Sunday School at 9 am | worship at 10 am

Wastefully Extravagant

 Charles Dickens called it “the finest short story ever written.”  We know it as the Parable of the Prodigal Son.  It is a story that is deeply embedded with Western Culture. But have we really understood what Jesus was speaking of when he told the story of the parable?  Maybe not. The fact that we call the story “The Parable of the Prodigal Son” suggests that we have not understood what this story is about. 

 

The word prodigal does not appear anywhere in the parable.  We know the story as “Parable of the Prodigal Son” probably because the behavior of the younger son.  He spent his money and resources freely and recklessly; he was wastefully extravagant.  The word that describes that kind of behavior is the word prodigal.  So, we have come to associate the extravagance we see on display in this story with the younger son.  He is the prodigal.  But in reality, the true prodigal in this story is not the younger son, nor is it the elder son.  It is the father.  The father lavishes grace upon his younger son.  Such extravagance is hard to comprehend.  Thus, the father is the true prodigal.  The story of the lost sons is about licentiousness on one hand, legalism on the other hand, and grace above them both.

 

In this tale of two sons, the bad son takes the money his father gives him and spends it recklessly, while the good son stays home.  When the bad son decides that he living in a pigsty has no future in it, he heads home.  The father embraces him and throws an extravagant party.  The good son is offended.  Deeply offended.  Why would the father lavish the bad son with grace and honor, and totally ignore the good son?  That doesn’t seem right.  If this question bothers you, you are not alone. 

Many of us have trouble with what Jesus is saying in this parable.  But it wasn’t just the younger son who had a relationship problem with his father.  The elder son did too.  Obviously, the younger, seemingly more rebellious son represented the tax collectors of Jesus’ day, and the older brother represented the Pharisees. Yet, this 2000-year-old tale still has implications for our lives today. It beautifully illustrates our relationship problems with God. I don’t know about you, but I have been both sons.  At times I have been the rebellious prodigal, but mostly I have been the self-righteous older brother.

This parable indicates that we resist God not only by doing evil but also with our good (self-righteousness). Jesus’ parable of the two sons paints a vivid picture of this dynamic. It describes the huge problem of the human race—resistance to God.  But it also presents the solution—the lavish, extravagant, amazing grace of the true prodigal in this story—God.