Luke 15:11-32
Oh, what a familiar story this is about the prodigal son,
a great Lentan reading regarding repentance and confession of sin.
But let’s look at this parable from another angle: in terms of parenting.
I was looking at this parable with a meditation group once,
reflecting on how each of us interacted with the parable
who we identified with
what caught our attention
how did we react
what were we feeling as we heard the story.
The responses were what many might also respond with.
One person shared simply, yet powerfully
about his identity with the younger son
raised well – good family
but in college in a fraternity
he got into partying, alcohol took over
and he made a mess of his life.
He said, almost exactly quoting the line from the prayer book
in the Rite of Reconciliation, form 2:
“…I have squandered the inheritance of your saints,
and have wandered far in a land that is waste.”
When things were about as bad as they could be
he started coming to his senses and reached out for help.
AA provided for him the embrace of loving arms, no questions asked,
full acceptance, and strong support for living a new life
He felt so unconditionally accepted,
and, he said, this was the most important factor in saving his life
and bringing him back to God the Father.
It was obvious to him that these other people
were a direct extension of Christ to him.
The 12 step program was very important
for restructuring his life AND making amends for the past,
but it was the unconditional love that had the biggest impact
And another person admitted
that she had had a close identification with the older son
who had very real and justifiable objections to make.
She related about her own envy of others
who seemed to be able to get away with something
that she herself had worked so hard for,
that she had earned through her moral uprightness.
The parable as seen through the eyes of the two sons
is familiar and very recognizable and understandable,
but what is the intent in Jesus telling the story?
As you can imagine it’s something more.
Parables in Luke, you need to know, are kind of fishy.
There is always some point in the parable that isn’t quite right,
not normal, not quite what you would expect.
That’s the working edge for the parable.
It is meant to catch us up;
it moves us to a shift in perspective
The abnormal, the unexpected in this story is the father.
I was thinking about the father in the parable
what would that have been like
to have a child/a son ask for his inheritance.
Who knows what that conversation might have been like.
“Hey, Pops, I’m fed up with things here at home.
This family stinks.
I’m out of here.
I can handle things just fine on my own.
So why don’t you just give me what I’d get when you die,”
which is sort of like saying,
“Why don’t you just drop dead, old man.”
How does the father react?
He doesn’t say, “You don’t talk to me that way, young man!”
His mother doesn’t jump in and say,
“Watch your tongue. Show some respect for your father.”
The father lets him run.
He divides up the goods –
the land to the oldest son
a cash settlement to the younger
and hands it all over to both of them
all his own living, all his pension plan and retirement savings.
The father acts as though he were on his death bed,
as though he were dead.
Didn’t catch that in the story, did you?
Now, this younger son leaves the country,
is utterly out of hand in self indulgence
and spends everything extravagantly and foolishly,
till both HE has nothing AND the whole country is also in famine,
and he is hungry.
Then he wakes up.
Even though he is as far away as possible
from his family, country, and culture,
he still remembers that he is his father’s son.
He is not worthy to be called his son,
but he still is, on that most basic level of life, his father’s son.
And so he regrets what he has done and repents,
he turns around and comes back home.
And then when he does return from his non-kosher stint with the pigs
there are no “I told you so” lectures, no recriminations,
no laying down the law
no stipulation of conditions for return
no 12 step program for rehabilitation
but the father going out to meet him when he was yet at a far distance,
treating him like an honored son
flamboyantly, extravagantly, shamelessly
without regard for what the neighbors would think
- crazy old man, spoils his son,
that boy won’t learn an ounce of responsibility
if he gets away with all that. Scandalous!
And the older son has a right to complain
His father had given him his inheritance too,
so whose expense was it that was paying for the feast?!
The father is just as profligate, just as prodigal as the son
a bad example of responsible parenting
undermining the whole moral code of society. Scandalous!
And yet, we would say, in this story Jesus is revealing to us
God the Father’s unconditional love and acceptance for all of us sinners.
If God is like that,
then what does this say about
the whole Covenant of the Law,
the 10 Commandments,
and being right before God?
Being right with God is not something we earn
nor something we can suppose that God owes us.
The same prodigal love that the father had for the younger son
was also available to the older son.
although the older son didn’t see that.
But the apparent message of this story of the crazy old man
is the abundance of mercy, rather than justice
- the Father moved by compassion
meets the penitent child even BEFORE we arrive back home
Mercy Just what is mercy?
I like to talk about mercy,
especially when I am teaching meditation
with the Prayer of the Lamb, Jesus, Lamb of God, have mercy on us.
Here is a working definition of mercy
distilled from scripture and experience.
Mercy is a spontaneous, loving outpouring
of compassion, care and service
from God towards all of creation.
Mercy is the spontaneous flow of positive, creative life-energy.
Mercy acts whether I know I have a need or not,
whether I am open to it, or afraid or ashamed to admit my need.
Each and every moment Christ's mercy is offered
and continues to be offered
for our known AND our unknown, our unconscious needs.
Mercy is abundance of life overflowing to our poverty of life.
Mercy is unconditional.
And therefore mercy is UTTERLY dependable.
Mercy is the way things work in the Kingdom of God
Jesus said to the Pharisees:
Matthew 9:13 “Go and learn what this means,
I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.”
For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.
Prodigal God – the extravagant spendthrift of creation!
If we could really see this,
then this might affect how we relate with one another.
We too might be moved with compassion
and run to meet those in desperate need while they are yet far off.
We too might treat the person who walks through the doors
smelling like they had just come from feeding the pigs
as though they were the honored guest
– Christ himself, the Risen Lord among us.
I think it actually takes new eyes
to be able to see from the perspective of mercy.
Our old eyes don’t always see very clearly.
So listen again to these words from the Epistle for today:
2Cor. 5:17 …if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation:
everything old has passed away;
see, everything has become new!
2Cor. 5:18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ,
and has given us the ministry of reconciliation;
2Cor. 5:19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself,
not counting their trespasses against them,
and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.
The younger son repented,
but he only expected to be accepted back as a servant,
having blown it as a son.
He was willing to work the rehab program.
But the other side of repentance is the father running to meet him,
and declaring his resurrection:
“This son was dead and is now alive,
was lost and is now found.”
Reconciled to God through that abundant, prodigal mercy,
we are then made new – not we have made ourselves new
We are made new
and then we are entrusted with the message of reconciliation/
We ourselves are called to join with the Father
in being prodigal with mercy ourselves.
Scandalous!
