The Return of the Prodigal Son Luke 15:11-32 Roslyn, Washington November 22, 2015 Laurie Oswalt
Luke 15:11-32 11 Jesus continued: There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, Father, give me my share of the estate. So he divided his property between them. 13 Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. 17 When he came to his senses, he said, How many of my father s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants. 20 So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. 21 The son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. 22 But the father said to his servants, Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found. So they began to celebrate. 25 Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 Your brother has come, he replied, and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound. 28 The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, Look! All these years I ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him! 31 My son, the father said, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found. Prayer: Introduction: Good morning. I am so grateful to be able to be back with you, even though we only get a chance to connect from time to time. When I am here, I feel as if I m with family. Having said that, as we move into the Thanksgiving season, I am reminded of the adage: Families are not for the faint of heart. And getting a family to church well, I can only speak for my family. Our end-game is the handle of the church door if we can just get there in nearly one piece, we ve hit the Promised Land. Can you relate? Even as a kid it was like that for me. My poor parents love order. My dad in particular wants to be someplace at THIS time, and we kids should be able to follow the plan. But it never seemed to work out on Sunday morning. He would pull the car out of the garage, honk the horn, and wait. And wait. He got so frustrated. So, one Sunday, once we finally got ourselves and our tears in the car, he announced, That s it. Next Sunday, I m honking the horn at 9:10. At 9:15, I m driving away and heading for church. And if you miss it, you miss it. And in my family, you didn t miss church. Catastrophic things happened when you missed church. In fact, I skipped church one Sunday as a kid, pretending I was sick. May 18, 1980. The day Mt. St. Helens blew. You don t skip church. So, my dad says, I m driving away. If you miss it, you miss it. So the next Sunday, he pulled out of the garage at 9:10, honked the horn at 9:15, we piled in, and he drove away. And sure enough, there was one seat empty. My mother s. And he left. And the results were catastrophic. For him. Strange, he never mentioned leaving without us again.
We re all just trying to do it right. Life, I mean. And living out that life as believers it s easy to resonate with the parable of the Lost Son, isn t it? This particular passage is different from many others in the Bible, because (a) it is very familiar to those of us in the church, and (b) people even those that have never sat in a pew know this story. People you might not expect. For centuries, the story of the Lost Son has been the subject of artists. This is Pompeo Batoni s 1773 rendition of the story. Leonello Spada painted this in the early 1600s. This is James Tissot s 1862 version We ve seen it in stained glass
It s used in Sunday school lessons Even something a little more contemporary The Rolling Stones recorded the song Prodigal Son in their 1968 album Beggar s Banquet. The British heavy metal band Iron Maiden recorded a different song entitled "Prodigal Son" in 1981. Detroit musician, Kid Rock, also recorded a song entitled "Prodigal Son" in 1993. Kid Rock later re-recorded the track for his 2000 album The History of Rock. Clearly, the parable is well-known. In 1992, a book was published on the subject. It s called The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Homecoming, and it was written by Henri Nouwen. Have you seen it? The book is based on the parable, and on Rembrandt s 1668-69 painting of the story.
