The Journey Home

I preached today on the parable of the Prodigal Son and had an interesting question afterwards. A woman asked if, because she couldn't accept certain things, she was the elder brother. My answer is simple, the prodigal came back confessing, repenting and offering to make restitution and it was in that posture that the father received him back to the family. The elder brother refused to accept a repentant sinner back as a brother, referring to him only as this son of yours.

The Pharisees problem was that they were unwilling to receive sinners or the man, Jesus, who welcomed them. Jesus, in every encounter we know about through the Gospels, confronted the sin in the lives of those He met. The woman at the well in John 4 is offered living water but before she can receive it, Jesus deals with the sinful lifestyle she has chosen. The prostitute who washes his feet in the home of Simon the Pharisee, hears the parable about a man who was owed money by two others, one a very great sum and the other an insignificant amount and both debts were forgiven and discharged. Simon was asked who loved the man more, clearly the one who was forgiven more. Jesus acknowledged sin in the woman's life. The woman caught in adultery was told to go and sin no more as was the man healed at the pool at Bethesda.

When we are asked to celebrate sin or deny it, it is not pharisaical to say no and refuse to join the party. We must all come to the Lord acknowledging that we are not worthy to be called His children and to deny that is to deny the cross. It is hard to do this and we should be careful about our attitudes towards others, but we have to be truthful. If we aren't we are only offering what Bonhoeffer labeled cheap grace which is no grace at all.