“THE PRODIGAL IN THE VINEYARD AT 3:00AM”

Luke 15:11-32 & Matthew 20:1-16

1. my youngest daughter Elizabeth attends 7th grade at North Clackamas Christian School. Tuesday her Bible teacher, Mrs. Lindroos gave the class a huge assignment, much bigger than usual. Wednesday morning she asked for a show of hands from all the kids who Didn’t do their homework – about 4-5 kids raised their hands. Then she told them she was going to give them 100% on the assignment anyways. In fact, she was going to give 100% to everyone in the class. Then she taught on the parable of the workers in the vineyard from Matthew 20.

2. today I want to share with you two of Jesus’ parables – the workers in the vineyard and the prodigal son. And how my family and my brother Tom have been living in those two parables since he was diagnosed with cancer on January 21 & since he said “yes” to Jesus on January 29.

a beginning
1. my brother Tom, 6 years older than I, has done life his way for as long as I can remember.

2. school was a challenge – he didn’t finish high school. He joined the Marines & was sent to Viet Nam during the war. He was wounded in battle. I still remember the day my mom looked out the front window of our home & saw a man dressed in a Marine uniform getting out of the car. She burst into tears, thinking that Tom had been killed. Thankfully, he had only been wounded.

3. later he received a dishonorable discharge from the service for drug use. He came home. He drifted from place to place. Struggled to hold down a job. Abused alcohol & drugs.

4. he returned to Boise about 10 years ago. The last 4 years he has lived on an island in the Boise River & held up a sign asking for money on the corner of Glenwood & State St, if you know where that is.

5. for the past 30 years Tom has been more or less estranged from us. Efforts were made to change that but nothing worked.

6. he & I were never close. I grew up fearing him because he was so mean to me as his little brother. In a fit of rage he once threw a dart at me & hit me in my left knee – I had to pull it out (he ruined my NBA career!). He left home for good when I was 11-12.

cancer & ‘yes’ to Jesus
1. on the afternoon of January 21st I received a phone call from my younger brother telling me that Tom had checked himself into the hospital & had a brain tumor that was cancer.

2. 3 days later I was on a plane to Boise. I met with his doctors – there was nothing they could do with the cancer, it was too far advanced. They gave him 1 – 2 months to live.

3. I spent as much time with Tom as I could that week. I cherished the evening hours after dinner. He & I would talk after the hospital quieted down. About his life, our growing up years, what he was thinking & feeling, and about his imminent death. I’d never felt closer to him.

4. I talked to him about saying ‘yes’ to Jesus as his Savior. He told me he believed but was going to wait to the end. I told him he may not get that chance because he might quickly slip into a coma & not wake up. He told me he was going to take his chances. Before leaving I’d grab his hand, hold it and pray for him.

5. Saturday night, January 28th I headed up to the hospital. My plane left the next day. I knew this would be my last chance to talk to him about Jesus. I didn’t know what else I could say or do. I was frustrated.

6. I slipped into the prayer chapel of St. Alphonsus hospital. I looked up at a large crucifix hanging on the wall, Jesus hanging on the cross. I felt overwhelmed by what I saw – the suffering of Jesus & that suffering was personalized for Tom. I saw how much Jesus loved Tom. How much Jesus had done for Tom, if he would just say yes.

7. I started talking to Jesus hanging there on the cross. I told him my frustrations. And I asked him what to do. I didn’t hear any voices but I heard something – go up & read Tom the story of the prodigal son. And I did.

Luke 15:11-32
1. I read the story out of Tom’s Recovery Bible that I bought for him earlier in the week. We began to talk. I told him there was nothing he had to do, to change, to say ‘yes’ to Jesus. The Father was waiting for him with open arms. I kept emphasizing that he had to ‘come to his senses.’ He agreed with everything I said.

2. I asked him if he was ready & he said ‘no, I’m going to wait to the end.’ ‘Tom, what if you don’t get a chance?’ ‘I’ll take my chances.’

3. we held hands, I prayed with him, and committed him to God’s keeping. It was a lonely walk out to the parking lot.

4. I went back up to visit him Sunday afternoon before going to the airport. He told me he had something to tell me. ‘You know what we have been talking about? I did it last night at 3am!’ ‘You mean you said yes to Jesus?’ He told all of us he had!

5. my Dad immediately started crying. My brother Brent gave Tom a double thumbs up with a huge smile. My mom sat in her wheel chair stunned. I went over & gave him a huge, long hug, told him I loved him, and told him the week was worth it just for this!

6. Dad & Mom’s lost son had been found. My brother Tom had come home. Though he’s dying & will die, he’s living and will be alive forever more.

Transformation in the final hour
1. this is the most wonderful thing that has happened in our family in a long, long time. We feared Tom would die of a drug overdose, or just disappear never to be seen again, or be killed on the streets.

2. he’s our captive audience, first at the hospital and now in the Capitol Care nursing home. We get to love him like we’ve always wanted.

3. the most amazing thing to me is the change I’ve seen in his life. Saying ‘yes’ to Jesus has made a difference even as he’s slipping closer & closer to death.

