new residents in this area, getting lost is quickly becoming a part of our
routine. I will not elaborate on the
time when Brantley and I wandered for 30 minutes, only to discover that the
Short Hills Mall is a mile from our house or the time when we paid ten dollars
extra in tolls because we had to turn around 3 times, even when we had a GPS
system!
In
Luke's Gospel, Jesus uses “lostness” as a key metaphor in his three
parables. Imagine Jesus settling in to
teach a crowd. Soon after he begins, a
group of tax collectors and sinners sneak in, folding into the crowd. Upon their arrival, the crowd grows unsettled
and the whispering begins. The tax
collectors are known for dishonestly gathering funds for the Roman officials. They are considered traitors who have sold
out to the higher authorities by betraying their own people in order to get
rich. And the “sinners” were shamed for
deliberately and persistently neglecting Jewish law. Both of these groups were despised and
considered immoral. It was scandalous
for Jesus to associate with them.
Imagine
the crowd that day, whispering and staring as the others joined them. Imagine everyone watching Jesus closely to see how he would
respond. Surely Jesus will send them away,
calling them into judgment. He will at
least call out their sin and ask them to publicly repent! Barely acknowledging the tensions crowd,
Jesus resumes his teaching. The
Pharisees become uneasy in response to what they see as a Jesus' passive response. They grumble just loud enough for half of the
crowd to hear saying, “This guy welcomes sinners and even eats with them!” Having a meal with an “unclean” member of
society was considered a great transgression of social and moral
boundaries. Does Jesus not know that as
he eats with these people he condones their lifestyle and enables them to
dishonor the scriptures? Why does he not
call them to repentance?!
Jesus
overhears the grumbling of the Pharisees and the whispers of the crowd. He glances over at the new arrivals and
notices that they are growing uneasy as well. In response to the Pharisee's accusation that Jesus has not led these
sinners to repent, he doesn't get defensive or call out either group, instead
he tells three stories. The first story
is about a Shepherd with one hundred sheep. The shepherd loses one sheep in the wilderness. He leaves behind the ninety-nine in order to
find the one lost sheep. I imagine Jesus
looking directly at the Pharisee as he asks, “Which one of you when you lose
one sheep would not go out and find it?” “Which one of you would not rejoice when you lay it across your
shoulders or throw a party to celebrate?”
Then
he tells the second story of a woman who loses one of her ten coins. She scours the house to find it. Again, Jesus directly addresses the Pharisees
asking them, “Which one of you if you lose one of your precious things would
not do the same as the woman?” “Which
one of you would not rejoice you found it?”
Lastly,
Jesus tells the story of a man who had two sons. Brantley makes fun of my title for the sermon
this week. And to be honest, finding a
title for a sermon is one of my least favorite parts of sermonizing. Usually when you write a sermon you get an
email from the secretary about a week before you preach. And the pressure is on to come up with a
witty title to capture your message. The
problem is obvious, I have an idea of
what I will preach on, but it is stressful for me to pin it down in 5 words or
less this early in the game. And so this week I picked the title of “A Parable
of a Man who had two Sons.” This title
is not witty or catchy or deep. And I
soon came to find out, on our walk to the YMCA, that it is proudly displayed by
my name on the sign out front. But I
will stick with it, because it says something simple about this passage. We know that this story is about the Prodigal
son, who runs away and returns home. And
another interpretation of this story emphasizes the “two” wayward sons who have
lost intimacy with their father. But
Jesus begins this story saying, “There was
man who had two sons.” Today, I want
to ask “what does this story tell us about that man, about the father?” So let's begin as Jesus begins, “there was a
man who had two sons,” even if it is a lame sermon title.
First, what does the story of the
Younger Prodigal Son tell us about the Father?
We
learn that the father seeks his children
like the shepherd who goes out for one of the ninety-nine sheep or the woman
who carefully searches for her coin. I imagine
that after the younger son leaves, the father inquires for him each time he
goes into town. I picture the Father
gazing out the window and constantly sitting on the front porch hoping to see
his son on the horizon. This is why he
is ready upon his younger son's return, because he has been keeping an eye out
for him. The older son is probably
annoyed at his father's senseless optimism. How can his rebellious brother get all of this attention even in his
absence and even when he stabs the entire family in the back? But the Father responds to the prodigal's
absence with patience and hope. The
story of the younger prodigal son teaches us that the father actively seeks us
out to welcome us home.
We
also learn from the younger prodigal son about the father's radical generosity. He does not withhold his inheritance from his son, even when his son's
request disrespects and deeply offends the father. And when the son returns, after squandering
the Father's wealth, he still responds with boundless generosity. I would expect the father to be
tentative. Maybe the son would run away
with his gifts again, wasting them on a life of luxury and pleasure. Why risk such precious gifts on such an
irresponsible son, especially when he doesn't deserve them? But, the father does not respond to the deep
suffering caused by his son's absence with resentment or anger, rather he
responds with radical generosity and hospitality. The Father gives him new sandals, a robe and
a signet ring to signify the son's reconciliation with the family. The “fatted calf” is not only a symbol of a
great party, but also a symbol of the father's extravagant generosity.
Lastly,
the father displays unwavering mercy
towards his son. He runs to his son with
his arms wide. And no questions asked he
receives his son. There is no testing
period or time of penance. There is no
inquiry into where the money went. The
son wants to make himself his father's slave in order to display his humility
and his desperation. But the father
immediately receives him as a Son. This
poignant scene of reconciliation reminds me of a story that my dad always
tells. You know those stories that pass
along in your family. Sarah told one a
few weeks ago about an Easter Sunday in Church when she was a little girl and
she asked her mom if her “tomb was
empty.”
