Hard Hearts and Calloused Hands – Whatever It Takes – Luke 15:11-32

You ever heard a story that just makes you audibly gasp? Airport security is serious business, not only here, but in airports around the world. Brother Lance Tamerius is the director of the Christian Campus House at the University of Missouri… he is also on the board of directors at WISE Bible College. He would bring college students to WISE’s campus every break. One year…the trip went great, but his trip home turned problematic pretty quickly.  

He accidently left a bullet buried in the side pocket of one of his bags… here’s the crazy thing… he made it through two US airports with that bullet… landed in Barbados and they didn’t catch it… left a week later… Barbados didn’t catch it on the way out either… flew into Trinidad and Tobago… and was promptly caught and arrested… and it happened to be over a holiday weekend in a developing country… he ended up spending 3 days in jail. 

Firearms are illegal throughout the Caribbean… so this was a pretty big deal for them… I don’t know if they suspected Lance of gun trafficking… but they were not happy with him. Thankfully, we had some graduates down there who could attend to Lance’s needs… meals are not provided in Trinidadian jails, so the inmates are dependent on family and friends to provide for their needs while in the clink. 

After getting it all sorted out… Lance was NOT able to keep the bullet, but he was finally able to go home… and his wife praised the Lord… I remember hearing this story for the first time and audibly gasping at all the ridiculous details… This morning… we hear a story that Jesus told… and as He told it, I imagine there would have been one GASP after another from the crowd. I hope you’ll see why…

Before we dive in, I want us to be mindful about heart health… keep that phrase “heart health” in your mind. Heart disease continues to be the leading cause of death for both men and women in the US, with heart related issues being responsible for 1 in 4 deaths. Heart disease can be hereditary, but progress seems to be being made. From 1950 to 2000, heart disease deaths have dropped by 60%… We’ll come back to this… but keep the heart in mind as we move through the story. 

Jesus told a lot of stories… He loved to tell stories… and Luke records more of His stories than any of the other three Gospel writers. When Jesus told stories, they weren’t arbitrary. His stories always had a point. This parable is no different.  This is one of the most powerful and personal parables that Jesus ever told. 

Most of us remember this story as the Parable of the Prodigal Son… but I think the scope of the story is much broader than just that… there was much more to the story that Jesus wanted the people to hear that day… and probably on this day, too. 

Luke 15:11-13, “And He said, “A man had two sons. 12 The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me.’ So he divided his wealth between them. 13 And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country, and there he squandered his estate with loose living.”

Verses 1 and 2 give us some context… “Now all the tax collectors and the sinners were coming near Him to listen to Him. 2 Both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

He’s got some people with clout listening in… tax collectors, sinners, Pharisees, and teachers of the Law [scribes]. And as they listened to this story, the shock factor was high… there would have been one GASP after another. 

GASP – the younger of the two sons demanded his inheritance from his father. Absurd. Disrespectful and defiant… what an outrageous request… maybe not even a request, but a demand… in essence looking at his old man and saying, “Dad, I wish you were dead! You’re in my way. I want you out of here. I have plans and they don’t involve you or this family!” 

The younger brother wanted to cash out his inheritance. He wanted to get his hands on whatever he could to finance his rebellion. The boy just seemed to have a bad heart. 

GASP – that kind of disrespect and rebellion from a grown child could have been met with death by stoning. In Deuteronomy 21:18-21, the Law of Moses actually permitted parents to take hateful kids to the elders, kind of for a trial… and it was possible that the end result was the stoning of hateful, grown children. 

If it didn’t end in stoning, they would actually hold a funeral, and declare that person to be dead even though they were still alive. They were dead to the family. 

A little later in this parable, the father will make not once, but twice, the statement this son of his was “dead.” This Jewish crowd would have shaken their heads in shame and disbelief over the fact that the father gave his undisciplined, hateful son his inheritance at all, let alone early. 

The younger brother not only showed a deep LACK OF RESPECT for his dad… but he showed a LACK OF RESTRAINT… and that may have brought another GASP from the crowd! 

Luke 15:13-16, “And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country, and there he squandered his estate with loose living. 14 Now when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country, and he began to be impoverished. 15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. 16 And he would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating, and no one was giving anything to him. 

