Luke 15: 11-32 (Aramaic Bible in Plain English) And Yeshua said to them again, One man had two sons. And his younger son said to him, My father, give me the portion that befalls me from your estate. Then he divided to them his wealth. And after a few days his younger son gathered everything that was coming to him and he went to a distant country, and there he squandered his wealth while living wastefully. And when he had spent everything that he had, there was a great famine in that country and he began to be wanting. And he joined himself to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him to a field to herd pigs. And he longed to fill his belly from the carob pods that the pigs were eating, and no man was giving anything to him. And when he came to himself, he said, Now, how many hired servants are in my father’s house who have plenteous bread for themselves, and here I am dying with hunger! I shall arise and go to my father and say to him, My father, I have sinned toward Heaven, and before you. Now I am not worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired servants. And rising, he came to his father, and while he was still distant, his father saw him and he was moved with compassion for him and he ran and fell on his neck and he kissed him. And his son said to him, My father, I have sinned toward Heaven and before you, and I am not worthy that I should be called your son. But his father said to his servants, Bring the best robe and clothe him and put a ring on his hand and put shoes on him. Bring and kill the fattened ox; let us eat and celebrate.Because this, my son, was dead, and he is alive; he was lost, and now he is found. And they began to celebrate. But his older son was in the field and as he came, he approached the house and he heard the sound of many people singing. He called one of the boys and he asked him, What is this? And he said to him, Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened ox, because he has received him well. And he was angry and he did not want to enter and his father went out pleading with him. But he said to his father, Behold, I have served you for many years of servitude, and I have never transgressed your command, and you never gave a goat to me that I may celebrate with my friends. But when this your son, who had wasted your money with whores, has come back, you killed for him the fattened ox. His father said to him, My son, you are always with me and everything that I have is yours. But it is right for us to celebrate and to rejoice. For this your brother was dead, and he is alive. He was lost, and he is found.

There are 3 main people in this parable: 1. The Father 2. the son who took his inheritance and left and 3. the son who stayed behind.

Many times when we meditate on this scripture, we look at the son who was given his inheritance and foolishly took it and squandered it and was left with nothing. We make references to men and women who have openly sinned and their sins are worn like scarlet robes. But I would like us to pause and reflect for a little while on what Jesus is actually saying. We have all sinned and come short of God’s glory. So the prodigal son is all of us. We have taken God’s talents and gifting and many times wasted it on foolish things of this world. One of the most precious things God has given us is TIME. Often we squander time on things that do not matter in the end. We have taken our talents and have used it many times to glorify ourselves and others and not to glorify God Himself. We waste it. So we have all sinned.

But we look at the other brother who stayed with the father, yet his heart was not with his father. Here, we have a sinner who does not see his sin. Covered in robes of self-righteousness, this is the kind of sinner who does not see himself as a sinner and most times seeks to condemn the grace and mercy of the father himself. The self-righteous cannot understand the need for forgiveness. So if we look closely, we see instead of a prodigal son and a righteous son, we see two lost people. One who comes to his senses because he was lost in the world and the other lost in comfort of his own home and life and has not come to his senses.

But more importantly, this parable is about the Father’s love. Oh how wonderful is His love! This is a parable of the compassion and grace, the mercy and the love that flows from a Father’s heart. It is a pattern of a pastor over the people, a shepherd over his flock. How we have lost the father’s heart in churches today! We have lost the message of the Father’s love. We preach love but we do not live it. If we live it, we will embrace the lost, the dying, we will embrace those who lives are downtrodden, who make mistakes, who fall and who sometimes lose their way altogether. Indeed, the church of our age have lost the father’s heart and have instead embraced a form of self-righteousness. Instead of shepherding and loving people, there is condemnation and pride- a seeking after self and self promotion rather than on servanthood and true ministry.

Let us reflect on this parable, not as a teaching only for those in the world who are lost, but for those in the church who have lost their way. We have all lost our way. Anything that we do that is not pleasing to God is itself a sin. We are all sinners. But what separates us from sin is the Love of God and His mercy. Let us extend His grace to those around us, His mercy, His compassion. Let us truly lift up the name of Christ by allowing ourselves the freedom to love the unloved and the unlovable. Let us come out of the comfort of our own lives to seek after true ministry – one that only seeks to glorify God and lift Him up.

Amen