Imago Dei Anglican Church – Jon Kenerson
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THE STORY: LUKE 15
I.
II.
III.
The Unthinkable Context
A. Jesus is allowing tax collectors and sinners to not only congregate with him, but he is
dining with them – this is an intimate gesture in that culture. If you didn’t condone
their behavior you didn’t associate with them and certainly wouldn’t dine with them.
B. IN RESPONSE to the Pharisees’ grumbling about his associating with the socially
dirty he responds with three parables: The lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost sons.
C. There are so many cultural nuances to these stories that I believe it is worth
highlighting
D. In the lost sheep only the hired hands sought lost sheep and they would often be
resentful about it because it could take days. They had to be carried, because the
sheep would freeze in fear. Jesus shows himself as the good shepherd who WITH
JOY searches out the lost sheep (the sinners) in contrast to the hired hands (the
Pharisees).
E. In the lost coin he changes the lost item to an inanimate object that really can’t take
any responsibility for being found. The Pharisees would have been supremely
offended at a man (Jesus) using a woman to symbolize himself in the parable. They
would have been even more offended if they realized he was referring to God.
The Unthinkable Demand
A. This is equivalent to saying “I wish you were dead”
B. Dr. Kenneth Bailey who has lived within and studied middle-eastern culture for
decades says he has only heard of this happening twice. In the first case the son was
chased out of his home by his furious father. In the second an Oriental father who
was in good health, died within three months. According to his widow who related
the account to Dr. Bailey it was from a broken heart.
The Unthinkable Response
A. In an honor/shame culture the father does the unthinkable and responds to the
son’s request. He would have been expected to shame him into submission and
publicly reject him insulating himself from the pain.
B. Dividing an estate was not unheard of, but dispersion of it was.
C. Although his father’s response is strange, the community surely has shunned the son
– so he cashes in and leaves.
D. Why do you think the son makes this demand? He has longings that are unsatisfied.
AN ASIDE ON LONGINGS
IV.
Nature of Longing – Affection - Desire
A. What comes to mind when I say the following words: passion, desire, longing,
affection, drive, craving, and yearning?
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V.
VI.
VII.
B. The feelings will reveal what kind of Christian we will become. If we feel
embarrassed, shameful, and guilty this arises from a Puritanical attitude that views all
pleasure as sinful. We need a higher vision.
We were created for pleasure
A. The first question of Westminster Catechism states, “What is the chief and highest
end of humanity? Humanity’s chief and highest end is to glorify God and fully to
enjoy him forever.”
B. God invented pleasure and created us for it. Satan can only offer counterfeits. We
have become so accustomed to the inferior pleasures that Satan offers that we have
forgotten that a higher and nobler plane of pleasure exists.
C. “It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We
are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when
infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies
in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the
sea. We are far too easily pleased.” –C.S. Lewis
D. “If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most
probable explanation is that we were made for another world.” – C.S. Lewis
“Seven Longings of the Human Heart” book by Mike Bickle
A. Longing to be enjoyed by God
B. Longing for fascination
C. Longing for beauty
D. Longing for greatness
E. Longing for intimacy without shame
F. Longing to be wholehearted
G. Longing to make a deep and lasting impact
We will be satisfied
A. We cannot repent of our longings, we must repent of seeking to satisfy them in ways
that are beneath our dignity as image bearers of the uncreated God.
B. Longing must be and will be satisfied, either temporarily through the inferior
pleasures of this world or through the superior pleasures of God.
C. We can only overcome inferior pleasure with superior pleasure
D. The most pleasurable experience possible is God revealing God to the human heart.
This is the role of spiritual disciplines to position ourselves in a place to receive the
“kiss of God”.
E. So in the story we see a son pursuing inferior pleasures through “reckless living” –
we can only assume that he is pursuing the seven longings because these are truly
universal longings and transcend cultures and conventions.
BACK TO THE STORY
VIII.
The Unexpected Discovery
A. The son pursues his pleasure, but finds that his resources run out.
B. Then famine…this is a terrifying word in that culture and would have certainly
stirred emotion.
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IX.
X.
C. When asking for a job the reply “Take care of my pigs” was the polite way of saying
“Thanks, but no thanks” – but he stoops to this level which is all the more
despicable because of his Jewishness – pigs still are considered untouchable.