Things were already pretty bad… but they got even worse. The younger brother travelled to a far country, meaning outside of Israel… and while he was there, he squandered his entire inheritance. He pursued a reckless, wicked life. This younger brother seems to have a bad heart. The Greek word for “squandered” is an agricultural term… its farming language… used for winnowing grain. Farmers would throw grain in the air and the wind would separate the grain from the chaff. It would refine the good from the bad. 

This young brother threw his money around. He had to pay to play and it didn’t take too long before he and his money were separated from one another. He found himself penniless! He had “friends” but they only stuck around until the money ran out… if he couldn’t continue to hold these parties, they weren’t all that interested in friendship anymore…. His money was gone. His friends had abandoned him. The party was over.  

And when it rains it pours… a famine swept over the land. This prodigal son couldn’t get a job… which means that the economy had tanked during this famine and I would imagine record unemployment was maybe setting in… the only work this son could get was to be a pig-feeder… not a great place for a young Jewish boy to be… not exactly a kosher job… he got the job, hoping just to stay alive by eating pig slop. It was forbidden for Jews to eat pork or even be around pigs. And yet, this son isn’t only working around pigs, but he’s living among them. 

This part of the story might have brought the biggest GASP from the crowd! “You’ve got to be kidding me!” At this news, I would think the Pharisees listening in would have condemned the boy as a pig, he’s the lowest of low! And he’s deserving to be cast into the pit of hell. He needs to get what he deserves. He has no respect, he has no restraint, and he does not care about our Law at all.  

17 But when he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger! 18 I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight; 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men.”’

Despite all of his negligence… there came a day when he “came to his senses,” … I love that line… like coming to the end of his rope. The young man hit rock bottom. And our response to these sorts of things is always, “what took you so long?!?!” He was living in filth, dying of hunger, but he finally came to grips with his reality. He decided to walk away from sin and walk back to his father… he decided that instead of continuing to run away, he was going to run home… and he was hopeful he would somehow be met with forgiveness. I imagine he spent quite some time rehearsing his speech on the way… where he would beg his father for forgiveness and pledge his loyalty. 

His return is quite a bit different than his departure… he left home with a robe, but was returning in rags. He left boasting about his wealth, and he returns broke as a joke – not a penny to his name… he left with a wicked and prideful heart, but he returns with a broken heart over how he “sinned against heaven” and against his father. He had a bad heart when he left… he’s returning with a better heart. 

Luke 15:20-24, “So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet; 23 and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; 24 for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’ And they began to celebrate.”

Another GASP comes over the crowd… the father did the most unexpected thing in their shame-based culture… when honor was to be held high at all costs, the dad did the last thing anyone expected him to do. The son appears before his father… the Jews would have expected him to fall down on his face and beg for forgiveness. They would have expected the son to come back and repay all the wasted inheritance to his father… make restitution for the father’s hard-earned money that was just thrown into the wind. 

The Jews would have expected a public rebuke, maybe with the father even spitting in the face of his son… which would have been light compared to the stoning he could have received. None of that happened though… while his son “was still a long way off” … this implies that the dad was WATCHING and WAITING for his son to return home. And the unexpected takes place… he runs to meet his son. In 1st century Jewish culture, running was for boys… not for men… and especially not for wealthy men. The father runs to his son… his heart was for his son… to PARDON and PROTECT his son. 

He throws his arms around his son… he kisses him again and again… even though his son would have been covered in pig slop and filthy rags, he didn’t care. He was quick to forgive his son and that forgiveness was immediate and it was complete. The dad ordered shoes, a robe, and a ring to be brought for him… all the things that would give you a son who has been fully restored. 

The father tells the servants to go out back and bring in Bessy… were killing the fattened calf, and were gonna have a feast… it’s not even the 4th of July! What picture is Jesus painting here? The Father had an incredible heart… it was filled with compassion, forgiveness, celebration, and generosity. And that’s where most people stop reading… but the real point of this parable has yet to be made… 

Luke 15:25-32, ““Now his older son was in the field, and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 And he summoned one of the servants and began inquiring what these things could be. 27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has received him back safe and sound.’ 28 But he became angry and was not willing to go in; and his father came out and began pleading with him. 29 But he answered and said to his father, ‘Look! For so many years I have been serving you and I have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends; 30 but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.’ 31 And he said to him, ‘Son, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.’”

