And the son said to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” But the father said to his servants, “Bring quickly the best robe, and put in on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.” And they began to celebrate.
We Christians assume that we have the full embrace and love of the Father. We call Him, with Christ as our fellow brother, “Our Father.”
We pray for our Father’s will to be done because we trust Him and His will, even if we don’t understand it.
We pray, “Deliver us from evil,” in faith that just as strong and merciful is His embrace is for us, so is His strength in His defense of us, to protect us from the devil and all manner of evil of body and soul.
We assume the embrace of our Father – the we have a Heavenly Father, that He welcomes and He accepts us and He changes us and guides us and forgives us and loves us and even likes us.
But Luke 15 helps us to understand what life is like without this assumption – without the Father’s merciful and protecting embrace and love.
This text helps us see three horrible options. 1.) What’s commonly described as hedonism, 2.) Despair, and 3.) A prideful anger.
The first we’ll consider is hedonism. We may not be familiar with the word, but we are certainly familiar with the lifestyle. It is a lifestyle of selfish seeking of pleasure.
It’s a lifestyle that assumes the Father’s embrace is not loving or merciful or protecting or wise but binding and constricting and I can’t wait to get away from it and do what I want to do and not what you tell me to do.
It’s assumes that the Father’s Word, especially His Word that says do this, and don’t do this, are a bunch of rules that hamper our fun rather than what they are – wise guidance for living fullest of life for both ourselves and those around us.
We find this in the text of when the younger son wants his inheritance (he wants his father dead), and wants out of his father’s embrace and he goes squanders his property in reckless living.
We’ll simply let the text lead us to where this type of living leave us
And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.
The second option is intimately connected, and it is a life of despair. This is found in the sheep who is lost and cannot find its way home and simply knows it’s waiting to die in the wilderness or be devoured by the wolves.
It’s the coin that is lost in the house and knows that no one cares about looking for it.
It’s the son who realizes he should return home, but knows that he deserves to receive the fathers wrath and will spend the rest of his life with the best of circumstances living as a hired servant and having to continually work to get his father, now his master’s, approval (and if he messes up again, he’s out! He’s gonna get it!)
The third option is pride. This is a very unhappy option, too! Pride in your own righteousness hurts not only other, it also hurts you.
It’s found in the beginning our text with the Pharisees and the scribes grumbling saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”
It’s found in the older son (and he was a good boy who worked out) who after finding out the father embraced the younger son back
was angry and refused to go in.
His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, “Look, these many years, I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of your came, who have devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!”
This not only is a life anger and bitterness and grumbling about other people,
it’s also a heavy life in which you don’t enjoy your father. You assume he loves you, not simply because you are his child, or not simply because he’s a good father –
because you are good and work hard and are a decent person and you then will always have to be good and work hard and be decent to stay in the fathers approval. It eventually get exhausted or fearful. It doesn’t enjoy the father.
It assumes that the Father is constantly waiting for you to mess up and your only hope, what your pride is in, is to assume others mess up more than you, or that you didn’t mess up quite bad enough to be out.
It assumes your life is a life of works and works and work, your life is an employee of God and work gets so exhausting.
And opposed to all this is the truth about Our Father who is in heaven.
He is pleased with us. He does approve of us. He does consider us good and does trust us to then do good,
but not because we live a life of working under His heavy hand, but live a life confident that He loves us because we are His children, and that nothing will change that.
We cannot undo the waters of Holy Baptism and we cannot undo the death of Jesus which made way for us to be adopted into the family of God –
born not of the will of man or of the flesh, but of God.
And he said to him, “Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.”
Son, daughter – behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us, that we should be called the children of God and so we are.
This running father who comes out to the prideful and angry and bitter older son, has send His Son to run to the cross for you, and has send His Word to run to your ears today. Son, daughter – to pull you out of your pride and bitterness or thinking you can earn your father’s approval by your works and being exhausted under his heavy and –
you have your father’s approval.
And this running father runs out also the despairing son and says,
My son home. He was dead and is alive. He was lost and is found. Cover him with the best robe, he’s beautiful. He’s righteous.
Put the family ring back on him. He’s in. He’s not alone. He’s not abandoned.
He’s fed. He’s loved. He’s clothed. He’s in.
And to make in, the running and embracing father has send His Son to run to the cross and with open arms embrace your sin and shame and the wrath you deserve to forgive you and cover you and embrace you.
He’s a seeking shepherd to protect and celebrate lost sheep.
He’s like a woman who seeks out a coin through the light of His Word and His sweeping forgiveness to cleanse your guilty conscience.
And all this shows you again of who the Father is – and protects you again from the temptation to run away –
but works in you a desire to believe His Word and do His Word.
His Word and His embrace, His commands and promises, His Law and His Gospel,
and Word of protection for you and those around you.
That’s the Father you have.