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thank you for tuning in to another
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sermon with daryl
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before we jump into today's message i
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want to quickly highlight
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the important work that our friends at
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international justice mission are doing
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around the world to end slavery today in
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micah 6 verse 8 it says
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what does the lord require of you but to
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do justice
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and to love kindness and to walk humbly
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with your god
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the bible speaks so clearly about the
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justice god longs for and really
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how the church is the vehicle that he
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wants to use to bring justice in our
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world
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and especially in this time the question
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of what are we doing to respond to the
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realities of injustice in our own
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neighborhoods
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and around the world is an important
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question for every follower of jesus to
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consider
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international justice mission is one of
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the largest anti-slavery organizations
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in the world
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and they want to help you understand and
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live out biblical justice
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today there are more than 40 million
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people worldwide
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who are trapped in slavery and our
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friends at ijm want to do something
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about it
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with your support so for resources to
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join the fight for justice visit ijm.ca
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djp and there you'll find everything you
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need
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to do your part in ending slavery human
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trafficking and violence that's ijm.ca
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djp now today's message is sort of part
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two of last week's as daryl continues
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his exposition
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of luke chapter 15 and the story of the
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prodigal son
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or as daryl argues a story that should
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be called the prodigal father
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in this sermon darrell beautifully
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expands on the scandalous
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upside down nature of the prodigal
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father's love and what that means for
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the law breaker
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and the law keeper and really quickly i
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want to say a special thanks to jamie
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who helped analyze this sermon
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if you didn't know we have an awesome
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team of volunteers and staff
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who help listen through hundreds of
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daryl's old sermons they take notes
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write summaries find key moments
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allowing us to get it all
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up on daryl's platforms for you to
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access we definitely could not do this
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without volunteers like jamie
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so a big thanks to him and everyone else
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helping out in this way
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okay let's jump in with daryl we have
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today
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the great privilege we had last sunday
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of listening to jesus of nazareth as he
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tells what many people consider to be
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the greatest story ever told
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it is recorded for us in the 15th
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chapter of the gospel according to luke
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the physician
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as i pointed out last sunday many people
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consider luke 15 to be the gospel
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within the gospel and rightly so
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because in this text we have the gospel
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the good news
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in its purest form so to speak
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especially in the parable usually called
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the parable of the prodigal son which we
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will see today
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should be must be called the parable of
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the prodigal
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sons and which we will see
