Sermon March 22, 1998 Foolish Forgiveness based on Luke 15:11-32

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Our text today is often called the Parable of the Prodigal Son. The context of this parable includes two other parables also. Jesus responded to the religious leaders who had approached Him. These leaders, the Pharisees and teachers of the law heard three parables. Jesus responded to them because they objected to Him welcoming and eating with tax collectors and "sinners."

First Jesus told two parables which teach the value of recovering lost sinners for the Lord. These parables are the Parable of the Lost Sheep and the Parable of the Lost Coin. They both show how valuable each lost sinner is to God. They show to what great efforts God is willing to go for each person.

These two parables are followed up with a third that really gets to the point for the Pharisees and teachers of the law. The Parable of the Prodigal Son teaches them that Jesus was correct to eat with tax collectors and "sinners." It is proper because they were the lost sinners, the prodigals, who were now found. The Lord should welcome them back because they were lost and dead, and are now found and alive.

The Pharisees and teachers of the law did not want Jesus to welcome these newly found sinners. They were jealous of Jesus' attention given to these people who they considered the low-life. Jesus sees through their jealousy and the third parable hits home. The parable of the prodigal son really makes its strongest point with the son who stayed with the father. This son claimed to always obey the father's commands. Yet the father never celebrated with this son. The older son wondered how could his father have a celebration with the son who did such terrible things: took his inheritance and spent it on prostitutes? So the elder son was jealous. And the father makes the point that the return of a lost son is so important and precious that there must be a celebration. It doesn't matter what the son did, his return demands a celebration.

The Pharisees and teachers of the law probably saw things another way. See they prided themselves on following God's law. They emphasized their own righteousness. They believed that they were doing a better job of keeping God's law than the rest. They certainly exceeded the righteousness of the tax collectors and "sinners," so they assumed.

This is the age-old trap of works righteousness. This idea is built into our sinful human nature. We want to believe that our works can make us righteous in God's eyes. We want to hang on to the idea that we can make it on our own.

Right along with this idea of works righteousness follows the pride which says that even though we can make it on our own, there are others who are not good enough. Our works are good enough to qualify us, but other people are failures because of their sins. Only certain sins are elevated to the point where they result in a loss of righteousness. If you have committed one of these terrible sins, then you have no chance left. You blew it.

For the Pharisees and teachers of the law, the sins of being a tax collector or being what they labeled as a "sinner," meant their was no chance of being righteous. These types of sins put you out of reach of God. So they couldn't understand why Jesus would associate with these people. They should be permanently rejected and cut off from all fellowship according to the rules of the Pharisees.

Perhaps we get involved in the same problem. Are there some people who we feel should not be involved in our church because of what they have done? Are you holding someone's past sins against them? Maybe we consider some sins so serious that one cannot be a Christian after committing them.

We really shouldn't behave this way. As God's missionaries to the world, we should be welcoming all people. We should make those who haven't been in our assembly before or have been gone for a while feel most comfortable. For those who might feel uncomfortable among us, we ought to go out of our way to make them feel more comfortable.

However, we get trapped in the same problem as the pharisees and teachers of the law. We get caught in thinking in terms of works righteousness. We qualify ourselves for heaven and disqualify others.

To get beyond this point, we need to understand the forgiveness the Lord provides. First, we must understand our need for it. Everyone has a need for it. Each of us is desperately dependent on Christ alone to forgive our sins. Our works can offer us no righteousness. Our works do not qualify us for heaven. We all must see ourselves as the prodigal sons. We all squander what is given to us. We foolishly spend what our heavenly Father grants us. We waste our time, talents, and attention. He gives us so much, yet our response is one of sin.

Each of us is in need of forgiveness. The prodigal son needed forgiveness. However, his older brother also needed to be forgiven, particularly for his jealousy and unthankfulness. The tax collectors and "sinners" needed to be forgiven, but so did the pharisees and teachers of the law. All people need to be forgiven. All need God's grace, given through Jesus Christ.

We note how the prodigal son had the right idea in seeking the forgiveness of his father. He was repentant and sorry for his sins. He approached his father, humbly wanting only to be treated as a hired man. And He went back to the source of good things. He remembered how his father had an ample supply of good things to give. He went back to the one who gave good things. We too return to our God for forgiveness. We remember Him as the source of all good things and so we go to Him for forgiveness.

We approach God confessing our sins. The Psalm this morning described this, using some words which are familiar from our liturgy. "Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, 'I will confess my transgressions to the LORD'-- and you forgave the guilt of my sin."

Many might say that the prodigal son should not be forgiven. He had wasted his inheritance and offended his father. This was the response of the older son. He was angry that the father had a celebration for this lost son who had returned. How could he forgive this one who had sinned greatly? How could the father treat the prodigal son so well?

That God would offer grace to those who had rejected Him and squandered his blessings is considered foolishness by many. It doesn't fit the picture of works righteousness. This picture demands that those who are good are rewarded for being good. Forgiving every person completely and treating all equally does not make sense in the thinking of works righteousness. That God would not give greater rewards to the people who did not leave Him is considered foolishness. Yet, this is the message of the cross.

The Epistle today said, "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." Those who are perishing do not see the message of the cross as power. They think it is foolish that all people need the forgiveness of Christ. They think it is foolish that God fully forgives all people and puts them on equal footing and status before Him.

Those who are perishing live under the picture of works righteousness. They expect to get rewarded for their works and they imagine they are doing quite well in their efforts to please God.

Those who are being saved see the message of the cross differently. In the message of the cross, God shows His power in His forgiving grace. He shows His power in how He does not grant us favors based on our works, but saves all who believe in Christ by grace. God's power is to forgive all people all their sins. This is not something we have power to do, for we tend to hang on to people's past sins. We label them as tax collectors and "sinners," and want to treat them differently. God's powerful grace comes through, however, in His sweeping forgiveness.

The powerful forgiveness of God is a blessing, as today's Psalm told us. It said: "Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit."

The father of the prodigal son gave us a model of this powerful forgiveness. This son planned to ask the father to treat him as only a hired man. The son never got that far, because the father was too busy forgiving him. He demonstrated forgiveness by dressing him as a son with the best robe, sandals and a ring. The special celebration was a sign of the father's complete forgiveness. This was powerful forgiveness.

Our heavenly Father also forgives us powerfully. We are forgiven even more than the son in the parable. We are forgiven a lifetime of sin and we are forgiven our sinful natures. This forgiveness comes to us through the message of the cross, the cross on which our redeemer was nailed. He died there to pay the price for our forgiveness. He rose again to prove that the price was acceptable. This message of the cross is a wonderful message for us. The cross brings us the good news that our slate is wiped clean. The cross brings us the message of the powerful grace of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.