4. he tells us he loves us. While he could still talk I’d call him on the phone just to hear him tell me he loved me. He lets us hug him & he hugs us in return. I asked him if he was a peace and he told me ‘yea, and that’s the best part of all this.’ He has peace & joy like he’s never had before.

5. he’s gone to church the last 2 Sundays with my parents. He’s wanted to go. That’s proof enough of the change of his heart.

6. one night on the phone I told him ‘I’m praying for you’ & for the first time in my life he told me ‘I’m praying for you too!’ Tears welled up in my eyes.

7. while he was in the hospital he told me more than once that he was so lucky to have a family like he did. That he loved all of us visiting him. And that he was surprised that people wanted to come & see him but he was glad they did.

Matthew 20:1-16 – the workers in the vineyard
1. the week after I came back home from visiting Tom my thoughts moved from the prodigal son to the parable of the workers in the vineyard. Tom was not only the prodigal son come home – he was the 11th hour hire in the vineyard who got paid as much as those who worked all day.

2. the last shall be first and the first shall be last. I have seen this with my own eyes. I have heard it with my own ears. I have felt it with my own body. 6 weeks ago my brother Tom slipped in under the wire. Into his heavenly inheritance.

3. God showed him grace not law. He snubbed his nose at God for 56 years in a hugely painful & dramatic fashion. He squandered away his Christian upbringing and the love of my parents & our family. But at the 11th hour he said ‘yes’ to Jesus & picked up his kingdom paycheck.

the party
1. after reading Tom the story of the prodigal son Saturday night I told him that when he said ‘yes’ to Jesus we would through him a ‘prodigal son comes home’ party like in the story. He smiled & said ‘cool.’

2. so we did a week later. The 4 of us were able to fly back to Boise because of your generosity – thanks so much for providing the money. What a special gift you gave our family.

3. the party was simple. In the game room of the nursing home that Tom has moved into. About 20-25 family & friends. We bought balloons. We took pictures. We celebrated Tom’s life. And Tom seemed to enjoy every minute of it.



4. I asked people to share memories of Tom. His friend Rocky, he, too, a Viet Nam vet, shared how Tom saved his life after Viet Nam. Rocky had already been through 2 marriages. He had lost all reason for living. He had no self-esteem. He was bouncing off the bottom.

5. and Tom spoke hope into his life. Told him not to give up. To believe in himself. To keep going. And he did. Rocky sat there & told us all that Tom saved his life!

6. Dee Friesen shared. The Friesen’s lived across the street from us when we were kids. Dee shared how she & her husband were awakened in the middle of the night to pray for Tom’s safety in Viet Nam. Dee specifically felt led to pray for safety from shrapnel.

That was the night Tom was wounded. When he heard her story he lifted up the sleeve of his shirt & showed us all his shrapnel wounds.

7. my mom chimed in with another story. That same night my Uncle Jr. was awakened to pray for Tom’s safety. Here’s my 19 year old brother in the midst of a battle with the Viet Cong & 3 people on the other side of the world were woken in the middle of the night to pray for him. I felt Holiness come near when those stories were shared.

8. next family members read Scripture promises to Tom that they wanted to share with him.

9. and then I had the delight of baptizing Tom with a pitcher of water and a basin. He gave a short confession of his faith in Jesus and I poured water over his head in the name of the Father Son Holy Spirit. In my wildest dreams I never dreamed that I would ever baptize my prodigal brother.

the waiting Father & the generous Owner of the vineyard
1. this isn’t a story about Tom. This is a story about the waiting Father & the generous Owner of the vineyard. This is a story about God!

2. each one of us in our own ways are the prodigal child gone astray & the 11th hour hire in the vineyard.

3. each one of us are totally dependent upon God for our salvation. We can’t earn it. We can’t buy it. We can’t be good or powerful or rich or poor or successful or good-looking enough to force God’s hand.

4. ours is to come to our senses, admit our need, and come home to waiting Father where he will see us a long way off & coming running to us. He’ll give order to kill the fattened calf & strike up the band because it’s dancing & party time!

5. what would you think that if every time we hear of someone saying ‘yes’ to Jesus through the ministry of our church that we throw them a party! Who will be the first?

6. God does this because he’s a generous God. He breaks all the rules on hiring & paying his help. He gives us what we don’t deserve. He extends grace & mercy to us when we deserve judgment.

7. what would it mean for our community if we became known as the church of the waiting, running & party-throwing Fathers & Mothers? What would it mean for our community if we became known as the church of the work 1 hour & get paid for 12 Generous Supporter?

8. I don’t see a new building rising from the ashes. I see a place for God’s people to encounter the waiting Father & the Generous vineyard owner in life-change experiences. And I see a place in which others can do that – our children, our teenagers, our single adults, our young married couples, adults of all ages, and those running the last lap of their lives.

9. I see those who were lost but now found, those who were dead but now alive – being partied in the children’s area, the youth center downstairs, the coffee area that will tie the 2 buildings together, and in the worship center with all that natural light coming into the room to stamp out the darkness of our sin & of our world.

10. Tom’s story is a wonderful story. Thank-you for your prayers. Thank-you for loving me & my family for so long. And thanks be to God for being the waiting Father & the Generous vineyard owner. Amen.