Week 4 - March 15 - True Love Waits

Luke 15:11-32

Then Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the wealth that will belong to me.’ So he divided his assets between them. A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant region, and there he squandered his wealth in dissolute living. When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that region, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that region, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. He would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, and no one gave him anything. But when he came to his senses he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.” ’ So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate, for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate.

“Now his elder son was in the field, and as he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. He replied, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf because he has got him back safe and sound.’ Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. But he answered his father, ‘Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command, yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your assets with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!’ Then the father said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.’ ”


By now, the Pharisees and scribes (or lawyers) are downright mad. They really cannot get over how much Jesus hangs out with and how often he shares a meal with sinners. In response to their angst, Jesus tells three parables in quick succession. They all involve a character losing something precious, and the effort that character goes through to find the lost thing. The first is about a good shepherd who leaves the 99 other sheep to go find the one who is lost. The second is about a persistent woman who sweeps her whole house, searching until she finds her one lost coin. And the third, is about a father with two sons.

While the characters’ actions in the first two stories are predictable to Jesus’ first century audience, the characters in the third story are surprising.

The younger son is typically the favored son in Old Testament stories (ie, Cain and Abel, Ishmael and Isaac, Esau and Jacob, and his 11 brothers and Joseph). In this instance, it’s the younger son who starts the drama. He asks to receive his inheritance while his father is still alive. He would have inherited about a third of his father’s estate after his death, and his request essentially means he is treating his father as if he is already dead, thereby severing any future relationship.

The father allows this, and takes no action to reject or punish his son for his hurtful behavior. Rather, the father gives his son his share of the estate, which he takes as cash, and the next thing we know, the son has gone to a foreign land (which for Jews would be a Gentile land), and wasted it all in “dissolute living.” There is a famine, and the prodigal son realizes he only has one option if he is to survive: he must return home and beg his father to allow him not back into the family, but just to serve as a servant.

This is where the characters really veer off expected course. The father has not gone and searched for his son, like the characters in the previous stories did. Instead, once the son has turned towards home, the father sees him “while he is still far off.” The image is of a waiting and watching father, who always has an eye to the horizon, hoping for exactly this moment. The father then runs to meet his son. Running was considered undignified behavior, and certainly broke the norms of how a head of the household should act.

Once the father gets to his son, he embraces him, and does not even let him get to the heart of his prepared speech before signaling his forgiveness and restoration. While the son did not expect to be accepted back into his place in the family, the father immediately provides him with the symbols of the original relationship: a robe, a ring, sandals, and a celebration. Joy covers this moment and it mirrors the joy of the previous two stories when the lost item is found.

But this story isn’t over. The older son is working in the field, and presumably had been faithfully helping his family the whole time his younger brother had been wasting his life. He hears the party, learns what is going on, and refuses to go in. This time, the father does come looking for his son. He pleads with the older brother to come and celebrate, but the older brother refuses, anger pouring out of him. The father tries to explain, but the last words of the story do not resolve this tension. We are left wondering if the father ever convinced the older brother to join him in celebrating the return of his brother.

While often focusing on the younger son, or even on the brothers, this story is as much about a father, who waits, who forgives, who invites, and who seeks out his children. He acts in socially unacceptable ways (almost like someone who eats with sinners…), which requires generous, unconditionally, powerful love. The kind of love that waits at the edge of the driveway with open arms, and that goes out into the field to invite in. There is an obvious connection to God, revealing not a vengeful or angry or punishing relationship between the divine and humanity, but rather a patient and hopeful love that is always moving towards us, never giving up.

What kind of love waits without conditions?
How might you practice true love this week?