HOPE! - That's What God is Like!

The Parable of the Lost Son is unique to Luke’s Gospel and is really in response to a question that was burning in the hearts of the people.

Amidst all their questions, the people really wanted to know: What is God like? 

Now there was a well-known traditional Jewish parable at the time that told the story of a lost son. And the father in the story represented the people’s understanding of what God was like. First, here is the traditional Jewish version of this well-known parable, and then we get to read Jesus’ version of this parable.

The traditional Jewish version: 

A kid commits a terrible sin and thinks he can make it on his own, so he says, “Dad, give me my share of the inheritance,” and he goes off and lives riotously. 

After feeding pigs (hitting rock bottom), he think to himself, “There’s a rabbinic law interpreting the passage ‘obey your parents’ which says ‘if you break community, for the sake of community you can’t go back as a community member, but you can come back as a slave or a servant.’” So the kid thinks, “I’d rather be a slave in my community than a free person where I can’t live for God.” So he comes home. 

In the Jewish parable, as he approaches his home, he meets his father accidentally. 

He says to his father, “I’ve sinned against you and against heaven. I can’t come back as your son; let me come back as your slave.” 

The father began to cry, and said, “Son, when you left, you broke community. For the sake of community, you can never come home.” And he closed the door. 

And the family gathered around the weeping old man, consoling him, and encouraging him for having done the righteous thing.

And now, Jesus’ version of this same parable: 

There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. 

“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. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. 

“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! 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.’ 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. 

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

“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. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate. 

And Jesus is saying… THAT’S WHAT GOD IS LIKE!!!

But Jesus also adds an addendum to the parable: 

The older brother gets mad that the sinful brother has been welcomed by his father back into the community. 

And Jesus says that the folks he’s talking to are not like either the loving father or the sinful son, but they are the angry, jealous, unforgiving older brother.

And so we must ask ourselves, which of the two children are we?

The forgiven son? Or the son that refuses to forgive?