Joshua 5:9-12
Psalm 32 (11)
2 Corinthians 5:16-21
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
Where
do you fit in?
That
is, where do you fit in this story?
Are
you the father whose love for his sons is indivisible but not the same? Are you the younger son who asked your share
and went away only to lose everything, and now need to come home, not knowing if
you will be welcomed back? Or are you
the oldest son, the one who has always done the right thing, worked hard and
without complaint, but are now starting to wonder: what’s in it for me?
Or
maybe you are outside of the story. Are
you Jesus trying to tell the story and deliver the message, or are you the Pharisee
or scribe who is listening to the story wondering what it means and what does
it have to do with welcoming sinners and eating with them?
You
are invited to think about who you are in this story. Think not only of who you are in the story,
but also how your identity changes your understanding of what this story is
really all about.
Just
because in this life you have had the role of a sibling or a parent that may
not be who you most relate to here.
Maybe you are one person as you hear the story today but were someone
different the last time you heard it or will be someone different the next
time? That is part of the joy of God’s
Word, it can and does change and change us.
The way the Word of God, in the form of Jesus and the Bible, speaks to
us grows with us and moves us to see in new ways.
And
this story, this parable, is so rich with character and story and meaning, I
would find it almost unbelievable that you cannot find yourself in some part of
this story.
Eating
together is a powerful thing. In Communion
we come together to become the body of Christ by receiving Christ’s body and
blood. The meal is more than a symbol;
it is a testament. Anytime you hear food
mentioned in the Bible it is a time to pay attention. “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with
them.” Food is mentioned and SO, Jesus
tells a story. “So”… Jesus wants to
clear up for these Pharisees and scribes a little something about what a meal
is really all about.
The
father calls for the fatted calf be killed that they may “eat and
celebrate.” Eating together is a
celebration. It is hospitality, but it
is also so much more than that. The
father is joyful at the homecoming of his son.
His son, who he could justifiably disown, is the guest of honor. Which is to say, the father is honored to put
his son before himself. Just as Jesus is
honored to put the tax collectors and sinners before himself.
This
parable has long been known as the prodigal son and people think that the use
of the word prodigal refers to his extravagant wastefulness in squandering away
his inheritance and having to come back to his father to survive. But one might also call the father prodigal
because he is extravagant in his generosity.
He gives his son what would generally only be given him in the event of
the father’s death. Yet, even though his
son is essentially treating him as though he were dead, he still loves his son
so much that he welcomes him with open arms and an open heart even as his other
son feels resentful and rejected. This
father is truly prodigal and prodigious.
Most
prodigal of all, of course, is God. The
love of God is the most prodigious love we can or can’t imagine. Beyond all generosity that can be measurable
in size or scope, God’s love and forgiveness celebrates the homecoming of any
and all children, no matter how sinful.
God celebrates and rejoices each and every time a child that has been
dead returns to life, each time a child who was lost is found.
God
is that loving parent who loves beyond all measure.
God
loves so much that God will give us our inheritance and let us squander it away
and yet will still welcome us on our return.
But
maybe…
Maybe
you relate to the brother…
Maybe
it hurts sometimes to feel like you are always doing the right thing, maybe you
try to do and be everything that your parents, or your friends, or your church,
or your community asks of you. You have
a lot of reasons to be mad that all that work and effort on your part seems to
go unnoticed even as someone who does less reaps all the same rewards. Maybe…
If
that is you, listen, “Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is
yours.”
Do
not lose heart, and do not lose focus.
The gifts of God are yours. God’s
immeasurable love is not, cannot be, diminished. Do not worry about your inheritance in
comparison to that of your brother and sister.
Do not question their worthiness nor your own.
Remember,
sometimes you are the responsible one, and sometimes you are the one lost,
dying, dead. But whatever kind of child
you are, you are, first, last, and always, a child of God. And you are loved extravagantly…beyond all
measure…
Thanks
be to God…
Amen.
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