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is even more accurately called the
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parable of the prodigal
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father now
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these stories have redemptive effect
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effect
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in any cultural setting but they really
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come alive
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and do their redemptive work when
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they're heard in the context in which
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jesus first spoke them
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in the middle eastern cultural context
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if you were able would you please stand
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for the reading
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of really good good news
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luke 15 verses 1 to 2 and then verses 11
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through 32 hear the word of god
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now all the tax collectors and sinners
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were coming
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near jesus to listen to him
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both the pharisees and the scribes began
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to grumble
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saying this man receives sinners and
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eats with them
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[Music]
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jesus said to them a man had two sons
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the younger of them said to his father
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father give me the share
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of the estate that falls to me so he
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divided his wealth between them
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and not many days later the younger son
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gathered together
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everything and went on a journey into a
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distant country and there he squandered
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his estate with loose living
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now when he had spent everything a
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severe famine occurred in that country
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and he began to impoverished so he went
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and hired himself
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out to one of the citizens of that
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country and he sent him
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into his fields to feed swine he would
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have gladly filled his stomach with the
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pods that the swine were eating
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and no one was giving him anything to
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eat
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but when he came to his senses he said
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how many of my father's hired men have
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more than enough bread and i'm dying
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here with hunger
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i will get up go to my father and i will
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say to him
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father i have sinned against heaven and
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in your sight i'm no longer worthy to be
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called your son
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make me as one of your hired men
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so he got up and came to his father
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but while he was still a long way off
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his
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father saw him and felt compassion for
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him
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and ran and embraced him and kissed him
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and the son said to him father i've
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sinned against heaven and in your sight
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i'm no longer worthy to be called your
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son
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but the father said to his slaves
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quickly bring out the best robe and put
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it on him
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put a ring on his hand and sandals on
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his feet and
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bring the fattened calf kill it and let
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us eat and celebrate
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for this son of mine was dead has come
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to life again he was lost and has
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been found and they began to celebrate
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now his older brother was in the field
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and when he came and approached the
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house he heard music and dancing
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he summoned one of the servants and
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began inquiring what these things could
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be
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the servant said to him your brother has
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come
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your father has killed the fattened calf
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because he received him back safe and
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sound
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but he became angry and was not willing
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to go in
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and his father came out and began
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pleading with him
