Share Jesus With the People Right in Front of You
June 22, 2025
Pastor John Hering
Luke 15:1–3, 11–32
Luke 15:1–3, 11–32
All the tax collectors and sinners were coming to Jesus to hear him. 2 But the Pharisees and the experts in the law were complaining, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
11 Jesus said, “A certain man had two sons. 12 The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. 13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered together all that he had and traveled to a distant country. There he wasted his wealth with reckless living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that country, and he began to be in need. 15 He went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16 He would have liked to fill his stomach with the carob pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, and I am dying from hunger! 18 I will get up, go to my father, and tell him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”’
20 “He got up and went to his father. While he was still far away, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran, hugged his son, and kissed him. 21 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.’
22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick, bring out the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let us eat and celebrate, 24 because this son of mine was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found.’ Then they began to celebrate.
25 “His older son was in the field. As he approached the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 He called one of the servants and asked what was going on. 27 The servant told him, ‘Your brother is here! Your father killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ 28 The older brother was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him.
29 “He answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I’ve been serving you, and I never disobeyed your command, but you never gave me even a young goat so that I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours arrived after wasting your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’
31 “The father said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. 32 But it was fitting to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found.’”
When we read the “Parable of the Prodigal Son” it is easy for us to be horrified by the wickedly reckless life of that son. But, if we compared what he did to our world today we can’t help but see how the devil continues to ruin lives. For instance, how many of you have suffered from anxiety, depression, and no self-worth? How many of you suffer from substance abuse? How many of you have watched porn this past week? Statistically, you are within arm’s reach of someone right now that needs to hear God’s Word.
I’m glad you’re here because this parable also talks about another “Prodigal, Reckless, Extravagant” action in our lives. The only prodigal in this parable is not just the younger son. Remember, Jesus wanted to illustrate for the Pharisees and compares them to the older son, who thought he was better than everyone else. Jesus was also speaking to their attitude toward Jesus who was associating with “sinners” and showed that their understanding of God was woefully inadequate. They really didn’t know God and his “prodigal, reckless, extravagant” love at all. So Jesus lovingly and patiently instructs us to
Share Jesus With the People Right in Front of You
Who Have Sins We’d call a Whopper
The first thing we learn about in the parable is the father has two sons.
“12 The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.”
He can’t wait any longer for his inheritance. He wants it now. But, stop and think of what he’s really saying! “Dad, sorry, you’re no value to me alive. I’d rather you were dead, so I can get what’s coming to me. Since you haven’t done me the favor of dying yet, just go ahead and give it to me now.”
Now think about that for a minute. What’s the real problem? As awful and greedy and selfish and hurtful as that younger son is being with those words, they aren’t the real underlying problem. His greed is a symptom of a whopper of a sin. He doesn’t love his dad anymore. No worse, he has completely rejected him and wants nothing to do with him. The heart-wrenching problem here is that the son’s relationship with his father is completely broken.
Can you imagine treating your own father or mother with such a whopper of a sin like this?
13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered together all that he had and traveled to a distant country. There he wasted his wealth with reckless living.”
I hope not! But that, in essence, is what we say and do to our heavenly Father anytime we choose to go our own way instead of his, anytime we choose any sin, anytime we squander our money, squander our time, our opportunities, squander love. But, do you see what’s even worse? Broken laws and commands are secondary, they’re only symptoms of the bigger problem: our rejection of God. Sin is rooted in our desire to do our own thing and be our own person. We don’t want God interfering, and so we tell him we’ll get by just fine if he’ll just leave us alone. That’s a whopper of a sin!
Did it ever bother you that the father in the parable gives in and lets his son have what he’s asked for? The son may never return when he goes, but the father sees no point in refusing him or stopping him, because he has already lost him. The relationship has been broken, and keeping him at home wouldn’t bring back the lost relationship, love, or respect.
And although it’s not so obvious or easily seen, the older son is no better than the younger.
“25 “His older son was in the field. As he approached the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 He called one of the servants and asked what was going on. 27 The servant told him, ‘Your brother is here! Your father killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ 28 The older brother was angry and refused to go in.”
His relationship with the father is just as broken. He doesn’t love or respect his father either. Did you notice how he actually criticizes his father’s love for his brother? “Dad, you got it all wrong — you don’t know what you’re doing!” The second son makes his father come to him and plead, but he refuses to go in. The older brother is only concerned with his own position and power. He views his relationship with his father as one of obedience and reward, instead of love and respect. And so he has also broken his relationship with his father.
