4/6/25 “Welcome Home”
“Welcome Home”
Luke 15:11-32
“Home”
It’s a powerful word.
It’s a word that conjures up memories of days gone by.
For many, ‘Home’ will always be connected where one spent their formative years…
…where mom taught you how to bake a pie…or dress a wound
…or where dad taught you how to hunt…or to ride a bike
The word ‘Home’ usually carries with it a water-colored tapestry of remembrances steeped in nostalgia and sentimentality.
For a lot of people, ‘Going Home’ means more than simply traveling geographically to the place of one’s roots…it also involves a chance to re-calibrate one’s emotions in an environment of safety, acceptance, and love.
Just think of all the famous poems, books, music, and movies that deal with going home as a central theme.
In 1971, John Denver talked about ‘Country Roads’ taking him home…to the place where he belonged
In 1962, Elvis had a song called “Home is where the Heart is”
In 1967, Merle Haggard released a song about a guy on death-row called “Sing Me Back Home”
In 2005, Michael Buble and Blake Shelton both had a huge hit with the song “Home” ….about a homesick entertainer stuck out on the road.
In 1939, Dorothy from ‘the Wizard of Oz’ clicked her heals together 3 times before saying, ‘There’s no place like home.’
Laura Ingalls Wilder once said “Home…is the nicest word there is”
Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote: “Where we love is home – home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts.”
George Moore wrote: “A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it.”
Even animals, it seems, have an instinctual longing for home.
Salmon, Sea Turtles, Elephant Seals, numerous birds, and whales all travel thousands of miles to return to the place of their birth….
Home, for many of us, is – indeed – a special place.
Our passage for today is also – to some degree - about going back home.
…Not only physically, but – more importantly – spiritually.
It’s about an angry young man who demands his share of his father’s inheritance and strikes out on his own to pursue a life of sin & debauchery in a land far away…
…only to eventually realize that home is where he needed to be.
…But It’s also about another brother, the older brother, who – although he remained physically on the family property - his heart had traveled a long distance from home….
…perhaps even further away than that of his younger brother.
This story is right up there with the parable of the good Samaritan as being one of the most well-known parables Jesus ever told…
no matter where you go in the world…most people have heard of the story of the prodigal son.
We immediately think of the younger brother when we think of this parable, But – In my opinion – the central character of this story is not the younger brother….or the older brother, for that matter ….but the Father.
…and we’ll get into that in a few minutes.
Look with me, if you will, at the beginning of Luke chapter 15.
If you recall, a couple of weeks ago, we covered the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin…
These were stories that Jesus told reminding his listeners – and reminding us today - of how valuable each and every person is to God…and how He longs to see everyone come to saving faith in His Son, Jesus.
In today’s parable – beginning in verse 11 – Jesus continues to teach a lesson about something of great value that becomes lost…
Not a sheep…or a coin…but a son…or, more accurately…two sons.
Verse 11 (Luke 15:11) begins “There was a man who had two sons.”
First of all, notice who Jesus mentions first in this story.
He doesn’t Just say “There were these two sons”…or “Here’s a story of two boys who were very different”
Jesus begins by introducing the Father…and…if you fast-forward to the end of the story, it is the Father who has the final word...
In many ways, this parable is more about the father – and his nature – than it is about either of the sons.
Many of you probably already understand that the father in this story represents God - our heavenly Father….
Therefore, it would be completely appropriate for this story to point toward Him…since all of scripture essentially points to Him…
In verse 12 (Luke 15:12) we see the younger brother do something that would have been considered extremely brash and shameful…
He asks his father for his share of the inheritance – and he comes with this request before his father passes away!
This was virtually unheard of…and it was a clear indication of where this young man’s heart was.
This request would have been tantamount to telling his father that he wished he were dead…
It was extremely disrespectful and revealed a complete lack of love and gratitude for everything his father had done for him.
He was certainly not following the fifth commandment that says to “Honor your father and mother.”
