Introduction

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How many of you have ever been to a family reunion?  Now first I should point out that in my experience there is a big difference between a family reunion and a family gathering.  On my mom's side, she was one of eleven and I remember with great fondness the family gatherings we had every year at Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years Eve.  I remember the simply amazing Thanksgiving celebrations when our family would come together with my closest uncles, aunts, and cousins and we would eat some great food.  Every gathering had at least 30 or more people, so there was always enough family around to play volleyball or badmitten, or any other fun game we could imagine.  When we had a family gathering, it was a blast.  I knew and loved everyone and they knew and loved me.  

Now my experience with family reunions was much different then our family gatherings.  The reunions brought together lots of family that I did not know and all the older ladies would pinch my cheeks and tell me what a cute little boy I was.  (Sure, I was glad they thought I was cute, but I could have done without the cheek pinching.)  There was also a lot more drama at our family reunions because there were always those members of the family nobody liked who would show up and cause conflicts.  People would gossip about the odd uncle who failed to show and then go on to talk behind his back about all the reasons why they were glad he did not come.  Rumors wouuld abound among the ladies about all the recent relationship news and how “cousin Janie” was so annoying, "it is no wonder her husband left her."  So while your experiences may be different than mine, at our family reunions, there was a lot of people around I did not know and a lot I really did not want to know.  But no matter how different your experiences may be with family gatherings vs. the family reunion, I think we can all agree that given a choice we would rather be at a place where we enjoy the company over a place where everyone gets on your nerves.

Now if you think about it, the church can be a lot like a family reunion.  In the positive sense, church can be a wonderful time of reunion where we eat some great food, hang out with some of our favorite people, and even meet some interesting people that are brand new to the family.  In the negative sense, church can unfortunately be a time of reunion that is full of gossip about people's failures, judgment against those who have hurt us, and a gathering that is not at all welcoming of outsiders, newcomers, or the weird second cousin twice removed with the lazy eye – I think you all know what I mean.

The sad part is, our experience of church as a place of reunion is a lot different than Jesus’ vision.  Jesus had a vision that the church would be a place of reunion that would embrace only the positive aspects of the Father's love. Jesus had a desire that we, both as individuals and as a people, would represent the best God has to offer.  Jesus wants us to have great fellowship with our most loved family members, but he also wants us to be a place that rejoices when the new family member joins in the reunion.  He did not want us to become a closed-off family that stands aloof from the rest of the world, but he wants us to be a family that gathers together in the hope that new members will join us without fear of judgment or recrimination for their past.  Church is to be a place of reunion that welcomes the lost and celebrates their homecoming.

Read any Gospel account, Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John, and you will be convinced of one thing; Jesus loved everyone who came to Him.  Often we see Jesus sitting and eating with the lowest of the low; tax collectors, prostitutes, the sick and even the occasional "sinner"!  Read the Gospels and you will get a clear picture that Jesus wanted people to know that God's family, His Kingdom, was a place that offered a welcome to everyone who came in search of hope and forgiveness.  Jesus wanted the religious people of his day to offer the hurting world a place of reunion where they could experience the love and forgiveness of the Father. 

Today, we are going to learn from Jesus that His heart's desire that when the lost come in search of salvation, we must offer them a place in His church-family and celebrate their return home to the Father!  As Jesus speaks, the question I want each one of us to think about is, "are you ready to offer the people of our community a place of Divine reunion?"  As a church, I want us to think about this question, "are we ready, as a church, to be a place that is known for their generous family gatherings?"

Open your Bibles with me to Luke chapter fifteen starting in verse one as we listen in as Jesus tries to teach the religious folks of his day what it means to be a part of His family.  Put a bookmark at chapter fifteen as we will come back to it again throughout our time this morning.

As we look into some of the background to the parable we are about to hear, we find that Jesus’ message of Divine-hope was attracting those who were outcasts from Jewish society and those who were despised by the Jewish religious leaders.  Read with me the first two verses of chapter fifteen.

Luke 15:1-2 (NASB95) Now all the tax collectors and the sinners were coming near Him to listen to Him. Both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

The Pharisees and Scribes were watching Jesus teach; the whole time they complained that he was hanging out with the worst sort of people.  Imagine their shock to discover that Jesus was eating with sinner!  “Oh dear, not sinners!”  Jesus, seeing their harsh criticism and judgmentalism, decides He needs to teach these Pharisees and Scribes a valuable lesson about God’s love for Man; His greatest creation.  In trying to open their minds and hearts to a radically different Kingdom view, Jesus tells three parables.  The first parable is about a lost sheep being found and the second is about finding a lost coin.  Both of these stories are designed to drive home a simple message that every one of us can understand; when you lose something of value, you will do anything to get it back and when you get it back, you will be excited.   Kind of obvious, right?  But, the third parable Jesus tells may make us question just how obvious the message really is.  For the rest of our time today we will focus our attention here because this parable, more than any other, connects with our hearts and illustrates to us most vividly God’s expectation that we live as the people and place for Divine-Reunion. 

