Sermon for Sunday, 31 March, 2019 Prepared and Delivered by The Rev. Vicki Betsinger Luke 15:1-3; 11b-32 May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be always acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. The parable of the Prodigal Son is one that is not only familiar to us but which touches us at our core. This is a story of the human condition; of disrespect, arrogance, greed, fear, jealousy and hurt; but also one of patience, compassion, joy, mercy, grace and most of all unconditional love. Those who have raised children know that they can do things that hurt, shame or disappoint us and yet we continue to love and forgive them. As much as we love our children, it s hard to imagine that God loves us more, and yet it s true. The enormity of God s love is incomprehensible to us because we understand and relate with human emotions and feelings, not with God s. No matter what we do to disappoint, God will always forgive; we are never past the point of redemption. When we stray, all we need to do to be welcomed back into loving arms, is to turn and return to God. Our Gospel lesson begins with the judgmental Pharisees and scribes complaining about Jesus willingness to welcome and eat with sinners; and ends with a celebratory banquet marking transformation and reconciliation to proper relations. Jesus dealt with the critical Pharisees and scribes by telling a story, this morning s parable. Immediately preceding this Gospel passage Luke includes two other parables, that of the lost sheep and that of the lost coin and he easily transitions into 1
this third and most profound parable. All three stories were spoken to the same persons on the same occasion and emphasize the same central message, the joy at finding what was lost and the abundance of God s grace and mercy. It s been said that today s Gospel is the crown and pearl of all parables. George Murray, an Episcopal Bishop, said it is the most divinely tender and most humanly touching story ever told on earth and Charles Dickens described it as the finest short story ever written. It s a story where God s love and mercy triumphs over human willfulness and folly. The Prodigal Son was the younger of two sons living in the household of their father. One fine day, the younger son asked his father for his share of the property that would be his upon his father s death. This request was highly irregular and was extremely disrespectful and insulting to the father, as it really said, I just can t wait until you re dead so I can get my inheritance; in effect, you are dead to me now. I imagine the father was heartsick but he didn t berate the youngster he simply granted the request. A son given such a privilege, by law, meant he renounced all further claims on the parental estate. The inheritance would have included land which was presumably sold in order to finance his trip. The selling of this land would have not only shamed the father but would have offended and shocked the community as well. First-century Jews lived in a land-based economy and they cherished their ancestral land as a means of their livelihood. Additionally, the selling of land was seen as going against their most basic religious tenets; the Jews believed their land holdings to be God s gift to their families. In the selling of this land, the younger son turned his back on and disrespected his father, his community and God. But this young 2
man was headstrong and went far away. St. Augustine believed the far country represented our forgetfulness of God. The young man left God and family behind and indulged his desires, spending his wealth in dissolute living which could ve meant either extravagance, immoral spending or both. With his money spent, a terrible famine occurred and the young man, hungry, realized he must work so he could eat. The only employment available to him was the most despicable and offensive job any Jew could imagine, slopping around in a pig sty feeding the swine. The pay must have been very low, as the son began to view the carob pods that he fed the pigs as something he might eat as well. These foot-long pods were typical fodder for animals but sometimes the poor ate them in order to survive. Rabbis considered the eating of the carob pods to be a form of penance; in fact there is an old Jewish saying that when Israel is reduced to the carob tree, they become repentant. Maybe the son was recalling this saying when he realized that his father s hired hands had plenty to eat. He came to himself and realized he had been a foolish and disrespectful son, and he felt ashamed and repentant. He decided to return to his father s house, humbly apologize for his bad behavior and ask to be treated not as a son, as he had given up that right, but as an employee on his father s estate, a hired hand. And so he began his long contrite journey home. When the son was still some way off, the father saw and recognized him. Did he turn his back on this willful boy of his? No, he didn t. As a loving parent, I imagine he must have been praying daily for his son s safe return and he was full of joy when he saw him approaching. What a glimpse we have into the heart of God; in his eagerness to welcome the lost son, He goes more than half way to meet him. Even before the 3