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but he answered and said to his father
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look
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for so many years i've been serving you
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i've never neglected a command of yours
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yet you had never given me a young goat
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so that i might celebrate with my
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friends
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but when this son of yours comes who has
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devoured your wealth with prostitutes
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you kill the fat fattened calf for him
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and the father said to him son
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you've always been with me and all that
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is mine is yours
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we had to celebrate and rejoice for this
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brother
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of yours was dead and has begun to live
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and was lost and has been found
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the word of the lord
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[Music]
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living god we believe that you enabled
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luke
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to accurately write down these words of
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the lord jesus
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and i pray now in your mercy and grace
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that you would
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cause us to enter into the reality of
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which these words speak
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as never before for we pray it in jesus
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name
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amen
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as i said last sunday whenever we read
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and reflect on the parables in luke 15
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we need to keep two truths in mind two
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truths
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first jesus told these stories
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in response to accusations against him
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by scribes and pharisees together
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scribes and pharisees are the
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self-appointed guardians of the
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reputation of
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israel israel's law and israel's god
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they were zealous to protect the name
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of the holy god a most worthy ambition
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but as far as they were concerned jesus
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of nazareth was bringing shame
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on that name and thereby putting
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israel at the risk of losing god's
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blessing
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you see sinners and tax collectors were
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flocking to jesus
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they could tell there was something
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different about this rabbi they wanted
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to be near him
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and scandal of scandals jesus wanted to
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be near them
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be near is putting it mildly jesus
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received
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them the word means welcome them as
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brothers and sisters jesus was making
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these sinners and tax collectors members
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of his
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own family ghastly
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and jesus was eating with them double
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ghastly in the middle eastern culture to
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eat a meal with another person
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is almost a sacramental act it's an act
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signifying
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total unreserved acceptance
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jesus was accepting sinners and tax
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collectors just as they are
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without reservation and the scribes and
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pharisees
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are horrified they level the accusation
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this man
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welcomes sinners and eats with them they
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say it out of disgust
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and anger because in their mind this
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behavior
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is shameful and through it jesus is
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shaming the name of israel and
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israel's law and jesus is shaming the
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name of israel's god shame on you jesus
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of nazareth
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jesus responds to this accusation by
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telling the stories in luke 15.
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the second fact to keep in mind when we
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are reading and reflecting on the
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stories is even more important
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through these stories jesus is painting
