Prodigal Son?

Luke 15: 1-3,11-32 
March 27, 2022
4 Lent

 This is a really familiar parable, it’s a favorite really.

It only shows up in the gospel of Luke,

not in any of the other gospels.

We call it the parable of the Prodigal Son

Jesus doesn’t use that word in his story,

but that’s what people have called it through the ages.

But after thinking about the parable,

I’m not sure, if I agree with the title: Prodigal Son.

 

If you look up the meaning of the word Prodigal,

The first definition is “to live a wasteful life” The next is:

“One who spends money extravagantly,

viciously, or without necessity;

one that is profuse or lavish in any expenditure;

a waster; a spendthrift”

 

That certainly is an appropriate description for the son.

He asks his father for his inheritance early,

while the father is still alive – which is really rude when you think about it –

kind of like saying, “I wish you were dead”.

and the father almost naively gives it to him.

 

Then the son takes all of that money that he demanded

and he immediately squanders it away until he has nothing.

So I guess the word “prodigal” does apply to the son.

 

But I still don’t think the story should be called “The Prodigal Son”

Because it puts all the focus on that one younger son,

And I don’t know that is what the story is about.

 

Many preachers have put their attention on the son,

and tried to make him a model of behavior.

He messes up, yes, but he comes back, he realizes

the error of his ways, he’s repentant, begging forgiveness,

And that, in turn, is what we should do.

The moral of the story of the prodigal son is:

When we mess up, if we are truly repentant and sorry

then, and only then, God will take us back.

 

I have heard that sermon before, haven’t you?

But is that what happens in Jesus story?

 

In this story, I don’t see a boy who is repentant.

I see a boy who is hungry. He wants to eat.  

He doesn’t go back wanting to reunite with his family,

He doesn’t realize his sinfulness,

He realizes that he is starving and he wants some food.

He knows that his father has food

and he gives it to his servants and he wants some of it.

 

This son doesn’t have change of heart, he hatches a plan.

He is drawn by his hunger, by his own need.

 

That is the story that Jesus tells here,

and that, I think, is an accurate picture

of a lot of spiritual journeys.

I don’t think that most of us are drawn back to God

by our need to repent.

I think most of us are drawn by other needs that we have.

 

So I was born Catholic, kind of went begrudgingly

to church through confirmation and then pretty much

forgot about church and God and Jesus like a lot of people

when I was in my teens and in my college years.

Then when I was in my late 20's I started going again.

I went back to church for some various reasons:

 

I had just moved to New York City by myself

so I was lonely, I went to church, to find friends,

And I was interested in religion, so I went to go learn about it.

Not bad needs, but they were pretty self-centered.

I didn’t go because I was repentant.

I didn’t go because I wanted to serve or help anyone.

I don’t even know that I wanted a relationship with God.

All that kind of snuck in later.

When I first went back to church.

I went because I wanted something.

 

But still, when I showed up with my list of needs,

to that magical little Lutheran church in New York City,

I was immediately accepted by the community.

I felt their love and the love of God take me in.

 

I never had to explain where I was all that time,

I never had to repent for my years of wandering

and my wanton ways, the way I had squandered

my spiritual inheritance for so many years.

I never had to apologize for anything.

They were just really happy I showed up.

Their acceptance changed my heart over time,

but that’s not why I came back.

 

Prodigal Son II
Cody Miller

And the same goes for the young Son.

He doesn’t go looking to renew a relationship

with his father, he doesn’t go back because he feels

bad about the way he treated his family, he goes back for food.

He does regret his decisions, and he rehearses his line of

repentance on his way home to his father.

But before his father even knows why he’s back, or what’s in his heart,

or even before the son has a chance to say anything,

the father runs to the son, and takes him in his arms

and throws him a big party.

 

So I don’t think that Jesus’ focus in this story is on the son.

Remember, this story comes after grumbling of the

Pharisees who look at Jesus with contempt and say:

 “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

The story is a response to the complaining.

And Jesus includes the Pharisees in the story.

In the story, the older son is angry about the

fact that the father gave a party for the younger son.

and I really understand that response.

If you put yourself in the place of that older son,

you would want the father to do something,

and not just let that younger son get away with what he did.

 

The father could have at least acted angry with him,

made him a slave, put him to some hard work,

to teach him some kind of lesson.

But the father doesn’t merely forgive him.

He is overjoyed at this presence, he throws his son a party.

 

And that rubs the older son wrong.

The older son had done nothing wrong.

He stayed, he did all the work, he didn’t leave.

He felt he deserved that ring and that fatted calf.

That would have been the fair thing to do.

But this is not a story about fairness.

