Sermon on Luke 15:1-3, 11-32, for the 4th Sunday in Lent, "The Love that Overcomes"
*Please see an additional post for my hymn composition about this Parable, entitled: "The Father's Love" In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. If you were in Jesus’ audience on the day when He first taught this parable, 2,000 years ago, there are certain things you would have just known as a Jew. You would have known that when it comes to an inheritance, the oldest son was due to get a double portion of the father’s possessions. You would have known that for the younger son to demand an inheritance before his father died, was deeply insulting and disgraceful, and would have made him the shame of the family. You would certainly never expect a good Jewish father to act in this way—conceding to the son’s request. And to take the cake, the father running out to greet his lost son on the road, was astonishing. The son can only anticipate being treated as he deserves—hopefully at best to work as a hired man, so he can at least be f...