Broken Dreams

March 31^st, 2019       “Broken Dreams”      Rev. Heather Jepsen

Luke 15:11-32

         We continue this morning with stories of Jesus in Luke’s gospel.  This is Lent, and in this season we have been busy considering our need to repent.  Last week we talked about how all of us have sinned and fallen short of God’s call upon our lives.  And yet, despite our wandering hearts, God continues to respond to us with grace and love.  This morning continues that theme as we examine the parable of the prodigal son.

         This is one of Jesus’ most famous stories and yet it only appears in the gospel of Luke.  The writer of this gospel was a master storyteller and much of our favorite material is found in this gospel only.  From this story of the loving father, to the story of the Good Samaritan, the stories in Luke are ones we love.  Luke was written for a primarily gentile audience, and so the author uses his storytelling craft to draw in outsiders to the faith.  The readers of this gospel might not understand the Jewish undertones of Jesus’ message, but no one can hear the story of the prodigal son and not have their heart strings tugged.

         You know this story as well as I.  It’s about a father and two sons.  The younger one has been named prodigal, which means wasteful or reckless.  That word doesn’t actually appear in the story but it has become its title nonetheless.  The younger brother asks for the inheritance and skips town.  The money is soon gone and eventually he comes home in shame.  Instead of punishing the child, the loving father runs out to celebrate the return of the lost son.  And yet the second son, the older brother, is consumed by jealousy and anger and refuses to celebrate with the family.

         In the scriptural context, Jesus is telling this story to the scribes and Pharisees.  They have noticed that he has been spending his time with all sorts of unsavory characters and so they are grumbling about the company he keeps.  Jesus then launches into parables about things that are lost and then found.  There is the sheep, the coin, and finally these sons.  The point Jesus is making is that God’s priority is to find and rejoice over lost things.  Those within the fold of religion shouldn’t judge who God is chasing after.  That’s why Jesus is spending his time on street corners and not in churches; he is seeking the lost.

         As a pastor and a preacher, I am always looking for new ways to read these texts.  I have told his story in preaching lots of times, and yet each time I am hoping to find something new.  As I grow older and live longer, as I gain knowledge and see more things, then I read the text differently.  Every time there is a new sermon hiding in these old familiar stories.

         This week I am thinking about broken dreams.  I am wondering about the motivations of each of these characters in the story.  Why do they do the things that they do.  And I am always trying to redeem that younger brother.  Is he really as reckless as history paints him, is he really the bad guy, or could he have had better motivation that simply personal greed?

         The text simply says the younger son asked for the inheritance early.  Why?  We don’t know.  It’s a big ask as it would mean selling that part of the family farm.  Once it’s sold it’s gone.  What kind of thing would prompt us to make such an ask?  Dreams!  I am thinking about big dreams.  Dreams about who you are in the world and who you want to be.  I think the younger son had big dreams and was seeking to pursue them.  Maybe he wanted to make a new life and new career in another area of the country.  He does go away right?  Or, maybe he was in love with someone outside the family circle and he wanted to run away with her.  The older brother’s prostitute comment could be a dig at an unsuitable bride.  The text doesn’t say why the younger brother asks for the inheritance, but I want to give him the benefit of the doubt, I want to give him big dreams to follow.

         Of course, it doesn’t work out.  Those dreams are broken and the money is gone.  The text is clear that the younger son has spent the money extravagantly in the pursuit of his dream and so now he has nothing left.  Sitting in a pig sty he realizes that he is broken along with his dream.  Whatever he was following, be it love or career, is now gone and he is alone.  He comes to his senses and decides to return home.  The failed dream of a new future is over.

         The next character Jesus introduces us to is the father.  Everyone reads this as God in the story, which is all well and good, but I think we can imagine this as the role of every parent.  The father is a parent who has dreams for his family.  Dreams of two sons inheriting the family land and growing old together in peace.  Dreams of a family united in love.  And like the younger son, these dreams have been broken.

         There is discord in this home.  The younger son is gone and the older son is unhappy with broken dreams of his own.  And so the father waits.  When he finally spots his youngest son on the horizon he is filled with joy and runs out to meet him.  The father celebrates with robe, ring, sandals, and feast.  We could just as easily call this the parable of the prodigal father as the father is just as wasteful and abundantly generous with his gifts as the son was with his inheritance.  This part of the father’s broken dream has been mended.

         But there is still that older brother, one who perhaps had dreams of his own, dreams of pride and friendship unrealized.  The older brother’s complaint reveals the bitterness in his heart.  He is jealous of both the younger brother and the father and their ability to share abundantly of their blessings.  He has wanted such things, he has dreamed of such things for himself, but he has been too afraid to ask.  His dreams have been broken by his own fear.  And his anger and refusal to be part of the celebration are an additional pain to the father who dreams of wholeness.

         I don’t think it is hard to relate to the characters in this story and their broken dreams.  Like the younger son, many of us can remember the dreams of our youth.  The big dreams about who we wanted to be and what we wanted to do with our lives.  The things that just didn’t work out, no matter how much money and effort we invested.  Like the younger son, we have been lost to broken dreams of failed futures.

         And like the older son, many of us have dreams that we have been too afraid to pursue.  We couldn’t let go of the blessings we had, we couldn’t spend abundantly in search of new life, we were too afraid.  Many of us have towed the line of good behavior instead of risking for a new future because it was all we knew how to do.  Like the older brother, we have been lost to broken dreams of fear.

         And anyone who is a parent can relate to the father in this story.  We have dreamed of families united, of kids who grow up into people we can admire, of a future of peace and harmony.  And yet, it doesn’t always work out that way.  Kids make strange decisions, pursue different paths, make mistakes, and grow into strangers.  Every parent knows the broken dream of the future imagined for a family.

         I think that all of these characters in Jesus’ story are lost, not just the younger son.  And I think God offers grace and healing to all of these people.  The younger son is offered a chance for a new future within the father’s home, he is offered the chance to dream anew.  The older son is offered the chance to speak up, and to reach out, he is offered the chance to leave fear behind and chase after his own dreams.  And the father is offered the chance to revision a dream for his family.  Sure his boys didn’t turn out like he imagined, but they can still be family together.

         Every one of us has experienced a broken dream.  Whether we pursued something and failed or were just too afraid to try.  Whether our dream was in our control or wild and free like the life of our children.  All of us have experienced the pain of dreams broken and lost.  And what is Jesus talking about if not lost things?  If we turn to God in our brokenness, God helps us pick up those dreams and put the pieces back together in a new way.  God helps us imagine a new world and to make new dreams.  God calls us into new futures that we may never even have imagined; the younger brother as master of the homestead, the older brother off on adventures, the father being happy with what is.  God leads us into our futures, where we have new dreams and visions, and where we are healed of the pain of the past.

         The story of the prodigal son, or maybe the prodigal father is so popular because it is so rich.  No matter where we are in our lives we can find ourselves within this story.  Whether we have new dreams or broken dreams God is with us in love.  And like the father in the story, the love of God is abundant and wasteful.  God picks us up out of the mess of broken dreams and fashions us into new people with new visions.  Like finding a lost thing, God helps us find ourselves when we are lost.  When life doesn’t work out like we hoped or planned, God is always there, drawing our wandering hearts back, and helping us embrace new dreams.  Thanks be to God!  Amen.