Hello. My name is Frank Johnson, and I am speaking to you today from my video blog, ProdigalGod.com.

Today’s message will be the third in a seven-part series entitled, “Wayward Sons and a Prodigal God.”

Throughout this series,I’ll be basing my comments on Luke 15:11-32, so if you’d like to open your Bibles to that passage, you will be ready to follow along.

Let’s get started.

Last time we were together, we talked more about the Middle Eastern culture behind the parable we commonly call “The Parable of the Prodigal Son.”

And we talked about the two sons in the story and how each one subscribed to the same core belief. But we also discovered that their core belief led each son to a very different philosophy of life.

Today, we’re going to begin to examine the life of the younger son and the depth of his sin, but we will also examine how deep the love of the father can reach.

The Younger Son: The Depth Of His Sin
Let’s examine for a moment the depth of the younger son’s sin so that we can see that no matter how far we stray from God’s ways, we have not strayed farther than the younger son strayed.

Luke 15:11-12 reads, “A certain man had two sons; and the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me.’”

In Middle Eastern culture, when the younger son asks his father to divide the estate between he and his brother, he is saying to his father, “I wish you were dead,” because that’s when the estate was divided—at the father’s death. [Kenneth E. Bailey, The Cross and the Prodigal (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1973), pgs. 30-31].  It’s very clear to the father what his son is saying: “I wish you were dead.” And that’s the worst thing he could have ever said to his father.

“I wish you were dead. I want you out of my life. I wish you didn’t have any role in my life. I wish you had no influence over my life. I want absolutely no relationship with you. I wish you were dead.”

In his attitude and thinking, the younger son has committed the worst possible sin: he wants his father to die so that there will no longer be any relationship between them.

Do you remember the younger son’s philosophy of life? Faithful performance of duty is impossible, so why try? You can’t possibly do the right things, so your father will never reward you. You can’t possibly live right, so your father will never accept you and love you. Well, if you will never be rewarded, accepted and loved by your father, the best thing is to stay as far away from him as possible. And actually, nothing could be better than if your father was dead.

Short of murdering his father, however, the younger son didn’t have much hope of seeing the death of his father. And so he does the next best thing—he runs away. Luke 15:13-15 says, “And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country, and there he squandered his estate with loose living. Now when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country, and he began to be in need. And he went and attached himself to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.”

There is nothing worse in Middle Eastern culture than having contact with swine. Pigs were considered unclean and signified the worst sin imaginable.

Again, the younger son is living out his philosophy of life. Faithful performance of duty is impossible, so why try? You’ll never please your father, so you might as well live like the devil. Your father will never love and accept you, so the best thing is to live as far away from him as possible.

So the younger son has ventured as deeply as he possibly can into sin. And no matter what we have done in our lives, it is not any more sinful than what the younger son did. No matter how far we think we’ve strayed, we haven’t strayed any farther than the younger son.

And that’s very important for you and me, because if we haven’t strayed any farther than the younger son did, then the father’s reaction to his younger son will be the same reaction we will experience from our Heavenly Father when we stray from God’s ways. When we live according to the younger son’s philosophy of life (God will never accept me and love me, so why try?), our Heavenly Father will react to us in the same way that this Middle Eastern father reacts to his younger son.

He Divided His Wealth Between Them
What was the father’s reaction to the request of his younger son?

Luke 15:12 says, “....and the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me.’ And he divided his wealth between them.”

“And he divided his wealth between them.” At first glance, you may not realize it, but those are very powerful words.

I told you earlier that this was a very strange story. And this is the first hint of the abnormality of the story. Remember that the son is saying to his father, “I wish you were dead.” He is humiliating his father to an incredible extent.

In Middle Eastern culture, honor is an extremely important thing. A typical Middle Eastern father would not have divided his wealth between his sons. Instead, he would have beaten his son mercilessly, to within an inch of his life. But instead, this father simply divides his wealth between hisn sons.

Even here, at the very beginning of the story, we see what a great love the father has for his sons. He has the right to punish mercilessly, but instead, he pours out mercy upon his son.

And when we live our lives according to the younger son’s mentality, when we give up trying to live according to God’s ways, our Heavenly Father reacts to us in this same way. He has the right to punish us mercilessly, but instead, he pours out mercy on us.

Mercy Instead Of Punishment
The next time we see the father and the younger son together is when the son returns to the village.

Luke 15:16-24 says, “And he was longing to fill his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating, and no one was giving anything to him. But when he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger. I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men.”’ And he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him, and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him, and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet; and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found.’ And they began to be merry.”

I want to focus in on verse 20, but I first want to make a brief observation about the younger son’s attitude. Notice that he is still subscribing to his core belief: a successful relationship with one’s father depends on correct behavior. We see that in the fact that he expects to be punished by his father. He doesn’t expect to have any relationship with his father when he returns. He plans to say, “....make me as one of your hired men.”

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him, and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him, and kissed him.”

Do you see how his father’s actions ran contrary to the younger son’s core belief? He believed that a successful relationship with his father depended on correct behavior on his part. But when he returns from the far country, having done everything but behave correctly, “....while he was still a long way off, his father saw him, and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him, and kissed him.”

Remember, the father represents your Heavenly Father. You may not have been behaving correctly. You may have strayed from God’s ways. And you think that even if you were to, in effect, return from the far country, God would not want any relationship with you. But the Scriptures declare to you, that while you are still a long way off, God will see you. He will feel compassion for you. He will run to you, and He will embrace you and kiss you.

This concludes the third part of our seven-part series entitled “Wayward Sons and a Prodigal God.”

I hope that you will join me next time as we look further into just how far the love of the Father will go to restore us.

Thank you for joining me today.