The Father’s love compels His mercy.

 

Sermon for Trinity 3, July 3, 2022

Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you in Christ Jesus, our Lord.  Amen.

Luke 15:11-24  ¹¹Jesus said, “A certain man had two sons.  ¹²The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’  So he divided his property between them.  ¹³Not 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.  ¹⁴After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that country, and he began to be in need.  ¹⁵He went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs.  ¹⁶He 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!  ¹⁸I will get up, go to my father, and tell him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight.  ¹⁹I 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.  ²¹The 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.  ²³Bring the fattened calf and kill it.  Let us eat and celebrate, ²⁴because this son of mine was dead and is alive again.  He was lost and is found.’  Then they began to celebrate. (EHV)

The Father’s love compels His mercy.

Dear children of the Heavenly Father,

            Imagine feeling worthless.  Sometimes we don’t have to imagine very hard.  A student flunks a test badly and must face his parents to answer why.  Bullies torment a young person leaving that one to wonder why he or she is so despised.  A young man breaks the heart of his girlfriend, or vice versa, and the abandoned one feels worthless in love.  A marriage breaks up and both sides walk away wondering why someone they loved doesn’t love them anymore?  You get fired from your job and you can’t find anyone to hire you, and you wonder what makes you disposable.  You make a mistake or are in the wrong place at the wrong time, and you languish in a jail cell.  You pour your savings, blood, sweat, and tears into planting a crop, and twenty minutes of a hailstorm in July wipes it all out.  More than a few of us have felt worthless in the troubles of this world.

All of these things, and all the other troubles we might have to endure are rooted in sin—your sin, my sin, the sin we inherit by birth, and the sins that corrupt our whole world.  Any and every sin separates us from God.  That really is what this parable addresses, that by natural birth, and by the selfish sins we ourselves commit, we had removed ourselves from the heavenly Father who loves us better than any earthly father ever could.  Consequently, Jesus teaches us in this parable that The Father’s love compels His mercy.

Jesus was answering the leaders of Israel who wondered why He associated with sinners.  Those self-righteous men considered it offensive for any reputable person to be seen in the presence of the lower classes of society: those from poorer backgrounds, questionable decision making, unfortunate circumstances, or offensive careers like the tax collectors.  Jesus told this parable to emphasize the full extent of God’s love.

A young man demanded his share of his father’s possessions.  This alone was an offense in that society.  It showed that he was rebelling against his father, and against what he had been taught since his youth.  Still, the father granted the request.  It gives us a picture of God’s great love because God also gives His good gifts and providence even to those who rebel against Him.

As soon as the young man was able, he gathered his earthly possessions and abandoned his loving father to experience the sights, sounds, temptations, and distractions of the world.  Jesus tells us, that after walking away from his father, “he wasted his wealth with reckless living.”  What wealth do we waste walking apart from our heavenly Father?  The time He gives us to live in faith?  The wealth of blessings He is ready to pour out on us through faithfulness to His plan for our lives? 

Many a lost soul thought the temptations and pleasures of sin were more valuable than the treasure we have in heaven.  The fun soon runs out, however.  Just as the youngster was running out of money, a famine broke out in the land.  After going broke, he could no longer party all night.  The friends with whom he had recklessly wasted his money turned their backs on him when his wealth was used up.  Finally, without any other options, he hired himself to a local citizen to do whatever task might be assigned. 

You can understand his desperation by the labor he was forced to perform.  Pigs were unclean animals to the Jews.  The Jews were forbidden to have anything to do with the swine, but here the young man was shamefully reduced to feeding them, and he wasn’t even allowed to share in their meager food.  The young man had truly hit rock bottom.

Sometimes, that’s what it takes for us to see the emptiness of our lives and behaviors.  Ultimately, that emptiness comes to every sinner, but we pray that it comes before we get to Judgment Day, because at that point there is no time left for rescue.  Unfortunately, many who experience good things in life never get that hopeless feeling.  The scribes and Pharisees to whom Jesus was speaking thought God was satisfied with them because they had been richly blessed in material goods.  However, Jesus’ point was to show them God’s love for those who have been humbled.

If you remember the tax collector’s plea in the temple, “God be merciful to me, a sinner,” (Luke 18:13) you will recognize that same emotion in this young man’s plan after 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!  I will get up, go to my father, and tell him, “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.”’  The arrogance was gone.  The worldly pleasures he had so boldly chased after finally revealed themselves to be worthless, and truly, this is a picture of repentance.  When we reach the point of recognizing that of ourselves we are lost and will die in our sins without our Father’s help, then we are ready to return to God.

