In invite you now to turn in your Bibles to Luke, chapter 15. If you are using a pew Bible, this passage can be found on page 704.

As we were preparing for this weekend’s services, Pastor David Hooper and I decided that it would be appropriate to continue the Thanksgiving theme. As we study this passage this morning, you will see how it relates to a heart of thanksgiving.

Luke 15

1* Now the tax collectors and "sinners" were all gathering round to hear him [Jesus].

2* But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners, and eats with them."

3* Then Jesus told them this parable:

4* "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?

5* And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders

6* and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbours together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’

7* I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

8* "Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?

9* And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbours together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’

10* In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

11* 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.

14* After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need.

15* So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs.

16* He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no-one gave him anything.

17* "When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!

18* I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.

19* I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.’

20* So he got up and went to his father. "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

21* "The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

22* "But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.

23* Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate.

24* For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

25* "Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing.

26* So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on.

27* ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’

28* "The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him.

29* But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.

30* But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

31* "‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.

32* But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’"

As is obvious by the title of our message, the focus of our attention today is on the third of these parables. In order to more fully appreciate the message that Jesus is communicating in third parable, it is important that we understand the context in which it was related.

The primary audience to whom Jesus was speaking on this occasion were the religious "elite" of their day, the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law. No other group so continuously and relentlessly hounded Jesus, trying to find fault with Him and undermine his veracity with the crowds. No other group received such scalding rebuttals from Jesus: "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, …"

The Pharisees and scribes lacked integrity in their spiritual and business dealings.

The Pharisees gave un-Biblical exceptions to abiding by the law.

Jesus said that the Pharisees and Scribes had neglected to keep the more important matters while patting themselves on the back for keeping the lesser requirements.

This last "woe to you…" was close to the heart of Jesus. Jesus claimed that He had come to

Jesus not only dined with the Pharisees and religious leaders, he also dined with the most irreligious elements of mankind seeking to save that which was lost.

Mark chapter two describes an occasion when Jesus was confronted about dining with sinners.

Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost.

Although the Scribes and Pharisees only scorned and damned the outcasts, Jesus held open a door of salvation to them that both condemned their sins and, at the same time, opened the divine way of remission for sins.

The Pharisees and scribes had an "exclusive" view of salvation. Some believed that sinners were proscribed to fuel the fires of hell. Others believed that the benefits of salvation were limited, and the fewer that they had to share with, the better. Others, driven by vengeance or hatred, couldn’t wait to see sinners suffer damnation.

Whatever their personal motivation, the Scribes and Pharisees were perplexed at the popularity of Jesus’ among the outcasts. They tried to "educate" Jesus so that He would tow the party-line and become one of them, but Jesus rejected their guidance. Ultimately, the anger and hatred of the Pharisees, scribes, and other religious leaders grew to the extent of unjustly sentencing Jesus to death.

It was in light of this contention, described in the first three verses of Luke, chapter 15, that Jesus provides these parables.

The Scribes and Pharisees were religious attorneys and judges, some of the brightest and best-educated minds in the land. Jesus presented His reply like a brilliant attorney would prepare a case, laying precept upon precept until there was only one logical verdict. Jesus first parable laid the foundation, and each succeeding parable built on the foundations preceding.

The first parable is simplicity itself. The concept is to equate the activity in question with something the plaintiff would do as a regular course. Jesus begins, "What man among you…" or "Suppose one of you…" It is at the same from lesser to greater. What Jesus asks is, "If you [Pharisees and scribes] would do for a lost sheep what is described here, shall I not do at least the equal for a lost human being who is more valuable than a sheep?"

The relationship between men and sheep could not have been lost on the Pharisees. Isaiah wrote:

The climax of this parable is reached in the joy over finding the lost. The storytelling finished, Jesus summarizes the purpose of the parable in verse seven by authoritatively stating:

Jesus contrasts the heavenly celebration over one sinner repenting with the sour murmuring of the scribes and Pharisees.