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a portrait
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a portrait of the living god he's
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painting a picture
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of this holy god whose reputation
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scribes and pharisees are so zealous to
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protect
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through the interaction of the shepherd
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with his sheep the woman with her coin
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and the father with his sons jesus is
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painting a picture
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of who this holy god is and what this
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holy god is like
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and we can trust the portrait
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for the painter is the only begotten of
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the father
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the storyteller is the one who knows the
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father's heart
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he has lived in that heart from all
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eternity and he comes
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to us out of that heart
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now as we begin to see last sunday when
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jesus
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tells these stories opening up the holy
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one's heart
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especially in the parable of the
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prodigal of the two sons he only
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heightens the scandal
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he makes things worse for himself
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precipitating a crisis
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that leads to his crucifixion
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luke 15 verse 11 jesus says
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there was a certain man who had two sons
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two sons
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this tells us that we are not going to
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understand the message of this whole
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story
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until we consider the interaction
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between the father
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and the older son now before we do that
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though
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let me quickly review the interaction
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between the father and the
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younger son the younger son
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breaks his father's heart he breaks his
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father's heart
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by requesting his share of the family
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inheritance before
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his father dies now in that culture
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that's tantamount to wishing the father
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dies
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the father surprisingly grants the
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request
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the father gives the son one third of
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the family wealth
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the son turns his inheritance into cash
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heads off to the far country
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where he squanders everything
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one third of the family inheritance
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now fortunately for him a famine hits
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that country
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and he is in need things become so bad
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for him that he ends up feeding the pigs
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and longing to eat what the pigs are
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eating
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jesus says verse 17 that the younger son
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finally
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comes to his senses he comes to his
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senses because he remembers how
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good his father is he remembers that his
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father
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is so generous even to his hired men
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so the younger son decides to go home
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now as i tried to show you last sunday
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that would involve a big gamble a huge
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risk for he knows all too well what is
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awaiting him
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when he crosses into the village gates
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he knows he's going to face the taunting
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and humiliation by the villagers he
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knows he's going to face the hostility
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and furor of the village
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elders he knows he's going to face the
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scorn of the younger brother
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and he expects the anger and rejection
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of his father
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but since he's desperate he's going to
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endure all of that
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he heads home hoping that he might be
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treated as one of the father's
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hired men as we pointed out last week
