Bible Passage: Luke 15:1-3, 11-32
Pastor: Joel Jenswold
Sermon Date: March 30, 2025

Bulletin – March 30, 2025

In the name of, and to the eternal glory of, Jesus,

It is difficult for us to imagine just how different Jesus would have been in the religious culture of his day.  Jerusalem was largely dominated by the chief priests of the Temple.  As you moved away from Jerusalem, the synagogues in the towns and villages were dominated by the party of the Pharisees, many of whom were rabbis and experts in the law.  And for many of the most influential Pharisees, the world was divided into two camps.  You either followed them and all their legal requirements, or you were considered a “sinner.”  And people in the class of “sinners” were worthy of disdain and contempt.  I suspect their expectation of the Messiah was that he would be a Pharisee-on-steroids.  Just like them, only more zealous for the laws, and even more zealous about drawing that line between the “righteous” and “sinners.”

That is one of the reasons they couldn’t stand Jesus.  They say as much in the opening words of our text.  Hated tax-collectors and “sinners” were coming to Jesus.  And he would talk to them!  He would even sit down to dinner with them!  They can’t believe it.  This man welcomes sinners and eats with them. (v. 2)  Yes!  He does!   Jesus will even drive this point home by telling one of the most beloved of all his parables.  The parable sometimes called “the Prodigal Son.”  And yet, the main character of this parable is not the prodigious son, but the prodigious father!  A man of whom it can be said:  This Man Welcomes Sinners and Eats with Them!

            Parables usually have an element of the unexpected or even “shocking.”  This parable does not disappoint.  From the beginning, it “shocks.”  It begins with the younger of two sons going to his father and demanding his share of the inheritance.  This is kind of like saying, “Dad, you’re not dying as soon as I hoped, so can I have my share of your stuff now?”  What’s more, the son is chomping at the bit to go out into the world!  “Dad, I’ve got a lot of sinning planned and I need your money to pay the bills.”  Shocking!

The dad gives the son his share and not long after, the son is out the door and living in a distant country.  There he wasted his wealth with reckless living. (v. 13)  This is where the word “prodigal” comes from.  Prodigal means “lavish” or “extravagant.”  He sinned prodigiously!  The son denied himself nothing his heart desired.  Later, his brother will mention that he became a regular with the prostitutes.  What could possibly go wrong!  Well, eventually he went broke funding his wild lifestyle.  Shocker!  And then, there was a severe famine.  He gets a job feeding pigs.  He covets the carob-pods he is giving the hogs.  He has bottomed-out, as prodigious sinners often do.

He comes to his senses.  He thinks about how the hired-hands in his father’s house have plenty to eat.  He will go back!  He plans his speech to his father:  Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight.  I am no longer worthy to be called your son.  Make me like one of your hired servants. (v. 18-19)  It is too much to hope that he will be welcomed back as a son; he will beg to be taken back as a servant.  He begins the long journey home.

Now are you ready for a shock?  While the son is still a long way down the road, his father sees him coming!  His heart almost bursts!  Old dad hikes up his robe and runs as fast as his old legs will carry him!  He comes to his son, throws his arms around him, and kisses him.  The kiss.  The welcome that says, “Shalom!  Peace!”  The son begins his rehearsed speech.  His father cuts him off as he calls to the servants, “Go get the best robe, the one for the man-of-honor!  Bring a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet!  Go!  Prepare the grain-fed calf – the one we have been saving for a special occasion!  What could be more special than this!  My son was dead and is alive!  He was lost and is found!”  The son had hoped for, at best, slavery!   What he got was welcome and forgiveness and honor and a party!   This father welcomed a sinner and ate with him!

This is Jesus!  This is what Jesus was doing that was so odious to the Pharisees and experts in the law!  Jesus was running to meet tax collectors and sinners.  He was welcoming them into the kingdom of God and eating with them!  This is what Jesus still does today.  Jesus welcomes sinners and eats with them.  Prodigious sinners!  Lavish, over-the-top sinners!  Like you and like me!  Sinners like you and me who have squandered the treasures our Father has given us on prostitutes and wild living.  Yet Jesus runs to us with a hug of welcome and the kiss of peace!  In the Word of absolution, he runs to us.  In baptism, Jesus throws his forgiving arms around, and kisses, the sinner.  In the Lord’s Supper, he throws a feast for prodigals!

This is a good thing!  Yet not all see it that way.  The Pharisees and experts in the law didn’t see it that way.  And that is why Jesus includes the older brother in the parable.  He is upset and won’t go in to the party.  Once again, the father goes out to meet a son.  The older brother is upset because he has worked like a slave for years and he never got a party.  Isn’t that interesting?  The younger son was willing to be accepted as a slave and the older one resented that he worked like one.  The father just wanted his two sons in his house.  But the older brother’s attitude makes us think.  If we don’t want a Savior who welcomes sinners, then what becomes of our own salvation?

I don’t know about you, but this is the Jesus I need to remember.  When I have sinned, when I have been the prodigal, when I have been in the pig-pen with the pigs, when I feel, “I am not worthy to be called a son!”  I need to see Jesus running to welcome me, running to embrace me, robing me, placing a ring on my hand, sandaling my feet, throwing a banquet in my honor.  Grace upon grace upon grace!  Indeed, if Jesus does not welcome sinners, heaven will be a very empty place.  But thanks be to God!  This man welcomes sinners and eats with them!

Amen.