This parable is often called “The Parable of the Prodigal Son” which puts the emphasis upon the young son who is seen as wasteful of all that he has been given by the Father.  The obvious problem here is that this title pulls the focus away from the story of the older son nor does it put a proper emphasis upon the love of the father.  If I were to give a title to this parable, I think I would call it “The Unfinished Parable” because as we shall soon see, this is probably the only parable that Jesus never finishes.  More on that will come later, but for now let’s get started at the beginning of Jesus’ story.

The parable opens by painting a picture of a father who has two sons, and as the story unfolds we see right from the start that this Father’s Love for his two sons will be tested.  You have this passage marked, but for now, just listen along as Jesus tells the parable and try to hear His heart and passion for how he wants us, as a church, to live out our days.

Luke 15:11-32 (my translation) “A man had two sons.  The younger son said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of your estate that will be mine.’  So the father divided his living between the two.  Then just a few days later, the younger son gathered everything together and left on a journey into a distant country.

Once there, he squandered his inheritance with a wild lifestyle.  Now after he had spent it all, a severe famine hit the country, and he experience great poverty.  So he went to work for a citizen of that country who sent him into the field to feed pigs.  He would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods being eaten by the pigs, but nobody gave him anything.  At last he came to his senses saying, ‘Any number of my father’s hired workers have food to spare, yet here I am dying from hunger!  I will get up and go to my father and say, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.  I am no longer worthy to be called your son.  Make me one of your hired servants.’  So he got up and started back to his father. 

But while he was still far away, his father saw him, was moved with compassion, and he ran to his son, fell on his neck and kissed him.  But the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.  I am no longer worthy to be called your son…’  Interrupting him, the father says to his bond-slaves, ‘Quick!  Bring out a robe, the best one, and put it on him, put a ring on his hand, sandals on his feet, and bring the fattened calf, kill it, so that we may eat and have a celebration.  This son of mine was dead, but now has again come to life— he was lost, but now is found!’  And they began to rejoice!”

Now his older son was in the field, and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing.  And he summoned one of the servants and began asking what these things could be. And he said to him, "Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has received him back safe and sound.’ 

But he became angry and was not willing to go in; and his father came out and began pleading with him.  But he answered and said to his father, "Look! For so many years I have been serving you and I have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends;  but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him." And he said to him, "Son, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours.  But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found." 

We see in verse twelve the portrait of a younger son who is persuaded that life would be better without his father.  Young, impetuous, convinced that the old man is “cramping his style”; this young man decides he needs to take control of his own life and set his own course.  So, to prove his total independence, he asks his father for some money and the keys to the family car.  Well, actually what he asked is that his dad divide up his estate and give him his inheritance; now!  This was a lot bigger than asking dad to loan him a $20 so he can go out and party.  According to Jewish law revealed in Deuteronomy, a father could distribute his wealth during his lifetime if he wished. It was perfectly legal for the younger son to ask for his share of the estate and even to sell it, but it was certainly not a very loving thing on his part. It was as though he were saying to his father, “I wish you were dead!” Thomas Huxley said, “A man’s worst difficulties begin when he is able to do just as he likes.” And this parable teaches just that because the Father does not fight with the son, he does not lock him in the house for a time-out, the Father simply divides up his estate and gives his younger son the freedom to choose his own path. 

How this father’s heart must have broken to see his young son choosing to live only for himself.  His heart certainly stuck in his throat as he handed over his young son’s inheritance, and it must have been torn in two as he watched his son liquidate all of his belongings to set out on his own.  We don’t know exactly how much the father knew of his young son’s life, but the comments by the older son at the end of the parable would seem to indicate that this dad had some idea what his son was doing with his life.  Starting in verse thirteen we start to get a picture of just how depraved a lifestyle this young man had chosen for himself.  He was living in total opposition to all he had been raised to hold dear and tries to find meaning in his own way.  Then a severe famine strikes and desperation sets in for the younger son who is broke, morally bankrupt, starving and alone.  Now living in complete isolation from his father, the young son makes himself the lowest of all men by first breaking all of God’s laws and then even worse he chooses to feed pigs to earn a living.  I don’t know if there is any one thing in our culture or time that a man could do that would equally repulsive as was feeding pigs to the Jewish culture, but there are probably some sins that come to mind when you and I think about what it means to be the lowest and dirtiest outcast from society.  But it is here, at this lowest point in the young son’s life that a change takes place.  Verse sixteen, tells us how he longed to eat even the pig slop, but there was not one single person who cared about him or his lowly condition.  The younger son experience with severe isolation from his father and family creates a longing in him to have someone, anyone, care for him and watch over him.  And it is here that this general sense of longing, turns into a longing for his Father.