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the son has
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a speech and in the speech there are
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three parts and the third part is
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verse 19 make me as one of your
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hired men that would be grace enough for
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this young man
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he realizes that he has sinned against
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god and against his father he realizes
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he has no claim to sonship
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he realizes the father has every right
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to refuse to see him when he comes home
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when he arrives at the village gates he
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is overwhelmed by a series
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of incredible surprises
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everything i underscore that word
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everything again
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everything everything how much of it
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everything
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everything that the father does in
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relationship to the younger son
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is culturally unexpected everything is
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unexpected
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and it is culturally scandalous
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the father has been waiting longing for
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his son to come home
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when the father sees the son he runs
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toward him
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that's a shameful act for a man of his
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age and stature
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the father then embraces the son while
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the son is still in his filthy rags
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another shameful act and then the father
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kisses the son
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while the son is still dirty he kisses
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the son
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another shameful act this is all
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scandalous behavior
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and in all of that it's the father's way
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of transferring the
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shame that rests on his younger son unto
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himself
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and now whatever it was that the
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villagers
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the elders and the older son wanted to
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do to the younger son
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they must now do to the father
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the surprises continue verse 22
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the father will not listen to the
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younger son
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request to be treated as a hired man
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indeed the father orders the servants to
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put a robe
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on him it's the father's robe it's the
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best robe to put a ring on his finger
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it's the signet ring the symbol of the
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father's authority
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to put shoes on his feet because he's a
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son and not a slave
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and to kill the fattened calf the
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gesture of hospitality
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given to only the most honored of guests
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let us have a party to celebrate the
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homecoming
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of my son in the first half of the
00:15:38
parable
00:15:39
jesus tells scribes and pharisees who
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are so zealous
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about the reputation of god
00:15:46
that god embraces repentant sinners
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and parties with them the holy one risks
00:15:54
the divine reputation in order to
00:15:57
welcome home
00:15:58
lost sons and daughters which is why i
00:16:01
suggest we call the parable the prodigal
00:16:04
father
00:16:06
everything the father does is culturally
00:16:08
unexpected
00:16:10
and scandalous jesus is revealing
00:16:13
a waiting suffering running
00:16:17
sinner embracing sinner kissing
00:16:20
sinner dressing shame taking on
00:16:23
father okay let us now then move into
00:16:28
the interaction between the father and
00:16:29
the
00:16:30
older son luke 15 verse 25
00:16:33
now his older son was in the field
00:16:37
the word older hears the word
00:16:39
presbyteros from which
00:16:40
presbyterians get their name and as dale
00:16:43
bruner likes to point out when talking
00:16:45
about this parable
00:16:46
this means in the second half the
00:16:47
parable that god even loves
00:16:49
presbyterians
00:16:54
now the older son in this parable i
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think represents
00:16:58
most of us in this room we've not run
00:17:01
off to the far country
00:17:04
at least not very far we've not
00:17:06
squandered our wealth in loose living
00:17:10
we have sought to be faithful and
00:17:12
obedient
00:17:13
we've tried to carry out our duties
00:17:15
someone has said
00:17:16
that the older son is the one who only
00:17:19
had to be told
00:17:20
once to make his bed and to put the
00:17:22
dishes in the dishwasher
00:17:25
the older son never needed to be
00:17:26
reminded to do his homework or to write
00:17:28
a thank you note to his grandmother
00:17:32
now what we discover in the second half
00:17:35
of jesus parable
00:17:37
is that although the older son never
00:17:40
goes
00:17:40
