The Prodigal

Luke 15: 1-3 and 11-32, NT pages 78-79 Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So he told them this parable: “There was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.’ So he divided his property between them. A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.”’ So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly, bring out a robe – the best one – and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again, he was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate. “Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. He replied, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.’ Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. But he answered his father, ‘Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!’ Then the father said to him, ‘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.’” Sermon I learned from Bob Duncan, our county historian that in Rose Hill Cemetery there is a series of very old tombstones that nearly tells a complete family history. A mother with her date of birth and date of death, two children’s markers with their dates of birth and death as well. Then there is the tombstone of their father but only his date of birth is listed. Now, he can’t still be alive, the tombstones are too old. I imagine instead that after the death of his wife and his children he left Columbia, and prayed that he would never return to a place that for him was full of sadness. I think that would explain it, because there are reasons never to return home. The first son in our parable for this morning nearly met the same fate – a tombstone with only a date of birth. He had many reasons not to return home. For one thing he had asked for his inheritance early, requested his father to give him what he would receive at the time of his father’s death before his father had actually died, and then he went and wasted it all on what our Bibles call “dissolute living.” This past Friday morning the Satterwhite farm was named the Maury County Century Farm of the year, as for 100 years that piece of land has been passed down from one generation to the next all from the same family. This son in our scripture lesson interrupted any such accomplishment, as a large portion of the family land would not be passed down from this generation to the next because this son wasted it away – how could he go back home after doing that? Combine hunger, poverty, shame, and guilt and even the pods of pig slop look good enough to eat. Go back home? Not after having spent everything and with nothing to show for it. Not after having sunk so far down the latter of respectability as to have found himself feeding pigs – and for a Kosher Jew this is rock bottom. “But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.”’ In addition to everything else this son has already done wrong, there’s a sin floating around this statement. The sin of idolatry is mentioned frequently in scripture – so often in the Bible God warns the people against worshiping other gods: “Do not worship the god’s of Egypt. Do not worship the God’s of the Canaanites or the Hittites.” On and on go these warnings, and in the Old Testament book of Daniel, a young hero is asked to bow down to a statue of the Emperor of Babylon. He refuses for fear of committing idolatry, but what about when you find yourself putting your faith in a god who looks like the God of scripture, some claim is the God of scripture, and you’ve always been told was the God of scripture, but is not quite our God. This son imagines, based on what he knows about his father, that his father is merciful enough to let him come back home to rejoin the household as a hired hand, but certainly he imagines that his father is not merciful enough to ever call him son again. He believes in his version of his father, and is convinced that he knows his father well enough to count on being welcomed home, but only as a hired hand. However, walking home, “while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly, bring out a robe – the best one – and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again, he was lost and is found!’” Now we see who the father really is – how the father really acts – he is not just merciful – it’s as though he has been sitting by the window day after day waiting and longing for this son to return. What’s required now is to take this new knowledge of who the father is, and to give up on that old image of his wrath and judgment and disappointment and rejection. There is less need for shame for the father is consumed with a desire that you return to him, not that you give any explanation or excuse as to why you wandered so far off and for so long. What Christ demands here is that you change – that by this parable you come to a new understand of who God actually is, for faith in a God who would turn his back on a son or a daughter returned home is idolatry. But change isn’t easy – so the older son goes on expecting the father to act differently. To be more just and less merciful – to give his brother some discipline rather than a party on his return. I can relate to this son – because change for me isn’t easy. I was invited to have lunch at Bucky’s last week. Frank Bellamy called and asked if I’d like to go, and I almost declined, not because I have anything against Frank, but because in this town some people go to Bucky’s and some people go to Kathy’s and having dedicated myself to Kathy’s I’m not sure if I’m even allowed to go the Bucky’s any more. I decided to give it a shot, and it was pretty good. And I had a lot of fun talking to Frank, but then I got nervous again when Frank wanted to talk politics: “I’m thinking about taking the Romney sticker off my truck,” Frank said, “I guess I’ve held out hope long enough.” Then he said, “I’m really a liberal you know.” That sounded strange. First I looked around the restaurant to make sure nobody heard him. Then I wondered to myself, “Well if you’re a liberal than who has been sending me all those National Rifle Association videos to my email account.” “That’s right, I’m a liberal,” he said again. “Most of the time I vote republican, but I’m always liberal enough to change.” I don’t need to tell you, that most people aren’t. Certainly the Pharisees and scribes who heard this parable from Jesus weren’t able to accept or believe in a God whose mercy was like that of a father welcoming home a prodigal son. They settled again for idolatry – belief in a harder God, with hands raised in judgment rather than extended in welcoming embrace. You face the same choice – as there are Christians everywhere who believe that God is more interested in condemnation than salvation – more likely to turn away from you than welcome you home – but I tell you this – before you is the great sign that when God came to earth in Christ Jesus our Lord – he came not to condemn the world but to save it – and rather than destroy us all for our sins, he laid down his life that you would see his love. The table is still set – and you are welcome to come home to this table – not because you’ve never done anything wrong – not because you deserve to come – but because our God is like a father welcoming home his children who he has been longing to see. Longing to welcome you home. Today - see God for who God truly is. Amen.