“Reckless Living … Extravagant Love” (Luke 15:1-3, 11-32)
Reckless driving. If
you’ve ever spent any time on the freeway, you have encountered this. Drivers zooming by in the lane next to
you. Weaving in and out of traffic,
barely missing the bumpers of cars in front and behind. Slamming on brakes as they approach slow
traffic ahead. They are absolutely
unconcerned about the consequences. They
speed through traffic without concern for their own safety or the safety of
others.
Reckless living. That’s how our text describes the way in which
the younger son squandered away his inheritance. He was unconcerned about how he might hurt
himself or others. And this is evident
even before his trip to the far country.
He was rather demanding of his father: “Give me the share of property
that is coming to me.” Under normal
circumstances, an inheritance is received after the death of a parent. So, in essence, this son was saying “Dad, I
wish you were dead.” The father grants
the request, dividing his property between his two sons. The younger son heads off, ends up destitute,
saving nothing of his father’s bequest.
His last job before he comes to his senses is feeding pigs, not a happy
job for a Jew. What those unclean beasts
eat begin to look good to him. But even
hog feed was beyond his reach. No one
was willing to give him anything.
You may think the older son who stayed home is much more
sensible. But you might say that he
lived recklessly, too. He appears to be
just as selfishly motivated as his brother, albeit in a more respectable
fashion. He gladly took the inheritance
that his father divided, even though dad was not dead yet. When his brother returned home, he shows his
true colors. Ungrateful. Taking dad for granted. Expecting blessings from his father as a
reward for his good behavior: “Look, old
man! I’ve been with you all this
time! All these years I’ve served you! Where’s my fatted calf? Where’s my ring? Where are my fancy clothes?” Notice also how he disdainfully describes his
brother to his father: “This son of yours.”
It’s as if he’s denying that this is even his brother.
Jesus told this parable to the Pharisees and scribes who
grumbled about the way in which Jesus treated manifest sinners … those
cheating, traitorous tax collectors and other well-known transgressors. Jesus loved them. They drew near to him. He welcomed them. He received them and sat down to eat with
them … in those days a way of showing true friendship and close fellowship. The respectable Pharisees and scribes are
like the older brother, unwilling to welcome back and forgive reckless
sinners. Their unforgiving hearts show
that they themselves are being reckless with God’s mercy and grace.
You and I can be like both sons at various times in our life. Like the younger son, we can squander God’s
gifts recklessly, wasting our time and our money on things that do not
eternally satisfy. We can ignore God’s
Word to our peril, with sinful hearts that wish he was dead, that wish he would
stop poking his nosy Law into “my business.”
But you and I can be like the older son, too. We can take God’s gifts for granted. We view ourselves as respectable,
church-going people and look down our noses at those who we think are not. We often expect God to bless us for our good
behavior. And when trouble comes into
our life, our first thought is, “Why are you doing this to me, God? All these years I’ve served you, and this is
the thanks I get?”
Destitute, with nothing saved from what his father had given
him, the reckless-living son returns in repentance. In his heart, he devises a somewhat reckless
plan. After all, for all he knows, his
father might tell him to take a hike. But
it was worth a shot. And he concludes, “I
will throw myself down at the mercy of my father. I will acknowledge that I have sinned against
and offended God. I will acknowledge
that I have sinned against and deeply hurt my father. And I no longer care whether I will be
treated as a son. I will tell my father
to treat me as one of his hired servants.
I will work for him to repay the debt I owe him, to show him I wish to pay
back all that he gave me.”
The reckless living son heads home. The grumbling son watches the scene unfold. Both discover the extravagant love of their father. The father throws all decorum aside and
recklessly runs to greet his son whom he saw approaching in the distance. This was quite a show. A public declaration of love and
acceptance. With no attempt at forced
groveling. He doesn’t even let his son
finish his well-rehearsed speech. “My
lost son has been found! My dead son is
alive! Start the celebration!”
Likewise, when the older brother complained about all this,
the father could have said, “Hey, I gave you your share. Why don’t you just shut your trap and enjoy
it!” But he has a gracious response for
him, too: “Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.”
In the younger son’s darkest moments, no one gave him
anything. But the father gave him
everything. In your darkest moments, lost
and dead in sin, your Heavenly Father gives you everything, all the riches of
heaven because of the reckless way in which he saved you. God’s Son left the safety and security of
heaven and plunged headlong into this far country full of suffering, pain, and death
without any concern for his own life. He
knew that his life would be taken away from him at the cross. But this was not completely reckless. He did all this because he was completely
concerned about your life. Jesus put
himself in danger in order to deliver you.
Jesus gave his life over into death so that you might live. Jesus spent his life so that you might be
saved. Jesus “became sin so that in him
we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21).
Did you notice, too, how the compassion of the father
preceded any repentance on the part of the son?
Verse 20 is significant. “While
he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion…” Dad was peering out the front door every day,
watching and waiting for his son to return.
And when he saw him, he was moved to the depths of his being with extravagant
love. And that’s exactly the way it is
with our Heavenly Father. He sees you
“while you are a long way off.” He has
compassion on you. And he runs to you
and wraps his loving arms around you when you return to him in repentant trust.
The reckless son repentantly confesses, but before the son finishes
his speech, the father bestows the rights of sonship on him again. He clothes him with new clothes. He puts a ring on his finger, probably a
signet ring with the symbol of the family engraved on it. And he prepares a meal of fattened calf, a sumptuous
feast indeed to celebrate on this joyful occasion.
The right of sonship was bestowed upon you in Holy Baptism.
In Holy Absolution, you return back to
those baptismal promises and are reminded of your status as a child in God’s
family. And this is all a gift of his
extravagant love. It is complete, total
grace. God’s forgiveness is
unconditional. Like the reckless-living
son, repentance that tries to work to pay off any debt to God is not only
reckless … it is feckless. Useless. Ineffective.
Irresponsible and an insult to God’s grace. We come before him empty handed: “Nothing in
my hand I bring; Simply to Thy cross I cling” (LSB 761.3). We pray right along with the Psalmist in
Psalm 51, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according
to your mercy blot out my transgressions” (Ps. 51:1). God’s
mercy and forgiveness is given to you not according to the strength of your
faith, not according to the merit of your works, but according to his mercy … because
the Father loves you and sent his Son to pay your debt with his perfect life
and sacrificial death.
As a son, your Father clothes
you with new clothes … the holiness and righteousness of Christ that covers all
your reckless sin. He puts a ring on
your finger, signifying that all that Christ inherited as God’s Son is yours,
too … resurrection, unending life, eternal joy in the presence of God. St. Peter wrote, “Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has
caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and
unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through
faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Pet. 1:3-5).
And finally, remember the meal that your Father has
prepared for you … you who were once lost but now are found, you who were once dead
but are now alive in Christ. Here, Jesus
your Faithful Brother receives you and welcomes you. Set before you is a meal not of fattened
calf, but of Spotless Lamb. The Holy One
who offered himself as the once-for-all sacrifice for sin now invites you to
draw near and receive his Body and Blood in a foretaste of the eternal
celebration of the return of all prodigals.
Amen.
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