The Fourth Sunday in Lent

March 30, 2025

Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

God’s Surprising Strategies—

Grace Instead of Condemnation!

1Now the tax collectors and “sinners” were all gathering around to hear him. 2But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” 3Then Jesus told them this parable:

11“There was a man who had two sons. 12The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.

13Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

17When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.’ 20So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

21The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

22But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring 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’s have a feast and celebrate. 24For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

25Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’

28The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

31 ‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’” (NIV1984)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

What does justice look like? While it would be difficult to answer that question with just a couple of words, we can answer that question by using some very common phrases. We might say that justice looks like people getting what they deserve. We might say that justice looks like a wheel where what goes around comes around. While that might be how we view justice, Scripture assures us that this is not how our God operates!

What does grace look like? As Bible believing Christians that question is much easier to answer, isn’t it! Grace looks like a cross set on a hill! (Pointing to the cross) Grace looks like an empty grave in a garden! Grace looks like the risen Christ suddenly appearing among His fear-filled disciples and saying to them, “Peace be with you!” (John 20:19). While all of those answers are excellent answers, our goal today is to see how these very familiar words from Luke chapter fifteen give us yet another excellent answer to the question, What does grace look like? That answer is— Grace looks like a loving father!

Look at the opening verses of our text. Luke tells us, “Now the tax collectors and ‘sinners’ were all gathering around to hear him. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, ‘This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.’ Then Jesus told them this parable.”

Here we see two groups of people who were considered to be the exact opposite of each other. On one side you find tax collectors who were despised because they not only worked for the hated Romans, but they charged their fellow Jews more than the Romans required and then kept the extra for themselves. Standing alongside of these men are the “sinners.” This would include the prostitutes and anyone else who was considered to be an outcast in Jewish society.

On the other side you find the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law. These men were considered to be the “cream” of Jewish society. They were proud of how well they were keeping God’s Law. They were confident that their works were gaining them the righteousness they needed to live in God’s presence. They held themselves up as the ultimate example for everyone else to follow.

Note very carefully how clearly Luke brings out that while the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law refused to associate with the “tax collectors and ‘sinners’” Jesus freely welcomed these despised and rejected people. Herein likes the sharp contrast between God’s actions and man’s actions. The self-righteous people complained when the perfect Son of God humbled Himself and associated with people who were not ashamed to confess that they need His help. The self-righteous attitude of the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law is exposed by their own words, “This man (note they won’t even use Jesus’ name!) this man continues to receive and keeps on eating with ‘sinners.’”

That sharp distinction between the way God acts, and the way sinful self-righteous people act leads Jesus to tell three parables: The Parable of the Lost Sheep, The Parable of the Lost Coin, and our text for today, The Parable of the Lost Son. Going back to the question I asked a moment ago, “What does grace look, like?” let’s see how the Parable of the Lost Son reveals to us that grace looks like a loving father.

Look at verses eleven and twelve. Luke writes “Jesus continued: There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.” The actions and the attitude of the younger son are quite well-known to us. He knew that his older brother would inherit the majority of his father’s estate. Not willing to wait untilafter his father had died to receive what he felt was rightfully his, the younger son very disrespectfully said, “Father, give me my share of the estate.” We see in these words a desire for freedom. The younger son wanted to get away from his father and live his life in the way that he wanted to live it. Not surprisingly we see the same actions and the same attitudes today, don’t we. The younger son is a picture of self-will, inexperience and a lack of restraint that we find in people today— sometimes even among the people of God!

What does surprise us is the father’s reaction. He grants the request! He grants the request even though he knew how disrespectful it was for the younger son to even make such a request! He grants the request even though he knew that his younger son would not appreciate what he was receiving from his father, even though he knew that his younger son would probably end up wasting what his father had given to him.

How does the father in Jesus’ parable help us to understand our heavenly Father? How does the father in Jesus’ parable help us to understand God’s grace? Look at it this way: Our heavenly Father is filled with so much grace that He gives undeserved gifts even to those who want nothing to do with Him, even to those who don’t believe and trust in Him, even to those who demand the freedom to live their life however they choose to live it. He grants them life. He grants them health. He grants them wealth. Remember how Jesus Himself says concerning the heavenly Father, “He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Mathew 5:45). I have come to look at this aspect of our heavenly Father’s grace as the “fringe benefits” of His amazing grace!

Why is this important for us to know and to remember? Because, my friends, whether we want to admit it or not— we all have the potential of being the younger son! It might be adolescent rebellion (which may last well into adulthood!), it may be a mid-life crisis, it may be a quest for romance or excitement. Whatever it might be we all have the potential of forsaking our heavenly Father’s love, taking the undeserved gifts He has graciously given to us and going our own way— all because we want the “freedom” we think we deserve to have!

We all know how things turned out for the younger son in Jesus’ parable. Look at verses thirteen to sixteen. Luke writes, “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distance country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.”

