Thanksgiving's Empty Chair

Dr. Ron Sumners

November 20, 2005

Luke 15:25-32

A woman was visiting some people who lived on a farm, and she noticed a pig limping around the yard with a wooden leg. She asked the farmer, "What happened to the pig?" The farmer replied, "Oh that is Betsy, she is the most wonderful pig alive. One night the house caught on fire, and she ran through the house oinking so loudly that she woke us all up and we got out of the house and were able to call the fire department in time to save the house." The woman replied, "That is amazing!" The farmer continued, "That's not all, one day my youngest son fell in the pond and Betsy waded out into the water grabbed him by the collar and pulled him safely to shore. It has been proven that pigs are the smartest of all domesticated animals. They are even smarter than most dogs, and Betsy is the smartest animal I've ever owned." The woman said, "That is really wonderful! But you haven't told me why Betsy has a wooden leg." The farmer replied, "With a pig that special, you don't want to eat it all at once!"

Gratitude didn't run very deep for our three-legged hero! We tend to be people with short memories when it comes to gratitude.

Young people, are you grateful to your parents for what they do for you? I know you don't think about it, but I am calling it to your attention right now. Do you realize the investment your parents have in you? How many hours have they spent attending to your needs? As an infant you were completely in their care for 24/7. How many hours rocking, feeding; hours awake with a colicky, crying baby did they invest in you? How many hours were spent carting you to school, activities, friend's homes, dance, piano, sports, cheerleading and on and on and on? Financially, you are an absolute liability for your parents. By the time you reach college, even before college expenses you will have cost your parents about $200,000. Have you ever said, "Thank you?"

Your very existence is because of them. Although all that is true, I have seen many of you treat your parents with contempt, disdain, and disrespect. Some of you need a lesson in gratitude.

Adult children of aging parents, when was the last time you said, "thank you?" I know they may not have been perfect; you may be in therapy now working out your childhood memories, but they did give your life and your opportunity for life's joys came from them. And if they were parents like mine who sacrificed and did without to give to you and did the best they could, when was the last time you said, "Thanks, mom and dad for all you have done for me?"

You could probably take up the ball and run from here thinking of all the people you are grateful to: friends, family members, employers, teachers, Sunday school teachers, pastors, etc. And I suggest that you take time this Thanksgiving season to take some time to show your gratitude to those people. A phone call, a card, a visit, just a simple "Thanks" would mean so much to them and will free your heart like nothing else you've done in a long time.

Now I will ask the question of the day. The One we are supremely grateful to, should be God. Just how deep does your gratitude run for God?

In the fifteenth chapter of the Gospel of Luke, we find one of the most beloved stories in all of literature. It is my favorite of all of Jesus' parables: The Prodigal Son. It is a story that touches our hearts because of the father's redeeming love and also for the fact that we all are like the boy; we are only able to come home through the Father's forgiveness and love.

But there are two sons in the story. In verses 15-32 of that chapter, we find the response of the elder son to the Prodigal's homecoming. I think his response speaks of and to many of us, and our response to the Father's goodness, love, and provision.

There was a party on that day when the wandering boy came home. The father had the fatted calf butchered and a banquet was prepared. It was truly a day of Thanksgiving celebration. This was long before there was an official Thanksgiving Day, but if there ever has been a day for giving thanks to God; this was one. On this Thanksgiving Day, every chair was filled - except one. It was the chair right next to the robe covered prodigal. It belonged to the older brother.

He was the good boy who stayed at home, minded his own business, lived by the rules, and stayed clear of trouble. He was coming home from another day of hard labor in the fields, just as he had done every day that his brother had been gone. As his younger brother had lived it up in the big city and wasted his inheritance, this older brother had planted the crops, plowed the fields, cared for the animals and done everything that was expected of him.

He stops for a drink of cool water from the well and hears an unusual commotion coming from the house. He was unaware that all the fuss was about baby brother coming home. He asks a passing servant, "What's going on in the house?" The servant replied, "Your brother has come home, and master has killed the fatted calf for a banquet. Isn't it wonderful?" A scowl immediately covered the older brother's face.

You might think the news of his brother's homecoming would bring a heartfelt reunion of the two brothers. But that was not the case. He had assumed that he would never lay eyes on his irresponsible brother again. And that was fine with him. His brother was as good as dead to him.

In fact, the fact that his brother had the nerve to come crawling home began to muster up some deeply negative feelings. The Prodigal basically told the father that he was as good as dead by asking for the inheritance before there was any talk of a funeral. And while he ran off to live a life of reckless irresponsibility, who bore the burden of the responsibility of running the farm? - big brother!

How could dad even consider throwing a party for a son that had treated him so shamefully? How could he even let him set foot on the farm at all? It was more than he could take. He was always hungry when he came from the fields, but not today. He had no appetite for food or this so-called brother. He wanted no part of this party. It was repulsive to him. He refused to go in the house. There would be no forgetting or forgiving from him.

Then something happens. The father steps out of the house to urge the older son to join them at the table of thanksgiving. His dad's pleadings must have been just too much for this son to bear. Like a dam that gives way, the older son breaks loose with great emotion all the feelings that he has held back for a long time.