Finally, after giving into every lust and desire, the young son recognizes just how bad his life really is and that things were better when he lived in the father’s care.  He discovers that the very things he thought would bring him freedom and independence, have only led to slavery and isolation.

How many of you have been at this place in your life.  Can you remember a time before you knew the love of God that you felt alone, depressed, and completely dirty?  Do you remember how, just like the son, you became aware of your great sin and need for God’s loving-forgiveness?  Maybe some of you are even at this place today and in need of freedom from your personal shame and guilt.  Maybe some of you are here today seeking a place of reunion that will welcome you out of your lostness and celebrate with you a great homecoming.  The Scripture is full of people who have come to this place in their life.  The phrase “I have sinned.” Is used in connection with nine different people in Scripture…

• “I have sinned,” said Pharaoh (Exodus 9:27).
• “I have sinned,” said Balaam (Numbers 22:34).
• “I have sinned,” said Saul (1 Samuel 15:24).
• “I have sinned,” said Judas (Matthew 27:4).

Each of these first four men acknowledged their sin, but none repented from it and their end was terrible. But there are five more men who made this same confession.…

• “I have sinned,” said Job (Job 7:20).
• “I have sinned,” said Achan (Joshua 7:20).
• “I have sinned,” said Micah (Micah 7:9)
• “I have sinned,” said David (2 Samuel 12:13).
• “I have sinned,” said the young son.

These last men, like the young wasteful son, did more than recognize their sin, they recognized their need to return to God for salvation.  Verse eighteen of our story lets us know about the sons determination to return home and confess his sin against both his father and God.  But he does not return home without some fears.  The son is ashamed of the choices he has made, and knows that he is no longer worthy to be a son, but only a hired hand.  I think every one of us knows this kind of shame and fear.  Think now about your own life, the things you do in secret, or the sins you commit and pray that no one will ever discover.  Now put yourself in the place of this young son who is about to go home, beg for forgiveness, and beg to be a slave in his father’s home.  The fear and shame he dreads to see as he looks into his father’s eyes.  With each step home, the only things that haunts him more than his desperate hunger is the fear of his past and how much his father must now hate him.  As he nears home, growing more weary with the burden of each step, The story changes scenes and we are transported to the home of the loving father who seems to be right there, waiting, hoping, praying that his lost son will return.  Then, imagine how great his joy when he finally sees the fulfillment of his heart’s desire, “my son, my son, he has finally come home to me!”   The father rushes out to greet his son, not with disdain or anger, but with loving arms.  What an amazing picture of a Father’s mercy that conquers the guilt and shame of sin.  With parched lips dry from the long road home, the young son tries to confess his sin, but Jesus tells how the father ignores the confession and instructs his servants to get the best clothes for his son and prepare a feast.  “My son, the one I have always loved and longed for, you have come home!  You are not a slave, but a member of this family!  You were dead to us, but now you are alive!”

The story goes on, but before we continue, pause now to remember from where we started this journey.  The Pharisees and Scribes were angered and repulsed that Jesus would dare to eat with the lowest of low.  What must they be thinking as Jesus tells this parable?  In the East, old men do not run; yet the father ran to meet his son. What a disgraceful act for a father.  But their shock must have been even greater when they hear Jesus tell how this father would make himself dirty by hugging this pig-smelling rebellious child.  This wayward son had brought disgrace to his family and village and, according to the Law in Deuteronomy, he should have been stoned to death. If the neighbors had started to stone him, they would have hit the father who was embracing him! Had the boy been dealt with according to the Law, there would have been a funeral, not a feast. You see, in Jesus’ parable, the young son represents the group of people who were lost; the group despised by the Pharisees but loved by God the Father.  What a powerful message to those religious leaders who did not understand that Jesus’ actions were in total agreement with the heart and actions of the Father.  The Pharisees and Scribes did not see God’s Kingdom as a loving family set on reunion with the lost, but as a place of safety from those who were out there “sinning.” 

Even today, there are a lot people who see church as a place of safety rather than Divine reunion.  Years ago a pastor friend of mine was inspired to reach out to many of the lost youth in his community and so he started a skate ministry.  Can you imagine how upset people were when kids started coming who had tattoos, holes in their jeans, and some even dared to smoke.  This youth pastor was confronted by many of the “church” families who felt that church should not be a place where this kind of person was welcome.  “These skate kids are such a bad example to my good and wholesome church-going kid.  Being at the same youth group with these kids will certainly corrupt my perfect child.”  When the youth pastor would not stop reaching out to the lost youth, many of the families let the senior pastor know that if he did not stop reaching out, they would stop tithing and leave the church.  In a few months, my youth pastor friend was out of a job and the church went back to being a place of safety from those terrible and sinful “lost” people.  That is the kind of church that would make even a Pharisee proud, but it certainly did not reflect the heart of the Father in Heaven or the lifestyle of Jesus.

