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11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. 13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. ~ Luke 15:11-16
Despite the many miracles the Lord Jesus performed, the religious leaders of Israel were set on doing away with Him. This fact pulls the curtain back on the ultimate point the Lord Jesus is making in Luke 15. Yet, the Lord Jesus was set on preaching the Gospel to all who had ears to hear.
In Luke 15, the Lord Jesus tells three stories all of which result in joy. The themes of each of these stories are: Lost, Sought, Found, and Celebrated. This scenario brings joy to the heart of God.
Having considered the first two of three parables in Luke 15, today and tomorrow, we consider the third. We have seen the recovery of a lost sheep and a lost coin. And, in our text for today, is the recovery of a lost son. This story includes and identifies a new element, one that is only applicable to humans: the nature of repentance.
Repentance was mentioned in v.7,10 in this chapter, but not defined. In this story it is defined and for the first time in this story, the religious leaders actually appear. They are represented by the older brother.
The first two parables, the stories about the sheep and the coin, emphasize God as the seeker. This third story looks not so much at God, but at the human condition and response. In this parable we see the themes of: sin, repentance, recovery, and rejection.
In v.11-12 we read, "11 Jesus continued: 'There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them."
Here we are introduced to a man and his two sons. The younger of the two sons does something that one did not do in their culture: he asked for his inheritance before his dad was dead. For a son to make such a request was tantamount to saying, "Dad, I wish you were dead. You are in the way of my plans, you are a barrier. I want my freedom. And, I want my fulfillment and I want out of this family now."
According to v.12 the father, at the request of the youngest son, divided his wealth between his two sons. The word “property” describes what the family for generations had produced. There was no law in the customs of Israel that would have forbad this father from doing this. In placating to the youngest sons request, this father was giving his son freedom. The son is not breaking the law. He is demonstrating his lack of understanding of his father's heart for him.
In v.13 we read, "Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living." The younger son couldn't wait to live his life as he thought. He had no investment in the father's love whatsoever. The older son is equally unloving, equally ungrateful even though he stays home. The father basically has no relationship with either son.
In v.13, the Lord Jesus uses the word “distant” which indicates the younger son went to a distant land, a Gentile land. Going into Gentile land was considered outrageous behavior. When he got into the distant country, he there “squandered his wealth in wild living." He literally wasted his wealth on worthless living.
This younger son represents the tax collectors and the sinners, the outcasts, those who were not religious. These run as far as they can from God because they have no love for Him and no relationship with Him. They don't want anything to do with Him and His law. This son had bought into Hedonism which is living for pleasure of all sorts.
In v.14 we read, "After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need." Desperation is an undesirable thing, yet, it serves us greatly. Desperate people do desperate things. When we get to this point we entertain the right questions. And, this is what our young friend does in this story.
He wanted unrestrained pleasure, but his lusts led him to the lack of fulfillment and loneliness. He was actually facing death. So, according to v.15 we read, "So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs."
Feeding pigs isn't really a job. It is the lowest possible thing that anybody could ever do and as it turns out, it doesn't pay much. This Jewish boy did not anticipate feeding pigs in a Gentile land, yet this is where his plan led him.
According to v.16, "He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything." He was so hungry that he was not just feeding pigs, he was trying to eat the slop that they were eating. He was longing to fill his own stomach with the carob pods that the pigs ate. Carob pods were the pulp of the bitter black berries that sometimes the pigs ate off a bush. After the molasses was extracted from the berries the pulp that was left and was thrown to the pigs.
Sin is rebellion against God but is not rebellion so much against His law, it is more rebellion against God's heart. Sin is to run as far from God as we can with no thought of His heart for us. And, He loses nothing when we sin. His heart for us is totally for us. He has no ulterior motive. He is not out to manipulate us. His heart breaks for us when we choose wrongly. He simply wants the best for us. We rebel because we lack a clear understanding of His heart for us.
Let me close with a great quote from the late Ravi Zaccharias. “Sin will always take us farther than we want to go, keep us longer than we want to stay, and cost us more than we want to pay." Tomorrow, we will consider what happens when we have seen the Father's heart for us. This is what changes us the most, the Father's heart for us.
