THE FACE SAVING PLAN
Luke 15: 13-19 (p740) July 24, 2011
INTRODUCTION:
Have you ever had to go to plan "B" because plan "A" does not work out like you thought it would?
Yeah?!!! Me too....In fact I'd hazard a guess that everyone in this sanctuary this morning has thought they had the ideal plan...we've worked it out in our minds, put it into action...and then the bottom falls out.
The younger son in our story has a plan...get his share of the Father's estate..turn it into cash and then hit the road as quickly as possible.
"The younger Son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living." (v 13)
The prodigal wants to get out of town in a hurry. The reason is pretty clear....after receiving his share of the inheritance he goes through the village and sells it...The words "got together" (sywugzgonpanda)
literally means "turned everything into cash".
As soon as this is accomplished he puts his plan into action and leaves home for a distant country.
The scorn of the entire community would have been enormous. He leaves, and the only thing that follows him is the love a brokenhearted father.
You see first century Jewish custom dictated that if a Jewish boy lost the family inheritance among the gentiles and dared to return home. The community would break a large pot in front of him and cry out "So and so is cut off, from his people." The ceremony is called "KEZAZAH" (literally "the cutting off"). If a Jewish boy loses his money among the gentiles he burns his bridges...He has no way to return home...He has no more rights and no one will take him in.
But the prodigal has no plans to ever return home...His plan "A" involves the rejection of all his "roots"...His community...His traditional valves...His father.
We don't know where the 'distant country" is, but we know its among the gentiles because pigs get involved...and only gentiles eat pork or use pigs as sacrificial animals.
Its in this far country that he squanders his property"...in lose living...for centuries the Arabic-translations have read, "He scattered his possessions in extravagant living".
His brother will later accuse him of spending it on harlots, but if the prodigal is of traditional middle Eastern heritage...and we know he is, this money is used primarily to establish a reputation for generosity...he holds large banquets, gives out expensive gifts. Generosity is a supreme virtue in this culture...so he tries to gain status in the eyes of his new friends...But he's spending his energies watering a plastic plant.
"After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. (14)
The inheritance runs out.....famine hovers over him like a storm cloud, he realized he's in big trouble...so....
I WHY DOES HE STAY IN THE FAR COUNTRY:
There are two very powerful reasons that keep him in the distant country.
1) First, at home he'll have to endure his brother's scorn. Not only will he be blamed for the past...but he'll have to live off his brothers inheritance. He'll have to be forever indebted to his father and his brother.... The cup is too bitter, he can't drink it...at, least not yet. His estrangement from his brother keeps him from fellowship with the father.
2) He must face the village...He has broken his relationship with the entire community and is now disposed by all...having lost his inheritance among the gentiles the "KEZAZAH CEREMONY"
awaits him at home.
Village society is worthless with the man who is down. Strangers and Beggars are taunted mercilessly in the streets by children.
Mark 10: 46-52 records the story of Jesus healing "Bartimaeus" The name "Timaeus" comes from the Hebrew root "unclean"..."Bar" amaeus "Son of" so Bartimaeus would mean "Son of filth" Probably the taunt name the local village gave this man.
Village mockery is horrible, intense, and ongoing...the prodigal would have been labeled something like "Son of the Pigs"...this would have been his name everywhere he went...it would not have been a fun existence...he would have to live on the outskirts of the community because of the KEZAZAH ceremony...and that was a horrible place to live then...and its a horrible place to live NOW.
The famine that grips the land is described as "service...and wide spread...its effects the whole country." these famines were much more than just being hungry...A serve famine in this day and age in the middle East had occurred...reports of people eating shoe leather, rotten flesh and garbage and as people died...cannibalism. Kenneth Bailey an expert in this culture records..."Entire Villages were wiped out...some families seeing death upon them buried themselves in their homes to keep their bodies from
being devoured...these recollections would have been in the minds of Jesus audience...
The prodigal will endure almost anything even starvation over what he believes awaits him if he returns home.
"So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country who sent him to his fields to feed pigs.
The word that used here for "hired" is Kollas...it comes from the word "glue"...Its the same word used in Gen 2:24 "For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother and be united with his wife.
