Sermon - Trinity III - Luke 15:11-32

In recent days there has been a lot of talk in the news and throughout our society about repentance. Everywhere you turn people are kneeling and calling others to repentance. Repentance is a good thing! A common refrain in the Bible is the call to repentance! Recognizing that you’re a sinner who has done bad things is a fundamental part of being Christian. 

Still, as good as a thing repentance is, our society doesn’t have it quite right and is missing a few things. Without going into all of the controversial details about our current societal strife that we’re all tired of listening to, the biggest thing that our society has wrong about repentance is the lack of forgiveness. That’s a big deal, because repentance without forgiveness is worthless and in fact repenting without being forgiven is nothing more than self-righteousness! 

Remember what the catechism says about Confession: “Confession has two parts. First, that we confess our sins, and second, that we receive absolution, that is, forgiveness, from the pastor as from God Himself, not doubting, but firmly believing that by it our sins are forgiven before God in heaven.” Repenting of your sins is only part of the story, because the main thing in confession is being forgiven for the sake of Christ.

That’s what our Gospel reading teaches us today: Sinners draw near to Christ, not just to confess their sins, but because He forgives them. In the preface to today’s parable it says: “Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

So Jesus told them four parables, the third being the one we heard today, the parable of the prodigal son. In this parable we’re introduced to a father with two sons. The younger son tells his father he wants to receive his inheritance now, before his dad has died. So the father complies with the request and gives his son half of his property while he’s still alive.

Well, not many days later, that son takes his inheritance and squanders it all away in reckless sinful living, leaving his father and brother only half as much property with which to get by on. Not only did this younger son do himself an injury, but he hurt his father, brother, and all of their employees who relied on the land. 

After some time and going through a period of poverty and hunger, the younger son realized his sin and sought to return home, hoping that with repentance his father would take him back. “And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.”

Before the son even says a word of repentance, the Father saw him from a distance and felt compassion for his son, ran to him, and embraced and kissed him. After the son finally can get his confession out of his mouth, the Father clothes him with the finest clothing and jewelry and calls for a feast to be held in his son’s honor!

The repentance the younger son showed is really minor compared to the forgiveness the father shows his son and the generosity at which he celebrates his son’s return. Throughout the whole story the father is incredibly generous, from giving away his fortune before his death to throwing a feast for his son’s return. This parable, and truly all of Jesus’ ministry, makes plain to us that God receives sinners and eats with them. Jesus graciously forgives sinners who repent and (this is key) return to Him.

Repentance rightly means a turning away from. So when you repent it means that you turn away from your sin, you stop doing the bad thing you were doing. But what’s more important than turning away from your sin, is what you turn towards. So for instance, if you turn from your sin, but then you just go to some other sin, you’re no better off than where you started! What’s necessary is that when you repent, when you turn from your sin, you turn towards Jesus who forgives your sins. 

This is why the tax collectors and prostitutes drew near to Jesus. He told them all of their sins, and when they repented He didn’t hold prejudices against them, but He forgave them and ate with them! Jesus still does this! He tells us all of our sins, and He doesn’t hold back any punches, and then He forgives us full and free and invites us to feast with Him here in time and in eternity.

This is all craziness! It’s ludicrous! It’s insanity! Why would the Father throw a feast for those who recklessly squander away His inheritance! That’s what the older brother thought and that’s probably often what we want to think about others. “‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’”

The younger son sinned against his father by squandering his inheritance, the older son sinned by self-righteously believing he deserved his inheritance. Both sons sinned and both are forgiven. The father said to his older son: “Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.” All that we have by Christ is undeserved, and we receive it only by God’s grace. 

So we draw near to Christ. When we are like the younger son, who has received such a great inheritance and squanders it away, we repent and draw near to Christ who forgives us. We have been so richly blessed here in our day! We have Bibles in our languages, we’re free to be Christians and live as Christians, we have the freedom to raise our children to be Christians, we are the heirs of thousands of years worth of treasures that God has so painstakingly preserved for us today. Yet, we squander it all away in reckless living. 

The Bible could be taken away, but why would anyone bother when we’ve already stopped reading it. The freedom to be Christians and live as Christians could be forbidden, except we’ve already started living no differently than any other heathen. The freedom to raise our children as christians could be stripped from us, except we handed our children over to the godless state already. We’ve forgotten more of the treasures of Christianity than anyone could ever take from us. 

Instead of desiring to eat the pods the pigs eat, living the lifestyle of the heathens, let us repent of our reckless living and draw near to Christ who forgives us and feeds us a feast. By His grace, He will restore us once again to the finieries of Christianity. He has already been crucified and won our salvation. His compassion for us is very great so that we may draw near to Him.

We’re also like the older brother. We’ve retained our Christian name, we continue to dwell with the Father, and have tried to live as we ought. But we’ve confused our remaining in the Father’s house as our work instead of God’s work who has kept us here. We look at others and scoff at them for being such terrible sinners. We hold prejudices against them because of past wrongs, refusing to forgive them. We treat ourselves as the rightful heirs to the throne and others as dirt when they return. Our self-righteousness is just as much a heathen trait as any other sin, except it’s worse since it’s so hidden that hardly anyone can see it to call us out on it.

Instead of justifying ourselves and condescending others, let us repent of our self-righteousness and draw near to Christ who forgives us and feeds us a feast. By His grace, He will restore us to His table where all of us sinners feast together, younger brothers and older brothers, prostitutes and scribes, tax collectors and pharisees alike. Whatever our sin, God has compassion for us. He sees us from afar and calls us to Him, so that He might run to us, embrace us and kiss us, and dress us all alike for the feast that He prepares for us at our home in the kingdom of heaven.