This older brother was a picture of the self-righteous Pharisees and teachers of the law.
2 But the Pharisees and the experts in the law were complaining, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
Jesus was telling them that they were far from being God’s number one sons. Instead, they were just as lost as the tax collectors and other “sinners.” They knew nothing of God’s extravagant love, and they had rejected him as their father. And the older son is us, too, anytime we slip into thinking God owes us something for … being here for him every Sunday, or for all the things we do for him; or anytime we believe that we’ve got it in good with him because our family isn’t as messed up as someone else’s, or because we’re just plain better than other people. All that, too, is rejection of God.
And so what does this parable tell us first about what God is like? It tells us he’s a rejected God. That’s what we do to him, that’s what we’ve made him. The Lord is a rejected God. We deserve only his punishment for our sins. We deserve to be blamed and sent to hell forever. In this parable and sitting all around us we know people Who Have Sins We’d Call A Whopper. Therefore, Share Jesus With The People Right In Front Of You
Who Are All Loved By The Father
But, listen carefully, dear friends, our Father in heaven has loved us more than any earthly father could love their own son. You might not ask the father in our parable why he ran so far and so hard to meet his son, but if you were one of his servants, or a fellow villager, you might wonder how he could behave that way.
“While he was still far away, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran, hugged his son, and kissed him.”
The father was obviously a wealthy man. He would have been one of the elders of the town — a man with a reputation to protect and standards to uphold. You can be sure everyone in the village knew what kind of disrespect the younger son had shown him before he left, and if anyone had seen the son before the father did, they would have assumed the son would have a high price to pay for that disrespect before his father would even acknowledge him as his son.
But the father didn’t care what anyone else thought. He didn’t care about protecting his pride or his position. He only cared about one thing — getting his son back. And so he ran. He ran to welcome and embrace his lost son, and he ran to cover his half-starved, unwashed, bum of a son with kisses…..because he loved him, and nothing else mattered. The son that had been dead to him was alive again — the one who was lost had been found.
To the Pharisees and teachers of the Law who assumed that God only stays close to those who through their own efforts stay close to him, this picture of how God treats sinners would have been shocking. We sometimes forget how radical this parable is. Jesus was revealing something important about what God is like: our God is a running God to the people right in front of him that he loves!
That’s another way of saying that God loves us with a recklessly extravagant, yes, a prodigal blameless love. There are no limits to it, and he’ll do whatever it takes to bring it to us. In fact, he already has done whatever it takes — he gave his one and only Son to be our Savior. The Son of God ran to earth to be born of Mary. He ran every day of his life, tirelessly obeying every one of God’s laws in our place, because as sinners who rejected God we could never give him the obedient perfection he requires for eternal life. Jesus ran to suffer and ran to die in our place, to take the punishment for our sins and withstand the pains of hell so we wouldn’t have to.
But it doesn’t end there. The Lord’s love for us is also pictured with his treatment of his lost son.
“21 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.’ 22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick, bring out the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let us eat and celebrate.”
Notice how the son never has a chance to be one of the hired men — it would be pointless anyway, because the father was determined to have him back as a son. The broken relationship was repaired, and his status in the family, the house, and the village was restored. No price to pay, no conditions to meet, nothing held back — because the father loved his son. Likewise Jesus has restored our broken relationship with God our Father, making us his beloved, blameless children.
There’s one more thing that we see about God here. And we see it, somewhat ironically, in what’s missing. Think about the end of our parable of the prodigal. Do you see what’s not there? (pause) What’s not there is a conclusion. There’s no ending. We don’t see what the older brother does or says after his father pleads with him to come in and join the celebration over his brother’s return. Which means that the father is waiting. Waiting! Just as he eagerly ran to meet the son who had gone away and been lost, he patiently waits for the second son, too. He waits for his son, and you know he will wait as long as he can, because he loves him.
God is also waiting for us to love our brothers and sisters as he loves them, and to rejoice with him when they are restored to him and the family of God — no matter what they’ve done or left undone, no matter their background, race, income, personality, intelligence, education, or appearance. We love as God loves, because he loved us first. Share Jesus With The People Right In Front Of You Who Have Sins We’d Call a Whopper, but Who Are Loved By The Father!
And so we have to celebrate and be glad, because you and I, and our brothers and sisters, were dead and are alive again. We were lost and now we are found. We are the beloved children of an amazing God with prodigal, extravagant love for us. Rejoice! Amen.
