First Reading: Isaiah 12:1-6
1You will say in that day: “I will give thanks to you, O Lord, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, that you might comfort me. 2“Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.” 3With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. 4And you will say in that day: “Give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted. 5“Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth. 6Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.”
Psalm 32
1Happy are they whose transgressions are forgiven, and whose sin is put away! 2Happy are they to whom the Lord imputes no guilt, and in whose spirit there is no guile! 3While I held my tongue, my bones withered away, because of my groaning all day long. 4For your hand was heavy upon me day and night; my moisture was dried up as in the heat of summer. 5Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and did not conceal my guilt. 6I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.” Then you forgave me the guilt of my sin. 7Therefore all the faithful will make their prayers to you in time of trouble; when the great waters overflow, they shall not reach them. 8You are my hiding place; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance. 9“I will instruct you and teach you in the way that you should go; I will guide you with my eye. 10Do not be like horse or mule, which have no understanding; who must be fitted with bit and bridle, or else they will not stay near you.” 11Great are the tribulations of the wicked; but mercy embraces those who trust in the Lord. 12Be glad, you righteous, and rejoice in the Lord; shout for joy, all who are true of heart.
Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 5:16-21
16From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Gospel: Luke 15:1-3, 11-32
1The tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear {Jesus}. 2And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” 3So he told them this parable:
11… “There was a man who had two sons. 12And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. 13Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. 14And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. 15So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything. 17“But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! 18I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ 20And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate. 25Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ 28But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, 29but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. 30But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ 31And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’”
Overly Generous
Today’s gospel text contains one of the most recognizable parables that Jesus told. It’s a parable that as soon as the title is read, most Christians, and a good many non-church goers, can summarize very quickly. It’s a passage that turns up in our lectionary frequently enough that I’ve preached on it several times and when it comes to discussing it with other pastors, they too have studied it at length. So, as I began to prepare for this week, I thought I would give it a rest. I turned instead to the Epistle lesson, from Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, and was a bit surprised by what the Holy Spirt revealed. St. Paul writes, “God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and calling us to a ministry of reconciliation, God making his appeal through us” (5:18-19).
When I read this passage alongside our gospel reading, I came to realize what Paul was doing. He was proclaiming the exact same message that Jesus is in the parable — the message of reconciliation. That’s what both lessons are about. In fact, reconciliation is the heart of the Christian faith: God the Father, in Christ our Savior, is bridging the divide that sin created between God and us. St. Paul has ingeniously summarized the gospel with this phrase: “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not counting their trespasses against them.” Paul put that in prose, in theological language, in a brilliant formula. It’s wonderfully simple, “God was in Christ, reconciling….” I don’t think I can state the gospel any more clearly than that.
Think about it, how would you easily talk about what God is doing unless you tell it in a story, which is what Jesus did in the parable of the Prodigal Son. So, I’m once again drawn to this parable, as a moth is to a bright light. Besides that, the plot of the story of the Prodigal Son is a universal story, the story of a family; it’s a story that we can place ourselves into and see it from its various perspectives. And this is exactly what I invite you to do this morning, I want to examine this story by placing ourselves into the story as each character.
As most of you know, since you’ve met both my brothers, I am a middle child. What this means is that I’m the good child. Growing up, my older brother pulled all the stunts, and because of this, I wasn’t allowed to do anything. Then by the time my little brother came along, well he was the baby, and we all know what that means, yup, he got away with everything! Therefore, I was the model child, the dependable child, the glue that held the family together. I can see by the look on your faces that you’re buying all that! Gloating aside, I think I can see this passage from the various actors within the story.
We know the story; a landowner has two boys, and the younger son comes to the father and asks for his share of the inheritance. The father, surprisingly, grants the son’s request, and the young man then goes off partying and blows his fortune on wine, women, and song. When his fortune is gone, he tries to support himself and fails miserably. So, “coming to himself”, he determines that he needs to go back to good ole dad and apologize. This he does, and he is well received, and dad throws a party to welcome him back. Next, the older brother enters the story, and we listen to the conversation between he and the father and of the older son’s refusal to have anything to do with the welcome home party. For me to place myself in this story is in some ways easy and yet hard at the same time. Of the two brothers, the younger one is a bit harder for me to understand.