..but almost just as shocking as the son’s request…is how the father deals with this disrespectful petition
Instead of getting angry with the young man – which certainly would have been justified – verse 12 says that the father actually grants the son’s request….and proceeds to divide the inheritance between the two boys.
What a lesson about how our heavenly father lovingly allows man to choose his own path in life…even if that path leads away from Him!
If you’ve ever wondered if we have free will, this parable answers that question!
Just as the father in this parable doesn’t force his son to stay on the ‘home farm’…
…God does not force us to do anything against our will…He will grant us the ability to make destructive, shameful choices, if that is what our heart desires.
So….according to Jewish custom, the older son would have received 2/3 of the value of the family estate, while the younger son would have received the remaining 1/3…
Which, apparently, was still quite a large sum of money.
Verse 13 (Luke 15:13) tells us that the younger son takes off for a distant land where he proceeds to squander his entire fortune on wild & reckless living.
In verse 13, The young man is living it up…
…he’s got friends (Or, so he thought)…he’s got booze…he’s got women…he’s got time to do everything he wants to do…he’s not accountable to anyone…
Until verse 14 (Luke 15:14)
The gravy train finally jumps the track…He runs out of money.
There go his fair-weather friends…they don’t want anything to do with him now that he can’t buy them stuff.
And to make matters worse, a famine hits the land and as we see in verse 15 (Luke 15:15) it forces him to get a job…
…but, not just any job…he hires himself out to a pig farmer…a PIG Farmer!
This young Jewish boy is now not only working for a disgusting Gentile…but he is cleaning up after this Gentile farmer’s pigs…
If you’re at all familiar with Jewish ceremonial law, you will remember that pigs are considered to be the most unclean animal of all….
…and this young man is so destitute that he is shoveling the manure of unclean animals…owned by an unclean farmer…living in an unclean land of false gods and evil customs.
The boy is so low at this point that the pig pods look appetizing…
Think of the food you hate the most…and how desperate you would have to be in order for that food to start looking good to you…
For me it would have to be mushrooms.
All Y’all can have your stump fungus, ok?…I would have to be completely starving for that stuff to look appealing…
..But that’s where this kid was.
His life was literally at rock-bottom.
Then, verse 17 (Luke 15:17) contains 4 of the most important words in all of scripture….It says that this young man “Came to his senses”
This ‘Coming to his senses” was – I believe – the moment when this young man’s spiritual eyes were opened to the extent that he could now see the folly of sin – and the eternal value of faith.
This is when he realized that he was a desperate sinner in need of a savior.
And today…this is true of anyone who turns to Jesus in true repentance and faith…
If you are in Christ today….at some point in your life, you realized that you were a sinner in need of a savior…spiritually, you “Came to your Senses” and submitted to the lordship of Jesus over your life.
The son – now with a heart of contrition - decides to go back home.
Like salmon swimming upstream, this was going to be difficult.
What would happen?
Would his father reject him?
Would he be beaten and disowned by his family?
With his speech of great humility all prepared, he goes back home to meet his father.
Verse 20 (Luke 15:20) records the encounter.
This verse is also one of the most comforting passages in all of scripture.
The father had been keeping one eye on the horizon all this time for his son to come back home…
..and here he was.
The father drops what he was doing and runs to meet him!
First of all, we need to understand something about Jewish etiquette here that would have completely shocked Jesus’ listeners.
Simply put….Middle Eastern Noblemen did not run….ever!
This would have been viewed as a shameful act as he would have had to gather up his robe (showing his legs – humiliating!) as he made his way to his son…
Doing this would have caused the father to lose all respect from those who saw him do it…but he didn’t care!...
He didn’t care about what others thought of him.
He took shame upon himself in order that his child would not have to bear any.
The father in this story takes upon himself the public scorn and ridicule that would have been reserved for his son….
He redeems his child without the son needing to do a thing to earn the redemption…it was completely the work of the Father in response to the humble, repentant positioning of his son.
