St Mary’s Church, Denham, 8 May 2016 Grace: The Older Son (Prodigal Son, part 3) Christoph Lindner, Rector Roger Hill was a patron of this church. His monument is in the prayer corner. He died in 1729 and intriguingly his son, also named Roger, died on the same day! Here’s why: As his father lay dying, the son couldn’t wait to find out whether he was heir to the fortune or his wastrel older brother. So he broke the seal of his father’s will and discovered that he was indeed the heir. He was over the moon, got drunk, had a stroke and died. Like the younger son in Jesus’ parable of the Prodigal Son, Roger junior can’t wait for his father to die -­‐ he needs to find out whether he will inherit his fortune. His greed is his downfall and the cause of his death. In Jesus’ parable, when the younger son returns, the Father says: “This son of mine was dead but is alive again.” He was cut off from his family, without resources, without a future and a hope. But then he turns around, repents, walks home and discovers forgiveness and grace. A grace that is free for the recipient: he can never work off his debt, he can only receive the gift of being reinstated as a son. Grace: The Older Son
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But there is a third person who now takes centre stage. In Rembrandt’s painting you can see him standing aloof, on the right, looking on disapprovingly. The older son. The one who always stayed at home. The good boy of the family. Often this story is told with a focus on the younger brother. Sometimes the last part is left out completely. But this is really a story about two lost brothers and I suspect Jesus’ focus was on the elder brother. To see why, we need to go back to the first verses of Luke 15: “Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to Jesus. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, ‘This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.’ So he told them this parable.” And then Jesus tells them three parables: the lost sheep. The lost coin. The lost sons. The last one is the climax. It is open-­‐ended. We don’t know whether the older son will join the party. Jesus is Grace: The Older Son
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speaking to the religious elite of his day. They were upset that the prodigals -­‐ sinners and tax collectors -­‐ found grace and love when they met Jesus. And it is clear that Jesus is challenging them: “Are you like the older brother? Are you going to join the party to celebrate that the lost are being found?” Last week we finished with this thought: “Church is the place where God’s grace is found. Or should be.” This is the place where prodigals are welcomed. Where they receive the gift of becoming children of God, heirs of his kingdom. Where there is a party when someone who was spiritually dead is finding new life in Christ. But the tragedy is that we miss that calling far too often. So here is my question for us today: How do God’s people respond when he acts mercifully? And the honest answer is: Often they grumble. Look at the story of Jonah: This should be a success story. Prophet calls city to repentance. City repents. Celebration. The End. But not Jonah: He was enjoying his power as a prophet of doom. He was looking forward to a firework. And now -­‐ nothing. And then God even takes away the little comfort of a plant giving him shade. Disgraceful. “It’s not fair!” This is the cry of the older son, when his father throws a party for the returned prodigal: “It’s not fair!” Grace: The Older Son
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Have you ever said that to God? I know I have. Just a few days ago when I stood at a bus stop and started waving my arms a fraction too late, so the bus just whizzed past me. It's not fair. Of course the older son's grievance is much more serious than missing a bus. When we looked at this story at The Well (Mondays, 7.30pm, St Mark’s Denham Green) two weeks ago, someone asked: “But did the older son know how much the Father loved him?” I’ve been thinking about this question. On the face of it, he didn’t. He had been working hard. Never a party. And now this scandalous, unmerited celebration! How does the Father respond? “My son, you are always with me and all I have is yours!” Everything was there for him to enjoy all the time. Why was there never a party for him? Because he never asked! James writes in his letter: “You do not have because you do not ask!” That hit me as I reflected on this parable! He was at home all the time. He could have enjoyed his relationship with his Father. He could have thrown any number of parties. But he didn’t. How often are we so busy being good and in the process we forget that God’s greatest joy is to be with us? In prayer? In Grace: The Older Son
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enjoying his beautiful creation! By enjoying family and friends? This church family! Instead we stand on the sideline and say: “It’s not fair!” “Jesus appointed twelve, whom he also named apostles, to be with him, and to be sent out to proclaim the message,” (Mark 3:14 NRSV, my emphasis) The first call for his disciples was simply to be with him and then also to share God’s love in word and deed. Our call is to be with the God who loves us. The older son missed that completely. How are we doing? Like the younger son, the older son didn’t really want THE FATHER. They both wanted THE THINGS of the father. “If I work hard enough, my father’s estate will prosper. And then, one day, it will be mine.” That calculation was wrecked when his brother was welcomed back. By rights, his brother shouldn’t have been welcomed back. He had forfeited his right to be a son. There certainly shouldn’t have been a party! But the younger son has been made an heir again, entitled to a share of the now much diminished family wealth. The older brother says: "I have never disobeyed you, Father, so I have rights!" Grace: The Older Son
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Tim Keller writes in The Prodigal God: "The targets of this story are not wayward sinners but religious people who do everything the bible requires. Jesus is pleading not so much with immoral outsiders as with moral insiders. ... Jesus' purpose is not to warm our hearts but to shatter our categories." Both the religious and the irreligious are spiritually lost. Moralism is a dead end because we can never be good enough to earn a right to God's favour. To somehow get control over God because of our good behaviour. I've been a good boy, a good girl, God, so you owe me! But Christianity is not about earning God's favour, it's about receiving his grace! "It's not fair!" Grace never is. Thank God that it isn't. If it was we would never be welcomed home by the Father. Am I still trying to earn God's favour? Am I still thinking that God owes me due to my good behaviour? The tragedy is, that when we get stuck in older brother mode, we lose the ability to throw a party when a prodigal returns home to God! When someone joins our church who is different, maybe a little messed up, who upsets the status quo. Who may have a joyful, overflowing faith, that we haven’t had for years. There is a Grace: The Older Son
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party in heaven for every lost child of God that is found. But will we join in? A colleague of mind told me about a woman who had come back to church and to faith after many ‘prodigal years’. One Sunday he preached on the lost sheep and on the way out this lady asked him, “When’s my party?” So one of the next Sundays they threw a surprise party for her! Finally: When we look at the three parables in Luke 15 there is a curious difference: in each one someone or something is lost and found: a sheep, a coin, a son. But in the first two someone actually goes out to find what was lost. Not so in the parable of the prodigal son. What's going on here? In Jesus’ day, it would have been the older brother’s job to go and look for his younger brother and bring him home! The younger brother can only be brought back into the family at the elder brother's expense! But listen to this: There is a true elder brother and he is the one telling this parable: Jesus, the son of God! Jesus is the brother who came from heaven to earth to find us, who paid the infinite cost of his own life to bring us into God's family. Our true elder brother paid our debt, on the cross, in our place. Grace: The Older Son
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We truly become a Christian when God's love transforms our heart so we can finally love and rest in the Father. Welcome Home. God is saying to the younger brothers among us: you can do nothing to make me love you less. God is saying to the older brothers among us: you can do nothing to make me love you more. Because in Jesus I have done everything to bring you home. Let the party begin! Grace: The Older Son
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