Being more practical minded, I have a difficult time seeing how a person could treat their father in this manner. Here dad has done everything he can to be a good parent, to plan and provide for the family, and the younger son decides to ask for his share of the family estate, even while the father is still alive. What makes this even more difficult to understand is that the father agrees?! But more about that in a minute. In placing ourselves in this scenario, we can imagine that the younger son feels that he has the maturity to handle such a windfall and that he can use it to live a better life.
Maybe the younger son sees himself in a different occupation, or that he can reinvest the funds in a way that it increases, and he can then live a fuller life even while enjoying the things he feels he’s missing. Maybe he feels he needs to see the world, get a high-quality education, or find a place where he can use his talents and become a part of a new community. Given the opportunity, I’m certain that each of us could come up with many more “reasons” that the younger son could justify his actions. Sadly, from the explanation Jesus gives, none of this happened and the younger son squanders his inheritance and before long finds himself in deep trouble. Next, we place ourselves in the story as the older son.
If I’m being honest, this son is easier for me to understand. The elder son is practical, hardworking, loyal, and not given to impulsiveness. The elder son appears to have spent his life, to now, following his father’s directions, and is, generally speaking, happy with his situation. It isn’t much of a stretch to imagine that he isn’t happy about his younger brother’s request, nor with his father honoring that request. So, it makes sense that he isn’t pleased when the younger son comes home to such a celebratory welcome.
By placing ourselves in this story, we might feel justified in responding to the father’s request by refusing to take part in the celebration, and possibly even shunning the younger son. We’ve worked hard while the other brother played. We’ve been obedient while the younger son has rebelled. We’ve been faithful without question while the younger brother has been disloyal. We’ve guarded the family’s name and reputation while the younger son has soiled and sullied the family standing within the community. For the older son to feel betrayed is justifiable. It’s at this point in the story that we need to stop and consider the audience that Jesus was addressing, both the sinners and Tax Collectors who were the shunned of society, and the religious leaders.
In the opening verses of chapter 15, St. Luke gives us a picture of the audience. Starting in verse 1 we read, “The tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear {Jesus}. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” If you were to venture a guess, which of these two groups do you suppose that Jesus was referring to when He talked about the younger son? What part of this group was Jesus seeing as the older son? You see, the audience that day knew exactly who Jesus as referring to when He described each son. The younger is, of course, the Tax Collectors and sinners, and the Religious Leaders are the older son. And it goes without saying, the father in the story is God the Father. Both sons, or groups, came from the same lineage, they were all Jews.
Both the Tax Collectors and sinners and the Religious Leaders had been taught the law and read the Hebrew Bible from a young age. Both groups had celebrated the same festivals and quite possible attended the same Synagogues. The difference between the two is, the Religious Leaders had followed the rules, been faithful in attending services, and had done everything they could do to keep the Jewish reputation and tradition pure. The Tax Collectors and sinners on the other hand had taken their heritage and squandered it in sinful living. This is the beauty of Jesus’ parables; He pulls His audience into the story and then forces them to address their part in it.
For the Tax Collectors and sinners, they were forced to acknowledge their rebellion and their squandering of the inheritance that God had given them. And because they had gathered around to hear Jesus, He acknowledges their recognition of their need to repent and turn, and then promises to fully receive them back into the family with a celebration. Jesus then speaks to the Religious Leaders.
Jesus recognizes that they have been the faithful son and that they have followed all the rules that God has laid down. Additionally, Jesus tells them that the remaining inheritance will be given to them in due time. But, Jesus is also telling the Religious leaders that they are no less guilty of sin than the younger brother. The younger brother is guilty of loose living, and of squandering their God given inheritance. But the older brother is guilty of being judgmental, of being envious of the younger brother, and of an unforgiving attitude. Up to this point the parable seems straight forward, both sons are guilty of sinning, and both are in need of God’s forgiveness. This is the point of the story where we need to examine the attitude of the three main characters, the younger son, the older son, and God.
For the younger son, the key is that he came to himself and realized his need to repent and his need for forgiveness. The younger son realizes what he’s done and what he needs to do to restore the relationship with the father. He examines his life, acknowledges his sin, and then goes to the one person who can restore him to the family. He humbles himself and goes to the father and asks for forgiveness and is restored.
The older son, however, sees the loving reception that the younger son receives and becomes indignant. He has disowned the younger son, notice how he refers to his brother in verse 30, “this son of yours”. Not your son, or my brother, but “this son of yours.” You can hear the disdain in the response. You can hear the lack of compassion in his voice. And you can hear the judgment in his retort. We’re forced to ask, who is the one less guilty? Can we place a degree of sinfulness on each of the brothers? The younger brother is welcomed back and is enjoying the festivities. The older, in his refusal, is left standing outside, excluding himself from the celebration. The final actor in this story we need to examine is the father.