This
is one of our family's stories. In
college my dad wanted to be a physician like his father. And so he studied biology. But he couldn't seem to stay away from
religion courses, so he double majored in religion and biology. The summer before his senior year, my dad
felt a calling to go to seminary and further his studies in religion (at the
time he thought he would teach but he is now a pastor in a Baptist church). Poppa Jack (that's what we called my
grandfather) drove him back to Duke
University that senior
fall. And when Poppa Jack dropped him
off at his dorm, my dad finally gathered the courage to tell his father that he
didn't want to be a doctor anymore. He
anticipated a reaction of disappointment or fake affirmation. However, in this vulnerable moment, Poppa
Jack simply leaned over and gave my dad a big bear hug. Which was all my dad needed to know. His father would love and support him no
matter what vocation he chose. This
father received his son in a moment of tender vulnerability and he accepted him
and gave him the freedom to be himself.
Younger
prodigal sons are tempted to misunderstand the father's love. We think that because we have screwed up so
bad, when we encounter God, we will encounter a God of wrath or at least a
disappointed God who will shame us. We
expect to pay for our sins. We fear the
encounter with God because we have so much guilt for our addictions, our poor
choices and our broken relationships. And yet when we finally gather the courage to meet God, we find a tender
hug, a ring and sandals, symbols of God's endless generosity and
forgiveness. And so let us no longer be
enslaved to our disobedience, sitting in pig sties of despair. Let us no longer expect a wrathful God or a
God who will shame us. Let us remember that God's grace is
boundless and that he calls us Sons and Daughters, never slaves.
Secondly,
what do we learn about the father from the story of the older son? First we learn the father does not play favorites. The older son has earned his place of privilege in the father's
house. He has been obedient and faithful
and he is the one who deserves a party with his friends. He refuses to join the celebration of his
brother's return because it is unjust. If anyone should be celebrated, it should be him! How could the father forget all of the pain
that his youngest son has caused their family? How could he let him off the hook to quickly? The younger son SHOULD be a slave of their
family at least for a while, until he proves that he won't screw up again. This logic makes so much sense to me. I can understand the frustration and pain of
the older son.
But
the Father refuses to be pinned against either son. He accepts the younger son's passion despite
his disobedience. And he accepts the
older son's obedience despite his lack of mercy. Just because the shepherd left the
ninety-nine to reclaim the one, it does not mean that the ninety-nine are less
precious to him. The ninety-nine should rejoice
because the father would do the same for them. God's love is not contingent upon a competitive system of rewards and
punishments. God loves each of us
uniquely and yet somehow this love does not take away from God's love for
others.
The
Old Testament is riddled with siblings who fight over their father's
blessing. Sibling rivalry is not foreign
to scripture. Cain kills Abel. Isaac is the chosen child of Israel and
Ishmael is not. Jacob steals Esau's
birthright. Joseph gets a coat of many colors. Mary sits at Jesus' feet and Martha does the
dishes. Even the disciples argue about
who gets to sit at the right hand of Jesus. What is it about the love of the father that we somehow think there is
only enough for one sibling, for one church, for one expression of
Christianity? The father's love is
abundant and it is more than enough.
The
second thing that we learn from the relationship between the father and the
older son is that the father's love
compels us to be reconciled with one another. The older brother, jealous of the younger
brother's celebration, asks why he has
not gotten a party after all of these years of faithfulness. The older son cries out, “but when this “son of yours” came back, you killed the
fatted calf for him!” He cannot even refer to the younger son as
his brother (he calls him “this son of yours”); he has severed any familial
relationship his prodigal brother. Again
the father has a right to be defensive and angry that the older son refuses the
repentance of his brother. Instead the
father responds “Son you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours, but
we had to celebrate and rejoice,
because this brother of yours was
dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.” The father reminds the older son of his
connection to the younger brother. Subtly he begs his son to receive the prodigal as a brother, to remember
their relationship and seek reconciliation. I can imagine the younger brother peering through the window watching
the father and older son talk. He also
yearns for his brother to forgive him.
Older
sons also misunderstand God's love. We
think that we deserve the love and attention of the father. We have been so faithful all of these years
that the father should throw us a
party. The older son says that he “has
worked like a slave” for the
father. Some of us are tempted to be
enslaved to our obedience. With this
attitude of resentment and entitlement which attaches itself to the underside
of virtue, older sons forget to receive God's love as a gift. We forget that we receive this love just like
any other child of God. Older sons think
that those who have been disobedient must earn their way to forgiveness;
somehow they must publicly get rid of all of their sins. Older sons are tempted to be hard on those
who aren't faithful because sinners who are easily forgiven threaten their
system of obedience that dictates our lives. All the time God has been saying to the older sons “all that is mine is
yours” freely giving to us. And we have
fooled ourselves into thinking that we have earned the blessing of the father
and somehow we deserve the Father's gifts. Just like the younger son's slavery to disobedience, older sons become
slaves trying to earn God's love instead of freely receiving God's grace. Let us
remember that God's grace is boundless and that he calls us Sons and Daughters,
never slaves.
And
so when we realize over and over again that we keep getting lost, let us
remember the father's gracious, merciful, unbiased, and reconciling love. And let us learn to receive one another with
the love of the Father. Amen.
© 2009
Caroline Dean.
All rights reserved.