The prodigal "glues" himself to a wealthy citizen...I'm sure the citizen has no desire for this attachment so he sends this Jewish boy to do what no Jewish boy will do...."Go feed the pigs"
And he longs to fill his stomach with the pods the pigs are eating, but no one gave him anything" (v 16)
These pods are too coarse to be digested by humans. The prodigals longs to eat them like the pigs, but can't...the pigs are better at than him...
so he begs for scraps...as people pass by he begs for just a crumb...he's still not at the end of his rope...but
"No one give him anything"
He did not seriously consider returning home until all other alternatives were exhausted. He would soon be too weak to walk home, so while he had enough strength for the journey.
II HE FORMULATED A PLAN TO SAVE FACE
Read verses 17-19 (p740)
The younger son "comes to his senses" literally "come to himself" For centuries this phrase has been underpopulated "repentance"...but for 1800 years Arabic and Syriac versions have never used language in this text that implies repentance.
In his soliloquy in the far country he expresses no remorse, only a desire to eat. He doesn’t say "I’ve shamed my family"...or I've broken my fathers heart" He doesn't even voice regret that he's lost his inheritance...He's still thinking "others eat while I go hungry" Some Arabic versions translate "came to his senses" "He got smart"
His problem is he's lost the money to the gentiles. He will be confronted with the KEZAZAH ceremony, upon his return...Restoration to his family and community would only be possible if he paid the money back...He needs a job.
But he has no marketable skills...his plan be one of his father's craftsmen"...Hired men...Become an apprentice...learn a trade...but for this to happen he needs his father's backing...the game plan...make a very humble speech that would convince his father to back him...earn the money back, compensate for his losses...and again take his place in the family and community.
Sadly the prodigal still does not understand the nature of his sin. He thinks the issue is the lost money...It isn't! Its the father’s broken heart...the problem can't be the broken law...its the broken relationship.
The father doesn't want a hired man who can pay his debts back...He wants a relationship with a son who knows his heart.
The prodigal understands none of this...so he carefully plans his opening remarks...the Arabic translation ("I Have sinned against Heaven and against You") "Father I have sinned before heaven and your sight"...
Remember who Jesus is speaking too...a scholarly audience of scribes and pharisees...this confession is almost a word for word sentence from Ex 10:16 when Pharaoh addresses Moses after the nine plaques.
"I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you"
Everyone knows Pharaoh isn't sincerely repenting...He's trying to work a deal...Manipulate Moses.
So is the prodigal...that's why he uses the word "Misthios" "skilled craftsman" and not Doulos "slave..
Slaves aren't paid...craftsmen.
It's a fare saving plan...I won't have to be in the family house with my hated brother. I can redeem myself with no help...I'll be a servant...because he's never really understood what being a son was all about, anyway.
This issue of son-ship verses servant-hood has been the basic issue between Jesus and the Pharisees from the beginning...It is the basic issue today between Christianity and Islam.
"Are we God's servants and a law giving Master? or...
"Are we his beloved children and He a compassionate Father?"
The prodigal does not yet see the real issue..It's not the money (the broken law) It's the broken relationship. In the far country the job training proposal seems like an excellent plan...I'll be one of His trained apprentices...He hasn't faced the fact...nor understood...He has broken his father's heart...He thinks returning the money makes everything well.
"I'm working as a servant in a distant country..I might as well learn a trade, ear a decent salary and be able to eat..." He got smart
But he has not yet faced his own sin...He cannot possible understand what reconciliation means...or what it really costs.
The prodigal isn't going home...He's going back to servant-hood...and as long as his attitude remains like it was before he left...He will still be in the far country spiritually even as he physically approaches his home village...In short...At the edge of the village he is still lost.
In His mind plan "B" makes so much sense...He's worked it all out in his mind...after all other alternatives have to be exhausted...."He got smart"
But this plan will absolutely be shattered when he comes face to face with a Father's GRACE. A Father whose suffering has left the door open for His son's complete restoration...only in the presence of His
love and grace does reconciliation become possible...and true repentance capture the prodigal’s heart.
Let's pray
