“The Joy of Forgiveness”

Luke 15: 11-32

Pastor Deb Troester, STHPC, September 21, 2025

Have you ever been really lost? We used to live in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, a prime tourist destination in the Caribbean. Once Joe was out walking, and he came upon a couple of tourists staring at a map, puzzled. “I think we are here,” said one of them, pointing to a spot on the map. “I wish they had street signs,” said the other. They were looking for sign posts, like we have in most of the U.S. What they hadn’t realized is that in Old San Juan, the names of the streets are painted on tiles affixed on the wall of a building at every intersection. Sometimes when we are lost, there are signs all around us, pointing us the right way, but we just don’t see them until they are staring us in the face.

         The Prodigal Son was a bit like that. He didn’t realize how lost he was until he finally read the signs around him in the pigpen, telling him it was time to go home. But I’m getting ahead of the story. Before we continue, let’s recall the context in which Jesus told this parable.

Not just religious people, but “sinners” were following Jesus, even tax collectors, who often collected more than was due and pocketed the rest for themselves. Plus, they were considered unclean, since they worked for the hated Romans, who were Gentiles. The Pharisees and scribes were religious people who meticulously followed all the Jewish religious laws down to the last detail. Jesus noticed their self-righteous attitude, so he told this parable with them in mind.

First, the younger son: rebellious and a bit selfish. Life on the farm, slaving away from dawn to dusk, was not for him. He thought that if he had money, he could really enjoy himself. So he asked for his part of the inheritance. As younger son, that would come to one-third of what his father owned. Incredibly, the father agrees, even though it was as if his son were saying, “I wish you were already dead, so that I could inherit what’s mine.” The father probably had to sell land and livestock to come up with the money. Theologian Justo Gonzalez says that the younger son reminds him of Psalm 14.1: “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’”

He continues, “[the parable] describes those of us who wish to manage our goods, our time, and our entire lives as if they were really and solely ours—as though they did not belong to the God whose existence we deny, if not in so many words, certainly in our management of life and its bounties.”

So, cash in hand, the younger son leaves home. He goes away – far away, and begins to live it up. At first he probably had a good time, but then the money ran out. As Billie Holiday sang, “… Money, you've got lots of friends/Crowding round the door/When you're gone, and spending ends/They don't come round no more.”

Desperate, he finds a job as a pig-keeper. This is really low for a Jewish kid. Jews do not eat pork. Pigs were considered unclean. But there was a famine in the land, and he was hungry. Jesus says, “He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; but no one gave him anything.” Wishing you could eat pig-food is Jesus’ way of saying, “he hit bottom.”

At that point, the lightbulb came on. He was certain his father would never take him back into the family, but he thought maybe his Dad would hire him to work on the farm. The hired hands at least had food to eat. So, he headed home, rehearsing his speech: “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.”’  “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy…” Over and over again he repeated it to himself, hoping against hope that his father would at least hire him, so that he could earn his daily bread, instead of starving to death.

Back home, as apparently he had done every day since his son left, his father was watching for him to return, since he saw him “while he was still far off,” coming down the road. The father ran to him – we imagine him hiking up his long robes to run faster – an undignified act for a land-owner and patriarch. Overjoyed to see his long-lost son, he welcomed him home with a bear-hug and a kiss. The son knelt to beg forgiveness, saying,  

“Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son…” But the father won’t let him finish his speech. Instead he sends the servants to prepare a feast to celebrate his son’s return. For, as he said, “this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!”

A heartwarming story: the younger son has learned his lesson and is restored to his father. Despite the heartache his son had caused he is overjoyed to have him back, safe and sound. It’s time to celebrate!

We like to end the story here, but there is more to it. The older brother – the responsible, hard-working one – has been out in the fields all day, and he hears the sound of music and dancing at the house. He smells the delicious aroma of roast beef, and wonders, “What is going on? Is it somebody’s birthday and I forgot?” Then he sees him – his good-for-nothing little brother who caused the family such heartache. Who made his father’s hair turn gray. Who ran off with a third of their wealth – that brother is back!

He is shocked and angry that his father is throwing a party for the ungrateful little brat. For a fleeting second he dares to think  - maybe invested all that money and became a rich merchant in a far country and had come back to share his wealth? But there’s no camel caravan, no pile of goods – and it dawns on him - that good-for-nothing spent it all on – on who knows what? Drinking, gambling, and prostitutes! And now he has come back to beg for more. The jerk. And Dad never even gave me a goat to celebrate with my friends, and now he kills the fatted calf for my no-good brother! So the older brother refuses to go in and welcome his long-lost sibling

Once again, the father has lost a son. His elder child is cold and distant. Furious. Reaching out in compassion to this son, the dutiful one, he says, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.’”

So the story ends. It is up to the listener to decide: What does the elder brother do? Will he be generous and forgive his younger sibling? Will he join the celebration, even if reluctantly at first? Or will he remain angry and unforgiving?

By now, the Pharisees realize that Jesus is talking to them. They are like the elder brother - unforgiving and judgmental. In hymn-writer Frederick Faber’s words: “But we make God’s love too narrow/By false limits of our own;/And we magnify God’s strictness;/With a zeal He will not own.”

We often identify with the Prodigal Son. We have sinned, but God has forgiven us and welcomed us back into God’s family. But in many ways, we, too, are like the Pharisees – especially us church people. We are not like those billionaires, who devote their lives to getting rich and don’t care about the poor; we tithe, or at least we give something to charity. We follow the Ten Commandments, we don’t do immoral things, we work hard, we’re active in church. Some of us are even pastors! I’m not an older brother, but I am an older sister, in more ways than one, and I recognize myself in this parable.

Of course we should all do what is right - attend church, obey the Ten Commandments, give to worthy causes. But Jesus is saying, “There is one thing more, something even more important than all that: love. Love God and love one another as I have loved you.” Don’t look down on others who are not as “good” as you are. Learn forgiveness and compassion. Forgive those who have hurt you and your family. When someone changes their ways, rejoice, and welcome them back into the fold. Give people the benefit of the doubt.

Just as the father reminded the older brother, God reminds us, “You are always with me and all that is mine is yours.” That is a beautiful phrase. What riches does God, our Father, offer us?  Peace, joy, forgiveness – jewels beyond price – all this is ours, just for the asking. So we can afford to be generous and forgive, as we have been forgiven. One of my Zambian colleagues, Pastor Njapau, once said, “If you are judging someone, you are not loving them.”

Are we like the Prodigal? Are we willing to come back to God, admit our sin, and receive God’s love and forgiveness?

Or are we more like the Pharisees who did not think they needed to be forgiven? They did not realize that by cutting themselves off from the presence of sinners, they had cut themselves off from the presence of God. Because, that is where God goes – to seek and to welcome the lost, the last, and the least, the prodigal sons and daughters of this world. We have a God who loves us desperately. A God who reaches out to us and welcomes us back the moment we are ready to return. All is forgiven. We are accepted as a beloved child of God.

I will conclude with a word from my Lutheran friend, Bishop Mike Rinehart: “The gospel here is that the father loves both of his children. They are both wrong, and yet they are both loved. The message of the gospel is that everyone is wrong, one way or the other, and yet everyone is loved with an everlasting love. True righteousness is a gift of grace, being loved by the Father with an everlasting love.” Amen.

Sermon ©Deborah Troester 2025