son could apologize, the father gave instructions for a ring, fine garments and sandals to be brought out for his son and for the slaughter of the fatted calf for a celebratory banquet. This would indeed be a fine welcoming home! By now, you know that the father in the parable is God, sinners and tax collectors are depicted by the prodigal son, and the elder son represents self-righteous people like the Pharisees. It is we who wander away from God, disrespecting, ignoring, acting as if He doesn t exist; we who hurt God time and time again. And yet, his unconditional love is so great that when we humbly return to Him, he celebrates. Not just accepts us back, but celebrates! The banquet was for the family and the community, to welcome the younger son back into their good graces. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the elder brother was just leaving work, tired and hungry, when he heard music, and happy voices and smelled delicious meat cooking. He asked a household slave what was happening and when he was told that his wayward brother had returned, he was furious. He couldn t believe it. This big shindig was being held to welcome back his younger brother who left home and had blown through his portion of the inheritance? He could see his father was joyful but the elder brother was jealous and hurt. His father left the party to speak with his elder son; and the host leaving his guests was unheard of, and yet the father was concerned about the eldest son s attitude. The elder son was furious with his father and this unfair situation; so furious he would not refer to the younger son as brother but called him your son. Sons owed their father loyalty and obedience and while it appears that the older son lived such a life working for his father, in his anger he too was showing disrespect. He unloaded on his father saying that he had worked like a slave for him and did everything that was asked of him 4
and yet the father never even offered him a goat party to share with his friends. The father reassured him that everything that he had was the son s and the son was always with him, but that he had to celebrate when his lost son came back. We don t know whether the elder brother got over being mad and joined the party or whether he went off in a snit to complain to his friends. According to Amy Jill Levine in her book The Misunderstood Jew the elder brother may have not reconciled himself to the situation and there are precedents where we see brother against brother; Cain and Abel, Ishmael and Isaac, Esau and Jacob to name a few. These were relationships in which there was jealousy, hate, terrible acts, and a lack of contrition; therefore reconciliation wasn t possible. In the person of the eldest son, was Jesus speaking directly to the Pharisees and scribes challenging them to reach out and welcome their wayward brothers and sisters? I think he was. This parable is filled with real human emotions and actions and most of us can identify with one of these characters. For years, I identified and sympathized with the elder son but time and circumstances have allowed me to understand that when viewed from the lens of a loving parent, their concern is not with competition, jealousy or what may be viewed to a child as unfair treatment. Their only hope is to see the lost found, the estranged reconciled, the broken healed. Reconciliation should be an easy thing.to forgive. I said it should be easy, not that it is easy for us. It s important for us to recognize that the reconciliation that occurred between the father and the younger son was not because of what the son did, but what the father did, the one doing the forgiving. 5
This parable is said to have two morals; (1) God loves and forgives the sinner on the basis of their repentance and (2) the Pharisees and the self-righteous need to rejoice at the salvation of sinners just as God does. On reflection though, I think just one moral exists, that God s saving love goes out to all, sinners and the self-righteous alike. In this parable, do we not experience the most stunning picture of a forgiving God imaginable? We see a loving God eager to forgive and to offer a restoration into right relationship with Him. It s a clear message of hope and call to faith in the knowledge that we are never past God s redeeming love and the forgiveness that comes with turning and returning to God. The Gospel hymn we sang today speaks of a welcoming for sinners and grace for all as God desires to renew, reconcile, repair and restore creation. When we have such a loving, compassionate and forgiving God as an example, how can we act any differently? How can we be hateful, uncaring and judgmental? The freedom of choice is ours, to follow God or to follow our headstrong, greedy folly. Would we prefer to be like the younger son, foolish and disrespectful but then turning and being forgiven by God? Or, like the older son jealous, unforgiving, disrespectful and judgmental? Would we prefer to be like sinners and tax collectors or like the Pharisees and scribes? It s really our call. God waits in joyful anticipation for us to make the right call! Amen 6