My sermon on the Prodigal Son

I gave this talk in 2007 during sacrament meeting. I hope you enjoy it.

"All of us have heard, since our Primary days, the story of the prodigal son and his father. This is told in the Gospel of Luke. Luke is one of the gospels, and the word gospel means "good news".

 It is my prayer that God will give us ears to hear the Good News this morning.

Now, first I want to ask, by a raise of hand, has anyone here has ever fed pigs? OK a bunch of you have. I guess you all grew up in Idaho or Northern Utah. For those among you who have fed pigs, have you ever looked at the pigs’ food and wished you could get your face down there in the trough to eat with them? Of course you haven’t. This offers a glimpse into the level of absolute poverty and powerlessness to which the prodigal son had fallen. He’s hit bottom. Hitting bottom is what it takes for some of us to come to their senses. There are all manner of ways to hit bottom and our own experience or the experience of those we know may well be a different manner. People hitting bottom may well happen to more folks than you can imagine.

The Good News here is that this thought prompted the young man to “come to his senses.” That is the exact opposite of being “beside himself.” He has come together and is able to reason through his grim situation and see a path to recovery. It’s a modest plan. He will return to his father and apologize. He will ask to be treated as one of the hired servants, not as a son of the father.

Now for some really Good News: do you suppose the son came up this plan on his own?  He had to make adecision. In the bigger picture we can imagine that long before the son came to his senses it was the father’s prayer to do precisely that and come home. The love that “goes before” is what we call “grace.” We believe that before a human being ever consciously knows God’s Grace the Holy Spirit is already at work in our hearts inviting us and working gently to prompt one to come home.

 Do parents automatically love the child?The truth is that the child’s parents have chosen to be in relationship with the child for some years before the child ever has any awareness or memory of the relationship. We reach out to God only to discover that God has been reaching out to us all along.

This is the lens through which we begin to see the astonishing love of God. In the parable, the younger son asks the father for his inheritance. In the father’s extraordinary generosity the request is granted. In almost any situation we can imagine, giving a young person their entire inheritance in advance would not be a wise thing. Most anyone would not be able to manage that successfully.

So are we to say that God is generous but unwise? No, not at all. You see, for better or worse, God has given all of humanity this freedom to make decisions. This is what we call agency. It is the most precious of gifts that Heavenly Father has given to us. It is so precious that God himself must abide by it. In the gospel story,the father does no coerce the son to stay home. Neither does God demand that we stay in relationship with him. We are free to leave anytime. You see, it wouldn’t mean anything to be in relationship to God if we are forced into the relationship. The same is true with those we love. If we were to somehow coerce another into relationship, it would not be love. The relationship would just be a consequence of our power over another.

It is clear that the younger son’s first chosen path will lead to disaster. Fortunately he discovers that his true life and inheritance is with the father. We may or may not be surprised to learn that the older brother resents the prodigal’s return and acceptance by the father. It’s just as if he had never left. The father’s astonishing generosity is seen again. He doesn’t even let the son finish his apology speech.

What we see in the father’s pleading for the older son to come inside and join the celebration is more of his generosity. The older son’s resentment is deep and angry. He hasn’t come to understand that his own inheritance is not threatened. In the father’s pleading we hear him say, “I have always been with you” and “all I have is yours.” The older brother has the blessing of all the father has, but sadly doesn’t see that. The older brother’s feeling may even be so close to our own that it makes us uncomfortable.

Do you hear the Good News here? Just as we can see the father’s generosity with both of these sons, God’s generosity is the same with us. The father desires for both of his sons to have everything he has and has always been with them and always will be with them. That is our Heavenly Fathers' highest priority. We don’t know how the story might continue. We hope that both sons would realize that their inheritance is with the father, in relationship with the father. We hope that the younger son discovers that though he is free to leave the father, but doesn’t mean he should. We hope he discovers that there is no hope for life outside of a relationship with the father. We hope the elder son discovers that likewise his inheritance is not his possession but a gift he can only receive in grace. He thinks he has earned his inheritance, but it has always been his. This is not for what he has done, but for who he is as the father’s son.

This is wonderful Good News. You are more valuable to God than you can imagine. In fact, God sacraficed His Only Son to give us new life. It’s so important to God that you are given the freedom to say yes or no. How will you answer?

Ultimately, what is so amazing is that there is no such thing as a Latter-day Saint by accident. There are only Latter-day Saints by decision.

I share my testimony that this is the church of the Lord. I testify that the Book of Mormon is true, and that Jospeh Smith was the man inspired to translate it. I know we are lead by Christ in these latter-days, and for that I am so thankful.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.