 

After I was involved with the church for a while

I was doing all kinds of work with it and I was really invested.

and there were times that I would look at people who

only showed occasionally or they wouldn’t put in their

share of the work and my mind would

go to the same place of that older child.

“Why is everyone treating them nice?

Why should they have the same amount of say on things as I do?

I’m the one who’s here every day.

What are they doing on a council night?

Why aren’t people happy to see me?”

My free acceptance back into a community

didn’t stop me from thinking like that older son sometimes.

 

And in the end of this story, who is really the lost son?

Who is missing out on the party?

The Pharisees are like that jealous older brother

They are missing out on the party that Jesus is throwing.

Instead of joining in, they’re standing in the back,

jealous and self-righteous. Instead of sitting down

and eating with Jesus, they’re standing back and asking

“Why is he eating with them and not us?”

And Jesus answers them with this parable.

 

And that is why I don’t think this parable

should be called the Prodigal Son.

Because Jesus’ story is really about the Prodigal Father.

 

Along with the other definitions of Prodigal,  

there was one more. It also means :

“Very generous, unsparing generosity, giving in abundance”.

 

This story is all about the Prodigal Father.

This is the answer to the question:

“Why is Jesus welcoming sinners and eating with them?”

Jesus talks about a father who isn’t fair, but who is gracious.

How the father waits and hopes for his lost child.

It is about how the father lavishes both his children with gifts.

It is how the father loves both sons:

the impetuous, thoughtless one who ran away,

as well as the self-righteous, sulking one who stayed.

 

This is not about what the children should do.

It is about what God has already done.

We are reconciled to God because God is reconciled to us.

Already.

Before we can even come back and say anything,

God is eagerly waiting and hoping for us.

 

God doesn’t wait for us to repent.

God doesn’t push us aside until our hearts are changed.

God accepts us as we are and then we have a change of heart.

God gives us absolute unconditional grace,

and in the face of that we are humbled.

 

That is what Jesus is trying to teach us with this story.

And that is what Jesus tried to teach us that with his whole life.

Jesus didn’t go to people and say:

“if you repent, then I will share a meal with you.”

Jesus gave them grace before he knew where anyone’s heart was.

Jesus led with love. And that is the lesson here:

Don’t worry about people’s motives, or whether they’ve sinned,

or whether they’re on the right path, or truly sorry.

Lead with Love.

This, as much as anything else, probably got Jesus killed.

 

I have to think that at some point after that party,


the younger son didn’t treat his father in the same callous way.

I’d like to think that the generosity of his father humbled him.

I’d also like to think that the older son let down his defenses

and went into the party and enjoyed that fatted calf

with everyone else. Or maybe not. We don’t know.

Because that’s not what the story’s about.

 

In the end, this story is not mainly about the sons,

the story is about the Father.

And that’s what this sermon is about too.

 

Every day, God gives us grace upon grace.

Every day God throws a huge party that we haven’t earned.

Every day God rejoices at the sight of us.

And wherever we’ve strayed to,

God welcomes us home.

 

Consider the Fig Tree

Fig Tree
Stushi

Luke 13:1-9
March 20, 2022
Lent 3

 

We’re obviously missing part of this

conversation.

We don’t really know too much about these

“Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with

their sacrifices.”

that they were telling Jesus about.

 

What it seems to be is that some Galileans,

who would be Jewish, were killed by Pilate –

we know historically that Pilate was a cruel and violent man

and it was very common for him to kill

Jewish people, and really all kinds of people, just to make

an example of them for other people

who might step out of line.

 

And people were killed for punishment all the time then.

But these were worse even, either they were killed

in the temple where the sacrifices were done

or they were killed and then their blood was put on the altar after the sacrifice.

 

So their punishment was death, which was bad enough,

but it was also public humiliation, religious insult,

and an insult to their families and heritage,

which was worse even than death.

 

So the conversation was probably if these people were killed

in such a horrible and insulting way and their families

were so insulted, then they had to be terrible people, terrible sinners

in order for God to punish them in that way.

What could they have done that was so bad?

 

And that was pretty much how people understood things then.

More so even than now. If someone had a bad fate,

they were poor, or sick or unfortunate

or they had tragedy or accidents in their families in their lives

it was assumed that God was unhappy with them.

Not that Pilate was a crazy despot, but it was God’s doing.

 

You can see it in various stories in the Old Testament scriptures

You can see it in the story of Job and his friends.

They insisted since Job had such misfortune

that he obviously did something to upset God.

 

It’s a stubborn element in our understanding of God

and our relationship with God.

It has prevailed in the Christian church throughout its existence.

And some people still subscribe to it now.

 

I think I’ve heard Pat Robertson do it with

every disaster that’s happened in the last 15 years:

He said that Haitians worshipping the devil was the cause

of the earthquake there. He said that Katrina was caused by

the people in New Orleans of supporting all sorts of vices.

