Kettle & the Pot – Part 3
But he answered and said to his father, “Look! For so many years I have been serving you and I have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends; but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.” [Luke 15:29-30]
The lesson of the prodigal son was the same as the lesson of the first two parables. However, it didn’t stop with that one lesson. The most important lesson occurred only in this parable. Let’s assay the parable and learn the lesson, shall we?
The father had two sons, not just one, though only one was lost, i.e., gone away from the home front. The other son never left home. He stayed and did what his father told him to do. When he heard the joyous celebration taking place inside the house, he asked a servant what it was about.
The servant reported to him how his brother had returned, and the family was celebrating. Big bro was irate! Dad had to go outside and attempt to coax him into joining the feast. Big bro resented dad and let him know it in no uncertain terms.
“I never ever left you. I stayed right here and did everything you told me to do. Still, you never threw a banquet for me and invited all my friends to celebrate with me. But this ragamuffin, this urchin, this tatterdemalion, he goes off to the brothels and wastes all his money, then comes crawling back for more—and you throw him a party! How dare you, dad!”
Remember the context now. There were two classes of people around Jesus. The tax collectors and sinners were represented by the prodigal son. They didn’t stick around the church building with Father God and “did everything He told them to do”. The other class of people consisted of the Pharisees and the scribes. They did hang around in the church building and consider themselves the prim and proper moral examples of society. They did everything Father God expected of them. This class was represented by big bro.
What did the father (aka Father God) have to say in response to big bro’s attitude toward his younger brother? “Son, you are always here and everything I have is yours.”
In terms of the Pharisees and scribes, this means they could have enjoyed Father God and celebrated with Him, but they were to stiff and formalistic to enjoy Him. They were too busy believing themselves to obey all His rules, when in fact they failed miserably. They did what he said only perfunctorily. They didn’t understand the need for their obedience to come from the heart, which would have made it a joyful thing, not an onerous burden they failed to enjoy.
Then the father (aka Father God) added, “This brother of yours was lost but now he is found, he was dead but now he lives.” In terms of the Pharisees and scribes, this was Jesus’ rebuke of them for wanting to keep the tax collectors and sinners separated from Father God by their sins. The tax collectors and sinners came to Jesus to be forgiven, and the religious leaders and teachers wanted Jesus to send them away, leaving them in their sins and destined for hell!
Can you believe that? Isn’t that about as outrageous an attitude as ever darkened the doors of the church building? Fie fie on those scribes and Pharisees! Right? But can we look in the mirror and feign innocence to the same charge, dear friends?
Let’s hie off to the Lord Jesus now and pour our hearts out to Him. He wants ALL men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. Are we wholeheartedly on board with this? Let’s not get off our knees before Jesus until we are.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
The lesson of the prodigal son was the same as the lesson of the first two parables. However, it didn’t stop with that one lesson. The most important lesson occurred only in this parable. Let’s assay the parable and learn the lesson, shall we?
The father had two sons, not just one, though only one was lost, i.e., gone away from the home front. The other son never left home. He stayed and did what his father told him to do. When he heard the joyous celebration taking place inside the house, he asked a servant what it was about.
The servant reported to him how his brother had returned, and the family was celebrating. Big bro was irate! Dad had to go outside and attempt to coax him into joining the feast. Big bro resented dad and let him know it in no uncertain terms.
“I never ever left you. I stayed right here and did everything you told me to do. Still, you never threw a banquet for me and invited all my friends to celebrate with me. But this ragamuffin, this urchin, this tatterdemalion, he goes off to the brothels and wastes all his money, then comes crawling back for more—and you throw him a party! How dare you, dad!”
Remember the context now. There were two classes of people around Jesus. The tax collectors and sinners were represented by the prodigal son. They didn’t stick around the church building with Father God and “did everything He told them to do”. The other class of people consisted of the Pharisees and the scribes. They did hang around in the church building and consider themselves the prim and proper moral examples of society. They did everything Father God expected of them. This class was represented by big bro.
What did the father (aka Father God) have to say in response to big bro’s attitude toward his younger brother? “Son, you are always here and everything I have is yours.”
In terms of the Pharisees and scribes, this means they could have enjoyed Father God and celebrated with Him, but they were to stiff and formalistic to enjoy Him. They were too busy believing themselves to obey all His rules, when in fact they failed miserably. They did what he said only perfunctorily. They didn’t understand the need for their obedience to come from the heart, which would have made it a joyful thing, not an onerous burden they failed to enjoy.
Then the father (aka Father God) added, “This brother of yours was lost but now he is found, he was dead but now he lives.” In terms of the Pharisees and scribes, this was Jesus’ rebuke of them for wanting to keep the tax collectors and sinners separated from Father God by their sins. The tax collectors and sinners came to Jesus to be forgiven, and the religious leaders and teachers wanted Jesus to send them away, leaving them in their sins and destined for hell!
Can you believe that? Isn’t that about as outrageous an attitude as ever darkened the doors of the church building? Fie fie on those scribes and Pharisees! Right? But can we look in the mirror and feign innocence to the same charge, dear friends?
Let’s hie off to the Lord Jesus now and pour our hearts out to Him. He wants ALL men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. Are we wholeheartedly on board with this? Let’s not get off our knees before Jesus until we are.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
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