Luke 15:11-32
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 wealthin 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 servants 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 servants.’ 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.’”
We are created to have dominion of God’s creation and yet our first ancestors sinned by wanting to go their own way with their lives and their inheritance. God simply gave them up to their sinful desires. All unrighteousness will end in misery, and so the younger son discovered after all the years of wild living.
I have heard numerous sermons on this parable but none stressed another crux of the parable is the spiritual bankruptcy of the younger son when he came to his senses. He said to himself, “How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.” The younger son acknowledged he had sinned against heaven and against the Father. And he was no longer worthy to be a son and he was willing to submit himself as a hired servant. That is a very clear penitent confession of his spiritual bankruptcy. Did he come back and demand that he be treated as a son again ? No. Did he come back unrepentant with past brutish behaviour and start asserting his authority as a son again ? No.
The false hyper grace pastor had twisted this wonderful message of repentance and grace by suggesting firstly that when the younger son said those words to himself, he was schizophrenic. By coming to his senses as stated in Scripture, it was obvious that the younger son was remorseful and decided to make that journey back to seek the father’s forgiveness. The second twisted suggestion was that the father did not even bother to hear the son’s confession of sins before he welcomed him and so, there is no need to feel godly sorrow for sin or contrition, or to confess one’s sins and repent. We know God the Father is omniscient. Surely He know our hearts when we are repentant and ready to return to Him. Any sensible person will not conclude that the younger son returned without any hint of repentance and be an ingrate all over again. Won’t he be so thankful forever to be received again as a son of the Father ? Won’t he be a filial and responsible son from then on ?