And he said that 9-11 was because New York of supported

feminism. You see, it’s not climate change, it’s not a natural disaster

it’s not even a human choice and terrorism, it’s because God is mad.

 

Even the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox church, Kirill

in his sermon on the Sunday after the Russians

began the invasion of Ukraine, he didn’t really say anything

about the war itself or the suffering of the Ukrainians.

He basically said that the Ukrainians bear the blame for the invasion

because they adopted too many western ways

and for having gay Pride Parades. Honestly.

That was his sermon. Basically, in his estimation,

this human created war and violence

and terror was God’s judgment.

Even if we don’t go to the extent this does,

we still have that way of thinking in other ways.

We often do it to ourselves,

when illness or calamity hits us, we wonder

“What have I done to deserve this?”

  

And then we look at other people’s misfortune too

And then we say things like

“There but for the Grace of God go I.”

And “I thank God for my blessings”

 

It still gets us to the same place

Those who are doing well are blessed by God.

Those who are not doing well are cursed by God

Same conclusion as those people

talking about the Galileans with Jesus.

 

The trouble with this understanding is

It leads to some horrible conclusions

that just don’t work with other parts of Christianity.

What about the poor? what about people who are starving?

What about the sick? What about those who have accidents

just plain misfortunes? Are every one of them horrible sinners?

Is that why they’re in such bad situations?

Has God punished every one of them?

 

And when we do it, we paint a picture of

an angry and punitive God who never forgets or forgives

The excel spreadsheet God who keeps track of everything and

and meters out punishment in cruel ways

and causes the world’s suffering and pain.

A picture of a God who is no better than Pilate,

someone who kills and humiliates just to set an example.

 

And that is what Jesus is faced with,

not just the people that are talking to him today,

but many people who held that understanding of God.

And a religion that used it to tear down

those who needed God’s love most.

  

But when the people start this conversation

questioning the sinfulness of those who

were killed by Pilate, Jesus doesn’t try to talk

them out of it. But he makes them part of the equation.

 

Jesus says to them,

If you want to play that game theologically and

drag God into it, we can play.

But realize you’re going to lose too.

 

If you want to compare yourself to each other

and decipher someone else’s standing before God

 

If you want to look into the heart of God,

and try to see who’s got the upper hand or the better grade,

then know that you’re just as much of a disappointment.

If you and Pat Robertson and Patriarch Kirill

want to subscribe to the picture of God who is

counting all our sins and tallying up the debts we owe,

Then honestly, you will be judged more than all

the people you’re judging.

 In fact, we’re all done for.

 

Then Jesus says,

“Now that you know you’re in the same boat

as the people you judge.

Let me give you another picture of God

the way that that I understand God.”

  

There’s a vineyard and a tree in it.

And the tree is not bearing fruit

It’s a fig tree, and its whole purpose

is to give figs but it’s not doing it.

 

And the landowner wants it gone

and maybe by rights that is what should happen.

But that Gardener is too soft hearted.

The gardener says, just give it one more year.

Just give it one more year.

 

The landowner is those judgmental people.

The ones who love punishment and rules.

The people who run by the way of the world.

The ones who have no time for God’s mercy and forgiveness.

They want to cut the trees down and throw them out.

 

And we are those trees,

we are made in the image of God

but we are not reflecting God to others.

We’re not doing what we were meant to do.

Not caring and serving.

Not reacting to others with love and tolerance

We are not nurturing and forgiving.

We are not giving fruit.

 

And the Gardner is God.

That gardener knows how to create and cultivate

And that’s what he wants to do with

the trees who don’t bear fruit.

The Gardener knows that the right amount

of water, manure, can do things.

But it takes time.

He wants to nurture us to life.

  

God wants us to change, God needs our repentance

Needs us to turn to what is good. God wants us to grow.

Make no mistake about that.

God needs us to turn from the ways of death to the ways of life.

But God will not do it by cutting us down

and throwing us out, even though we may deserve it.

God has decided to love us into life.

 

Maybe that gardener is just a silly optimist.

But that’s the kind of gardener he is.

In his career, he has seen plenty of trees that were left for dead

come back later and bear lots of fruit.

So every year that gardener says,

“just one more year.”

“Let’s give that tree just one more year.”

 

This is God that Jesus knows and reveals to us.

That is the image that Jesus offers those people.

And one that they can offer to the world.

 

Jesus reveals a God who knows that fear of punishment

can make people obedient,

but that love can make them live again.

 

It might take longer, it might be more work.

It might not be the most expedient way.

But Jesus tells us, that the God that he knows

will love and forgive us back into life.