Luke 15 / offered to the First Presbyterian Church of Succasunna, NJ
Mel Prestamo, Elder, PCUSA
Recently, I have been reading a book by Thomas Cahill [I apologize at this posting, I have lost the title of the book – but the credit for the thought belongs to Cahill]. In it he makes a comment about the Gospel writer Luke’s style of writing. He said that Luke wrote like a Greek stoic. By that he meant that Luke minimized extra emotion and descriptive adjectives in his text. For instance, in Luke’s telling of Jesus’ tirade in the temple we don’t hear about how Jesus loses his temper whipping the vendors and overturning their tables. Luke tells us only that Jesus clears the Temple. According to Cahill, Luke as a writer describes only the facts of the story.
Now this was a surprise to me because as I read Luke’s account of Jesus’ parables of the Lost, I was struck by the enormous outpouring of compassion by the Father as Jesus and then the Gospel writer Luke describes him. Then I thought [now think this through with me], if Luke is downplaying the emotions and the descriptive adjectives in order to present an even keeled, stoic presentation of the ministry of Jesus and still this enormous outpouring of compassion comes through to us, then imagine how deep the compassion and love of the Father must have been when Jesus described it. I mean if Luke was trying to downplay the emotional side of the story, he couldn’t do it.
Now, remember with me that this parable of the Prodigal Father [Luke 15: 11-32] is a part of a trilogy of parables concerning the ways that we can become lost.
In verses 1 through 10, we have the stories of the lost sheep and the lost coin. In first parable, we hear of how we can become lost by wandering off. The with the lost coin, we learn that we can become lost through no fault of our own. Sometimes, we just fall through the cracks. But in both cases, Jesus tells us that we can be found – either through the diligent searching of the shepherd or the persistence of the woman who on her knees is determined to find the coin that had become lost.
Finally in the last parable, we can become lost just by turning our backs on the Father and walking away. And still even as we are determined to remain lost, Jesus tells us that the Father is searching for us. Jesus describes how the Father remains vigilant keeping his eyes on the horizon waiting for a sign that the lost Son might be on his road back to the Father’s house.
Jesus tells us that when the Father sees the wayward Son stumbling his way back home, he rushes out to meet him. And when the Father reaches his Son, he embraces him and welcomes him back. What comes next is forgiveness, restoration and celebration.
And that is enough of a lesson for us on its own. But in today’s message, I would like to focus more on the parable of the Prodigal Father and the Lost Son.
Jesus begins the parable by telling us that there was a man who had two sons. The Younger Son goes to the Father and asks that his portion of the estate be given to him. Now, you must make note that this son’s request is tantamount to wishing that the Father was dead.
Biblical scholars who study the cultures of the people of Jesus’ time have commented that such a real-life request would have been greeted with a beating. It would have been the gravest of insults to the father and it would have been expected that a father in real-life would have disowned and expelled this upstart son from the household.
However, the Father in Jesus’ story does not react in the expected manner. In the parable, the Father yields to the request and divides his estate between the two sons. You can image that the Pharisees and Temple Elders to whom Jesus is telling this story would be shaking their heads in disapproval and disbelief.
We know the story. The younger son gathers up his newfound wealth and blows town. He leaves his Father’s house and travels to a foreign country in search of a different life from what he knew. He goes where he can experience the tantalizing temptations that this broken world presents us.
We also know from the story that he squanders his wealth and is in short order broke and when a feminine hits the country, everyone is left to fend for themselves, and he is left without friends or resources. Ultimately, in order to survive, he takes employment sloping for some pigs. Image the depths to which this son has sunk that a Jew would resort to having to feed pigs.
After a time of this deplorable lifestyle, he comes to his senses. He looks up from his depths to see that his only chance for survival is to return to God and his Father. So finally, he picks himself up and starts out on the road to return back to his Father’s house.
We know what follows. The Father has been keeping a watchful eye on the road to know when his son has decided to return. When he sees him, he rushes out to meet him. The Father forgives. He restores the son to his former position of honor in his house and then calls for all to come and celebrate.
Now that is a great part of the story for us to focus on because it gives us the reassurance that no matter how stupidly we behave, no matter how sinfully we act, and no matter where we may wander, God [the Father] will welcome us back into his embrace.
That is the whole story arc of the Bible, isn’t it? We bolt away from God’s house [the Garden]. God searches for us, patiently waiting for us to find our way. He sends the Son to find us, to carry us home, to sweep out a room to find us lost in the dust and flooring and then waits for us to hear the voice of the Son calling us to return home. Now that’s a great story but that’s not all there is.
