Transcript
It’s called the Story of the Prodigal Son and it\'s a parable about a father and two sons and the younger son asks for his inheritance early, which is a nice way of saying, “I wish you were dead”
And he goes and travels and parties, and then eventually he crawls back home in shame and to everybody\'s surprise, the father throws him another party and gives him his robe and ring and tells him how much he loves him
And I can\'t help but read that story and kind of wonder like why did that younger son leave in the first place
Why would anyone ever run away from a dad like that
He seems like an awesome dad
Well, here\'s the thing
The second half of the story gives us the answer because next we meet his older brother who is obedient, disciplined, and totally judgmental
So here\'s what I\'m saying…
Maybe the prodigal son didn\'t run away from his dad at all
Maybe he ran away from his pharisaical, judgmental, critical, older brother
So to all the wanderers here this morning, maybe you walked away from Jesus, not because of something Jesus did or said, but because of the unkind older brothers in your life who have said and done hurtful things, people who\'ve been critical, judgmental or unsympathetic
So if that\'s your story, I just want to say I\'m sorry, but also I\'m thankful that you\'re here today
I know how it feels to move away from relationships where it feels like there\'s only condemnation
And so that\'s why this story is so important to hear from the lips of Jesus himself, because the older brothers in your life may never accept you
And unfortunately, I can\'t fix that today
But one thing I can say today is that Jesus does accept you, and that\'s much better