There’s another member of this family… an older brother. The reason that Jesus tells this story has everything to do with the older brother and his reaction to his little brother’s return. The little brother had issues, sure… issues with respect and issues with self-control… the older brother had issues, too… issues with resentment – he resented his brother… and issues resisting his father. 

The older brother is out in the field… maybe he’s supervising a work crew on the family farm… but he was unaware of the party on up at the big house where the entire town had been invited and were now starting to arrive. He kept asking the servants, “what’s going on?!” More and more people were showing up, the celebration was growing louder… music and dancing taking place… this was the biggest, happiest celebration the town ever knew! And it was his family who’s hosting it… and he wants nothing to do with it. 

It’s got everything to do with his little brother… betrayer, disloyal, and evil. And now he’s back… but not only is he back… but the father has fully restored him to his rightful position in the family! It didn’t take long for the older brother to throw out his condemnations… “Your son that has devoured your wealth with prostitutes!” The older brother apparently hasn’t seen or spoken to his little brother yet… and he jumps to the judgment, thinking the worst of his brother. He even refuses to call him his brother… he refers to him as “this son of yours” (v. 30).

When it came to his little bro… his resentment ran deep. He refuses to join the celebration and based on how he’s speaking to the father, we have reason to believe he resisted a relationship with his dad, too! He doesn’t address his dad with a title… he yells in anger and criticism, saying that he’s been “slaving” for his father… it was all work and no relational substance. He duped everyone into thinking that he was the “good son” because he stayed on the farm, pretending to be loyal and faithful. 

Now it appears that was all a sham, a show in order to get what he wanted… approval, attention, recognition, a bigger inheritance. He did not share his dad’s joy, values, and he certainly didn’t have his father’s heart. He resented his little brother and he resisted having a genuine relationship with his dad. Here’s my conviction… the big brother’s heart was just as bad as the little brother’s heart… the heart rot was just less public… just as wicked and rebellious as the little brother… just concealed for a little while longer. 

Once more… do you see the heart of the father? His heart is great… and the father’s heart in his response to the older, rebellious son probably would have created another GASP from the crowd… eight times in this story, Jesus uses the word “juios,” which is the formal word for “son.” But in verse 31… the father calls him “my son” and uses a different word… he uses “teknon,” which means “my child.” The father uses a word that carries profound love and compassion to refer to his older son… the father reminds his hard-hearted son how he has always been loved by him, and that all the father’s riches were already his! 

The father again invites him to rejoice… that he who was dead is now alive. And that’s where it ends… that might seem like an abrupt end to this story, but I think that’s the whole point of this parable… it’s the exact point that was NOT made in the first two parables in Luke 15. 

Stay with me here… there’s a theme tying all three of these parables together. The first parable is about a lost sheep being found and everyone celebrated. The second parable is about a woman who lost a coin; but after sweeping her house and lighting a lamp, she found it – and everyone celebrated.  In this parable, a son was once lost; but he was then found; he returned to his father.  He was even declared spiritually dead but was alive again—and almost everyone celebrated! There was a party like never before!  

What’s the theme then? When someone who is spiritually lost turns to God and is saved through Jesus Christ, there is a GREAT celebration! But in this third parable, not everyone celebrated… this third parable was directed towards the hard-hearts of the Pharisees… the legalists who thought they were holy, righteous, and godly people… and yet were far from the heart of God. 

They were hypocrites… which is a word that can mean an “actor.” The Pharisees could have won an Oscar for the show they put on… making people think they were God-followers. This parable has everything to do with heart health. It’s less about the warm, fuzzy feeling of the heart… and more about a strong warning of Jesus to people with critical, jump-to-judgment kinds of hard hearts. 

I think this parable is really about what matters most in life. Maybe one of the reasons its so powerful is because it reveals and confronts what we are really like… on the inside. And there probably would have been one GASP after another as Jesus spoke these words… we might not respond in the same way with a GASP… but we can admit that there are GAPS in our lives. Maybe between each of us as individuals and with God our Father… or maybe with someone who lives life in a way that makes us jump to conclusions and cast judgments. How do we determine what GAPS we have? By looking at the condition of our hearts.    