I want to unravel some other things going on in Jesus’ parable of the Lost Son. First there is the younger son, and our natural inclination is to identify with him. Fine. But what about the older son? What is there of us in him?
Here is a devoted and dedicated son who righteously submits respectfully to the Father. No matter what the request or expectation, the older son remains at home to faithfully do the Father’s work in the Father’s house. The older son represents those among us who show up to clear snow from the church walkways so that members can safely enter on bad weather days. He represents those of us who endure Session committee meetings so that the work of the church can go on. He represents those of us who faithfully pledge our dollars to fund the mission and ministry of the church. He represents those among us who without notoriety prepare the church newsletter for distribution. The older son completes the mundane tasks that keep the church going. He is the pillar of the community. He is the one who stays at home and toils in the vineyard to make sure that all the Father’s work gets done.
In other words, he represents the faithful, good church people who everyday toil at church work.
However, when Jesus describes the older son’s reaction to what the Father has done – forgiving, welcoming back and then celebrating the return of the younger son, we get a different picture.
The older son tells the Father, “Lo, these many years I have served you. I have never disobeyed your commands.” How many of us can boast of such commitment to the Father to always have served him, to have never disobeyed. That’s a tall order. You would really have to step up your game to be able to use the words “always and never”. Now remember this is Jesus describing the older son. I don’t sense that Jesus is being sarcastic here. Jesus is genuinely describing how the Pharisees and Elders of the Temple see themselves and he isn’t saying that any of it is bad or wrong.
But what I think Jesus is saying is that the Pharisees and Elders represented by the older son don’t understand the extent and scope of the father’s love, his dedication to the lost son and how important it is to the Father that he has found his way home, and the Father’s overwhelming desire to celebrate. They are not being bad or evil. It is only that they don’t understand.
At a family picnic years ago, I had a discussion with someone who quite flatly said that she understood that Jesus was out to save everyone that he could. But the idea that someone who had wasted their life in sin, never giving a second thought to Jesus or his Word could be accept by Jesus on a death bed conversion and that they would have a place in heaven alongside her after she had spent her whole life in service to the Lord. [Reference the parable of the workers in the Vineyard]. That stuck in her craw. It just bothered her. She couldn’t get beyond the blindness of the older son.
How many of us have allowed such a thought to slip into our minds? How many times have we allowed ourselves to think that a newcomer or visitor just isn’t our kind of church person? How many times have we thought in our minds very judgmentally that someone doesn’t live up to the same level of being a Christian that we do? How many times have we acted like the older son?
The fact of the matter is that it happens all the time. It happened two thousand years ago. It happens today. That is why Jesus told the parable in the first place. That is why we study it today.
So, you see, we can both be the younger son and the older son. We may even grow through our faith journey from being the younger son into being the older son. We can wither from being new and exuberant in our Christian life to being old and stodgy.
It is at this point when we become aware that we are both the younger and the older sons, that Jesus gives a new vision of who need to become. At the point when as the older son we stand in judgment of the younger son that Jesus calls us to grow beyond being the older son to become more like the Father.
Through all that goes on in this parable story, the Father remains devoted to both his sons. He patiently waits for the lost son to return home. And when he does, he grabs hold of him, forgives him, welcomes him into his house dressing him in the raiment that is accorded the Father’s son.
However, he also goes lovingly to the older son and acknowledges his dedication and service. Verse 31 “…son, you are always with me and all that is mine is yours.” He patiently explains why it is important that the entire family [congregation] celebrate with him upon the lost son’s return. The Father goes out to the lost older son to invite him into the celebration. There is no harsh judgment in the father’s words.
We do not know what the older son finally does. Does he go in or stay out – separating himself from the Father’s joyous celebration? We don’t know the answer to that question. Jesus doesn’t answer it for us. In truth, we still have to write the ending to that story. It has been left blank for us to complete.
But the final theme for us to focus on here is the love of the Father. The next step for us to take in writing the ending to this story is to grow from being the older son into becoming more like the Father. Jesus calls us to be more loving, to be more devoted, to risk our lives and to give all that we have trusting that The Father’s love will be poured out on us, and that love will find its way home. Jesus calls us to be more forgiving and to enter into the Father’s house in celebration with the Father. Jesus calls us to be more like the Father.
Thanks be to God our loving Parent.
