Luke 15:11-32, there is something about this parable that almost nobody talks about and it changes everything, the story does not have an ending. The father pleads with the older son, he explains himself and then nothing, the parable just stops, you never find out if the older brother went in, you never find out if he joined the feast, the story ends with the door open and the father waiting. Jesus left it unfinished on purpose, because the ending was not in the story, the ending was in the room, the Pharisees were the older brother. Jesus was looking directly at them and asking, will you come in? The door is open, the feast is ready, your father is calling, but you have to let go of your ledger, you have to stop counting, you have to accept that the same grace that saved the sinner at the table is the same grace that saved you and if you cannot celebrate his rescue, it is because you have never understood your own.
Here is what makes this unfinished ending so brilliant, every other parable Jesus told has a conclusion, the sower reaps, the merchant finds the pearl, the servants are judged, but this parable, the longest, most detailed, most emotionally devastating parable Jesus ever told, has no ending, because Jesus was not describing a past event, he was creating a present choice. The Pharisees were standing at the door in that very moment, the feast was already happening, tax collectors and sinners were eating with Jesus right there, right then and the Pharisees had to decide, will I go in, will I sit at a table with the people I despise, will I accept that their invitation is as valid as mine. You know what the Pharisees chose, within weeks they began plotting to kill Jesus. The older brother did not go in, he chose his ledger over the feast, he chose being right over being home and the question is still open right now for you, are you going to go in?
Let’s go deeper now, because there is a layer beneath both sons that most people never reach and it is the most important layer of all. Both sons had the same problem, they both wanted to father’s things more than they wanted the father himself. The younger son said, give me my share of the estate. He wanted the inheritance, he wanted the wealth, he wanted what the father could provide, he did not want the father’s presence, he wanted the father’s possessions. The older son said, you never gave me even a young goat, he wanted a reward, a payment, a return on his investment of obedience, he did not serve the father out of love, he served the father to accumulate credit and when the credit did not pay out the way he expected, he exploded.
Both sons were using the father, one used him by taking the money and leaving, the other used him by staying and keeping score. One exploited the father’s generosity, the other exploited the father’s goodness. But neither of them simply loved the father for whom he was and this is the question that cuts deepest, do you love God or do you love what God gives you? Do you serve God because he is worthy or because you expect a return? Would you worship God if he never blessed you again? Would you follow God if he’d never answered another prayer? Would you still call God father if he took away the goats and the calves and the rings and the robes and all that was left was God, because that is what the father was offering both sons, not things, himself.
Here is what makes this unfinished ending so brilliant, every other parable Jesus told has a conclusion, the sower reaps, the merchant finds the pearl, the servants are judged, but this parable, the longest, most detailed, most emotionally devastating parable Jesus ever told, has no ending, because Jesus was not describing a past event, he was creating a present choice. The Pharisees were standing at the door in that very moment, the feast was already happening, tax collectors and sinners were eating with Jesus right there, right then and the Pharisees had to decide, will I go in, will I sit at a table with the people I despise, will I accept that their invitation is as valid as mine. You know what the Pharisees chose, within weeks they began plotting to kill Jesus. The older brother did not go in, he chose his ledger over the feast, he chose being right over being home and the question is still open right now for you, are you going to go in?
Let’s go deeper now, because there is a layer beneath both sons that most people never reach and it is the most important layer of all. Both sons had the same problem, they both wanted to father’s things more than they wanted the father himself. The younger son said, give me my share of the estate. He wanted the inheritance, he wanted the wealth, he wanted what the father could provide, he did not want the father’s presence, he wanted the father’s possessions. The older son said, you never gave me even a young goat, he wanted a reward, a payment, a return on his investment of obedience, he did not serve the father out of love, he served the father to accumulate credit and when the credit did not pay out the way he expected, he exploded.
Both sons were using the father, one used him by taking the money and leaving, the other used him by staying and keeping score. One exploited the father’s generosity, the other exploited the father’s goodness. But neither of them simply loved the father for whom he was and this is the question that cuts deepest, do you love God or do you love what God gives you? Do you serve God because he is worthy or because you expect a return? Would you worship God if he never blessed you again? Would you follow God if he’d never answered another prayer? Would you still call God father if he took away the goats and the calves and the rings and the robes and all that was left was God, because that is what the father was offering both sons, not things, himself.