to the far country he
00:17:43
nevertheless breaks his father's heart
00:17:48
we discover therefore that there are two
00:17:50
kinds of sinners
00:17:52
there are law breakers and there are law
00:17:55
keepers
00:17:57
and both of them stand in need of grace
00:18:02
the older son comes from the field where
00:18:03
he's been dutifully carrying out his
00:18:05
responsibilities
00:18:06
he hears music and dancing coming from
00:18:09
his father's house
00:18:10
and his first reaction is whoa like
00:18:13
totally
00:18:14
my father is happy he's been so sad
00:18:16
since my younger brother's been gone
00:18:18
and he's happy he's having a party i
00:18:20
must go to my father's house and
00:18:21
discover what this
00:18:22
is and enter into the joy right
00:18:26
no that's not his first response his
00:18:29
first response is
00:18:30
suspicion boy there's something wrong
00:18:33
with this picture isn't there
00:18:35
he calls one of the boys who's playing
00:18:37
in the field outside the house and he
00:18:39
asks the boy what's going on and the boy
00:18:40
tells him
00:18:42
the good news or what should have been
00:18:43
good news verse 27
00:18:45
your brother has come home and your
00:18:47
father has killed the fattened calf
00:18:49
because he received him back safe and
00:18:51
sound then jesus says
00:18:52
verse 28 the older son became very angry
00:18:57
angry why angry because
00:19:01
the younger son has shamed the name of
00:19:04
the father
00:19:05
the name of the village and he is not
00:19:08
being
00:19:08
punished he's not being made to measure
00:19:12
up
00:19:14
you see for scribes and pharisees
00:19:17
repentance without which anyone can be
00:19:19
saved
00:19:20
repentance means conformity to the rules
00:19:25
you can come back into the fold if and
00:19:28
when
00:19:29
you measure up to the regulations
00:19:32
the son comes home he's welcomed into
00:19:35
the father's house before he measures up
00:19:37
he's welcomed into the father's house
00:19:39
without even promising to measure up
00:19:43
jesus however knows a different
00:19:45
understanding of repentance for jesus
00:19:48
repentance means coming to one's senses
00:19:51
repentance means recognizing that i've
00:19:54
sinned against heaven and and in god's
00:19:57
sight
00:19:57
repentance means coming home and simply
00:20:00
banking on the mercy and grace of god
00:20:03
you see the older son is so angry
00:20:07
because the father himself is
00:20:10
upsetting the son's understanding of
00:20:13
religion and righteousness
00:20:17
but what makes the son so angry is that
00:20:20
the father himself
00:20:21
brings further shame on his own
00:20:24
name how does he do this the music and
00:20:28
the dancing the killing of the fattened
00:20:29
calf it's all the father's doing it's
00:20:31
all for the younger son
00:20:33
and it's too much for the sun to handle
00:20:35
so says jesus verse 28
00:20:37
the older son was not willing to go
00:20:40
in or as other virgins have it the older
00:20:43
son
00:20:43
refused to go into the house
00:20:46
underline that phrase unwilling to go
00:20:50
in underlie the phrase refused to go in
00:20:53
why underlining why underlining well get
00:20:56
this get this
00:20:59
in refusing to go into the house
00:21:02
the older son who is so concerned for
00:21:05
the father's reputation
00:21:07
shames his father
00:21:12
he's very concerned about the father's
00:21:14
reputation yet in staying outside and
00:21:17
not going in
00:21:18
he shames his father why does this shame
00:21:20
his father here again i'm indebted to
00:21:22
the work of dr kenneth bailey
00:21:24
he points out that in the middle east
00:21:26
the children are expected to be present
00:21:29
at a party thrown in honor of a guest
00:21:34
i experienced that in the philippines
00:21:35
when sharon and i would go to someone's
00:21:37
home
00:21:38
the key members of the family were
00:21:39
obligated to be there even if they
00:21:41
didn't want to be there
00:21:42
i remember one sunday easter sunday
00:21:45
morning when i preached in seoul korea
00:21:46
afterwards the father the pastor
00:21:50
threw a dinner for me and all four of
00:21:51
his sons had to show up there
00:21:53
two of whom i knew didn't really want to
00:21:54
be there
00:21:57
the oldest son in particular is expected
00:21:59
to move among the guests
00:22:01
offering compliments making sure
00:22:03
everybody has enough to eat
00:22:05
in short the older son is to serve as
00:22:07
the host
00:22:09
by refusing to come into the house the
00:22:12
older son
00:22:13
shames his father in the presence of the
00:22:16
whole village who's been invited to the
00:22:17
party
00:22:19
furthermore the oldest son is expected
00:22:22
to serve
00:22:22
the honored guest the meal this is a
00:22:26
symbolic
00:22:26
way by which the father says you are
00:22:29
such an
00:22:30
important guest that my oldest son
00:22:33
is going to serve you no wonder the
00:22:36
older son doesn't want to go in the
00:22:37
house
00:22:38
the father has made the younger son the
00:22:40
honored guest and as
00:22:41
he's expected the older son is expected
00:22:43
to come
00:22:44
and serve his brother my goodness
00:22:49
there's more to the cultural background
00:22:51
the older son was expected to come and
00:22:53
embrace
00:22:54
the honored guest and give the honored
00:22:56
guest all kinds of compliments
00:22:59
he refuses thereby shaming his father
00:23:04
but here's the most shameful act of all
00:23:07
if a son disagrees with his father
00:23:10
he's never to reveal it publicly
00:23:15
those of you from asian cultures or
00:23:18
middle eastern cultures you know what
00:23:19
i'm saying right
00:23:20
you might disagree with your parents but
00:23:22
you never ever
00:23:23
express that publicly the older son
00:23:27
should have entered the party carried
00:23:28
out his duties and then after everybody
00:23:30
left
00:23:31
he could then disagree with his father
00:23:33
by staying outside
00:23:34
the older son has publicly disobeyed his
00:23:38
father he has publicly shamed his father
00:23:42
because the father has invited the whole
00:23:43
village all the dignitaries
00:23:46
all the important people of the village
00:23:48
are there and the older son now has
00:23:50
shamed his father in front of them all
00:23:53
you can see then that the older son
00:23:56
breaks his father's heart perhaps at
00:24:00
even deeper level than the younger son
00:24:02
did
00:24:04
now jesus teaches this parable to reveal
00:24:07
the heart of the holy god
00:24:09
so how does the father in this parable
00:24:12
now
00:24:12
respond to all this insulting behavior
00:24:16
ready just as he did
00:24:19
in his interaction with the younger son
00:24:23
unexpectantly
00:24:24
and scandalously everyone expects the
00:24:27
father to ignore his son
00:24:29
or in some way to punish him for his
00:24:32
public instant incident
00:24:33
insolence but what is the father
00:24:36
portrayed by jesus do
00:24:37
verse 28 the father came out
00:24:42
the father came out of the house the son
00:24:45
refuses to go in and so the father goes
00:24:49
out for the second time that day
00:24:52
the father goes out of the house and
00:24:54
thereby publicly
00:24:56
humiliates himself and he goes out not