Out comes resentment for the wandering brother and also for his father. You have never treated me this way. He is embittered by his brother's unbridled passions and wasted life and he is frustrated that he will again have to share the farm with his brother - the loser. The last thing he desires is to participate in a party of thanksgiving celebration.

Here is the second question of the day. The first was how deep does your gratitude for God run? The second is: How can a blessed person become so extremely ungrateful?

If there was anyone who should have been contented, it should have been the older brother. He had the constant love of his father. He was provided for, and his future was secure. But what he had received was not a guarantee of a grateful heart. We live in one of the most affluent areas of our state. Most of us are blessed far beyond our needs and we possess more then we could have ever imagined. We are loved, cared for and we have salvation through the blood of Jesus Christ. Why are we so ungrateful? Why do we not live in joyful thanksgiving?

If we look at the exchange between the father and the elder son, we can discover some things that kept him and keep us from a heart of thanksgiving gratitude.

The older brother was performance-driven. In verse 29 he says to the father, "Lo, these many years I have served you ... I never transgressed ... and yet you never gave me as much as a goat to party with my friends." This statement uncovers much of the reason that this brother lacked joy.

He was simply marking time. He had no particular loyalty to his father or the farm. He indicated that every year was another year of passing drudgery.

He reminds his father of his behavior. He never sinned and never erred, and he stayed on the farm and served. You can read between the lines and get the feeling that he had stayed and served with resentment or with the ulterior motive of what he would get when the father died.

He felt entitled. He basically told his father that he owed him. He resented the party for his brother because he felt that he was entitled to the party. He had absolutely no understanding for forgiveness and grace. He assumed his father's love was given in response to his work and behavior. Therefore, he could not conceive of the love his father had for this wandering brother and why he had not been rewarded for his good works.

This older brother had no thanksgiving in his heart because he was possessions blind. This older brother had everything but still felt he needed something more. The father told him, "All that I have is yours!"

Plenty of people miss their share of happiness, not because they have not found, but because they have not stopped to enjoy it. How many of you don't enjoy the blessings of the Lord and the possessions you have been blessed with because you feel compelled to get more or you are obsessed with keeping what you have instead of enjoying life in thankful gratitude?

Cineas was disturbed at Pyrrhus' intent to go to war against Rome. "Sir, when you have defeated them, what will you do next?" He replied, "Sicily will be easy to conquer." ''And what will you do when you have conquered Sicily?" "I will then conquer Carthage and Africa." "When you have defeated them, what will you attempt next?" "Then we will fall on Greece and Macedonia." "When all are subdued, what fruit do you expect from all your victories?" He replied, "Then we will sit down and enjoy ourselves." "Sir, may we do it now and forgo all the preliminaries?"

The younger brother learned what true riches are by his poor decisions that caused him to lose all his material possessions. He lost everything yet lost nothing of value. He went home a pauper, but richer than he had ever been. The older brother could never understand this value system. What standard do you use to determine your blessings?

One morning after a terrible snowstorm, a woman was outside shoveling her driveway. She stopped to say hello to a neighbor, and he asked why her husband wasn't out there helping her. She explained that one of them had to stay inside and take care of the children who had to stay home from school because of the weather. So, they drew straws to see who would go outside and shovel. "Sorry about your bad luck," he said. She replied, "Don't be sorry, I won!’.

The neighbor didn't understand the woman's values. The older brother did not understand the values of his father or the newly acquired values of his younger brother.

The older brother was relationally distant. In verse 30, he refers to his brother as "this son of yours!" He was not willing to call him his brother. That statement was motivated by resentment and arrogance. He felt he was superior to this brother in every way. He wanted nothing to do with him. The father tried to explain the joy he had for his son's return and yet his constant love for this older boy, "Son, you are always with me." He was telling the son that he loved both his boys. He had to love them differently because they were different. The boy could not understand his father's nature. He had lived on his father's farm but had never developed his father's heart. He could not share the father's joy!

Many of you have lived all your lives in the Father's house but you have never developed the Father's heart and you do not know the joy of true gratitude.

The father ends this discussion with these words, "It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found."

What should this mean to the older brother and to us? If we are unable to share the joy of the Father's heart, something is definitely wrong with us. There is nothing wrong with the Father, so if we do not live in joy and gratitude, there is something wrong with us!

A king was said to have suffered a terribly painful sickness. His advisor told him that his only cure was to locate a contented man, ask him for his shirt and then wear that shirt night and day. Immediately messengers were sent through the kingdom to look for such a man and bring back his shirt. Months passed when finally, all messengers returned empty­handed. The king was exasperated, "Do you mean to tell me there was not even one man in the entire kingdom who is content?" A messenger replied, "We found only one such man in all the land." The king said, "Then why didn't you bring me his shirt?" "Sir, the man had no shirt!"

Are you contented? Are you grateful? There is a chair available at the Thanksgiving feast for you. You can take your place and enjoy the love and forgiveness of the Father, or you can stay outside with the older brother. It's up to you!