Growing up in a family of six boys and two girls, I realized very. young that the relationship I had with my father was different from the

Transcription

1 1 DATE: MARCH 10, 2013 SERMON TEXT: LUKE 15:1--3, 11B--32 SERMON TITLE: "A FATHER'S LOVE Growing up in a family of six boys and two girls, I realized very young that the relationship I had with my father was different from the relationship I had with my mother. My mother was the nurturer of the family. She was loving and caring and was always concerned about her children, making sure they were well cared for, had all they needed and were happy. The relationship I had with my father was different. My father was always a hard-working man. Growing up with a father who worked swing shift for 37 years, there were times it seemed that all my father did was work. Sometimes we would go for weeks and never see him. When he was at work, we were at home. When he was at home, we were in school. When we were awake, he was asleep. I am grateful that my father was able to retire at a relatively early age. When he retired, our relationship changed. In many ways during his retirement years I came to know my father in a very different way. We were closer than we had ever been and we shared a love that was special. There is nothing like the love between a father and his son. It is a different kind of love, I believe, than the love that exists

2 2 between a mother and her children. I also believe that father/son love is different than the love a father has for his daughter. It is different because the love a father has for his son is many times an unspoken love. Blame it on testosterone or the male ego, men have trouble expressing exactly the way they feel about each other. And sometimes that spills over into the relationship between fathers and sons. Be that as it may, I believe it is essential for sons to know that their fathers love them. This morning our text is a story about a father's love for his two sons, a love so strong that it is essential for the telling of the story. Where would the story be without the father's love? The father's love for the two sons is what propels the story; it energizes the story. Without the presence of the father's love, it is simply another story about being lost. But what makes this father's love so special? Perhaps the most glaring quality of the father and his love was his acceptance of his sons. In their own way, both sons had turned their backs on their father. The younger son was certainly more blatant in his denial. Inspired by the sin that fed his primal desires, the younger son set out to discover a world filled with selfgratification, only to find a world filled with aloneness. The younger son in a very real way discovered that there were worse things than being dead, and one of those was being lost.

3 3 The older son, even though he seemed to be faithful to his father, was just as lost as his younger brother. Motivated by his own selfish gain, his devotion to the father was not motivated out of love for the father, but out of his own self-centeredness. The older brother, in fact, was no different from his younger brother. When his devotion to the father was not recognized, like a spoiled child, his anger overtook him. Despite the shortcoming in both his sons, the father loved them. His love was unconditional. It is a love that all parents should be able to give to their children. It is a love that is not contingent on their achieving certain goals or living a certain lifestyle. It is simply a love that comes from our hearts to our children unconditionally. It is loving them simply for being our children. It is the same love that God has for us. If God waits for us to live the right life, say the right things, treat our neighbors the right way, God will never love us. But that is not the way of our Father's love. God loves us just as we are, as lost or as found as we are today. The father's love for his son is not only unconditional, but it is also generous. Consider how the father welcomed his lost son home not to a banquet of bread and water, but with a fatted calf; not clothed in sackcloth, but in a new robe; not with a forehead adorned in ashes of penance, but with

4 4 new rings; not with a face of tears, but with laughter and merriment and dancing. How different would the reception be if we had the responsibility to plan it? But the father's love is not a love that is only lavished on the found son; it is also a love that was heaped upon the faithful son daily. The older son could not recognize the perpetual love of his father. Daily the father loved him. Daily the father's love was given to the son in special ways that the older son could not see; in fact the father reminded the older son that all the father had was his as well. As people bound in earthly relationship, this is one area where we struggle. We are not generous with our love. Too many times we neglect to express our love to our spouses, to our parents, to our brothers or sisters, to our children. When I talk to my mother on the phone, the last thing I tell her is that I love her. When Jessica, Mike, Alex and Ella call from Forked River, the last thing that Sharon and I tell them is that we love them. When Patrick, Bridge, Hannah, and Ian call from Red Lion, the last thing we tell them is that we love them. These are three small words, but they can mean so much to those who hear them. But when we say them to another person, we should not say them with a flippant air in the same way that we say hello or

5 5 good-bye. Rather when we tell another person that we love him or her we should mean it from the depths of our very being. Even though the voice of our Heavenly Father is not always as audible as our human voices, God continually whispers these words to us in countless ways. As God s children we need to listen to the voice of God, which is often spoken to us through the voices of others. The love that God has for us is the reason for our existence, is it not? What other reason could there be for God s putting up with us? When God created the world, God filled the world with all of the wonderful things in the natural world. But that was not enough. God created man and woman because God wanted to share His love with humanity in a very special way. How much more generous can we expect God to be? Our lesson this morning is more than a parable about the wayward deeds of a disobedient son. It is a parable about our Father's love, a love that is unconditional and generous beyond our understanding. It is a story about the grace of our Heavenly Father that welcomes us home always. It is a story reminding us of a love that was not only lavished upon two spoiled and disobedient sons, but on tax collectors, prostitutes, the old, the young, the rich, and the poor, the blind, the lame, men, women and children. This is a parable about the depth of God's love that we will never fully understand

6 6 or realize. It is a story reminding us of the love we are expected to have for one another. I encourage you this day to re-evaluate the quality of your love the love that you have for God. I encourage you this day to consider the love that you have for your spouse, your children, your mother, your father, your sister, your brother, your neighbors and your friends. Is your love an unconditional love or is it contingent on what you receive from these people in return? Does your love for God ebb and flow with however your life is going at the time? Can you truly say that you love God as deeply on your darkest day as you do when life is bright and sunny? The ability to love God and to love others is the true mark of Christian maturity. As we journey together to the cross this Lenten season, let us commit ourselves to be a people of unconditional love. Let love be the primary reason for our being. Let us love others the same way that Christ loves us.