In 2016, a guy named Tim Peake, 44 years old, ran a full marathon… 26.2 miles. Running a marathon is impressive enough… but he ran it while he was serving on the International Space Station… about 250 miles above the earth! He had to wear weights and was tied to a treadmill to keep him from floating in zero gravity. I don’t know if running it in space made it easier or harder, but he ran it 3:35… in that time frame he circled the earth 2.5 times… almost 50,000 miles! Obviously this whole time… doctors were watching him like a hawk… and they kept asking him, “how’s your heart?”  

I’m gonna steal that line from their playbook… in comparison to the father, the older brother, and the younger brother… how’s your heart? How’s mine? If these guys had some heart tests done… it would probably be safe to say that they were having some spiritual arrhythmia… which means an irregular heartbeat. They had some heart problems. 

The Younger Brother

The younger brother had a hard, calloused heart towards his father… he had no respect for him and no restraint in the way that he lived. His heart wasn’t right… it wasn’t beating correctly… he had a spiritual arrythmia. And he suffered the consequences for his poor decisions in life. He paid to play… and pay he did… but there was some good news… he had a change of heart. He changed the way he thought about his dad… which changed the way that he lived. A lack of respect and a lack of restraint gave way to repentance. 

Repentance is a word that means to change the way we think. And repentance starts in the mind. If we change the way we think, we can change the way we live. Which means that though there may be GAPS in your life between you and the Father, though you may have a hard heart plagued with spiritual arrythmia… you can repent – you can change the way you think and thus change the way you live… and thus be restored to God.  

Psalm 51:17 “…a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” Our hearts can break over our sin… the words we’ve spoken, the actions we’ve taken, the thoughts and attitudes we have held. We must have broken hearts because our sin breaks God’s heart. And, the good news is… 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, God is faithful and He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  

The Older Brother

The Older Brother had a hard, calloused heart towards his younger brother… as well as towards his dad. He hated his younger brother, and he was angry at his father because he showed him mercy! But more than that… he restored the younger brother to the family along with all of its privileges. The older resented the younger… to the point that he didn’t want him in the family after the wild and wicked life he lived. He wanted no part of the party and refused to rejoice with his father. He suffered from a spiritual arrythmia… his heart wasn’t beating right. His relationship with his dad was contractual… based on good behavior… not actually based on relationship. 

If we’re honest, we probably have the same spiritual arrythmia at times. We might be hard at work serving God yet lacking a real relationship with Him. We can attend church, volunteer in 10 different ways, give financially, attend a small group… and still have a hard heart. We can slave away for the Father and yet lack His compassionate heart for people who are down and out, broken down, and far from God. 

There may be people in our lives that we resent and want nothing to do with. We can be quick to criticize, jump to judgment, find fault with them with every little thing… and when it comes to their past we think to ourselves, sometimes out loud, “Shame, shame, shame… how can you come to God after what you’ve done!” 

I heard one preacher speak of this crowd this way, “People with hearts like the older brother have been “baptized in vinegar and weaned on a pickle,” not knowing the joy of the Father.”   

The Father 

Which brings us to the father’s heart … His heart is one of compassion… and that might be the most irregular heartbeat of them all… and yet He doesn’t have spiritual arrythmia. Oh to have a heartbeat like His! That is our desire. To be just like Him. If you think that God could never forgive you for your past – or for your present – think again. God is in a hurry to forgive us! He is slow to anger and abounding in love. He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but is eager and wanting to save sinners. And we’ve all sinned and fallen short of His glory. 

But surrendering our lives to Jesus, being immersed in Him… our sins are washed away by the blood of the Lamb. He buries our sins and remembers them no more… not because He has some form of cosmic dementia… but because He CHOOSES to forget them, burying them in a sea of gracious forgetfulness. 

Oh what a loving Father He is. Like the father in the story who was waiting and wanting his boy home… our Father, wants our feet under His table in heaven, too. And when people make that decision, I can’t imagine the explosions of joy in heaven. All of heaven rejoices over one sinner who repents! The party in heaven doesn’t stop! Joy is constant and never-ending. 

We better get used to celebrating because heaven’s celebration will never end. Living a “whatever it takes” life, means having the Father’s heart. Will you give heaven a reason to rejoice this morning? I’ll ask again… How’s your heart? 

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