Resolved Session 2: John MacArthur
In an example of exactly what it means to bridge the cultural gap,
MacArthur began the first morning of the Resolved conference with a story of
God's Glory in the Redemption of Sinners: The Prodigal Son. The prodigal son is
a story with which we are all familiar, but after the sermon I have realized
that MacArthur's statement, "We have missed something in this story," is
certainly true for me (The prodigal son was considered "the greatest short story
ever written" by both Charles Dickens and Ralph Waldo Emerson. What was I
missing?). He argued that the prodigal son is really a story of the way in which
God's glory is most known.
Jonathan Edwards's resolutions flowed from a conviction that God's glory was the greatest good in the universe and that our lives should be lived in such a way as God's glory is most known, enjoyed, and increased. For example, resolution one, "Resolved, to do whatsoever I think most to the glory of God." And four, "Never to do any manner of thing, whether in soul or in body less or more but what tends to the glory of God." And twenty, "Frequently to take some deliberate action for the glory of God and to frequently examine my ommissions." And finally, "Never willfully to omit anything unless the omission is for the glory of God and to frequently examine my motivations." Edwards's observation was then added that God's glory is intimately connected to His own joy. God is joyful when he is glorified and man's joy is greatest where God's glory is greatest. How then, did Jonathan Edwards believe God's glory was most clearly manifested? MacArthur answered that question like this, "Amongst all of God's creations and acts which show his glory, His glory is most shown in his redemption. 'God has done greater things than to create the world. What greater things?...to redeem his bride.'"
Shameful request: So anyway, because I need to wrap this up and get to the next session, let me quickly get on with the story. (Luke 15:11-32) By introducing us to the honor-shame society of 1st century middle eastern village culture, we get an interperative key to the parable. The son made the most shameful, disrespectful, and arrogant request possible. His request was not for the betterment of his family; it was for his own shameful gains. It was a rebellious, self-sufficient, self-seeking heart that the request for his share of the inheritance came. In essence he communicated that he wished his father were dead so that he could have what was coming to him, and the older brother was so wrapped up with himself that he too acted shamefully, saying nothing in objection to his brother.
Shameful response: The father responded shamefully as well. The Pharisee's and the sinners who were listening were likely blown away when they heard the father's response to the youngest son's request. The father said ok and gave his son his inheritance, which was promptly squandered on prostitutes and other frivolous wastes, shamefully trying to separate himself from everything having to do with his own family. And to his shame, the father did nothing to stop it.
Shameful reconciliation: As sin does, the son quickly found out that the promises of pleasure and self-sufficiency ultimately ended in disappointment, and graciously desperation. The son lost his money and when a famine hit he, a jew, became dependent on a gentile: Shameful. He ended up having to feed unclean pigs just to eek out a less-than-sufficient survival: Shameful. He ended up having to eat in the dirt with pigs: Very shameful. Sin is rebellion against God, and God will give you the freedom to choose your sin. And he will give you the freedom to take you sin as far in any direction as you choose to take it. Here is one who had no relationship to the one who gave him life, the one who could supply him for the present and for the future, his father, and it cost him greatly. Sin is to squander God's gifts, getting as far away from his and his supply as possible, seeking its own ever-fleeting fulfillment. The Godless sinner is left helpless, hopeless, exhausted, dying, and having the reality of his dependence on another completed and shamefully revealed.
His recognition of his situation let the prodigal son see his father's goodness and graciouness. When he came to his senses he said, "My father's hired servants (day laboreres) have more than enough bread." So he shamefully returned. He would expect to be treated as he deserved in an honor shame system, being treated as shameful by his father, family, and village. He would be lucky to be taken back even as a hired servant.
He knows that his sins are great. He realizes that he has forfeited all of his claims to any privilege. He only wants his father to be merciful to him to be a day laborer to earn back everything he has lost in order to earn reconciliation with his father. Here is a sinner in true repentance. He is willing to confess his sin; he knows he has no rights, privileges, or ground on which to lay claim to anything; he wants reconciliation at all costs, even a life of hard labor in hopes to repay that which he has squandered, likely an impossible task.
The most shameful thing to happen yet occurs as the son nears the village, he father sees him in the distance, felt compassion, ran to him, and kissed him. The Pharisee's had to have thought, "What a fool, a bigger fool than his son. How weak. Can't this father ever respond in a righteous, honorable way?!" In Middle-eastern culture, there is little more shameful than to show one's legs or to run. But the word used is literally, "to sprint." Why did the father suffer such shame in the eyes of all of those he knew by running, likely with lifted robe to greet and kiss his pig-scented, rebellious son? He wanted to get to his son before his son got to those who would shame him. The father takes the shame to honor the son. Look what this says about God:
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God is the seeker; God find the sinner before the sinner finds Him.
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God takes the shame instead of the sinner.
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God's gracious love is lavished on undeserving, repentant sinners.
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God takes great joy to, at great cost to himself, lavish love and reconciliation on a single sinner.
This shameful reconciliation was a reconciliation that likely
filled the tax collectors and sinners listening to Jesus with hope. However, it
was a shameful reconciliation that was a stumbling block and foolishness to the
listening scribes and Pharisees. The son does not even ask, as he planned, his
father for his position as a servant, to seek to earn back his father's grace in
the face of such a response would be unthinkable.
Shameful Rejoicing
Hurry get the best robe, put it on my son. In his joy, he treats the son like a prince. Put a ring on his finger. This is the family's ring; the prodigal son is a son again, and not just any son, a son who has been given the authority act as a representative of his father. This is full sonship. The fattened calf is killed and a feast of great rejoicing and celebration begins. And the celebration is initiated by the father, directed at the father, in response to the father's gracious lavishin of grace on the forgiven sinner. The father is acting as if some honor had been earned by the son. "How shameful and stupid of the father," the Pharisees must have thought.
Shameful Reaction
The oldest son (representative of the Pharisees), when he heard of it, became angry at the father. The Pharisees hearing this anger likely thought to themselves, "Finally the first sensible response." He did not understand the father's graciousness, thinking that because of his position according to the flesh he deserved what was now given by the father to the undeserving sinner.
Shameful Reply
The father pleads with the hypocritical older son and begs him to come to the party and experience the father's lavish grace and celebrate the repentance of a sinner that demonstrates that grace.
So what happens now? The story ends. Here is one possible ending:
1. The eldest sees his hypocrisy and, in response to the father's love, he repents and the father invites him into the party.
Unfortunately that's not what happened. Here's the actual, horrific, glorious ending:
2. The son, being outraged by the father, picks up a piece of wood and beats him to death.It would be only a few month's until the Pharisees would crucify Christ under the guise of protecting the honor of Israel. Yet God uses that murder as a means by which he purchases our salvation and can justly extend grace to sinners like the prodigal and like me. He took the shame so that we could be at the celebration that brings him joy.
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