Thus begins a series of arguments by vignette concerning the lost: the lost sheep, the lost coin, the lost son.

In the phrase, "one sinner who repents…" the word "repent" is in the present participle form which indicates an action that has a long duration. It means that repentance is something that is done continuously. Luther, in the first of his ninety-five theses declared our entire life must be a continuous repentance. Elsewhere, he said that our sins are forgiven richly and daily. [Lenski, R. C. H. Commentary on the New Testament; Hendrickson Publishers, 1946, page 800]

It is important for us to realize that Jesus does not say that there is no celebration for those ninety and nine who are repentant; it merely states that the celebration for the lost one is greater. The man with the one hundred sheep has two sources of joy: the one who has been found and the ninety and nine who were safe all along. The joy of the ninety and nine is constant; the joy of the one responsive.

The ninety and nine were not a reference to the Pharisees and scribes: they were not righteous, only self-righteous.

Jesus then presents his second vignette.

The conjunction marks this vignette as being a continuation of the line of questioning. "What woman…" runs parallel to "what man…" and again is phrased in the interrogative which expects an affirmative answer.

The Greek drachma was equal to the Roman denarius which had the value of about a day’s wage for common labor.

Books have been written about the possible interpretations of this little story. Some have questioned distinctions between the coin and the sheep. For instance, it can be assumed that the sheep got lost of its own fault but a coin is inanimate and must have been lost by the woman: since the coin is a picture of the repentant sinner, does the woman represent the church who has lost a believer? Or, why would Jesus choose a Roman coin which had a pagan image stamped into it when He could have chosen to use a Hebrew shekel which bore a sacred image? Some have suggested that the lamp represents the gospel and the broom which swept the house represents the law.

All of these interpretations are distractions if they take us away from the core theme or purpose of Jesus’ story which is rejoicing:

If there is any dramatic distinctions between this story and the story of the lost sheep, it is in proportion. If you were to consider the relative value by proportion, the first comparison is 1 to 100 [the one sheep against the ninety and nine], The second proportion is 1 to 10 [one out of ten coins], and the final proportion is 1 to 2 [one of the two brothers].

Now, Jesus provides a third vignette.

In this parable, Jesus has raised the stakes. The sheep and drachma are not human, the two sons are. The first two parables illustrate that sinners are sought out to be brought into the kingdom. This parable illustrates how they enter.

Doctrinally, this parable presents conversion and justification. Yet the emotions depicted in this brief vignette are stirring and strong.

"A man had two sons…" The heavenly Father has always been recognized in this picture of the earthly father. The older son is a picture of the work-righteous Pharisees. The younger son is a picture of the publicans and sinners. In Jewish law, the oldest son received two-thirds of the inheritance, and an inheritance would usually be distributed at the death of the father. But here, the son cannot wait for his father to die and demands his inheritance immediately. With that inheritance, he travels to a far off country. Why? Why didn’t he go only as far as the local town? The answer is that he wanted to get as far away from his father as he could. He wanted to live without reports of his daily activities getting back to dad. He wanted to live outside of dad’s influence altogether. Call it inexperience, dislike of restraint or discipline, self-will, glamour of independence, or whatever you like – he wanted to get away from dad and dad’s influence as far as he could.

The prodigal son wanted to be rid of his father’s care, guidance, and control.

"After he had spent everything…" is a sad commentary on frivolous living. Though the scriptures warn us against hoarding and heaping treasure upon treasure, they also give wisdom concerning the investment of our resources.

He had been generous in his lavishing of gifts on his "friends," but when the times got hard a friend was impossible to find. When he is described as being in need, it is more than a reference to money. He had come to the end of every resource. He had no money; No food; No friends; No family; And no inner, spiritual support.

Jesus could have turned the story at this point and sent the prodigal son home. Thanks be to God that some do turn from their sinful ways and return home when the illusions and delusions of godless living collapse into reality.

