Leeds Vineyard

The Prodigal Son - A Tale of Grace

The Prodigal Son - A tale of Grace.

prodigalson

The wide-angle view


During my working week, I work in the NHS as a histopathologist.  Pathologists are doctors who spend their time, not on the wards but down in the laboratory end of the hospital.  If for any reason, a patient ends up having a biopsy, or an operation which results in part of (or the whole of) an organ being removed, it gets sent to the pathology department for analysis.  And that is my job.  With the help of a skilled team of technicians, the piece of tissue gets converted into glass slides that can be viewed under a microscope.  My job is to oversee the process and view the slides under the microscope and write a report on what I see so that the team on the ward can start the right treatment, or reassure the patient as appropriate.  For the last six years, I have also been responsible for overseeing the training of junior doctors who are learning to become pathologists.  

 

The single most important lesson to learn early on, is how to use a microscope.  Microscopes, like this one on the screen have a number of lenses, increasing in power of magnification as you go around.  To avoid mistakes as a pathologist, it is vital to learn not to use a lens that is too powerful, and zooms in too far, before you get an overall picture of what is going on.  It seems like its easy to say, but sometimes we have to force ourselves to stand back to get the wide angle view.  Look at this picture for example.  It shows (and some of you will just have to take my word for it) normal squamous epithelium, which is the type of cell that makes up the surface layers of the skin.  But if we zoom out, it doesn’t look quite right for skin, and when we zoom out a little bit further we see the muscle layer, and a duct over on the right hand side that tells us that we are actually not looking at skin at all, but a section of normal oesophagus.

 

This morning we are continuing our series on parables - ways of showing truth through a story.  Last week we looked at the parable of the lost sheep, and this week I want to with the story of the prodigal, or lost son.  We can read the story in the Gospel of Luke, and the words will be on the screen.  I’m reading from the message version.  As we read through this though, try to consciously stand back and see the big picture or theme:

 

Luke 15:11-32 

11-12 Then he said, “There was once a man who had two sons. The younger said to his father, ‘Father, I want right now what’s coming to me.’

12-16 “So the father divided the property between them. It wasn’t long before the younger son packed his bags and left for a distant country. There, undisciplined and dissipated, he wasted everything he had. After he had gone through all his money, there was a bad famine all through that country and he began to hurt. He signed on with a citizen there who assigned him to his fields to slop the pigs. He was so hungry he would have eaten the corncobs in the pig slop, but no one would give him any.

17-20 “That brought him to his senses. He said, ‘All those farmhands working for my father sit down to three meals a day, and here I am starving to death. I’m going back to my father. I’ll say to him, Father, I’ve sinned against God, I’ve sinned before you; I don’t deserve to be called your son. Take me on as a hired hand.’ He got right up and went home to his father.

20-21 “When he was still a long way off, his father saw him. His heart pounding, he ran out, embraced him, and kissed him. The son started his speech: ‘Father, I’ve sinned against God, I’ve sinned before you; I don’t deserve to be called your son ever again.’

22-24 “But the father wasn’t listening. He was calling to the servants, ‘Quick. Bring a clean set of clothes and dress him. Put the family ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Then get a grain-fed heifer and roast it. We’re going to feast! We’re going to have a wonderful time! My son is here—given up for dead and now alive! Given up for lost and now found!’ And they began to have a wonderful time.

25-27 “All this time his older son was out in the field. When the day’s work was done he came in. As he approached the house, he heard the music and dancing. Calling over one of the houseboys, he asked what was going on. He told him, ‘Your brother came home. Your father has ordered a feast—barbecued beef!—because he has him home safe and sound.’

28-30 “The older brother stalked off in an angry sulk and refused to join in. His father came out and tried to talk to him, but he wouldn’t listen. The son said, ‘Look how many years I’ve stayed here serving you, never giving you one moment of grief, but have you ever thrown a party for me and my friends? Then this son of yours who has thrown away your money on whores shows up and you go all out with a feast!’

31-32 “His father said, ‘Son, you don’t understand. You’re with me all the time, and everything that is mine is yours—but this is a wonderful time, and we had to celebrate. This brother of yours was dead, and he’s alive! He was lost, and he’s found!’”

Amazing Grace


I have been following Jesus for over twenty years now.  In that time, God has taught me some amazing lessons about his love, Grace, forgiveness… Some of the lessons I'm still learning and have to keep revisiting.  But the more I have learned, and the deeper God takes me into relationship with him, the stronger the simplicity of Jesus message comes through.  When you boil it down to its absolute essence - God is good and he likes me.  