The father in this story, as we acknowledged a few minutes ago, is God the Father. And to place ourselves in this story as this actor is hard. Why would a father entrust such a wonderful gift to an irresponsible son? Yet this is what God did when He gave Abraham the promise that his descendants would inherit the Promised Land. This is what God did when He promised king David there would always be a person on his throne. This is what God did in sending Jesus to us to be among us. But sadly, we too often forget all God has done for us. We know from reading the Old Testament that the Jewish people would, many times squander the blessings that God gave them.
We read how God would bless the people with victory over their enemies, protect them from pestilence and famine and give them everything they needed to prosper and thrive. And how would they repay God’s excessive generosity? By turning their back on God and chasing after the gods of this world. Sounds like a familiar theme, aren’t we oftentimes guilty of the same thing? How often do we act as if the blessings of God are somehow something we are owed, and we then go out and squander what God has entrusted to us? And when we do come to ourselves, we turn to God in repentance, and God, like He did for the ancient Jews, welcomes us back, forgives us, and restores us to His family. As sinful human beings, it can be hard for us to understand God’s overly generous nature.
What might even be harder to comprehend is that God didn’t just forgive the ancient Jews repeatedly, but like He did for the younger son, He stood day after day, looking for their return, and while they were still on their journey back, God ran to embrace them. What might help us better understand, is if we consider the two parables just prior to our Luke 15 reading. In the parable of the Lost Sheep, God is so concerned over the one who is lost, that he entrusts the 99 to the other shepherds, and goes and searches until He finds and brings the lost one home. He then calls together His friends to rejoice. In this parable, we see how much God longs for us to be in His care.
In the parable of the Lost Coin, the woman looses one of her 10 coins. The coin in the story represents a day’s wage, hard labor, most likely one working from sunup to sundown in the hot harvest fields. Because of the coins high value, the woman not only lights a lamp, but sweeps, and searches diligently, until she locates the lost coin and then like the joy filled shepherd, she calls her friends together to share in her joy. Jesus is again giving us a glimpse of how much God loves us, is concerned for us, and wants to be with us. Jesus wants us to know the extremes God will go to reconcile us to Himself. But Jesus’ story of God’s generosity doesn’t stop at Him simply searching until He finds us.
What’s even more interesting is the fact that the father orders the fatted calf to be prepared. Think about that for a minute. Fattening a calf takes time and in verse 13 Jesus says that the son traveled to a far country. When you consider the conditions of the day, and the time it would take for the events of the younger son to take place, it’s possible that the son was gone for many, many months, if not years. Yet the father kept a calf at the ready, hoping for his son’s return. God longs to be in a relationship with us and is willing to go the extra mile, even when we’re the ones who stray from His presence. Then we need to consider the father’s response to the older son.
In the same way that he greeted the younger son by going out to meet him, the father does the same for the older son. In Jesus’ parable, when the father learns of the older son’s anger, he goes out to him to entreat him to come to the celebration. Again, God’s amazing love, persistence, and generosity, is hard at times for us to understand, but Jesus wants us to have a glimpse of these aspects of God our heavenly Father. And this is what Jesus is trying to get across to both groups in attendance that day. It doesn’t matter if we have squandered God’s many blessings, or we have been faithful, but allowed jealousy, envy, anger, and pride to enter into our hearts, God is willing to come to us, to forgive us, and is inviting us into His heavenly banquet. The key is found in our attitude and response.
Are we repentant and genuinely sorry for our sins, and do we acknowledge how we have squandered God’s grace and mercy? Or do we, in our own self-righteousness, look at others in judgment thinking, how could God welcome them back into the family? They should be the ones serving us at a banquet thrown in our honor. Thankfully, God offers His forgiveness and mercy to anyone who will come to Him. Even more, He, through His Holy Sprit goes out to meet each of us in whatever situation we’re in. But it’s up to us what attitude we have.
Do we come to God with a repentant heart and accept His forgiveness and invitation to come? Or do we look at those in the celebration and impose our own judgments on others? God wants us to be reconciled to Him. This is why He sent Jesus. Jesus came to us to invites us back into God’s presence, and He was willing to go all the way to the cross to achieve that reconciliation.
Amen