But Jesus did not stop the story here with the younger son.  It was not enough that the people understand that the father wants the lost to come home; He also wanted the Pharisees and Scribes to know that it is possible to be home and still quite lost.  Jesus goes on starting in verse twenty-five to tell the story of the older son who all this time lived at home, but yet was just as lost and just as wasteful as the younger son.

Just as the party of the young son swings into gear, the older son returns from his chores and hears the celebration.  He asks a young boy what is happening.  The older son finds out that his brother has returned and the Father has disgraced himself and the family by embracing this rebellious punk as his son.  The older son isolates himself from the father and the family by refusing to celebrate the return of his brother. Let’s read again together the response of the older son when he hears that his younger brother has come home.

“But he [the older son] became angry and was not willing to go in; and his father came out and began pleading with him.  But he answered and said to his father, "Look! For so many years I have been serving you and I have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends;  but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him." And he said to him, "Son, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours.  But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.

The Father is excited to have his son home and alive, but the older son only wishes his brother was still gone and wishes that he were truly dead.  he father pleads with the older son to rejoice in this grand reunion.  “Please son, come and welcome your brother home!  My heart is just now restored to know he is home, please don’t break it again by refusing to join in with the celebration!”  The older son responds with disdain, “I have always been here and you don’t even love me enough to throw a party for me!  You may call me son, but you sure don’t act like a father to me! I want to be your son, but you don’t do anything to show how much you appreciate all the work I do!” (C) the older son goes on to make it perfectly clear that he rejects this other “son” who in no way deserves forgiveness; he does not deserve the father’s love, he does not deserve this reunion party.  Just like when the younger son rebelled, the father does not get angry, he does not condemn the older son, he only seeks to reconnect him with the family.  “My son, you have always been with me.  Everything I have has been here for you.  You did not have to work to earn it, it is yours; all you had to do was enjoy it!’

And without a proper ending, Jesus simply stops talking.  Jesus ends this parable leaving us on the edge of our seats.  He leaves us wondering, “what will happen with this older son; will the shame of his own sin and anger lead him to repent and embrace the Father’s mercy?”  “Will the older son discover the joy of this family reunion and the pleasure of embracing his lost brother? “ Or will he sit outside and stew; condemning his brother with every thought and look for the rest of his days?

Jesus does not finish this parable, because the ending must be written by the Pharisees and Scribes who are represented by the older son.  For just like the older son, their outward actions may have been commendable, yet their heart did not beat in unison with the heart of the Father who wanted only to have the lost come home.  I don’t think this parable is a condemnation of the Pharisees and Scribes, as much as it is an open ended question about what kind of Son they will be to the Heavenly Father. 

This parable is an open invitation for us, the family of God, to live as a place of reunion. This parable of Jesus is a challenge from Jesus to ask, “what kind of son are going to be?”  “Have you demonstrated the love and grace of the father by making your church into a Family that longs for a reunion?”  Are you standing there with the Father’s arms; ready to welcome the lost and celebrates their homecoming. 

As I listen tot his story, I can not help but remember an encounter I had back when I was a student at Penn State University.  Our campus ministry put on an outreach to the homosexual community by inviting in a speaker who was once living a homosexual lifestyle and who now proclaimed the message of freedom in Christ.  As the speaker got up to begin his talk, two dozen or more students stood up from the crowd, made a circle around the room and took off their outer shirts to reveal t-shirts with a message of silent protest.  As the speaker talked, I was drawn by God’s Spirit to pray for a young gay man who was standing nearby.  By the end of the talk, I knew that God wanted me to speak with him.  As we talked, I could tell he was very interested in hearing what God had to say about the sin of homosexuality, but his friends kept pulling him away.  Finally, I knew my time with him was at an end, but I prayed that God would give me something to say that would help transform this young man’s life.  As I said goodbye, I knew what I had to do.  I reached out and pulled this young man to me and gave him a huge hug.  In the midst of my embrace, I could feel his body tense with anxiety.  He must have been wondering, “I thought this guy said homosexuality was a sin.  How then can he give me this hug?”  As I released my hug, I told him that God loved him and wanted him to come home.

What ever became of that young man, I may only discover some day in heaven, but as I read this parable from Jesus, I am convicted that we need to do a lot more to embrace the lost who only wish to come home for a family celebration.  We have to do whatever it takes to live just like Jesus and offer the hurting world a place of reunion where they could experience the love and forgiveness of the Father.  Are you ready for a reunion?  Are you ready to become God’s people of reunion?