Folks, does this sound familiar?....It should.
When we come in repentance to Jesus (God in the flesh) he takes upon himself our sins…and the penalty for those sins…and justifies us with his own righteousness.
Just as the father in this parable greets his son with a kiss – who undoubtedly wreaked of pig manure and heaven knows what else -
Our heavenly father meets us where we are in the muck and mire of our own sin…and He cleans us up through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.
…and Just as we are clothed with the righteousness of Christ, the son in this parable is clothed with the father’s own robe (signifying a covering of the boy’s sins)
….and the son is given his father’s ring (which symbolized privilege and authority)
…and lastly, the young man was given sandals to wear (Which meant that he was not to be treated as just another servant…that he was – indeed – a true son…a rightful heir)
In verse 23 (Luke 15:23) the father calls for a feast – it’s time to celebrate!
The fat calf was butchered & cooked….veal for everyone!
music fills the air…young people begin to dance…
…It was a real 1st century hootenanny!
Then….the father’s words in verse 24 (Luke 15:24) echoed throughout the valley that day….just as they echo the truth of the gospel for us today: “For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.”
The son who wandered into a land of sin and shame…a son who was lost… was now found.
His desire had permanently turned from glorification of himself…to glorification of God.
He was a changed man…he was a new creation, as the apostle Paul would put it.
However…the story doesn’t end here.
Now, in verse 25 (Luke 15:25) the focus shifts to another very important individual in this story…the older brother.
We are told that the older brother is out in the field…he hears the ruckus coming from the homestead and asks a servant…what’s going on?...why all the ruckus?
To which the servant replies in verse 27 (Luke 15:27) “Your brother has come”…and “Your father has killed the fattened calf”….”your brother is back safe and sound”
Verse 28 (Luke 15:28) says the older becomes angry.
Imagine the Scribes & the Pharisees listening to this story as Jesus is telling it.
They are undoubtedly thinking to themselves…Finally someone is acting appropriately here…the older son was right to be angry!
This younger son needs to be dealt with in a manner fitting of his moral iniquities..,.he needs to be beaten…he needs to be publically humiliated…he needs to be made a slave until he can pay back all he squandered…he needs to be taught a lesson!
..And the father, he needs to learn how to act appropriately!...he needs to preserve his honor and not be put to shame by this rebellious child.
These would have been the thoughts running through the minds of the Scribes & Pharisees.
The older son stays out in the field…he refuses to go home.
…So, what does the father do?...The father goes to him.
The father leaves the party – to seek out the one.
The elder son makes his case for being upset.
He disrespectfully yells at his father…
In verse 29 (Luke 15:29) he says “…Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders....”
2 lies here…first of all, the older brother was no slave, he was a privileged son who had a great deal of resources…
Secondly, claiming that he never disobeyed an order over the course of his lifetime would have been completely false…It would be like the rich young ruler in Luke chapter 18 who tells Jesus that he has kept all of the commandments his entire life (Luke 18:21)
…a blatant lie…a sin - in and of itself.
The older brother isn’t finished…he continues to complain: You never even gave me a goat to eat with my friends…much less the fattened calf….it’s not fair!!!
Does this attitude remind anyone of another parable we covered concerning perceived fairness?
Yeah, the parable of the workers in the vineyard….
Remember how the 11th hour workers received the same compensation as the workers who had been there all day?
The older brother has a very similar attitude here as those 12-hour workers from the other parable…does he not?
He chooses not to see how he was privileged to remain under the protective eye of his father his entire life …and how he was spared from going through the painful process of hitting rock bottom as his brother had.
These words of the elder son reveal something about his heart…they reveal that he was – Spiritually - just as far from home as his younger brother had been.
Physically, he never moved away…but spiritually…he left a long time ago.
The older brother was an unrepentant, self-righteous, hypocrite who scorned his father for reconciling with his son who had sinned against him.
