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Food for Thought: Just Roll Over and Die

March 4 , 2007

Dr. Mark Ruppert

Luke 15:11-12

Has anyone ever said something to you that hurt you so bad you couldn’t think of anything to say in response and you stood there, speechless?  I’m sure we have all had a situation or two where someone, either a family member or a friend, or maybe even a stranger that we happened upon said something that cut right at the core of our being.  It hurt, it cut, it put us in shock that maybe moved us to tears, that might have eventually found us angry and fuming mad that we wanted to take the other person’s head off. 

Here in our passage today we read the beginning of a parable about loss.  Last Sunday we looked at the first 10 verses of Luke 15 where we read about a lost sheep and a lost coin.  In the first two parables of Luke 15 the losses just happen- a shepherd has a sheep that wonders off from the flock and a woman loses a coin in her home.  Did the shepherd and the woman set out to lose what they had?  No.  Did the shepherd deliberately tell the sheep, “you take off, I’ll count to 100 and come and find you?”  No.  Did the woman plot to lose her coin in the dirt just so she could time herself and see if she could beat the “lost coin” record of the game “loose and find?”  No.  This third parable that Jesus tells is a lostness of a chosen state.  You see, there is this father who has a son who knew exactly what he was doing, he knew exactly what he was asking.  The younger son asks his dad for his share of the family wealth while his father is still alive.  In essence, what was he asking his father to do?  He was asking his father to die.  “Just roll over and die, dad,” that was what he was saying in the English vernacular. 

        It is interesting that all three parables in this chapter are popularly known by their negative rather than their positive points: the lost sheep, not the found sheep; the lost coin, not the found coin; and the prodigal son, not the loving father.  And this is in spite of the fact that all three parables end in joyous celebrations.  This truly is a parable of love and forgiveness and joy.  This parable is called “the Prodigal Son.”  Some people have seen this as basically two stories, the first being about a son who picks up and leaves.  The second, which is much shorter and less important, is about the older son who stayed at home.  But this is not the case.  For verse 11 says, “There was a man who had two sons.”  Each of these sons are there from the outset.  We cannot focus on the one who left and forget about the one who stayed. The interrelationship between all three of these men is important.  I know this might sound crazy, but it is the older son who is the primary figure.  I have heard it said that the parable should be renamed to “The Lost Sons.”  Everything builds up to the climax where the father comes out of the house to the courtyard to meet the older son and he pleads with him. 

This morning I would like to take a closer look at all three of these men: the younger son, the older son and the father.  But before we do, let’s take a closer look at The Request.

In village society the younger son’s request means only one thing: the younger son is impatient for his father’s death.  He is pushing the envelope and only upon the father’s demise would the father’s wealth be divided.  Only on very rare occasions would the father, on his own initiative, divvy up the property while he was still alive. 

German theologian Joachim Jeremias says that there were legal procedures available if the father chose to divide the property.  In such a case his son was given the legal right of possession but not the right of disposition.  The property would be his, but the father still had control over it. 

This is the case with the older son at the end of the parable, for the father says to his older son in verse 31, “Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.” 

The younger son demands and is given the right of possession and disposition. This request was unheard of in the Middle East.  It was virtually impossible for any son to request his portion of the family wealth when his father was still alive.  A Middle Eastern theologian checked this out with village people over there and this is what he found:

“Has anyone ever made such a request in your village?”  “Never!”  “Could anyone ever make such a request?”  “Impossible!”  “If anyone ever did, what would happen?”  “His father would beat him, of course!”  “Why?”  “This request means he wants his father to die!” 

Let’s take a few moments and focus on each of the characters.  The Younger Son: There are a number of issues going on with this young man, let me just highlight a few. 

First, the younger son is in a state of rebellion.  He has turned his back on his father and his family and he wants, what he wants, and he wants it NOW.  It is all about HIM.  How many times have you come across a person where it is all about Him or Her?  The mentality is “no one else is important, only me.”  There is a disregard for others, for authority, for people.  This younger son wants his father to “roll over and die” and NOW.  Could it be that Jesus, through the parable is trying to say that humankind, in our rebellion against God is really saying to God, “Hey God, just roll over and die?” 

Second, the son has broken the relationship with his father.  He has not broken a law for it says in Deuteronomy 21:17 that the younger son’s portion would be 1/3. 

