Saving the Elder Son

Scripture Lessons: 2 Corinthians 5: 16-21 and Luke 15: 1-3, 11b-32 Sermon Title: Saving the Elder Son Preached on March 27, 2022 If you were reading with me in your personal or pew Bible, then you noticed that I skipped from verse 3 to verse 11. Chapter 15 of the Gospel of Luke tells three parables right in a row. I skipped the first two, the parable of the lost sheep and the lost coin, to get to the parable of the lost son. That last one, the parable of the lost son, is also known as the parable of the prodigal and his brother. That’s how it’s titled in your pew Bible. While I’ll mostly focus on the parable of the prodigal and his brother this morning, I hope you’ll notice that Jesus tells two parables to set up the third. The first two build up to the last one. The parable of the lost sheep and the lost coin make it easy to understand why the father would be so happy to get back his lost son. He is like all people who lose precious things. Be they sheep or coins, people are just happy to find what they thought they’d lost forever. Imagine God when one of His children finds her way back home as a version of my friend and neighbor Martie Moore when she found her lost car keys. The parable of the lost car keys would have been a good one for Jesus to tell because we all know that feeling of relief and can understand the father’s mind. Of course, the father would have been overjoyed. Even more than the shepherd was overjoyed to find a lost sheep, or the woman having 10 silver coins was overjoyed to find the one she lost after sweeping the house, was the father overjoyed to have his lost son back. That’s the point of telling the three parables together. We see how much more overjoyed than a shepherd who lost a sheep or a woman who lost a coin is God when an angry person finds his way back to joy, an ungrateful person to gratitude, or someone who hasn’t been to church in 20 years walks through the doors of our sanctuary. Of course, there’s a fatted calf BBQ dinner. Of course, the younger son gets a robe and a ring. God rejoices when what was lost is found. From the three parables, we know that, and we know it well. It’s a well-known truth that the God of grace rejoices when one of His children finds his way back home, for having feared he was lost, he is found. But what about us? How do we react when the wayward return home, and we find them in here sitting in our pews? That’s what this parable of the prodigal and his brother is really about, for it is directed, not to the prodigal sons of the world, but to the elder brothers. Notice those first verses we read. Those first verses set the stage for the three parables and especially for the third, which makes up our second Scripture lesson: 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. That’s the context of this parable, and whom it’s directed towards changes the meaning of it. While the parable of prodigal son is about God providing grace to the younger brother, that’s just part of the story. The rest of the story is that this parable is being told by Jesus to a whole crowd of elder brothers. Do you know what it’s like to be an elder brother? I’m the oldest of three. There are enough years between the three of us that we all had different experiences being raised by George and Cathy Evans. I’ll summarize by saying that they wouldn’t let me do anything, and they would let my little sister and brother do whatever they wanted. Whether it’s true or not, I feel sure that every older sibling feels this way. Talking through this parable with friends over the last week, I’ve heard from older siblings whose parents are still paying a younger sibling’s cell phone bill or car insurance. How old are those younger siblings? They are 25, 30, and 35 years old. I tell you, back in our day, it wasn’t like that. We had to walk to school in the snow, uphill both ways. More than that, I’m sure there’s more than one older sibling in the room this morning who has reason to be resentful because she was home taking care of the farm or the family while little sister was off at college or squandering her inheritance on dissolute living. There’s a hurt part in so many of us that resents those who got what we never had, be it a new car or the freedom to choose. There’s some part that never felt appreciated that lives inside the most responsible of us. Isn’t that right? We must be careful then, for that brokenness within us can grow into something that takes us far from home, too. Notice that the elder son in our parable is so hurt he’s on the outside of the party, so while we call the younger son the prodigal, by the end of the parable, the elder son is the one who’s lost. There’s a great party going on, but he’s on the outside of it looking in. That happens. The old story goes that an Episcopalian died, walked through the Pearly Gates, and ran into an old Presbyterian friend. The Presbyterian said to the Episcopalian, “Number one rule, don’t speak too loudly. We all whisper up here in heaven.” “Why is that?” the Episcopalian asked. “It’s because the Baptists are right over that hill. They think they’re the only ones who made it up here, and we don’t want to spoil it for them.” Wouldn’t the Baptists have more fun if they came into the party? Wouldn’t we all have more fun if we could let go of old hurts and resentments? Sure, we would, but think about what that would take. What does it take for the ones who made sacrifices to accept those who didn’t have to? What does it take for the ones who went without to embrace the ones who always had plenty? What does it take for the ones who stayed home to forgive the ones who left and wasted their inheritance? It takes grace. Do you know about grace? There’s a wonderful story about Karl Barth. Karl Barth was one of the two greatest theologians of the 20th century. He studied the Scriptures, read everything and everyone from Paul to Augustine to Clement to Calvin. If there was something to know about Christianity, he knew it, and he wrote wonderful books that were enlightening if you worked hard to understand what he was saying. Well, the story goes that when Barth died, he tried to take a wheelbarrow of his favorite books into Heaven with him. He thought he would need them, only St. Peter stopped him at the gate and said, “Dr. Barth, haven’t you learned by now that it all comes down to grace?” Dr. Barth left his wheelbarrow of books outside the Pearly Gates and went into the party. If only the elder son could do the same. If only he could have remembered that in Heaven there will only be One person there who deserves to be there. The rest of us get into the party having rode in on the Savior’s coattails, so who are we to say to the Father: 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! Jesus knows it’s hard for us to accept how full of grace He is, so He spends this time talking with us about it. He takes the time to tell us what the father said to the elder son, now lost in his own hurt and resentment: 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. He’s so much more than a lost coin or a lost sheep, and so he deserves even more rejoicing. Please come into the party; there’s plenty of room for him and for you. There’s plenty of room. There’s plenty of grace. There’s plenty of love. Can’t you see it? Our Director of Family Ministry, Natalie Foster, has been teaching the children of this church new spiritual disciplines during the season of Lent. First was fasting, then prayer. Last week was listening; this week is embracing simplicity. How do you embrace simplicity? You embrace simplicity when you recognize what you have, and so often, what we have is plenty. There is plenty of grace, so why not share it? Why not share it, even with the ones whom we resent? Why not let it wash the resentment and old hurts out of our hearts? For if there is a place set at the table for the prodigal, the sinner, or the tax collector, that just means that there is always a place set at the table for us. I believe that’s what the religious authorities of the day couldn’t understand because that’s what religious people never seem to understand. There were three groups of them in Jesus’ day that we hear about: the scribes, the Sadducees, and the Pharisees. The scribes are easy to remember. They’re just scribes. The Sadducees and Pharisees are harder to remember, but this is true, and this will help. The Sadducees didn’t believe in an afterlife, so they were sad, you see. The pharisees loved the law, so they were fair you see. Only God isn’t fair. God is grace. Remember that. Let it pour into your heart, and then pass it on. Amen.