D. Pigs don’t eat Carob pods – there is no nutritional value – but the famine is so bad
they are eating them
E. The son then “comes to his senses” or literally “returned to himself” which would
have stood out with the common phrase “returned to God”. This connotes a desire
to SAVE HIMSELF.
F. He wants to work his way back into the good graces of the Father. The only way he
could think this is possible is because His father gave him the inheritance in the first
place – no other middle eastern Father would let his son return to the same town.
“He is dead to me”.
The Unexpected Response
A. Picture the return. Someone in the fields sees him coming and runs back into the
town – word spreads quickly. Everyone comes out to watch the son sulk back into
town with faces of scorn and distain – this would be their expected solidarity with
the father.
B. As we observe the response of the father I would like you to connect with how this
tells the story of Jesus coming to us. They very story he’s relating to the Pharisees.
C. The Father runs to the son with his robes pulled up (a profoundly humiliating
gesture in that culture similar to running in his underwear in our culture). He deflects
the attention of shame from his son to himself.
D. “While he was a long way off he saw him and felt compassion and ran and embraced
him and kissed him” Christ saw our helpless condition from the comforts of heaven
with his father and had compassion on us. He ran to us like the father bearing our
shame and exposing his own nakedness on the cross by coming down from heaven
and embraced us by taking on our human flesh forever. He kissed us and showed us
the depth of his passion through his joyful surrender to the cross.
1. “In the (literal) heavens he (the Father) has set a tent (human body)
for the sun (Jesus), which comes out (the incarnation) like a (literal)
bridegroom from his wedding canopy (heavenly throne), and like a
strong man (the anointed one) runs its course (embraced his cross)
with joy (He has anointed me with the oil of gladness, Ps. 45:7, also a
bridal Psalm).” Psalm 19:4-5
The Unexpected Restoration and Fulfillment of The Son’s Longings
A. Showers him with kisses
1. Restoration of intimacy
B. Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him.
1. Restoration of dignity
2. To be in rags was humiliating.
C. And put a ring upon his hand
1. Restoration of authority and resources
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XI.
2. The ring was the “signature” of the bank account
D. And shoes upon his feet
1. Restoration of freedom and sonship
2. Only the sons wore sandals in that culture, servants would be barefoot
E. Bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us celebrate
1. Restoration of joy and true pleasure
2. These was likewise a death sacrifice that opened our way to come home.
The Unexpected Extension
A. This is what Christ came to do for you.
B. We need to pursue true pleasure which is only found in the house of the Father.
C. Repent of pursuing inferior pleasures in “far off countries”
D. Lay down our thinking that we can earn our way back into the father’s house after
our treacherous, heartbreaking, disrespectful actions and attitudes have betrayed our
utter lostness.
E. We must come confident and leaning on grace.
F. In each of the three parables Jesus declares his responsibility is to find and restore
his people, our responsibility—our repentance—is “accepting being found.”
1. Accept the unthinkable context – Christ dines with sinners like you
2. Own your unthinkable demands – you have spat in God’s face through your
sin and rebelliously treasonous actions. You have wished him dead and
broken his heart.
3. Recognize his unthinkable response – he let you pursue inferior pleasures
because he respects your ability to choose. He gave you the dignity of
freedom.
4. Be honest about your unexpected discovery – the sin that you pursued did
not satisfy you, it killed you and your relationship with God.
5. Believe his unexpected response – when you come humbly to him he accepts
you in intimacy. He is eager to see you. He was looking for you to return the
whole time you were away. Choose to believe this is true of the Father.
6. Receive by faith his unexpected restoration – your dignity as created in the
image of God has been restored,
7. Take personally his unexpected extension - this story and offer are for you.
1. You are no longer far off, but accepted in the loving arms of the
father
2. you are no longer shameful but clothed in the dignity of Christ,
3. you are no longer impoverished, but equipped with the resources of
heaven,
4. you are no longer a slave and bound, but are a son/daughter and free
5. you are no longer hungry and unsatisfied, but filled and accepted at
the table of his endless pleasures
G. Today, I urge you to let Christ find you and carry you into the father house. Let him
rejoice over you with singing (Zep. 3:17).
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