Prodigal: The Merciful Father - Pastor Donnell T. Wyche - a2cc.org. Watch our livestream Sundays @ 11:00am - vimeo.com/annarborcommunitychurch
Summary:
After three weeks with the younger son and the older son, this sermon turns to the one character in the parable who never gets a name: the Father. The sons are the mirrors; the Father is the point. Jesus tells this story, along with the lost sheep and the lost coin, in answer to the Pharisees’ complaint that he welcomes sinners. They say exclude the lost; Jesus reveals a Father whose heart is a picture of pursuit, with a party thrown at the end. And if “prodigal” means recklessly extravagant, it is the Father, in his mercy, who is the truly prodigal one. The first thing the story shows us is a Father whose love does not hold anyone hostage. Asked for the inheritance, he lets his son go because he would rather have a son who is free to leave than a prisoner who stays. The heart of the sermon is Luke 15:20 and its six verbs, every one of which belongs to the Father before the son has said a word. He saw him because he had been watching the road every day. He was filled with compassion, not anger. He ran, something no dignified man in that world would do. He covered his shame, meeting the boy on the road so he would not have to walk the village’s gauntlet of contempt alone. He threw his arms around him: the son deserved punishment and received an embrace instead. And he kissed him while the rehearsed speech was still in the boy’s pocket. The embrace and the kiss are forgiveness offered before repentance is spoken; the Father forgives first, and the confession comes second. When the son does begin his speech, he never finishes it. The Father interrupts his repentance with mercy and calls for the robe, the ring, the sandals, and the feast. The Father then leaves the house a second time, going out to the older son, who refuses to come in. He does not defend himself or argue about fairness; he pleads. He is entitled to justice from both sons and collects it from neither because, as Paul says, it is God’s kindness that leads us to repentance. The sermon closes by asking about our picture of God, which A. W. Tozer called the most important thing about us. If God is a master to be served, we will live like the older son—in the house but never at the party. If God is a creditor waiting to collect, we will stay in the far country. But if you have been the younger son, the Father is already running. If you have been the older son, the Father is standing in the yard with you. You can stop behaving like a servant because you were always a son. The prayer is simple: Give us the Father Jesus gave us, whose love for us is unrelenting.