 

Now of course it is more complicated than that.  But sometimes, it is the simplicity that we need to see and hear.  Sometimes, we are like the son in this story.  It doesn’t matter what we have done in our lives to this point - it  doesn’t matter how many times we've messed up or missed our goals or wasted our chances.  God is there, looking our for us from the upstairs window, anxiously hoping to catch a glimpse of his child returning home to be with him.

 

Now in amongst the business of our lives, sometimes simple messages get lost.  So it is with reading this parable: Like the microscope images, if we zoom in too far too fast and end up concentrating on what the fly on the wall saw from his point of view, or wonder what brand of champagne the son blew his inheritance on, or what was going through the mind of the fatted calf, we miss the point of the story.  I believe that this story is really about Grace.  The Grace shown by the father (God) in his relationship with the son (us), and the response of the third character the older brother (sometimes us as well!), to that Grace. 

 

Now this may be a familiar bible passage to you, but even familiar passages can become like pictures on the living room wall - almost invisible because they are part of the background of our lives.  Then a visitor says, ‘Ooh, I love your picture!’ and we look again and notice the lines and the shadows and suddenly remember why we bought it in the first place.

 

The parable of the Prodigal Son paints a beautiful picture of Gods grace.  It shows God’s promise of a twenty-four carat golden experience for all who make the journey home to a heavenly Father who passionately loves them.  Wherever they have been, whatever they have done before, they are welcome.  That is what the story is about.  It is not, as some might claim ‘The parable of the failed father’ whose lacking parenting skills allowed the son to head off with more money than sense in the first place.  If we strip away the images we insert into the story, and stop wondering about what the prodigal son spent his money on, or how long it lasted, or dwell on how much fun it must have been for a while, we come back to a story of amazing grace and the simple truth - that God is very good, and he loves us very much.

 

I wonder though, if that is what something that is very easy to believe.  If we don’t stand back in wonder to look up at the God who loves us more than we could imagine, we can end up with some muddled and if you like “remixed” version in our head.  Maybe something like this alternative version of the story written by the christian author Adrian Plass a few years ago:

 

The Prodigal Son

 

At last he cometh to his senses and saith, ‘All my father’s hired workers have more than they can eat, and here I am about to starve!  I will arise and go to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee.  I am no longer worthy to be called thy son; make me as one of thy hired servants.”’ 

 

So he arose and came to his father. 

 

But when he was still a long way off his father seeth him and runneth to him and falleth on his neck and pulleth his hair and smacketh his backside and clumpeth him on the ear and saith, “Where the devil do you think you’ve been, Scumbag? 

 

And the prodigal replieth, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee.  I am no longer worthy to be called thy son; make me as one of thine hired servants.’ 

 

The father saith, “Too right I’ll make thee as one of my hired servants, Master Dirty-stop-out-inheritance-spending-stinker-pinker-prodigal!  I suppose thou believest that thou canst waltz back in here without so much as an by thine leave, and conneth me with thine dramatic little speech?  Thinkest thou that this is “Little House on the Prairie”?  Or mayhap thou reckoneth that I was born yestere’en?  Oh, no.  Third assistant bog-cleaner, unpaid, for thee, mine odorous ex-relative.’ 

 

Then the prodigal saith dismally unto him, ‘Oh, right, right - fair enough.  So, er, just to get it straight, there existeth no question of lots of nice presents and instant forgiveness and an large celebratory meal involving the fatted calf, or anything of that nature? 

 

‘In thy dreams, son!’ replieth the father.  “The only gift thou art likely to see is the personalized lavatory-brush with which thou shalt shortly be presented.’ 

 

And the father taketh the prodigal by the ear which previously he clumpeth, and hauleth him back to the farm.  And lo, the fatted calf beholdeth them approach from an long way off, and, summing up the situation perfectly, throweth an big party.  And the fatted calf’s family and guests rejoiceth and doeth an bit of discow-dancing, and mooeth sarcastically over the fence at the prodigal as he passeth by in his tribulation. 

 

And behold, as nightfall approacheth, the prodigal’s elder brother heareth distant sounds as of an bog-brush being applied, and strolleth out to the edge of the cess-pit after supper holding an large brandy, and he stretcheth luxuriously and picketh his teeth and lighteth an enormous cigar and looketh down and saith, ‘Evenin’, Rambo.  I see thou hast returned, then?  Likest thou thine rapid progress from affluent to effluent?’  

 

And the prodigal looketh up and saith, ‘Verily, thou rebukest me justly with thine clever barb.  When I had great wealth I shared it not with thee, but now I freely offer thee an good share of  what is mine.’ 