Henri Nouwen s first encounter with the painting was in poster form in 1983. Henri Nouwen was a Dutch-born Catholic priest, an author, a professor at Harvard. He spent much of his life seeking what it meant to be a servant of the Lord as, what he called, a wounded healer he wrote a book by that name in 1979 we heal from our own wounds. Our lives are a lesson to us and others so why hide them? Nouwen eventually resigned from teaching at Harvard and moved to Toronto, Ontario, where he worked (at Daybreak) serving a community of mentally and physically handicapped people. His writings center on unconditional love, particularly the unconditional love that God the Father offers us. It s no wonder Henri Nouwen focused so intently on Rembrandt s painting. Rembrandt himself (also a Dutchman) has a life story of living out the parable of the Lost Son. Rembrandt was wildly successful as an artist in the 1600s. If you look through some of his paintings, you ll see self-portraits within larger scenes he created. He made earlier depictions of the Lost Son while he and the Lost Son were both squandering their wealth Rembrandt painted himself as the younger son, having a wild time with wine, women, and song. Rembrandt and his wife became quite affluent and moved to a prominent house, which he should have been able to afford, but his spending always seemed to just reach beyond his income. Tragedy then began to strike. Their first three children each lived less than a month. Only their fourth child lived to adulthood. Rembrandt s wife Saskia died when the fourth child was just a year old. Rembrandt later had one more child with his second wife, and the child is the only one to outlive them all. His second wife and his son Titus died about a year before Rembrandt, a broken and broke man, himself died. It was in that last year of his life that Rembrandt painted this work. The painting, the parable, the words and the images they evoke, hit so close to home with us, because we can pretty easily find ourselves somewhere, if not more than one place, in the story. We commonly call this the parable of the Prodigal Son, but it s also and more appropriately called the Parable of the Lost Son and the Prodigal Father. That s because the word prodigal doesn t mean lost. It means extravagantly wasteful. Look at the younger son in the picture. Imagine him going to his father one day. Father, let me have the share of the estate that will come to me. It would have been unconscienable to even consider a child demanding this of his father it is tantamount to saying, You mean nothing to me. Nothing about you do I want to remember. I want to see this place nowhere but in the rearview mirror.
Kenneth Bailey is an author and lecturer in Middle Eastern New Testament studies. He s also an ordained Presbyterian minister; I have heard him speak on the subject of the culture of that time; what an impact the younger son s demand would make on a whole community. We see the younger son s jesture as one of I want to go find myself. But the younger son s demand for his inheritance is more of a slap in the face, and much more extreme than one of wanting to go find yourself Ken Bailey describes it as an I m going to treat you as if you were dead as if I have no father. I want nothing to do with you, and this is not home. I m going to try to find home. And the father lets him. How do you think the father feels as the son takes the money and runs runs hard, and runs fast, never looking back? What s going through the father s mind? Regret why did I let him choose that? Guilt What have I done, that he would turn out this way? Sadness oh, what he is going to experience...could I have, should I have...will I...? Most of us who are parents would admit to raising our kids with the fear that they will leave. I should rephrase that, since many of us are excited for our kids to leave. But we want our kids to be prepared, to have the tools necessary, to be wise and make good choices. But sometimes, even with all of our efforts, we have to recognize that choices can only be made when a choice is actually given. Does that make sense? God could have made us like all the other creatures of the earth created to worship Him. Instead, He made us unique: we get to choose whether we want to follow Him or go our own way. And we don t always understand what our children are taking in, even when we re trying our best. Some time ago, on a Sunday morning, during the sermon in Yakima at First Pres, the pastor, Jack, told the story of Martin Luther, who was frustrated with what was going on in the church. In 1517, Luther took a list of 95 arguments each argument was called a thesis and pounded them onto the Wittenberg Church Door in Germany. These 95 Theses, or arguments against mostly clerical abuses within the church, were a primary catalyst for the Protestant Reformation. I ve taught this dozens of times, both in the church and even in the hospital where I work. I know the story. So it s not a story that surprises me. Jack went on, assuring the congregation that, while this sounds a little out of the ordinary, we should recall that, in Martin Luther s day, the church door was more like a bulletin board, so pounding an article such as this wouldn t have been as outlandish as it might seem today. Besides, Martin Luther was angry. He didn t want to leave his post as a priest in his beloved church. He just wanted to focus