Two Rivers Pastoral Charge
Sunday March 27, 2022 – 4th Sunday in Lent
Scripture: Luke 15:11-32
The story that we just heard is possibly one of the most famous stories in the bible. It is referenced in art and in literature. It is one of the parts of the bible that I was familiar with before I even attended church or read the bible. And whether you first came across the story in Sunday School or in a novel, you probably know it by the name of the Prodigal Son.
And the story is mostly told from the perspective of this younger brother. It is the story of a son who asks his father for his inheritance while his father is still living. I wonder what his motivation for doing this was. What could have prompted him to essentially say to his father, “I wish you were dead so that I could get the money now”? I wonder if he felt overlooked by his parents his whole life in favour of his elder brother who, by local custom, would have been set to inherit the significantly larger share of the money and land after the death of their father. I wonder if his older brother looked down on him as the second-born and less important one in the family. But whatever the reason, this younger son goes to his father and says that he doesn’t want to wait until his father is dead – he wants the money now.
And his father gives him the money. I can hear the gasps of amazement coming from Jesus’s audience as he tells this story. Rather than scolding his son for impudence, the father gives him what he has asked for. And the younger son goes off and spends the money on women, wine, and song.
I wonder, as he was spending the money, if the younger son ever got true pleasure from it. I wonder if the things he spent the money on ever satisfied whatever hunger within him had caused him to demand the money.
And eventually the money was gone. And this son was left with nothing. He hired himself out to a local landowner to tend the pigs, and tried to make do with scraps from the slop bucket. Again, I can hear the gasps of shock coming from Jesus’s original audience. Pigs are considered to be ritually unclean in Judaism, and so by hiring himself out to tend the pigs, this younger son has dropped below the lowest rung of society.
And even though he knew a hungry heart when he demanded his inheritance, he now knows a hungry body. He is able to see his circumstances, and realizes that even his father’s servants are less likely to starve to death than he is now. And he resolves to go home.
It’s interesting – we don’t know if he has truly repented of what he had previously done to his family. Is he driven home because of a desire to reconcile with the one whom he had wished dead, or is he driven home out of a need not to starve to death?
But in the end, his motivations don’t matter. As he is travelling along the road towards the house, his father spots him and comes running out to meet him and to welcome him home. What was lost has been found and a family member has been forgiven and restored.
As we read the story of this prodigal son, there is another son, an elder son, lurking in the shadows. What if we were to change the name of this parable from the story of the Prodigal Son to the story of the Responsible Son who Stayed Home?
I wonder how this elder son felt, watching his younger brother demanding his share of the inheritance. Did he feel outrage at the audacity? Did he think it was good riddance of a lazy sibling who never carried his fair share of the work? Was he envious of his brother’s opportunity to go and see something of the world?
And this older brother stayed behind and continued to work in his father’s fields and tend his father’s animals. And the years passed.
And then one day when he was out in the fields his brother returned home. But nobody came out to tell him. He only discovered that the prodigal had returned when he came in from work for the day and discovered that the fatted calf had been slaughtered and a banquet was being prepared and all of the neighbours were coming to a party to welcome home the shiftless sibling.
And Jesus tells us how the older brother feels in this moment. He is hurt that his younger brother who has caused so much pain is now being celebrated. He is envious that this one who has been given so much and who has had the opportunity to see the world is now being given even more.
And just as their father ran out to the road to welcome his younger son home, their father now comes out to the older son and pleads with him to come inside to join the party. This is a father who longs for both sons to be able to celebrate with him.
This is an outrageous story. No matter whether you empathize with the younger brother or the older brother, you should be scandalized by it. If you relate more with the younger brother, you should be outraged that your older sibling is casting a pall over your celebration. And if you related more with the elder brother, you should be outraged that your younger brother is being celebrated after causing so much pain. And maybe a bit outraged because he is now infringing on your share of the inheritance.
But there is a third perspective in this story. Rather than the story of the Prodigal Son or the story of the Responsible Son Who Stayed Home, what if we read this as the story of a Father Who Loves Both of His Sons.
This now becomes a story about a father who has been deeply wounded by a son who seems to care nothing for family, a son who leaves home and only returns under the most desperate of circumstances; and even still, the father goes against all of the conventions of the time and place where he lives and casts of dignity and runs out to welcome this wayward son home.
This becomes a story about a father who is deeply wounded by his elder son’s inability to forgive his younger brother, causing further divisions within the family; and even still, the father goes against all of the conventions of the time and place where he lives, and pleads with his son to heal the wounds and divisions of the past.
This becomes a story about a father who loves all of his children, no matter what they do; a story about a father who is always longing for us to come home; a story about a father who invites everyone to the feast.
If you worshipped with us last week, then you know that we read another parable about grace – the parable of a fig tree that didn’t give any fruit year after year, and yet was always given another chance. And here we have another story about grace – a story of a father who is always wanting to invite his children into the celebration, no matter what has gone down in the past.
And grace is a scandalous thing. I appreciate grace when it is given to me, when I am showered with love that I have not earned or deserved; and yet when it comes to other people, my human tendency is to want them to get what I think they deserve. And when I see grace, I am scandalized. Grace isn’t fair, but grace is beyond fair.
And yet grace is how God’s economy works. We could never earn God’s love, yet God loves us anyways. And one of the amazing things about grace is that it’s not a zero-sum game. Grace for you doesn’t mean less grace for me. There is always an abundance to go around.
And maybe that is where Jesus’s parable of the two sons and their father breaks down. He is telling about an inheritance split between two sons, and when he welcomes his younger son home, he is going to be taking out of his older son’s share of the inheritance to care for his younger son. But that’s not how it works when it comes to God’s love. We can welcome everyone to the feast, knowing that there is always enough to go around, and that there is an abundance for everyone. Thanks be to God!
"The Return of the Prodigal Son"
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, c. 1669
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