March 30, 2025
Have you ever seen a parent yell loudly at their kid in the grocery store? You look to see what’s going on, why are they so upset? The kid seems to just be behaving like a typical kid. Everyone in the store gets quiet. It’s uncomfortable. It seems like the parent is overreacting. We can learn a lot from our reactions, from how we respond to a situation. When I was maybe 8 years old, I had a playhouse in the basement. Once a friend and I made apples with cinnamon and sugar, we and took them to the playhouse to eat. We didn’t eat it all. A month and a half later, we went down to the playhouse again. There was a bowl full of fuzzy something. It was moldy. I went to tell my parents, but they weren’t there. My oldest brother came. I asked him to get rid of it, but he told me, “Maureen, you did this, you have to throw it out!” I screamed and cried. I was horrified. I didn’t want to touch it. But my brother made me throw it out. I did and I didn’t die. I overreacted!
Today we’re talking about the prodigal son, the lost son. The prodigal son is a parable, which is a made-up story that Jesus told. He told made up stories to prove a point. Here he tells the story to respond to the religious leaders, who grumbled about Jesus saying, “Why does he eat with sinners?” Which is an overreaction. Why not? If you’re Jesus, wouldn’t the sinners be the most important people to spend time with? You see the biggest change from them! Although, we’re all sinners! In order to respond to religious leaders who are overreacting about sinners, Jesus tells the story of the prodigal son.
Jesus says the younger son in a family is tired of life at home. He’s grown now, and he says I want my money, and I want it now! Dad, I’m not going to wait till you die for my inheritance. GIVE IT TO ME NOW! This Father is a little wimpy. He says, ok. This isn’t how things are done, but dad decides, ok, if he wants it, he can have his inheritance now. The son takes his money and leaves home. He doesn’t write or call. His family has no idea where he is or if he’s alive. This lost son spends all his inheritance in wild living. Finally, he has nothing left. He ends up working with and living with pigs!
So he decides it’s time to go home where life was better. Even if I have to be a slave for my father, it will be better than living with pigs!
So, he goes home. He is expecting to get yelled at or get the silent treatment. He is expecting to have all the privileges of being part of his family taken away. He thinks he’ll be treated badly. Maybe they won’t want anything to do with him, which he knows he deserves. He’s been irresponsible with his inheritance. He’s been totally inconsiderate of his family’s feelings.
BUT when he come home, his father runs out and greets him, dresses him up and plans a big feast to celebrate: my son came home! The older son comes in from the field and is angry about the party for his brother. The older son refuses to go to the celebration. He tells his father; I’ve been the good kid. He is the bad kid. But you’re throwing him a party? “I’ve worked like a slave for you all these years and never disobeyed. And you never gave me a party. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!” HIs father says, I love you. But we had to celebrate, your brother is home! To the father, this is one of the happiest days of his life! His lost son came home!
It’s easy to see why the older brother might resent the younger son. He’s thinking, I behave so much better than him! Why do I have to celebrate his return? Why should I have joy that he’s back?
With this parable, Jesus speaks to something in all of us, because we all have somebody we cannot stand. There is a person we do not like. And when they get a lucky break, when the sun shines on them, what do we say? Do we say, “How wonderful!” Or do we grumble? I grumble!
But there is usually something in that person that we want for ourselves. We see they are 99% scumbag. But if we look hard, deep down we wish, we could be a little more like them!
In this story of the prodigal son, the older brother complains to his father, “All these years I’ve worked so hard. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends!”
That older brother wishes he could have a roasted goat party! I bet goat is good, it probably tastes like chicken. He wants his father to give him a party! He wishes that he had more fun. It’s true the younger brother, the prodigal, acted horribly to his family and wasted his inheritance. But he had a strength: He was definitely good at having fun! He was really good at that!
The older brother is jealous because he’s thinking, I would have liked a day off or even a vacation once in a while, instead of “slaving” for my father. I wish I had said “No” to my father’s demands once in a while. I wish I had more parties! Maybe he wishes he could go travelling like his brother. Maybe he wanted to buy something expensive for himself for once.
The older brother is missing out on joy. The reason isn’t what we usually think: that a party for his awful brother is not fair. He is missing out on joy because he wishes in some way that he could be more like his brother. He is not allowing himself to have fun, or to relax. He’s not treating himself to anything and not going on any adventures. He is missing out on joy. There is a party he is invited to, but he’s not going. Which is ironic, because he wants to party!
This older brother is overreacting. Thinking about his overreaction would help him build a more joyful life. Why do I hate my brother, and hate the idea of a party for him so much? Because I want some fun and celebration!
If he gives himself permissions to be a little bit like his brother (but not go too far, don’t get too wild), he will find the joy God wants him to experience in life.
He is a devoted, hardworking son! But I want him to enjoy life and go to parties! That’s what his father in the parable wants as well. He wants his older son to share the joy that his brother was lost but now is found!
If the angry brother figures out why he’s so mad at his brother, and how he wants to be more like him, he’ll find joy! He won’t walk around with a frown on his face.
I could be jealous of someone because they have awesome clothes. What do I need to do? Go shopping! I may not like someone because their yard looks so nice. What do I need to do? Landscaping! If I hate lazy people, what do I need to do? Take all my days off! If I hate rich people, because they have so much more than me, what do I need to do? Marry a rich person! Or something like that.
The religious leaders in Jesus’ day were jealous of him, and envious of the attention he gave to tax collectors and others who were seen as sinners. In Matthew 11:19 Jesus says, “The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is proved right by her deeds.”
Jesus spent time with and was a friend of tax collectors and sinners. He did not join anyone in sinning, but he influenced them toward God. Jesus had fun. He went to a lot of dinner parties. He made wine for a wedding party! In the parable of the prodigal son, Jesus teaches a spirit of joy when someone who is lost is found!
In the parable, the angry older brother represents the religious leaders who complain about Jesus spending time with sinners. Like the angry brother, the religious leaders want a good relationship with the father. But they can’t understand the grace that God the Father offers! They can’t understand unearned favor and undeserved forgiveness. They think you have to earn your way to God’s love. But in the parable, the father, who represents God, loves a terrible sinner and throws him a party!
The religious leaders just don’t get the point of the parable! They don’t get that the people they can’t stand, could teach them to live with a little more joy. They don’t understand that we don’t earn our way to God’s love. We don’t deserve it, but it is freely given! That’s reason for joy! The kingdom of God is a party!
My challenge for you is in the bulletin in Today’s message, talk it over. Think of someone you can’t stand! What is it you hate about them? What characteristics do they have that you wish you had?
Jesus offers us a Spirit of Joy. Joy when we realize the door is open for us to change and enjoy the goodness God gives in this life. God wants us to have joy! Joy when we realize we have not earned God’s love, but he loves us anyway. We don’t deserve to be forgiven, but guess what? We’re forgiven! We know we truly have the joy of the Lord, when we can go to the party and rejoice for someone we don’t like. Amen.
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