back on Scripture, back on what mattered, back on Jesus Christ. I looked over and saw my daughter Mary Jo, who was 10 at the time, taking notes. Not drawing, not making out a list of things she wanted to do later in the day, taking notes. I was so proud. After church let out, she and I were walking hand-in-hand through the parking lot toward the car. I happened to look down to see her looking all around to make sure that nobody could hear us. Once we were out of earshot of everyone else, she stopped us and looked up. Here s how the conversation went: Mary Jo: Okay, Mom, I have a question about the sermon. Mom: Shoot. Mary Jo: So, there s this priest, and he doesn t like what s going on in the church. People aren t following the Bible. So this Martin Luther dude decides to do something that people will notice. He goes up to that church door, and he takes his hammer, and he pounds those ninety-five you know things to the door. Mom: Right. Momentary pause, followed by these words (and, as an aside, I hope you won t be offended by me saying this): Mary Jo: I get that it was the common thing to do during his day, but did Martin Luther really nail ninety-five pieces of poop onto a church door? It took me a long moment. Then I got it. Mom: Mare, look at my mouth. 95 THESES, not 95 FECES. Another momentary paused, followed by Mary Jo: Now THAT makes a lot more sense! I ll never be able to tell the history of the Reformation without talking about Martin Luther s 95 Feces. And yet what if she never would have asked, but just believed it was what happened? How might that have changed things for her? I imagine it would have brought up a lot more questions in her mind about how
people in the church make announcements. This was a harmless thing. But the point is that reality sometimes depends on what we know (or don t know), or what we hear, or where we re standing our perspective on a situation. We already know that the younger son was extravagantly wasteful. He was wasteful with his good upbringing we learn from the younger son s own words that the father treated him well. Sure, he had chores, but even the servants, even the animals, were given respect. Look at the younger son in the painting. He is now bald. His clothes are barely hanging on him. One shoe nearly didn t made it to his father. Can t you almost smell the scene? He had nothing. He had no money left, nothing to show for it. He s destitute. And yet and you have to look really closely to see it, but Henri Nouwen describes it in his book there s that short sword hanging from his hips. The younger son still holds one remaining item from his family. Even with nothing, still he held onto the sword the one sign of who he was: that he still belonged to his family...to his father. There would be no other reason for him to keep it because he was starving! Once he had spent it all, wasted the extravagance, the friends went away, and the party was over. The younger son had grown up with unconditional love. But when he left, he learned, sadly, that everyone is not like his father. In fact, no one is like his father. So he determined to go back, hoping against hope that he would be received. And we can see from the passage, and from the painting, that he was. Most of the focus of this parable centers on the prodigal younger son. His wasteful extravagance is obvious. But now look at the older son. You ll notice that this isn t an exact depiction of the parable in the story Jesus told, the older son didn t see the younger one from far off. He didn t hear the younger son say to his father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. He didn t hear the father tell the servants to get the robe and the ring and the sandals and start the party, for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found. The older son wasn t there when they began to celebrate. The older son was in the field doing his chores, and perhaps the chores of his younger brother. We get pretty frustrated with the older son pretty quickly. But really, if you were him, how would you feel? This as not just a parable about family dynamics; remember why Jesus is telling the story in the first place. This is the third story in a chapter on redemption, following the Parable of the Lost Sheep and the Parable of the Lost Coin. It s a parable about redemption. So, if it s a story, why have the older brother in it in the first place...unless, of course, he needs redeeming, too? We focus a lot mostly on the younger son s need for redemption. It s obvious. And many of us have been pretty close to that part of the story personally. But I would venture to say that more long-time Christians can relate to the older son. He stayed home. He was obedient. For goodness sake, he s out in the field while even the servants have gone in to find out what s going on. My brother took the money, disowned us all, burned every bit of it, and now he wants to come home? I m not going in there. So, the father went out to him. He pleads with the older son, but the older son is hot. Look! All these years I ve been slaving (interesting choice of words here) slaving for you and never disobeying your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. The older son is accusing his brother of being extravagantly wasteful with his inheritance. He s also accusing his father of being extravagantly wasteful with his love. But in the end, who is the one that s truly lost? Who is being extravagantly wasteful with all that he has been given? It s the older son. The oldest son suffers from grass is greener syndrome no less than the younger brother does, but the tragedy here is that the younger brother recognized how good he had it back home, in his father s arms. In remaining at home, the older brother may not recognize what s right in front of his face. Envy comes out of every pore of the older son, and undeserved pride, and judgment...and when I m honest with myself, I know that the older son is me. I go to church on Sunday. I participate on committees. I pray. I don t say bad words out loud...you get it. And how easily bitterness creeps in. Father, look! All these years I ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. But what have you given me? I couldn t
