A Father's Prodigal Love [2-15-26]

February 15, 2026

Luke 15:11-24

“A Father’s Prodigal Love”

While we want to avoid superlatives when it comes to the teachings and actions of Jesus…everything Jesus did, said, and taught was a superlative… enough can’t be said about the power and depth of today’s parable.

What’s known as “The Parable of the Prodigal Son” is one of, if not the, most profound teachings of Jesus. Charles Dickens called it the greatest short story ever written. Ralph Waldo Emerson also called it the greatest short story ever written. Only thing I would change would be to refer to it as the greatest short story ever told, then written down by Luke. Are you with me on that distinction? Jesus told it. Later, Luke wrote it down.

With that in mind, here’s Luke 15:11-24:

And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. And the

younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.

“But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.

Here’s the two main overarching points we’ll touch on:

GOD ALLOWS SIN’S PUNISHMENT TO WORK ITSELF OUT IN THE LIVES OF THOSE WHO WILLFULLY DESERT HIM.

GOD’S LOVE WELCOMES EVEN THOSE WHO SEEM HOPELESSLY LOST BUT WHO REPENT.

What do you need to have in order to understand these two huge points? You need a Biblical understanding of sin.

As we’ll see, sin is rebellion against God. Sin is rebellion against the goodness and the law of our Heavenly Father. Sin is an expression of dislike for God’s person. It is dislike for God’s rule. Sin is rebellion against

God’s authority. Even more than that, sin is a disregard for God’s blessings. The Scripture passages detailing these points of sin are so plentiful, we could spend from now until next year going over them.

Sin is turning against God. Sin is to ignore all accountability to the plan, will, and purpose of God. Sin is shutting God out of your life. Sin directs your love to things of this world rather than God. Sin is blocking God from your life. Sin is using God’s good gifts for your own desires. Sin is reckless evil. Sin is selfish indulgence. And here’s a conclusion you might want to write down:

SIN BRINGS DESTITUTION AND DEATH.

Without Jesus Christ, we are in bondage to sin. Sinful people are constantly looking for fulfillment outside of God. There’s a void in our lives that, absent of God, we’ll fill with anything and everything the world has to offer. That’s how wickedness operates…tempting us with needs and wants outside the will and purpose of God.

Jesus is telling a story starring the ultimate sinner. To understand where

Jesus is going…remember, he has set his face for Jerusalem…to understand why Jesus willfully goes to the cross, we have to understand our sin. We are all rebels in need of forgiveness.

Here’s our first sidenote.

Can you imagine going to a so-called church where sin isn’t talked about? Can you imagine going to a so-called church where the pastor doesn’t affirm the clear Biblical understanding of sin?

Well, such a church exists. In fact, sadly, many such churches exist. According to a 2019 Pew Research study, analyzing sermon content across the nation, only 3% of all sermons preached even mentioned sin. That is devastating to the preaching of the gospel.

So something I recently read makes sense. An Episcopal “pastor” preached on why no one goes to hell. In that sermon, she said one of the stupidest things I’ve ever read from a pastor. And trust me, I know stupid. I’ve read some of my own stuff.

Here’s what she said:

“I don’t think any of us are comfortable anymore with the language of

being a ‘sinner’ – ‘sinner’ is a word I don’t use very much because I think it alienates more people from God than it helps.”

Yikes. Somebody needs to introduce this dim bulb to Luke 15:11-24.

Jesus begins with a father of two sons. We immediately see why calling this “The Parable of the Prodigal Son” is a misnomer. Clearly, the father is the central figure. A certain man had two sons. This is clearly a tale about a father’s extravagant love.

What’s the first test of the father’s love? It comes with the request of the son. “Father, give to me…” What normally has to happen in order for a son to gain his portion of his father’s estate? Right. Dad has to die. Normally, that’s how it works. In other words, the son is saying, “Dad, you are worth more to me dead than alive.” Crushing. Talk about open rebellion against your father.

Everybody listening would be asking, “How could he treat his father like

that?” He is exposing the family to scorn and shame. What sort of father would allow such impudence? Honor is everything. And the youngest son is

definitely not honoring his father. His father shouldn’t be putting up with it.