…Just like the Pharisees…who were unrepentant, self-righteous, hypocrites who scorned Jesus for reconciling with people who had sinned against Him.
Do you see the parallel here? The older brother represents the Scribes and the Pharisees…and their unloving, unmerciful attitudes toward sinners…even sinners who came to Jesus in faith & repentance.
Lastly, the father in the parable has the final word.
These are words that demonstrate the compassion and love of our heavenly father toward those who have a legalistic, Pharisaic heart.
He tenderly begins in verse 31 (Luke 15:31-32) “My son…you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.”
This is how the parable ends…Jesus returns to the theme of all three parables in this chapter…God’s joy at recovering lost sinners.
Something that has perplexed people when they hear this parable is that – regarding the older son – the story remains unresolved…we are left hanging…we long for one more sentence.
What will the older son do?....will he remain out in the field, refusing to go home and join the party?
…Or will his heart soften. Will he understand that his attitude has been sinful for all these years…and that he, too, must repent and ask forgiveness?
I believe that Jesus purposefully left this story unresolved for his listeners…and for us today…to consider how we would end the story.
Back in the 80’s there were these things called “Choose your own adventure” books….
…One would read a few chapters, then the book would give you – the reader - an option as to how you wanted to proceed….with the ending being something you had a part in determining.
In many ways, this parable serves as a “Choose your own adventure” story as well…
You see, all of us can identify with one of the brothers in this story…
Some of you here today are choosing to live a lifestyle that closely resembles the younger son before he comes to his senses and repents.
…you are engaging in activities and decisions that are self-indulgent, self-destructive, and self-glorifying, and sinful.
Some of you here today once lived like the younger son….but you’ve hit rock bottom and ‘came to your senses’, you’ve repented of the lifestyle of sin you once lived…and are now living as servants of Jesus Christ rather than serving yourself….you depend on His grace, not your own effort.
Others of you are like the older brother as we see him at the end of this parable. You are caught up in the sin of legalism, believing that God owes you something because of your good works and your “dedicated” servitude…
….You are ‘doing’ a lot of things…but your heart is far from God.
…You believe that faith is cold and transactional…like a contract where if you perform your duties…then God is obligated to perform His saving duty in response.
That is exactly how the Scribes and the Pharisees saw faith as well.
..And Jesus called them Whitewashed tombs. Self-centered, self-righteous, hypocrites who thought of themselves as a notch better than everyone else…
While – In reality – they were just as lost as the sinners whom they refused to spend time with.
Or…maybe you once were like the older brother….but you’ve repented of the sin of legalistic traditionalism.
Maybe you grew up believing that your good deeds will somehow offset your bad deeds in some kind of heavenly weighing scale.
…but you’ve come to realize that your works have absolutely nothing to do with your salvation.
…You’ve come to understand the words of the apostle Paul in Ephesians chapter 2:8-9 when he writes “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.”
You’ve come to realize that you were once a modern-day Pharisee…you knew about Jesus…but you didn’t really KNOW Jesus as your personal Lord & Savior.
But now you truly understand the goodness of God!
This was my path to salvation.
As a young man, I grew up in church checking the boxes, believing that my good works counted for something toward my eternal destiny….
I was that older brother out in the field…
In fact, I used to believe that the older brother in this story was perfectly within his rights to be upset at his father for welcoming the younger brother home with such celebratory fanfare.
…I once sympathized with the older brother because I saw myself in him….
…perhaps – at one time - some of you did as well…
…maybe you were that older brother as well.
…maybe You grew up in church and stayed away from the “really bad sins” to the point that pride itself became a sin in your life that loomed just as large as any of those “big” sins that you so carefully avoided.
Brothers and Sisters…wherever you find yourself this morning…repentance is always needed.
If you are living a chosen lifestyle of debauchery…
…or a chosen lifestyle of self-righteous pride…
…God is gently calling you to come home.
Come home today.
Come home to Jesus’ house…
where you know you – in your heart of hearts – you’ve always belonged.
Let’s Pray.