Now, for many of us, that moment came in baptism.  There, God reached out His loving hand and marked us as His own dearly loved children.  Yet, we also recognize that we have often turned away from His love because we want freedom to do things our way.  That’s one of the main reasons God invites us to come to church and confess our sins again and again.  The Holy Spirit worked in our hearts convincing us that we have sinned against heaven and against our true Father, while the gospel He brings shows us that The Father’s love compels His mercy.

You see, this parable really isn’t about the wayward son—it’s about the love of God.  All the while that son was wandering far from his father while shamelessly wasting the blessings his father had given him, his father watched and prayed for his return.  When it finally registered in the young man’s head to repent of his great error and sin and return to his father’s care, the father was already watching the horizon.  And when the sinner was still a far way off, his father was running to meet him. 

It pictures what God does for us.  You and I couldn’t go back home to our Father in heaven, so God came down to us in Jesus.  Jesus told the crowd, “While he was still far away, his father saw him and was filled with compassion.  He ran, hugged his son, and kissed him.”  Like the father in this parable, our Father in heaven recognized that we needed His mercy, so He sent Jesus to atone for all our sins.  God sent His own begotten Son to be the atoning sacrifice for the whole world, so that every sin-debt we accumulated by our wretched living was paid in full on the cross.

The son truly repented and asked nothing of his father but that he might be a servant, but that wasn’t in the father’s plan.  He wanted his son back as his dearly loved member of the family.  The same is true for you and me.  God doesn’t demand a payment from us to forgive our sins.  He doesn’t enslave us with works we must do to return to His care.  In fact, there is nothing we can do to receive the love of our Father, and nothing left to do to reconcile us with Him because of Jesus. 

In the parable, “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.”  Through faith given to us by the power of the Holy Spirit in the gospel of Word and Sacraments, our heavenly Father dresses us in the glorious robe of Jesus’ righteousness.  He covers us from head to toe with the glorious holiness of His Son, Jesus.  He even marks us as full members of His family and kingdom just like that ring symbolized in the parable. 

Again, the father spoke, “‘Bring the fattened calf and kill it.  Let us eat and celebrate, because this son of mine was dead and is alive again.  He was lost and is found.’  Then they began to celebrate.”  A few minutes earlier, Jesus told the crowd, “I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (Luke 15:10)  The whole of heaven rejoices for every sinner who is brought to his senses and returns to the love of our heavenly Father.

God the Father doesn’t demand good works in order for us to be forgiven.  He doesn’t demand offerings as payment for setting us free from sin.  God doesn’t need either our works or our gifts, for He is the owner of all things in heaven and on earth.  What our heavenly Father desires is that we turn away from our love for worldly things and return to trusting Him for everything: for food, shelter, and clothing, certainly, but especially for forgiveness, mercy, and love.  Only then can we serve God and our neighbor in true faithfulness and love.

Dear friends, if you have ever felt worthless, know that your heavenly Father values you above every material thing in this world.  He loves you so much that He planned your salvation before time began, and so greatly that He was willing to sacrifice His only begotten Son on a cross of shame and bitter death, so that the payment for your guilt and wandering would be complete.  You sins are forgiven for Jesus’ sake and you are counted by the Father as His own beloved child now returned and welcome in His family.

At the same time, never worry that the sacrifice Jesus made was too much, for the Son didn’t stay dead.  No, God the Father in His infinite love also raised Jesus from the dead, “the firstborn among many brothers.” (Romans 8:29)  Connected with Christ Jesus through faith and baptism, we are sealed into the resurrection to come at the end of the world so that we may celebrate with Him forever in heaven.

Tomorrow, we celebrate the Independence Day of our nation.  In Jesus Christ, God has set us free from everything that could have kept us from our heavenly home.  Therefore, when the trumpet sounds on Judgement Day, and you see Jesus returning in all His glory, stand up and be ready to meet your Father in heaven, for He is eagerly scanning the horizon ready to embrace you in His loving arms, because The Father’s love compels His mercy.  Amen.

Grace and peace be with you always, for the LORD is good.  His mercy endures forever.  His faithfulness continues through all generations.  Amen.