 

And he flicketh at the elder brother with his brush, so that an weighty portion of something exceeding unpleasant ploppeth into his brother’s brandy glass, and his brother retireth, threatening to tell on him. 

 

And the prodigal findeth his father and saith unto him, ‘Behold, all these years during which I was in an far country, mine smug, pie-faced, hypocritical, dipstick of an brother must have caused thee to gnash thine teeth on an daily basis, so how come he getteth all the perks like brandy, cigars and suchlike, while I remaineth up to mine elbows in other people’s poo?’ 

 

But his father replieth, ‘Thine brother is boring but biddable.  Get on with thine work, thou less than Baldrick, and think thyself lucky.’ 

 

The father departeth and the prodigal saith to himself, ‘Blow this for an game of centurions.  I wisheth I hadn’t come home now.  Behold I am just as hungry, twice as guilty and four times as smelly.  Verily, if, by an miracle, any time off ever presenteth itself, there existeth in my mind no doubt about how I shall seek to occupieth it.  Definitely - it’s an day-trip to the pigs for me…’

 

It’s deliberately written in a humorous way to make a point and to emphasise how far from the truth this version of the story is - The truth is that God loves us unconditionally.  He needs our presence to be able to lavish that love upon us.  The Father in the parable - God - opens his arms in acceptance.  Pure Grace. Its a kiss, not a punch.  Acceptance, not rejection.  A party, not slave labour.  

 

Our response

So where does the story leave us in Leeds in 2014.  Well I wonder which character in the story you and I identify with most this morning?  Is it the son?  Do you feel like you’re far from God, and have maybe messed up beyond what you think anyone could ever forgive?  I know I’ve been there.  If so, be encouraged that God the father is there at the upstairs window, looking out to the horizon for you to come home.  So move along up the road. Tell the Father you’re on your way.  Make the journey home.  There is acceptance, and a celebration party waiting for you.

 

Maybe in your own life at the moment though, you feel like you are the father figure. Maybe someone close to you has left and you long for them to return.  Or maybe they have, but you were hurt in a way that gives you the opportunity to hold a grudge.  Look at the example of the Father.  Ask for God’s help and follow his leading.  Welcome them with open arms.

 

Or maybe, when you come to think about it, you identify most with the character of the older brother.  You feel like you have always been faithful to God, at home with the father, working hard, serving him and his family, the church.  And then you see someone who had surely blown it come home you struggle to see what the fuss is about - resentful that the party isn't for you.  There is an antidote to that - as residents of the fathers house already, we are the ones who are called to grab a party poppers, streamers and a party hat, put on the music and share God’s grace with others.  Join in the celebration that the lost son has returned.

 

Now some of you may be thinking that I am simplifying things this morning - be assured that but God’s grace is not an easy “there-there, don’t worry about it”.  Far cleverer people than me have written books on this subject - if you want to read one I recommend “What’s so amazing about Grace?” by Philip Yancy.  But know today: this action of welcoming home the son who was lost and not clomping him on the ear, was and is costly to God.  It is available to us because He sent his one and only Son, Jesus Christ to die for us, so that whomever believes in him should not perish but would inherit eternal life.  It is pure Grace.  It is a freely given gift that we do not deserve and there is no way that we could ever earn. It is a key thing that sets those of us who follow Jesus apart from every other religion on the planet. Other faiths require you to do something to "get right with God." Mess up much, and you're toast.

 

In Following Jesus, we are offered "rightness with God" free of charge, with no strings attached: In the bible, Ephesians 2:8-9 says ”For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works so no one can boast.”

Eternal life.. for free? That goes against our human nature, because we are conditioned to believe that we have to earn stuff. But that's not God's way. We can't earn our ticket to heaven. It's a gift.

We are accustomed to finding a catch in every promise and we are fearful of being scammed.  But in Jesus' stories of extravagant grace there is no catch, there is no loophole disqualifying us from God's love. Each parable has at its core an ending too good to be true - or, so good that it must be true.  Jesus parables demonstrate truth through a story.  They show us what life in God’s kingdom is like.  And it’s wonderful.

If we did a survey and asked people in Leeds what they had do to get to heaven, to inherit eternal life, the most frequent reply would probably be: "Be good."  The parable of the prodigal son completely contradicts that answer.  The one and only thing we have to do is cry, "Help!" and God in his infinite grace welcomes home anyone who will come to him.  In fact, he made the first move thousands of years before we were even born.

That's what's so amazing about grace.  Push up along the road and into the fathers arms.  The party hats and streamers are waiting for you.