agree more with Henri Nouwen s assessment of this part of the story: The hardest conversion to go through is the conversion of the one who stayed home. How quickly we forget what we have been given. The peace that we should be feeling because of being in right relationship with the Lord. The joy that we should be exuding out of thankfulness for who the Lord is and what He has created me to be. As a follower of my Father, I am free to serve Him because I want to...not because I have to. This is where real joy comes from. People who come to know the joy of the Lord don t deny darkness they simply choose not to live in it. The choice is there for the brothers to make. It s there for us to make as well. There s something that s always bothered me about the Parable of the Lost Son: we never learn what happened the next morning, when the alarm went off and it was time to go to work. That s when the rubber hits the road regarding whether the younger son was really ready to be home. It also sets the stage for good parenting welcoming a wayward child doesn t just mean a party followed by a walk-all-over-your-parents attitude, where now You know, I m really tired after staying up all night chowing on the fatted calf...could you come back around noon and then, after a quick bite, we can start to talk about what my role is going to be? Of course, I ll need to go visit my friends first, then make sure nobody s been touching my stuff in my room, and so on. If Jesus would have just added a couple more verses about don t worry, older son, your brother will get what s coming to him --I d like that. And yet, there s a reason it s not in there. Can I trust that being received back in the Father s arms whether I was the younger son that physically left, or the older son whose heart left is better than where I am now? That s a challenge for me. I have a framed picture of this painting as a reminder, because I have children. But the reminder to us is one of welcoming, of compassion, of redemption. It is about being lost to the Father and knowing that you are always welcome back in his arms. It s not meant to be a story about the next day...it s meant to be the story of eternity. And it s a lesson about maturing. Henri Nouwen observed that the challenge of the son either son, really, is to receive the welcome that he is being given, back into the arms of the father; but then to reach farther, to begin to step into the role of not just receiving compassion and grace, and forgiveness, but to begin giving those things as well don t just remain caught in the trap of being only the younger or the older son, but start having the attitude of the father. I find it curious in this painting, that Rembrandt added onlookers. Just a few who were watching what was going on. Henri Nouwen had some notions about who the onlookers were. One may be the mother, who is absent from the parable. There is speculation about who the others are. I see them as those outside the immediate family, watching to see what will happen. Will they practice what they preach, or will this be yet another opportunity to see hypocrisy rule the day? I work with patients throughout Yakima County. Time and time again, once we get to the issue of faith, patients and their families tell me that they are Christians, they believe in the Bible, but they don t attend church. And then, time and time again, I learn that the reason why is because they saw those in the church acting worse than those outside the church. I have heard such words as Christians are the most obvious cannibals around. And, while I can be shocked, and offended, I understand. Because we often are worse to our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ than we are to the non-believer. Why would anyone on the outside want to be part of that? Many are watching how we show compassion, how we receive one another, how we share the peace of Christ. I have found that, when I provide a listening ear more often than a quick response, a heart of grace rather than a pointing finger, I am able to be used by the Lord to welcome people back into His loving arms. Who could ask for anything more? Heavenly Father, your blessings are greater than our failings. Your compassion is greater than our sins. And the joy that comes from you is better than anything we can try to find in the pleasures of this world. Help us, Father, to recognize that the grass isn t greener anywhere where You are in the rear-view mirror. Turn us around where we need it, Lord, so that we are headed straight into Your loving arms. In the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.