The simple facts of this story speak for themselves. This is a story that has undoubtedly been repeated countless times. In their quest to live their life as they want to live it someone engages in “wild living.” They spend their money recklessly and end up broke. Then trouble comes their way— over and over again. Life becomes nothing more than a desperate struggle to survive. Like the younger son in Jesus’ parable, they accept the lowest type of work possible— never imaging that this is how their life would turn out. Even if we have never been in this type of situation, even if we don’t know someone who has ever been in this type of situation, we can understand the desperation and the defeat that Jesus is describing here. To put this on a spiritual level, when someone forsakes God and demands to go on their own way, they can easily get to the point where they feel forsaken— by both God and others.

Thankfully, Jesus’ parable continues. Once the younger son hit rock bottom, once he realized that there was nothing he could do to help himself, he remembered that there was only one person who could help him— his father! Look at verses seventeen to nineteen of our text. Luke writes, “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.’”

This is a powerful picture of repentance and conversion! Through the power of the Law a sinner comes to the realization that they are spiritually dead and unable to help themselves. They realize that all their attempts to live a happy and exciting life all on their own has led them into the pit of despair. All this leads them to realize that the only thing they have waiting for them is— death. Then the Holy Spirit touches their heart with the life-giving and life-saving message of the Gospel!

That combination of both Law and Gospel enables the sinner to repent. Repentance leads a person to realize that there are no excuses— “I have sinned.” First and foremost, I have sinned against God, but I have also sinned against others. In the case of the younger son repentance led him to realize that he no longer even deserved to be called a “son.” He needed to throw himself completely on his father’s mercy— hoping that his merciful father would not turn him away but receive him back as a lowly servant.

That brings us to the second way in which grace looks like a father! Grace looks like a father who embraces his foolish and rebellious children when they “come to their senses” and return to Him. Grace looks like a father who not only restores his rebellious child’s status in the family, but he goes to every length to make sure everyone knows what the father was willing to do! Look at verses twenty through twenty-four of our text. Luke writes, “So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servant, Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.”

It is unbelievably easy to connect the dots between the father in Jesus’ parable and our Father in heaven! It is also unbelievably easy to see how both the father in Jesus’ parable and our Father in heaven give us a beautiful answer to the question, “What does grace look like?” How so? While we don’t have time to cover everything contained in these verses there are a few highlights that cannot be overlooked!

First, whether it is the person who has never heard about the heavenly Father who so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life (Pointing to the cross), or the child of God who decided to go off on their own in a futile attempt to enjoy their “freedom,” the heavenly Father always watches and always waits for them to “come to their senses” and return to Him in repentance. As soon as the heavenly Father sees that repentant child, how does He react? His reaction centers on grace and not condemnation! He runs to embrace His child. He dresses them in the “finest robe” there could ever possibly be— the “robe of righteousness” that Jesus won for them on the cross. Then He says, “Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this (child) of mine was dead and is alive again; (they) were lost and is now found.” What a beautiful picture of our heavenly Father’s amazing grace! What a beautiful truth for us to hold near and dear to our heart if we ever become the prodigal child. What an extraordinary guarantee for us to hold out to anyone who is spiritually dead in their transgressions and sins or someone who has lost their way on their journey through this world!

Once again, we know this parable well enough to know that when the older brother came home and found out what his father had done for the younger brother, he wasn’t just upset— he was livid! He was so angry that his father had reacted with grace and instead of condemnation, that he refused to go inside his father’s house. So what did the father do? He left the celebration so that he could reach out to his older — and very angry! — son in grace! Look at verses thirty-one and thirty-two of our text. Luke writes, “My Son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

This portion of our text reminded me of a situation I had in one of my previous congregations. I got a phone call from someone whose mother was in the hospital. She used to be a member of the church I was serving, but that was a long time ago. He asked me if I would come to the hospital and visit with his mom because she was not doing very well. I automatically agreed. When I got to her room, I found out that they were related to one of my members. They asked me to promise that I would not say anything to that member. Something had happened many years ago and there was animosity between them ever since. Since this woman was in very serious condition and since they didn’t want to share anything with me until I gave them my word, I made the promise so I could minister to her. I’m not sure how, but my member found out that their relative was in the hospital and that I had visited with them. She was angry— so angry that she stopped coming to church for a while. No matter how I tried to explain to her why I felt it was necessary for me to agree not to say anything to her, she didn’t want to hear it. It wasn’t until after her relative had died (they chose to have someone else do her funeral) that my member came to my office and told me that she finally understood why I did what I did.

That’s just one example of something that probably happens all too often. We look at someone whom we consider to be undeserving of our grace, we look at someone whom we consider to be unworthy of God’s grace and we become upset when someone reaches out to them with grace instead of condemnation. That’s when we would do well to remember what the father in Jesus’ parable said to his older son. That’s when we would do well to remember what our heavenly Father has said to us, “Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this (child) of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!” That, my friends, is what grace looks like!

To God be the glory!

Amen