The Classic Tale
One of Jesus’ most famous parables, known as the parable of the Prodigal Son, teaches timeless principles through highlighting three different characters: the rebellious son who blatantly dishonors his father and then repents, the “good” son who self-righteously despises his brother and grumbles, and the father, who demonstrates graciousness to them both.
Modern readers can learn several spiritual truths by reflecting on this story told by Jesus in plain language in Luke 15:11-32. We can see ourselves in the shoes of one of the sons. We are encouraged by the way the father portrays characteristics of God. But, we can often easily miss the genius of Jesus demonstrated by the story outside of the story, as seen in the contextual verses that come at the beginning of the chapter, before the prodigal is introduced:
“Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear him. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, ‘This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.’ ”
The Contrasting Listeners
There are two distinct groups listening to Jesus as he tells this parable: first, the tax collectors and sinners. The tax collectors were people who worked for the Roman government and had a reputation for defrauding their own people. The sinners were just that: sinners. These were either people who persistently lived in sinful behavior, or people that simply had no regard for the biblical Law. In any event, these two types of people are lumped together in this passage because they were the social outcasts. And yet, for some reason, they came to listen to Jesus.
But we also see that the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law are present. Their own words best explain who they are. We read that upon seeing sinners and tax collectors come to Jesus to hear him, the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
These Pharisees and teachers of the law were indignant that Jesus—the Jewish Rabbi—would openly receive and interact with the sinful social outcasts of the day, who they perceived to be unworthy of interacting with high religious officials concerning spiritual or biblical matters. The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law did their best to keep the biblical Law to perfection, and therefore, they considered it inappropriate that Jesus would fellowship with sinners. But even more related to the parable at hand, the religious leaders would have considered it unfair treatment that those who did not keep the Law to perfection could have direct access to God through simply asking for forgiveness.
And to this crowd, to both groups, Jesus begins the story: “There was a man who had two sons…” Not just the one overtly sinful son, but also another son who supposedly did all the father asked. The younger one sinned against his father in asking for his inheritance before time, but he repented and had access to the father again. But there was an older brother, and this brother acted wrongly in that he refused to recognize his younger brother’s repentance and his father’s forgiveness because of his own self-righteousness.
The Lasting Lesson
This is where the genius of Jesus shines through. Knowing his audience, he told a parable that would cut to the heart of everyone hearing him simultaneously, and that would continue to speak to many generations of readers, down to you and me.
Here is our problem: like the original hearers of this story, we tend to look at other people’s sins—whatever we are not struggling with—as more sinful than our own. We learn from the parable that the father is willing to forgive the obvious offender, as well as the one who equally offends in his or her heart. Neither one of these sons deserves forgiveness, and much less grace, but their father is willing to give them both.
The main point is this: there is a God who desires to save all sinners of all kinds, and who made a way to do so through the person of Jesus Christ. Whether you find yourself more in the place of a tax collector or a pharisee today, Jesus’ parable still speaks to all those who will listen.
The above post is an except from a sermon “The Parable of God’s Grace”. See the full sermon below.