March
10th, 2013 “The Parable of the Loving Father” Rev. Heather Jepsen
Luke
15:1-3, 11b-32
Today
we are talking about what is quite possibly the most well known and well loved
of all Jesus’ parables. I would even bet
that the majority of you could sit and tell me some version of this story from
memory. It is such a rich story because
it is all about human relationships and we all can relate to at least one
character in the story in a very personal way.
I have chosen this morning to refer to
this story as the “Parable of the Loving Father” because I don’t think “The
Prodigal Son” accurately sums up this tale.
There is so much more to say and find in the role of the father and the
role of the older brother. The journey
of the Prodigal son is only half of the story.
But that is the half with which we begin . . .
Our scripture reading begins with an
introduction to the story and it is important not the leave that part out. The Pharisees and scribes have noted that
Jesus’ followers include tax collectors and sinners and this bothers them for
it is not in line with their vision of the kingdom of God
Jesus with the ever listening ear
hears their grumbling and responds with three stories, all of which have become
well known parables to us. He tells the
story of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and finally this story of the lost
son.
In the story we find a young son who
is eager to see and experience the world.
He approaches his father and basically says, “Since your dead to me, let
me have my share of the inheritance now.”
Well, I am sure some father’s in this room can imagine their response. “You won’t get anything with that attitude
young man.” But not this father, this
loving father honors his son’s request and divides his property up giving the
younger son his share now. It is quite
possible that the younger son’s share was in land holdings, so to give it away
would have been a great loss to the family business.
Well,
the younger son heads off to a distant country and lives it up, wasting away
his money in dissolute living. A famine
comes to the land and this young son finds himself hungry and in need of
work. He gets a job tending pigs, (very
disrespectful for a Jew) and there he longs to eat the pig food. Finally, this young man comes to his senses,
or comes to himself as the text says and realizes that even if we was just a
worker on his father’s farm he would be better off. So he leaves the pig sty and heads home;
prepared to apologize, grovel, and beg in exchange for a job.
Well, you all know how the story
goes. The son is nearing home and the
father seeing him runs out to greet him.
Mind you that it is very unbecoming for a grown man to be seen running
at this time, it shows a loss of dignity.
But ignoring etiquette the loving father runs to greet the son and
before the son can even get his apology out of his mouth his father begins to
celebrate. “My son was dead and is alive
again, he was lost and is now found, let’s have a party!”
Many of us would be tempted to end the
story here, and many story tellers do.
This is the story we have all come to know and love. The prodigal who returns home in repentance
to find abundant forgiveness and love; the father who runs out to greet his
wayward son, it is an image that is familiar and comforting to us all. But hold on a minute . . . the story is not
over yet, we are missing one character.
Enter the older son.
I like to imagine that the older son
was out, working as he always was, when he begins to hear a commotion up at the
house. He heads over to the building and
asks a slave what is going on. “Well,
your brother has come home and your father is throwing a party” the man
replies. The older brother becomes angry
at this and refuses to go inside.
Now, enter the loving father
again. Note that once again the father
goes out to meet his son, this time the elder.
The loving father pleads with his son, “Please come in and celebrate
with us.” The elder son responds with a
resentful tirade, “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!” I can just see
this man seething with anger; his face all scrunched in hate, his eyes burning
into his father, his mouth a sneer as he nearly spits on his father relating
his great indignation. “This son of
yours”, he says, not even acknowledging that he speaks of his own brother.
But again the loving father responds
with love and grace. “Son, (which is better translated, “my child”) 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.”
All of us as Christians can identify
with the younger son. His is the story
of the sinner returning to the loving embrace of God the father. But what about the older son? I think that many of us also identify with
him in that we want God to deal with us according to what we deserve. There are those of us who want to live by
justice and merit and not by grace.
Think about it a bit. The grace in this story offends our sense of
justice and fairness. We all can see
that the younger son deserves punishment for his treatment of the father; he
told his father that he was as good as dead; he wasted his all father’s hard
earned money on prostitutes among other things.
He was a disrespectful and bad son.
The forgiveness that the loving father offers the son comes across as
condoning that son’s behavior. “Hey,
that’s ok you wasted everything, I’m just so glad you’re back.”
By contrast, the older son deserves
reward and praise. He has been the
faithful son, staying behind to maintain the family farm. Isn’t he worthy of the finest robes and the
fattened calf? He has certainly earned
them. The father’s actions seem to imply
that he would give these things to his older son as well, but the occasion has
not presented itself. In fact, the
father seems to value and treat the sons equally, regardless of their behavior.
That is why I like to think of this as
“the parable of the loving father.” The
father loves two sons, the father goes out to meet two sons, and the father is
generous with two sons. God’s love is
not an either/or it is a both/and. We
see this theme in the parable’s setting as Luke tells us that Jesus does not
just eat with tax collectors and sinners; he eats with the Pharisees and the
scribes as well. If God is the Father
and we are the sons, it seems that God loves us (and others) regardless of our
actions. And if we read the story this
way, then naturally we find it difficult not to be offended. I think many of us have this in common with
the older son. It can be hard to
understand or accept God’s grace toward another when we question that person’s
conduct and character.
This is the message of the parable to
us. It contains the Lenten message of
repent, come home, return to the arms of the loving father who is coming out to
meet you. But it also contains what I
would consider to be the more difficult message; that God’s justice is not like
our justice. God will bring those into
the fold whom we would reject. Even
folks whose moral character is questionable are welcomed by our God.
During
this Lenten season I want you to consider the moment when you finally arrive
home at the loving father’s house in the sky, and you see all the folks inside
at the party. As the father runs out to
greet you will you peek over his shoulder to see who else is there? I would wager that there will be folks there
that you thought were of questionable character and that you would judge as not
being worthy to be at this particular party.
When you see those folks inside celebrating will you go in as well and
join them, or will you stay outside in a huff because you feel that God’s grace
offends your sense of justice and fairness?
Who is in and who is out?
In
our stories today, Jesus reminds us that God’s justice is that grace applies to
all of us, not just those whom we deem worthy.
That’s what’s so amazing about grace and about the parable of the loving
father. God’s love and forgiveness are
for all people, even those who don’t deserve it. And frankly, my friends, that’s us. Amen.
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