00:24:59
to condemn the older son
00:25:01
but now to take all the shame that was
00:25:04
resting on the older son
00:25:05
upon himself
00:25:09
in the first half of the story we
00:25:11
discovered that the father takes on the
00:25:13
shame
00:25:14
of law breaking sinners in the second
00:25:17
half
00:25:17
we discover the father takes on the
00:25:19
shame of law keeping
00:25:21
sinners the father loves both the father
00:25:24
is gracious to sinners and tax
00:25:25
collectors and
00:25:26
scribes and pharisees what a picture of
00:25:29
the holy god jesus is painting
00:25:32
the father goes out to the older son he
00:25:35
leaves the party
00:25:37
and pleads with his son to see life from
00:25:40
the father's perspective
00:25:42
from the perspective of the father's
00:25:43
heart it's the same thing god the father
00:25:46
is doing with us
00:25:47
please won't you see human beings from
00:25:49
the perspective of my heart
00:25:54
i like how an 11th century scholar
00:25:56
comments on this part of the story he
00:25:58
writes
00:25:59
look at the heart of this father it's
00:26:01
full of tenderness and love
00:26:03
in that he left the banquet the guest
00:26:05
and his younger son to plead with his
00:26:06
older son to come in
00:26:08
it is as if the father's own joy is
00:26:11
incomplete as long as one of his
00:26:12
children is grieving
00:26:15
now how does the older son respond to
00:26:18
this scandalous love of his father
00:26:20
the younger son is humbled by it and
00:26:22
comes home
00:26:24
what does the older son do what does the
00:26:26
older son do
00:26:27
ready
00:26:31
he further insults his father
00:26:36
in response to this love he insults his
00:26:39
father even more
00:26:42
we see this in his speech remember the
00:26:44
younger son had a speech
00:26:45
the older son has a speech it's recorded
00:26:48
in verses 29
00:26:49
and 30. look at it carefully 29-30
00:26:53
it reveals how far the older son has
00:26:57
drifted from his father's house
00:26:58
while never leaving the house listen
00:27:02
look all these years i've been serving
00:27:05
you
00:27:05
and never disobeyed your orders yet you
00:27:07
never gave me even a young goat so i
00:27:09
could celebrate with my friends
00:27:11
but when this son of yours who has
00:27:12
squandered your property with
00:27:14
prostitutes comes home
00:27:15
you kill the fattened calf for him all
00:27:17
those words stab
00:27:18
the father's heart notice how the older
00:27:21
son begins his speech
00:27:24
look boy
00:27:28
there's no honor there there's no
00:27:30
honorific title
00:27:31
you know when when the younger son was
00:27:33
leaving his father at least he had the
00:27:35
decency to say
00:27:36
father not the older son just look
00:27:41
as kenneth bailey says the younger son
00:27:45
was a rebel and he knew it the older son
00:27:48
is a rebel
00:27:49
and he doesn't know it imagine the
00:27:52
father comes out to plead with him and
00:27:54
all he gets from his son is
00:27:56
look now there's more to the insult
00:28:00
the older son reveals that the father
00:28:03
and the father's friends are not his
00:28:06
friends
00:28:07
you never gave me a goat to celebrate
00:28:09
with my friends
00:28:13
wait a minute your friends
00:28:16
uh like the whole family is here
00:28:19
and the whole village is here
00:28:23
the older son is revealing how far he
00:28:25
has strayed that
00:28:26
he's really not part of the family and
00:28:28
not part of the village
00:28:31
so the arab scholar ibrahim saeeds
00:28:34
writes this
00:28:35
the older son is no better than the
00:28:36
prodigal son who took his portion and
00:28:38
traveled into the far country
00:28:40
the difference between them is that the
00:28:42
prodigal son was an
00:28:44
honorable sinner and that he was
00:28:46
perfectly open to his father
00:28:48
but the elder brother was a hypocritical
00:28:50
sinner because he hid his feelings in
00:28:52
his heart
00:28:52
he remained in the house all the while
00:28:54
hating his father there's more
00:28:59
the older son now attacks his brother
00:29:02
and implicitly attacks the father
00:29:04
he accuses the younger son of wasting
00:29:06
all the wealth on prostitutes something
00:29:08
he could only deduce
00:29:10
only an assumption and he implicitly
00:29:13
then
00:29:13
calls into question the father's
00:29:14
intelligence like
00:29:16
like dad don't you get it the kid's a
00:29:19
loser he's always been a loser
00:29:21
he doesn't love you because if he loved
00:29:23
you he would have kept some of that
00:29:24
wealth so he could take care of you when
00:29:26
you get old
00:29:27
instead he squanders your wealth so the
00:29:29
son is insulting the father's ability to
00:29:31
understand reality
00:29:33
but the most insulting thing of all
00:29:37
is the last line of his speech verse 29
00:29:41
all these years i have served you
00:29:45
and i have never disobeyed your orders
00:29:49
do you hear him all these years i've
00:29:52
served you i've never disobeyed your
00:29:54
orders all these years i've served you
00:29:56
i've never disobeyed your orders he is
00:29:58
saying that he thinks
00:29:59
the relationship with the father is
00:30:01
based on keeping the rules
00:30:03
as long as he kept the rules he had a
00:30:04
relationship but what kind of
00:30:06
relationship is that that's not father
00:30:08
son that's master slave
00:30:11
do you see the tragedy here all those
00:30:14
years the older son
00:30:15
missed the point he never went to the
00:30:18
far country but he
00:30:19
missed the point as many of us older
00:30:22
sons and daughters do
00:30:25
the younger son comes home with a speech
00:30:27
as we pointed out
00:30:28
and remember that it has three parts and
00:30:31
the third part
00:30:32
is anyone remember make me
00:30:36
one of your hired men that's the last
00:30:39
thing this
00:30:40
younger son wants today say make me one
00:30:43
of your
00:30:44
hired men he thought that he could get
00:30:46
in good standing with the father by
00:30:48
doing some things by earning his way in
00:30:51
he discovers it's all a matter of grace
00:30:55
what a tragedy the older son
00:30:58
has been living the third part of the
00:31:01
younger son's speech
00:31:03
all his life
00:31:08
he stayed home never went to the far
00:31:10
country but he never knew the father's
00:31:12
heart the father wants children
00:31:16
not workers not slaves
00:31:20
everything the older son does wounds
00:31:23
and insults his father now how does the
00:31:26
father portrayed by jesus respond to
00:31:28
this wounding and
00:31:29
insulting ready you guessed it
00:31:34
scandalously unexpectedly again everyone
00:31:37
in that culture
00:31:38
expects the father to be furious but
00:31:40
instead
00:31:41
the father again humiliates himself
00:31:44
before the village
00:31:45
the father could have demanded that his
00:31:46
son do what he has to do but what would
00:31:48
that gain
00:31:49
so the father again pleads with the
00:31:52
older son verse 31
00:31:54
my son says the father this word by the
00:31:56
way translated son
00:31:57
is a very tender word it should be
00:32:00
better translated my child
00:32:02
my child it's more tender than the word
00:32:05
the father uses of the younger son
