Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Lost and Found, Part 30 of 78

TEXT: "But when he came to himself, he said, How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.' And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him" (Luke 15:17-20).

IDEA: Repentance that comes from feeling a desperate need is all that is needed to bring us into a relationship with the Father.

PURPOSE: To point out that repentance is basically a change of mind that flows out of a sense of need.

Do you think that remorse is the same as repentance?

Can you have one without the other?

In Jesus’ parable of the seeking shepherd, the searching woman, and the waiting father, repentance is a major theme. Twice in connection with the sheep that is restored and the coin that is found, Jesus declares:

"I say to you that there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance" (Luke 15:7).

"I say to you there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents" (Luke 15:10).

What is repentance for the sheep?

What is repentance for the coin?

The third story Jesus told was about the runaway son who went to a far country, using his father’s money. The boy spent it all and discovered that there was a famine in the country. He attached himself to a pig farmer to get some of the food that was fed to the pigs.

Then Jesus says, "But when he came to himself, he said, How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and more, and I perish with hunger. I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you and I am no more worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants' " (Luke 15:17-19).

“He came to himself" is probably a statement involving repentance, but it’s not very impressive. For instance:

What motivates him? Simply the realization that he is starving to death and he would be better off at home. If he weren’t sitting in a pig pen, with the stab of hunger in his belly and dust in his throat, would he have come to himself?

When he says, “I have sinned against heaven and before you,” what sin does he have in mind? He has failed to keep himself in readiness to care for his father in his old age, and he has squandered the money he was given. The implication is crucial: if he hadn’t lost the money, he wouldn’t have sinned.

If he goes back home, he has to face his father. He develops a face-saving plan: he will work as a “hired servant.” There were three levels of servants on a first-century Jewish estate:

Bondsmen (douloi) - slaves who were part of the estate and almost a part of the family.

Slaves of a lower class (paides) who were subordinates of the bondsmen.

Hired servants (misthioi) - the hired servant was an outsider. He didn’t belong to the estate. He had no personal interest in the affairs of his temporary master; he was merely a casual laborer to be employed when required. His position was precarious . . . but unlike the others, he was a free man. (W. O. E. Osterley, Jewish Backgrounds, p. 186)

As a “hired servant,” the son would be a free man with his own income living independently in the local village. He will not lose his social status and perhaps could try to pay back some of what he had squandered. In short, he will save himself. He wants no grace. He will remedy his failure.

Was all of this useless?
Is this genuine repentance?
Is it remorse?