Discipleship 101
New Believer Lesson #18
The Return of the Prodigal
– The Waiting and the Plan
Based on the Book,
The Return of the Prodigal Son,
by Henri Nouwen
as well as
The Cross and the Prodigal,
By Kenneth E. Bailey
By Andy Madonio
July 8, 2011
Introduction:
Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took his journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in loose living. Luke 15:13
It is very helpful at this point to have read the entire 15th chapter of Luke, and re-read verses 11-32 several times, so you have this story firmly in your mind. The story begins with a family – a father and his two sons, but soon is revealed as a terribly dysfunctional family.
As I have stated before in previous Return of the Prodigal lessons, it is vital you remember that when reading Jesus’ parables, you are asked to see yourself in the parable. Which character are you? Which one have you been in the past, and which one may you become in the future? The parable seeks your introspection and begs for careful, truthful self-analysis.
Blind Wasting:
In this one sentence, time has passed, a lifetime has been dissolved, and the reality of a sin-filled world has begun to hit home like a hammer blow.
In verse 13, the father has a “fire sale” to liquidate one-third of the estate and pass the funds off to the younger son. The price for urgent sales like this one are much less than the real-market value of the estate – urgency is key, not profit – so the father, in subjecting himself to this unrighteous demand is now settling for a reduced price on the estate he has built over his lifetime in order to complete his end of the “bargain.”
Armed with this fast cash, the younger sets out to complete what he feels is necessary – leaving “home” to find himself; leaving the sure (and mundane?) for the new and exciting; leaving the family he doesn’t really like, doesn’t really know, and doesn’t want to know any longer, for the hope of fresh acquaintances he can get along with. We don’t really know what he did in the “far country” except that he “squandered” all his money on “loose living.” Kenneth E. Bailey’s research and life lived in the Middle East tells us that in the culture of this young man, he would have “invested” much money building a “reputation” of generosity. He would hold lavish parties and banquets, and give away expensive gifts in order to create the most sought-after virtue – generosity, and fuel the hidden inner engine of pride. Can you see the younger son’s desire to have what his father freely offered – acceptance and love, but to have it from outsiders instead of from his family? It’s like the lyrics from Rich Mullins’ song Hold Me Jesus:
Surrender don't come natural to me
I'd rather fight You for something I don't really want
Than to take what You give that I need
And I've beat my head against so many walls
Now I'm falling down I'm falling on my knees
?
Have you ever rejected the sure “bird in the hand” love from those who are close to try and earn it from others who can be fickle? Have you rejected the father’s love, and understood later how foolish you were, and how he was lovingly and patiently waiting for you to figure it out eventually?ave you ever rejected the sure “bird in the hand” love from those who are close to try and earn it from others who can be fickle? Have you rejected the father’s love, and understood later how foolish you were, and how he was lovingly and patiently waiting for you to figure it out eventually?
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The Departure to a Far Country:
Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took his journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in loose living. Luke 15:13
As Nouwen states, “The son’s ‘leaving’ is, therefore, a much more offensive act than it seems at first reading. It is a heartless rejection of the home in which the son was born and nurtured, and a break with the most precious tradition carefully upheld by the larger community of which he was a part. When Luke writes, “and took his journey into a far country,” he indicated much more than the desire of a young man to see more of the world . . . The “far country” is the world in which everything considered holy at home is disregarded” (The Return of the Prodigal, pg 36).
Making this parable personal, Nouwen continues introspectively: “Leaving home . . . is a denial of the spiritual reality that I belong to God with every part of my being . . . ignoring the truth that God has “fashioned me in secret, molded me in the depths of the earth and knitted me together in my mother’s womb.” Leaving home [for a far country] is living as though I do not yet have a home and must look far and wide to find one” (The Return of the Prodigal, pg 37).
?
Have you ever left “home,” the place of the father, for someplace else (physically, spiritually, mentally, emotionally) you felt was more important? Explain.
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The Elder Son’s Lostness:
The majority of this story has been a dialogue between the father and the younger son. What is strikingly absent thus far is the involvement of the elder son. In Jesus day, the Middle Eastern family is part of a village community in which everything is known by everyone, and almost everyone in the clan is related by birth, blood or marriage.
The traditional role of the elder son in a such a family would be as a “father-in-training,” meaning the dispute between father and younger son would certainly be known by the elder son, and he would be expected to play a part. If there is a dispute in a Middle Eastern village family, the two parties in question never make up directly, and there can be no clear “winner” or “loser”; the concept is unthinkable in this cultural setting. Instead they seek the counsel of a mediator; a third party who acts a reconciler between the two disputers.
In this story, the natural mediation role would fall to the elder brother, thus allowing someone with full knowledge of the details and the family dynamics, and able to keep the entire issue somewhat private. But where is the elder brother in Jesus’ parable? He is silent! He refuses to fulfill his traditional and expected responsibility.
If the prodigal younger son is traditionally seen as the “lost” one, the person running from God, the elder brother is considered someone firmly ensconced IN the family. In this parable, tradition has cast him as representing the church – those IN God’s home. He wants to be seen at home with the father, he is a “homebody,” a “churchbody,” if you will. He is in attendance without fail, whether he wants to or not, whether he prays or not, whether he has any love or not. The elder son certainly didn’t ask his father for his share of the estate; he didn’t brazenly tell his father he wished he were dead, but what did he do as a family member in good standing? Nothing – meaning: he is not in good standing with his family.
The elder son may still be in the home, but he is far away spiritually from his father. He is just as “lost” as the younger son, because he hates his brother enough to refuse to intercede and mediate the situation, and he has no real respect for his father because he refuses to lift a finger to save the family from this embarrassing confrontation.
As disciples, apprentices of Jesus, we are at some point called to be the elder son, practicing to be the father, mediating between siblings, taking responsibility, loving the unlovable and the unloved, making sure the world sees our “family” in the best light possible. In Jesus’ parable, we see the tremendous importance of this role, and we also see the terrible price paid by the family (the church of Jesus) when we shirk our duty.
?
Are you an elder son today? Have you been one in the past? Can you see in your life, or the lives of those around you, the terrible price members of Christ’s body pay when the family is not self-policing and self-healing? Prodigals do what prodigals do, and we can’t expect much from them, but the elder sons should know better. Can you fill this role in your body of believers and thus strengthen the family of God?
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See you in Lesson #18!
[Note – This lesson can be downloaded in PDF format for printing or sharing]
