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.