May 12, 2008 at 9:22 pm · Filed under Book Review, John Piper, Romans
Woe to us if we speak of our existence, or our being, for its own sake. God has given us existence. It is a great wonder, full of trembling and awe. We exist by him, through him, and for him (Rom. 11:36). The ultimate and greatest good of the gospel is not self-admiration or self-exaltation, but being able to see the glory of God without disintegrating, and being able to delight in the glory of Christ with the very delight of God the Father for his own Son, and being able to do visible Christ-exalting deeds that flow from this delight. So being like God is the ground of seeing God for who he is, and this seeing is the ground of savoring and delighting in the glory of God with the very delight of God, which then overflows with visible displays of God’s glory.
John Piper in “God is the Gospel” pg. 162
April 30, 2008 at 9:59 pm · Filed under Book Review, John MacArthur
In “A Tale of Two Sons: The Inside Story of a Father, His Sons, and Shocking Murder”, John MacArthur takes us on an in-depth journey through the most well-known parable “The Prodigal Son”. He talks about how offensive and sinful the younger son was in his prodigal living. He talks about the father’s shocking actions in offering undeserving grace at no cost to the prodigal son. And, not at all the least important, he explores the stubbornness and the prideful attitude of the elder son.
What I enjoy most about “A Tale of Two Sons” is how well MacArthur ties in cultural context and his ability to place the reader in that time; as if Jesus were telling it to us at that very moment. He expresses the shock and awe his listeners would have experienced. For example, he talks about the implications of the Father running to welcome back a wayward and disobedient son:
And make no mistake: in the context of that culture, the father’s action of running to the boy and embracing him before he even came all the way home was seen as a shameful breech of decorum. In the jaded perspective of the scribes and Pharisees, this was just one more thing that added to the father’s shame. For one thing, noblemen in that culture did not run. Running was for little boys and servants. Grown men did not run–especially men of dignity and importance.
A huge theme of the book is how much grace the father extends to the prodigal son. The first half of the book explains how offensive and sinful the actions of the prodigal son was. In fact the name “prodigal” explains a huge part of what that living was like:
The word is used in Luke 15:13 in the New King James Version, where we are told his younger brother “wasted his possessions with prodigal living.” The Greek term there is asotos, meaning wastefulness–but don’t get the notion that the Prodigal’s dominant character flaw was merely that he was a spendthrift. As we’ll soon see, the Greek expression is much stronger than that, conveying strong overtones of licentiousness, promiscuity, and moral debauchery.
The young man is a classic illustration of an undisciplined young person who wastes the best part of his life through extravagant self-indulgence and becomes a slave to his own lust and sin. He is a living picture of the course of sin and how it inevitably debases the sinner.
MacArthur takes us phrase by phrase through the parable and how the younger son degrades both his and his father’s honor with each action he takes. It degrades all the way to the point in which the son desires to eat the garbage the pigs are eating. And it is truely shocking the context that MacArthur ties here:
They start by collecting massive amounts of garbage from the Las Vegas strip, where several tons of spoiled or leftover food are thrown away daily from the casinos’ extravagant buffets. Those leftovers are systematically gathered and hauled to the pig farm in enormous slop trucks.
In the desert heat, by the time the garbage arrives at the farm, it has already blended into a tank of nauseating semiliquid stew. The stench from so much decomposing food must likewise be virtually unbearable. The slop is poured onto a kind of flumelike conveyor system where workers take out as many pieces as possible of various plastic food containers and other nonbiodegradables. The steam of spoiled food is channeled into a two-story-tall kettle, where the whole mess is cooked in order to eliminate the worst bacteria. The resulting goulash is then allowed to cool. By then it’s a nondescript, chunky, globby, bile-colored goo.
Knowing this context of how pig food is made, it gives a whole world of meaning to the fact the prodigal son wished to eat the slop of the pigs. You can see the desperation he has and the hunger he had for something to satisfy him; even if it was temporary.
The story then flips to the father and his abounding grace to the repentant prodigal son. He runs us through how crazy it was for the father to instantly welcome his disobedient and sinful son. He tells of his fathers unending lovingkindness in instantly restoring the son into the family. And he explains us the implications of the father providing sandals, a ring, and the choice robe.
The ultimate purpose is not to talk about the father’s redeeming grace and the joy the prodigal son has in receiving that grace. (Though it is a wonderful truth spoken) The real aim MacArthur is going for is the warnings shown by the elder son; how the father extends the same sufficient grace to him. The difference here is that the elder son rejects this grace and is oblivious due to his self-righteous pride. His response to the father shows how much disdain he has:
The elder son’s self-assessment is one of the most telling aspects of his whole rant. Listen as he expresses the typical hyperinflated self-image of a religious hypocrite: “I never transgressed your commandment at any time” (v. 29). He sounds like the rich young ruler who listened to Jesus’ summary of the Ten Commandments and then blithely replied, “All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?” (Matthew 19:20)
Where does this disdain and distrust lead? How does the story end when the pride of the elder son is examined by the father? This parable simply has no ending. MacArthur points out who he is telling the story to, which is the self-righteous Pharisees. These are the people he meant to offend continuously with the details in the parable. The abrupt ending was to force the pharisees to realize that this parable was for them. They needed to examine themselves and see what Jesus was telling them. So how did they really respond?
They simply responded how God intended them to respond to make complete the gospel at the cross. The elder son beats the father to death. This is a sobering thought, at least for me. This book has forced me to examine myself and my pride. Do I examine my sinful ways only to come to the father like the prodigal or do I stay in my pride and reject the offer of grace from the Father? Thank God for grace and his sufficient lovingkindness and faithfulness.
This is a great book and a recommended read to give yourself more of an arsenal in thinking about the parable of the Prodigal son.