But what does dad do? He meets the son’s impatience with patience. He gives the son everything he asks for. He lets him be lost in his wickedness. If it’s the life he wants…if it’s the life he chooses…then it’s the life he gets. Here’s how Paul puts it in Romans 1:28-31:

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

The son knows exactly what he’s asking. He wants nothing to do with his

father. He resents him. He makes it very well known how he feels about

his dad. Dad is worth more dead than alive. And so, with all that animosity

being vomited up on him, dad let’s his son go. He lets it all go. You want no restraint? You want no limits? Here you go. You want no father? He is let loose to pursue his wicked desires.

And pursue them he does. With a vengeance. Jesus is very economical with his words in verse thirteen. He squandered his estate living wastefully,

leaves nothing to the imagination. It uses a word signifying getting drunk with wine and debauchery. Jesus needs to fill in no blanks. We all know what’s going on.

It is a story as old as time itself. His folly is a story replayed time and time again in the lives of young people before and since. Remember when you were young and stupid? Some of those moments were not pretty. Kids, hear me now and believe me later, your parents have been there. Your pastor has been there. If your moment ever happens, you will be loved back home, back into the family.

Almost 200 years after Jesus told this story, a papyrus letter was found in Egypt. It’s from a son to his widowed mother:

Greetings: I hope you are in good health; it is my constant prayer to Lord Serapis. I did not expect you to come to Metropolis, therefore I did not go there myself. At the same time I was ashamed to go to Kanaris because I am so shabby. I am writing to tell you I am naked. I plead with you forgive me. I know well enough what I have done myself. I have learned my lesson. I know my mistake. I have heard from Dostumos who met you in the area of Arinonoe. Unfortunately, he told you everything. Don’t you know I would rather be a cripple than owe so much as a cent to any man? I plead with you…

Antonius Longus, your son.

O, how well Jesus knows our condition. No matter what you do; no matter what you’ve done; regardless of what you’ve experienced or gone through, there is always a way back. There is always a way home. The love of Christ, seen in his cross, is the way to redemption and restoration.

The son is definitely lost in his sin. How lost is he, you ask? He joins

himself to a man who has no interest in whether he lives or dies. He only wants him for his cheap labor. In a state of constant deprivation, you have to wonder if he is beyond the point of no return. Surviving on a Gentile’s pig farm is like finding the bottom of the barrel and then scraping down for more.

What happens next some claim to be repentance-adjacent. They think at this point, he’s simply so hungry and deprived, he’ll do anything to get back in his father’s good graces.

I think otherwise. There are two beautiful turnings in this one verse. “He came to himself,” means he snapped out of it. What does snapping out of it convey? His mind, once in a wrong place, is now in a right place. He is beginning the process of turning in a new direction.

The second turning is indicated when he realizes life ain’t so bad with the old man, after all. If you want to put a little polish on it, he remembers his father’s goodness even to hired hands. “How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish

here with hunger!”

With these two turnings, nudging ever closer to full-on repentance, we get to where we can stop for today. Let’s look again at what the son says in verses eighteen and nineteen:

I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”

There it is. It’s what the previous verse foreshadows. The son now understands the errors of his ways. He knows he must change. His actions and changed behavior are more important than any emotional feeling of remorse. And that is the singularly most important point Jesus gives us here. Actions speak louder than words.

Here’s the last thing you might want to write down:

REMORSE + ACTION = TRUE REPENTANCE

I hope we can all see ourselves in this story. We’re all sinners. We’ve all

wandered away from our Heavenly Father. We ignore, at times, what we know to be the way He calls us to live. It’s not hard to figure out. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, worship, generosity. And we know what it’s like to be forgiven when we fall short. We’ve been estranged from God. And we’ve been renewed through the cross of Jesus Christ. And so we pray:

Father, we thank you for the richness of your mercy shown to us sinners through the cross of your Son, Jesus Christ. We thank you that, in dying, Jesus has purchased our lives. Work in every heart, we pray. We are grateful that you are a Good, Good Father. In the name of Christ. Amen.