But others won’t turn until they are at the very bottom of life’s pit and the only place to turn is up.

This prodigal son sold himself into slavery to a citizen of the foreign country. He must have sold himself very cheap, because the story indicates that his new owner didn’t even want him. The picture paints his owner as a producer of swine or pigs, which were unclean according to the law and an abomination to the Jews.

"To herd and pasture swine is not merely degrading as we should regard it today, to the Jew it represented moral defilement and all the shame that this involved. It crushed pride and cut the conscience with one blow" [Lenski, R. C. H. Commentary on the New Testament; Hendrickson Publishers, 1946, page 810]

The final degradation was trying to eat the food of the swine and lacking even that. The prodigal son had sunk to the level of a beast. The devil would love to belittle every man to this level of existence, where every shred of decency and humanity is stripped from the individual.

The prodigal son was slowly starving to death. When I think of this, I see pictures of the emaciated victims of World War Two concentration camps: men who grew so weak that they had to be carried out of the camps at the end of the war. This is the way of the world: it slowly starves its victims of life, health, and hope until they are unable to walk away even if they wanted to.

"When he came to his senses…" or "When he came to himself…" is used to describe someone who is coming out of a state of irrationality, insanity or delusion. God and godliness is reasonable.

God and godliness are reasonable. It is sound and reasonable act to turn from sin, its curse, shame, destruction, and final doom. It is sound and reasonable to repent and return to the father who is the source of life and everything that is good.

The prodigal son begins to evaluate his situation and prospects. "I am perishing with hunger.." yet my father’s servants have plenty.

He then makes his decision of repentance: "I will set out and go back to my father.. and confess my sin against heaven and against my father. To this he adds a desperate plea for mercy: "please make me a servant."

The son did not just talk about repentance; he did it. He took action.

Why did his father see him while he was yet far off? Probably, because his father was looking for him. Every day. Waiting for his lost son to come over the horizon. How rich is this picture of God the Father’s grace, ever ready to pardon and receive a repentant sinner. His father not only saw him, but his father’s heart was filled with compassion for him. There was no, "I told you so" look from dad. There was no, "I’m not sure I can trust you again for awhile" lecture. This dad was excited about greeting his son! In his excitement, he did something that was socially unacceptable for a man of his stature: he ran to meet the son. Can you imagine the picture? The glorious Father-God of all heaven, majestic in splendor, surrounded by angelic servants and the spectators of heaven, getting up out of his throne and running deliriously to meet you? Smothering you with kisses in all your filth – someone who has been defiled by sin/swine! That’s the picture Jesus gives.

The only hope we as sinners have of being received by our heavenly Father is his heart of compassion. Thanks be to God that his "compassions fail not."

The prodigal son begins his speech that he has no doubt practiced many times in the long walk home, but his father never lets him finish it.

He is ready to ask to be hired on a servant and his father doesn’t let him finish his humiliating petition.

This is the sinners pardon, justification, and adoption all rolled into one incredible story told by Jesus.

The robe referenced here was a long, elegant robe worn by nobles on official, state occasions.

The first calf or fatted calf was the finest calf of the herd. It would only be killed and eaten for the greatest of celebrations.

The ring was a mark of sonship. The bearer carried the authority of the one who owned it.

Though servants might go barefoot, a nobleman’s son never did. No doubt the prodigal son returned home barefoot. Dad wanted to make sure that he had shoes on his feet before he entered the house.

What an incredibly rich story of a lost son returning home; of a lost sinner returning to Father-God!

But that is not the end of the story Jesus tells. You see, there was an older brother who was just as lost as the prodigal son. Yes, he had all the appearances of goodness. He had stayed at home and obeyed his father. He had not squandered his wealth on riotous living.

But inside, he was seething with jealousy towards his brother. And when he found out how honorably his father had received the wretched brother, all his anger turned against his father.

