lost everything he once had.
He lost his superficial friends and superficial powers.
Just look at what he’s doing for his superficial friend.
He’s feeding pigs and what is he charging for the service.
ZERO!
When someone hires themselves out, there is no expectation of wage involved.
They are basically saying, “use me” and give me what you think I should have at the end of the day.
The young son had lost everything, even his dignity.
That’s not all, it gets worst.
He’s so far away from the presence of his father that he’s got nothing left.
He’s begun to act erratically and in an unstable manner.
Now, he’s hungry and of course, the superficial friend is not going to give him food because he’s got no money.
So, he dashes for pig food.
He has completely lost his mind!
You have to know that the entire land was suffering from severe famine.
Pigs were not eating corn or vegetables.
They were not treated with leftovers.
They were being fed with Carob pods.
What are they?
They are found on Carob trees which were well populated in the Middle East due to their use of providing shade.
These pods are great for feeding swine but they have absolutely no nutritional value for humans.
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