Edible Words

In Luke 15, Jesus addresses two groups of people. First, the tax collectors and sinners with whom he was eating. These people were viewed by respectable people as scum of the earth, lowest of the low, beyond the pale. Second, he addresses the Pharisees and lawyers. These people were good as can be, careful to do what is right, squeaky clean, respectable and above reproach and they looked down on the tax collectors and sinners.

As the Pharisees grumble about Jesus eating with sinners, he replies by telling three parables.

The first two parables, the parable of the lost sheep and the parable of the lost coin, make the point that Jesus is the shepherd who finds the lost sheep and the woman who finds her precious lost silver coin. These parables leave us in no doubt that those who are lost must be found by the good shepherd and their owner, who is Jesus.

In the third parable, Jesus tells a tale of two sons. The first son demands his inheritance whilst his father is alive, walks out of his father's life, spends the money on wild living, parties and prostitutes. When driven by poverty and hunger to return home and say sorry to his father, his father runs to meet him and hugs him, even though his son is still covered in fifth from the pigs he fed.

The other, older son, is outraged when he hears about the party his father throws for his prodigal brother. How dare his father be so generous when the older son had slaved away and never disobeyed his father. He'd never had a party.

There is a fourth character in this story which is mentioned three times. The fatted calf which has been killed for the feast. This is not any old calf but the special calf, selected to be well fed, fattened and set aside for special occasions. This special calf, the Father's calf, is killed for the younger son when he returns. Repentant, starving, empty handed and filthy the younger son feasts with his Father in an act of pure Fatherly grace.

The older son's fury at his obedience all these years whilst never receiving as much as a lamb is countered by his father in the words "you have been with me all the time and all I have is yours". The fatted calf belonged to the older son, it was his to feast on, and yet he had never feasted. He'd relied instead on his acts of service and obedience for his father's acceptance. Jesus is not commending the Pharisees for their strict law abiding behaviour, he is criticising them for not enjoying God's grace, but instead relying on their actions for their status. But, the older brother's faithful behaviour counted for nothing, what was his father's was his, he could feast with his father at anytime. The older son had never understood the grace of his father.

The tax collectors and Pharisees knew Jesus was addressing them both and we are addressed as both. As sinners, we should repent, leave behind our old life and return to receive God's grace by feeding on the Father's feast which has been set aside for us in his Son. And if as Christians, we depend on our service and obedience to God for acceptance by God, we must also repent, give up trying to win his approval by good works and instead feast on what is ours by God's grace.