The law doesn’t say specifically that the son must wait for his father to die, so the younger son hasn’t broken a law.  What he broke that day with his asking was his father’s heart.  Do you know of a parent whose son or daughter has taken the wrong path, has turned his or her back on one or both parents and just walked away?  Do you know a parent who grieves that their child has turned their back on God and walked away from the Church of Jesus Christ?  Do you know a parent or parents who pray daily for their children and part of their prayer is that they make good choices and come home?  There are other issues that center in on the younger son like his ungratefulness and his lack of respect and care for the other members of his family because of his selfishness.  But let’s take a look at the older son.

The Older Son: First, the older son knows what has happened and he abdicates his opportunity to be the mediator. 

I have come to learn that in the Middle East whenever there is a village quarrel the two quarreling parties never make up directly.  If they did this it would signal that someone won and, you guessed it, someone lost and someone would lose honor.  So over there the way they work for reconciliation is to look to a third person otherwise known as “the mediator.”  And this mediator moves between the two feuding parties until a solution can be worked out that both agree on.  There is no way over in the Middle East that there can be a winner and a loser.  I am told that the mediator sets up a meeting where the two come together, shake hands, embrace, and possibly kiss each other on the top of the head to show there has been reconciliation.  Who takes on the roll of “mediator?”  It is based on the strength of his relationship with the feuding parties.  So guess who would have been the likely candidate in the case of this parable?  The older son.  And the older son should have started to mediate as soon as he got wind of what was happening.  His family and even more than that, the village demanded it.  But what does he do?  He remains silent.  It is his sacred responsibility to step in, and the village custom puts the responsibility on him.  But for some crazy reason he doesn’t want reconciliation.  Even if he despised his brother he would step in for the sake of his beloved father.  Only if you have lived in the Middle East could we understand the high importance of personal relationships.  Because of a relationship a person would step in for the sake of a friend or relative to do everything possible.  I am told that personal relationships are above almost all laws and regulations in the Middle East and a person might go to any extremes, even murder for the sake of a relationship.  Things are not right between the older son and the younger son or between the older son and his father.

Another thing about the older son is that he possibly was silently glad his younger brother was leaving. 

Is it possible that the older son is part of the reason the younger son left?  Maybe he was throwing his weight around and always shoving it in the face of the younger brother that he was the heir apparent.  He is the one who will get the biggest share of the inheritance once the father dies.  Was there arrogance on the part of the older son that caused a wedge between the younger son and the father?  How many times have siblings tried to cause a wedge between parents, or between members within a family?  Have you ever heard of a son-in-law or a daughter-in-law drive a division in a family? 

Which brings us to The Father.  This Dad does the unthinkable- he grants the younger son’s request.  What any father in his right mind would have done is say NO and give him a severe punishment.  Even with his younger son, in essence, telling him to just roll over and die, the father gives him what he wants. 

William Temple, who was the Archbishop of Canterbury years ago said that God grants us freedom, even to reject His love.  When you think about the father, he never cut off the relationship with the younger son, he still remains his father.  The son cuts off the relationship and the father is left holding the bag, hoping and praying the son will return.  And so the father agonizes, he prays, he cries, he waits.  If the father had said, “I disown you, younger son,” that would have been the end with no reconciliation possible.  So the father suffers and he suffers and he prays and waits. 

All three men reveal something about themselves: we know something about the younger son by what he requests, the older son by what he doesn’t do, and the father by what he does.

When we look at the parable there is not only the younger son who is lost, but also the older son, he too is lost.

Join me next Sunday as we take a closer look at the younger son, where he goes, what he does, and the result of his decision.  Amen.

Key Points

Introduction: Has anyone ever said something to you that hurt you so bad…

The third parable Jesus tells is a lostness of a _______ state

           The younger son is asking his father to ______

Taking a closer look at all three men

The Request

          The younger son is _________ for his father’s death

The younger son demands and is given the right of possession and disposition

The Younger Son- some of the issues

        First, the younger son is in a state of ___________

          Second, the son has broken the _________ with his father

The Older Son- some of the issues

First, he abdicates his opportunity to be the _________

Second, he possibly was ______ ______ his younger brother was leaving

The Father

          This Dad does the unthinkable

Conclusion: all 3 men reveal something about themselves: they younger son by his request, the older son by what he doesn’t do, and the father by what he does

Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)