00:32:07
more tender towards the older son i
00:32:09
think it's because older brothers and
00:32:10
sisters
00:32:11
need greater assurance of their
00:32:13
belovedness
00:32:15
my child the father continues verse 31
00:32:18
you're always with me and everything i
00:32:20
have is yours
00:32:21
always and everything the father assures
00:32:24
the older son of his status
00:32:26
and of his rights the homecoming of the
00:32:28
younger son doesn't threaten the status
00:32:30
of the older son
00:32:32
god the father is full of grace and when
00:32:34
he gives grace to someone else he's not
00:32:36
taking it from
00:32:37
us there's plenty of grace to go around
00:32:40
for younger and older sons and daughters
00:32:43
then the father opens his heart to his
00:32:46
son verse 32
00:32:48
but we had to celebrate and be glad
00:32:51
for this brother of yours was dead and
00:32:54
is alive
00:32:55
he was lost and he he's come home
00:32:58
here jesus reveals this pleading father
00:33:01
the father who pleads
00:33:03
for his children to enter into the joy
00:33:06
he has in being gracious to sinners
00:33:11
well if the message to the younger son
00:33:13
is come home
00:33:15
the message to the older son is come in
00:33:20
come in to the father's heart you can be
00:33:24
at home
00:33:24
and not come into his heart all those
00:33:28
years the older son thought that he was
00:33:29
in the father's house because he was so
00:33:31
good
00:33:32
and so faithful and so obedient so when
00:33:34
the younger son comes home and doesn't
00:33:36
have to measure up first
00:33:38
the older brother is is furious he's
00:33:40
angry
00:33:41
you see scribes and pharisees think that
00:33:44
their relationship with god is based
00:33:46
upon
00:33:47
performance and character they therefore
00:33:50
demand
00:33:51
that sinners and tax collectors relate
00:33:53
on the same basis
00:33:55
performance and character whenever you
00:33:58
or i
00:33:59
think that we are in the family of god
00:34:01
in the kingdom of god
00:34:03
because we earned it we will demand that
00:34:06
others
00:34:06
earned it but we did not earn it
00:34:10
listen to the pleading father my child
00:34:14
my child
00:34:14
thank you for your service really thank
00:34:17
you for your diligence
00:34:19
really thank you for all of your driving
00:34:21
your desire to be
00:34:23
holy thank you but that is not why
00:34:25
you're in my family
00:34:28
you're in my family because i love you
00:34:32
there is no other reason
00:34:38
in his classic book dynamics of
00:34:39
spiritual life
00:34:41
richard lovelace observes how this older
00:34:42
brother syndrome is so rampant in the
00:34:44
church
00:34:45
lovelace writes many professing
00:34:47
christians draw their assurance of
00:34:48
acceptance with god from their sincerity
00:34:52
their past experience of conversion
00:34:54
their recent religious performance
00:34:57
or the relative infrequency of their
00:35:00
conscious willful disobedience
00:35:02
i'm not as bad as the others few know
00:35:06
enough to start each day with a thorough
00:35:08
going stand upon luther's platform
00:35:10
you are accepted looking outward in
00:35:13
faith and claiming the holy alien
00:35:15
righteousness
00:35:16
of christ as the only ground of
00:35:17
acceptance
00:35:19
i am in the family of god for only one
00:35:22
reason
00:35:24
only one the father has come out to me
00:35:27
and
00:35:27
in his only begotten son taken on my
00:35:30
shame and welcomed me in scandalous love
00:35:33
there is no other reason why i'm here
00:35:39
so what are we going to do in response
00:35:42
to jesus parable
00:35:45
younger brothers and sisters you law
00:35:48
keepers
00:35:50
come home it's safe
00:35:53
come on home the father is waiting and
00:35:56
he will embrace you with scandalous love
00:36:00
older brothers and sisters you law
00:36:03
keepers
00:36:04
come in come on in
00:36:08
come into the father's heart let the
00:36:10
father love you just because he loves
00:36:11
you
00:36:12
let the father be the father
00:36:18
i'm sure you recognize that this parable
00:36:21
in ends in thin air so to speak there's
00:36:24
no conclusion to it has that ever
00:36:26
troubled you when you've read that
00:36:28
we aren't we aren't told what the older
00:36:30
brother does
00:36:31
in response to this scandalous love so
00:36:35
how should the parable end
00:36:39
in light of the cultural setting there
00:36:40
are really only two options as the
00:36:42
ending for the parable
00:36:44
the first is that the older son humbles
00:36:46
himself
00:36:47
he recognizes that he has strayed from
00:36:50
the father's heart
00:36:51
he confesses that and he asks for the
00:36:53
father to just
00:36:54
bring him further in and he just he
00:36:56
melts
00:36:57
and he gives in to the love of god the
00:37:00
other possible ending
00:37:02
finds the older son hardening his heart
00:37:06
in this ending the older son decides
00:37:09
that he now must vindicate
00:37:13
the name of the village the family and
00:37:16
the father
00:37:18
which the father has shamed he now
00:37:21
must vindicate the name of the father
00:37:25
so kenneth bailey cautiously speculates
00:37:29
is this not the end of the parable
00:37:32
so the older son in great anger beat
00:37:36
his father
00:37:40
i tried that on the ifagao people of
00:37:43
northern philippines i was there for a
00:37:44
conference we were dedicating a new
00:37:47
translation of the new testament which
00:37:48
wycliffe bible translators had done
00:37:50
they've asked me to come and i did this
00:37:52
parable and i stopped before telling you
00:37:54
what kenneth bailey had to say
00:37:56
and i asked there were seven elders
00:37:57
sitting in the front row and i asked
00:37:58
them how would you in your village
00:38:00
conclude this parable
00:38:02
they wouldn't answer the translator
00:38:05
uh len newell of wycliffe asked them
00:38:08
can you give an answer they wouldn't
00:38:09
answer finally len newell did a
00:38:12
culturally inappropriate thing he said
00:38:16
to the lead
00:38:16
elder francis he said francis if you
00:38:18
don't answer you're going to shame
00:38:19
reverend johnson
00:38:25
francis looked down wouldn't answer
00:38:29
len newell said francis you have to
00:38:30
answer so he stood up
00:38:32
head down holding his stick and he
00:38:35
mumbled something
00:38:36
landul says what did you say he mumbled
00:38:38
some more he says i can't hear you
00:38:40
and then he spoke up and francis took
00:38:42
his stick he said the father
00:38:43
would take the older son would take a
00:38:45
stick and he would beat his father
00:38:47
death
00:38:51
is that not what the scribes and
00:38:53
pharisees
00:38:54
end up doing they could not
00:38:58
handle jesus portrait of the holy
00:39:02
god so in the name of holiness
00:39:07
they kill the holy one's
00:39:09
self-manifestation
00:39:11
the accusation this man welcomes
00:39:15
sinners and eats with him becomes the
00:39:17
cry crucify him crucify him crucify him
00:39:19
and they did they kill the embodiment of
00:39:22
the love of god
00:39:26
and then from the cross
00:39:30
one more scandalous word
00:39:36
father forgive them they
00:39:42
do not know what they're doing
00:39:56
you
