In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The parable of the prodigal son from Luke chapter 15 is a great text for us to hear on Father’s Day, because this is a story about a dad and his two boys. Besides giving us a wonderful picture of the gospel, this passage also shows us what it looks like to be a good father. Those two things, of course, go together. You can’t be the kind of dad that your kids need you to be, if you don’t know the love of your Father in heaven. What does it matter what kind of other stuff you give your children, if you can’t even give them the one thing needful?

So, first, this text teaches us the gospel. The gospel is the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ. It’s the message of God’s underserved mercy and kindness towards us sinners. Even though we deserve His wrath and punishment, God forgives us and receives us back for Jesus’ sake.

This is exactly what we see playing out in the parable. The first son treated his father like absolute garbage. He demanded that his dad give him his inheritance early, which was more or less the same thing as telling him to drop dead. When do you normally inherit something from your parents? Usually, you only get it after they die. So, the one son was basically saying that he would rather his dad be dead, then alive, so that he could have his share of the money. It was an awful thing to say. But that’s what we sinners say to God through our actions every time that we sin. When we disobey His commandments, and go off on our own way instead, we act as if life would be better off without Him. “Just give me what’s mine and let me do what I want with it!” That’s the beginning of every sin.

And yet, where does that attitude always lead us? Well, what happened to the first son in the parable? He thought that things would be better off away from his father’s house, and in almost no time at all, he realized just how wrong he really was. After he squandered away all of his property in reckless living, a famine came upon the land, and he ended up broke and homeless. The situation got so bad that at one point he longed to be fed even with the pods that the pigs ate, but, as our text says, no one gave him anything. 

This, of course, shows us what kind life is really waiting for us apart from God and His Word. God’s law isn’t just a bunch a bunch of arbitrary rules, it protects us from doing dumb things that bring us harm. Sin might feel good in the moment, but that feeling never lasts forever. Eventually it fades away, and all we’re left with is pain, suffering, guilt, and sorrow.

When the first son finally came to his senses, and realized just how terrible of a person he’d been, he made a plan to go back his father’s house. Part of that plan was actually right. The son had every intention of apologizing to his dad and admitting what he done wrong. “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” That’s what the son planned to say to his dad when he made it back home. And lots of people get to a very similar place in their spiritual journey too. They realize that they’ve made an absolute mess of their life through their sin, and that there’s no one to blame for it but themselves. But then they do exactly what the son did in our reading, and go on to assume that they have to do something on their own in order to make it right again. What else did the son plan to say to his father when he got back home? He wasn’t just going to admit that he’d done something wrong, and ask for forgivness, he was going to ask his dad to treat him like one of the hired servants instead. The son hoped that his dad would be merciful to him, but he wasn’t sure of how far that mercy would go. That’s how a lot of people think about God. They hope He’ll forgive them, but they’re not really sure. They hope He’ll take them back, but just to be safe, they think the need to cut a deal with Him to increase their chances. 

And yet, what did the father do in the story? While his son was still a long way off, he took off running for his boy, and threw his arms around him and embraced him. He didn’t even let his son make it to the end of his pre-planned speech, but cut him off in the middle of it, and told the servants to go and get the best robe, the family ring, and sandals for his feet. The father completely restored his child, and treated him as one of his sons again, even though he didn’t even deserve to be a slave.

That’s the kind of love that God the Father has for each and every one of you. You sin against Him with your thoughts, words, and deeds. You dismiss His law and ignore His commandments. You do the things that you want to do without any regard for anyone but yourself. And you make a mess of your life. There’s no one to blame but you, and you can’t do anything to fix it on your own. But what does your Heavenly Father do for you anyway? When you repent, He receives you back as His beloved child. Purely by His grace and mercy, and not your own merit, He forgives you your sins. He washes you clean in your Baptism. He covers you with the robe of Christ’s righteousness. He gives you a place at His table and restores to you all the privileges of a true son or daughter. 

God’s love for us sinners is such a profound and extraordinary thing that no human being can fully comprehend it. In fact, it’s so outrageous to our fallen senses that many people flat out reject it. That’s what the older brother did in the story. He resented his father’s love and didn’t think it was right. He thought that what his dad was doing was irresponsible and unfair. “How could you let this son of yours back into the house again after he devoured it with prostitutes? Why on earth would you ever want him back?” The older brother didn’t realize how much he had benefited from his father’s grace too, so he didn’t appreciate it when someone else got it either.

At the beginning of the story, it was the first son who didn’t want to be at his dad house, but at the end of the story it was the second one. He wouldn’t go into the home and join the party because he thought that being there was something that you had to earn, and only he had earned it. In that way, he represents all those who trust in their own works for salvation and consider themselves to be righteous on their own. They miss out on eternal life too, not because they choose to live in their sin, but because they don’t think that they have any sins that need forgiving. They don’t understand that the only way to be in God’s house at all is by grace, and that grace is by nature something that you don’t deserve.

And yet, just like the father in the story, God pleads with them to come to the Feast too. “Son, you are always with me,” the dad said, “and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.” God wants all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. He wants that for hardened sinners who have chosen a life of sin, and He wants that for self-righteous sinners who don’t think that they sin at all. Nothing makes God happier than when someone repents and comes back home. He is always waiting to forgive them, restore them, and welcome them back in.

The parable of the prodigal son doesn’t just give us wonderful picture of the gospel, it also shows us what it looks like to be a good dad. The most important thing that any dad can do is teach his kids the Word of God. It’s not just his job to make sure that they know how to tie a neck tie or throw a baseball, his main responsibility is to bring them up in the instruction and fear of the Lord.

The first way that that happens is by teaching your kids the law. A good dad doesn’t make excuses for his children’s sin, he helps them see it for what it is. The dad in the parable never said that his first son didn’t do anything wrong. He didn’t defend his bad behavior or explain it away as just a natural part of growing up. He said that the boy was lost. He called him dead. That’s what God’s Word says about our sin, and so that’s what we need to teach our kids to believe about it too. Sin isn’t just a couple of mistakes that we make here and there, it’s a total corruption of our nature that completely separates us from God and leaves us eternally damned. There no such thing as a sin that doesn’t matter or a commandment that you can willingly break that won’t destroy you spiritually. You don’t play around with sinful stuff, and act like its no big deal, you repent of it, and run away from it. You do every day of your life, and never pretend, like the older brother did, that you don’t have any sins that need forgiving.

And secondly, and most importantly, a good dad teaches his kids the gospel. The father in the parable showed his son that forgivness isn’t something that you earn, it’s something that you receive. He did that by giving it to his boy even though he didn’t deserve it. Fathers teach their kids the gospel not just when they forgive them for the sins they commit against them, but also when they explain to them how all of our sins have already been forgiven in Jesus. Before we ever deserved it, before we could do anything to pay Him back, yes, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 

The Bible tells us that fathers are the head of the household. Being the head of the house isn’t about getting everything that you want and bullying your wife and kids. It’s about imitating our Father in heaven. Its about making our homes places where the Word of God is preached and taught so that everyone that lives there can hear it. It’s about taking you kids to church, doing home devotions, praying with them before bed, and telling them over and over again about the forgivness that comes from Jesus. That’s what the gospel is all about it. And that’s what it means to be a good dad too. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.