This brother was exactly where he was supposed to be, in the fields working and overseeing the work of the servants. His father’s lands must have been very great indeed for the party to have already started before the son returned from the portion he was working on. The choice of words in the original language suggest the older brother was perplexed about the reason for the celebration – he didn’t have a clue. One would think that one of the servants would have been elated to bring such good news to him, unless, of course, the servants were knowledgeable of his disgust for the prodigal brother. That might also explain why he had to command a servant lad to come to him and had to inquire as to the cause of the celebration.

We don’t know these things for a fact, they seem obvious by the story. The servant lad doesn’t repeat the father’s words verbatim, he merely summarizes the essential events.

The elder brother at once became angry and refused to enter the house. This was an exact picture of the scribes and Pharisees who would not enter the house of a sinner, repentant or otherwise. Why should they? They had spent all their lives working hard for their righteousness. Why should any rebellious punk get such attention!

Somehow, the father found out that the elder brother had arrived and refused to join the celebration. The father could have sent orders to the son through his servants. He could have ordered the elder son to come into the house, act respectably, and honor the family by his presence. The father could have done this, but once again the father stooped to a level self-humiliation socially unacceptable to middle eastern cultures: he went out personally, not to order his son to come in, but rather to plead with him.

Now we see the hardness, bitterness, jealousy, selfishness, and self-righteousness of the elder brother revealed. Whereas the younger brother had taken and acted on his sinful inclinations, this brother had buried his thanklessness and resentments deep within.

In his response, the elder brother never refers to his father as "father." In fact, he dishonors his father by identifying himself as his father’s "slave." "Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you…" I haven’t been doing this work all these years for the satisfaction of bringing you joy and contributing to the family – I have been doing it because I had to… like a slave has to do it. I feel like a slave, not a son. I don’t want to be good. I do it because I have to. I don’t appreciate it. I don’t like it. You know, I never disobeyed your orders. And I don’t feel appreciated for being so good! You never threw a party for me! Not even a little calf. Not even…

"When this son of yours…" Not my brother, but he is your son… who has squandered your property… on prostitutes(!)… you celebrate!!! [You’re as bad as he is!!!] It is scandalous enough the reports we’ve gotten back about your other son, but when you celebrate his riotous living it brings scandal upon the whole family! ME! You scandalize ME! He has already blown his inheritance, are you going to let him blow mine, too?

The father tenderly calls the angry, self-centered elder brother, "My son…" How gently our Heavenly Father treats us. He could have responded with angry words. He could have revoked the inheritance. He could have sentenced this son to death. But he didn’t. Instead, he responded with gentleness and patience.

The father clarifies that the celebration is not for the godless lifestyle the son once lived in, but rather that the brother had come to his senses and returned home repentant.

Yes, the original audience was the Pharisees. But this passage applies to us, too. On this Thanksgiving weekend, I think it important for us to observe that the core issue that caused the prodigal son’s departure was a lack of thankfulness [gratitude/appreciation] for the good things his Father provided. The problem of the older brother was also a lack of thankfulness.

On Thanksgiving Day, our church family read Romans chapter one which outlines the steps of a nation or individual moving away from God. The very first step in moving away from God is a lack of thankfulness. It is an essential element of the Prodigal Spirit.

A number of years ago, I was driving down a freeway and looked up to see a sign which read, "If God feels far away, who moved?" Perhaps, the very first step in moving back to Father-God is thankfulness.

The parable ends abruptly, and purposely so. Everyone who reads the story knows that it is unfinished. What did the brother do in answer to his father’s appeal?

How many of us have lost our thankfulness for being a part of Father-God’s family?

How many of us have labored in the church for many years, feeling like no one appreciates us… like we’re nothing more than slaves for God instead of the children talked about in the Bible?

How many of us have, like the older brother, "never disobeyed orders," yet inwardly we long to escape our "slavery" and live far from Father-God’s care, guidance, and control?

How many of us have given up praying for, being concerned for, and looking for loved ones because they are living a godless life?

Never give up.