Prodigal

I thought I'd do something different. This is my first draft of my sermon for Sunday. (March 10) It's based on the third parable from Luke 15 (verses 11-32), most commonly known as the Parable of the Prodigal Son.
I don't know how much tinkering will go on between now and Sunday morning, or during the sermon, since I don't use a manuscript. So I thought, I'd post what I got, and if someone likes an idea, or hates an idea, great.

I really love this parable. But I hate the title that it has been given.

First, show of hands, who knows what “prodigal” means? No, really, anybody?

The definition of prodigal is giving profusely, recklessly extravagant, lavishly abundant.

That has been the label that has been attached to this parable since they started putting headings in Bibles. And I think that it completely misrepresents the parable. Because the parable is not at all about the son who goes away.

The wonderful thing about this parable is that I really believe we can identify with each of the three figures; the brother who goes away, the father and the brother who stays. Time for another show of hands: I want you to hold something in your hands to show which one you identify with the most right now. If it is the son who went away, when I ask you to, hold up the bulletin. If it is the son who stayed, hold up the purple “Taking Faith Home” insert. If it is the father, hold up the hymnal. OK, here we go. Who do you identify with the most?

Let me start by talking about the son who went away. (Those who identified with him, can you hold up the bulletin again? Thanks.) First, he is rude jerk. By asking for his inheritance, he is telling his father, “I wish you were dead.” Because that is the only way you receive an inheritance; the person must be dead. So to get the money to give to this son, the father has to sell of part of their land and everything they own. It is assumed that this is the younger of the two sons, so the father has to liquidate one third of everything they own. In these times, the oldest son gets an extra share because they have to take care of the mother and any unmarried daughters; so with two sons, the oldest gets two-thirds and the youngest gets a third.

Second, I think he gets a bad reputation. Sure, asking for your inheritance while your dad is still alive is improper. But once he gets it, what he does with it is his own business. He goes to a distant country, and while there he scattered everything recklessly. Other translations say “squandered his property in dissolute living” or “wasted his substance with riotous living” or “wasted his wealth through extravagant living.” I think this could be described as prodigal living. Or it could be described as being inexperienced and naïve. He could have been taken advantage of. He could have been extraordinarily generous. All of those fit the ONE-HALF OF ONE SENTENCE that describes what happened to him in that far off country. We want to believe what the brother who stays later says that he “devoured your property with prostitutes,” but the brother who stays would have no knowledge to what happened to his brother and his fortune. All we know is that he was broke. Has anyone ever been stranded somewhere, a long way from home, with no money?

If that has ever happened to you, no matter how you wound up in that situation, you know that you need someone to be good and helpful to you. For the brother who went away, his misfortune was about to escalate. A severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. So he went to work for a farmer, but even then, no one gave him any food. So he thinks that if I went home, and worked for my father, not as his son, but as just a worker, I’d be better off than I am here. So he heads home, rehearsing his speech the whole way.

I completely understand him. Yes, he made some really selfish and dumb decisions. Who hasn’t? He is down on his luck, no one is helping him, so he heads home, hoping he may be able to work for his father. I also understand him practicing what he is going to say. As someone who has worked to overcome a stuttering problem, I am always thinking about what I am going to say so that when I say it, hopefully, I don’t get stuck.

Now onto the father. (Those who identified with him, can you hold up the purple flyer again? Thanks.)  Yeah, he’s an idiot. No, that’s not quite right; he’s a foolish idiot. His son insults him by wishing him dead, and the father basically obliges him. This move is so shameful that he would not be able to show himself in the community. Everyone would treat him as a fool, someone who gave up and jeopardized his family by dividing and selling off a third of all he owns and giving it to a son who just insulted him.

So the father couldn’t go anywhere, but would stay at home. So it isn’t surprising that he sees the son who went away coming back. What is surprising is that the father would run to him. The one who he wanted dead comes running to his son, throws his arms around him and begins kissing him. All of this is totally undignified behavior, and it’s about to get worse. The son who went away begins to apologize, to recite his rehearsed speech. But the father interrupts him. He doesn’t want to hear it. The father calls for the servants to bring a robe, ring and sandals for his son. But, here’s a problem. Because of the son who went away getting his inheritance pre-dad-dying, technically, all of this stuff belongs to the son who stayed. It isn’t the father’s to give away. Details don’t matter to him. He calls for the fatted calf to be slaughtered and for the party to commence!

The party is well underway when the brother who stayed comes in from the fields. He hears the celebration and wonders what is going on. When he finds out his brother has come back, he is furious and refuses to come into the house. He confronts his father, spewing out his hostility, “How can you do this?! He threw your money away. He wanted you dead! Now you welcome him back with the fatted calf, when you never gave me anything to celebrate with.”

(Those who identified with the brother who stayed, can you hold up your hymnal? Thank you.) By the way, the brother who stayed is an arrogant and pompous punk. All of the anger he has over what his brother did, and what his father allowed his brother to do, comes out. “How can you do this?! What is the father thinking? Doesn’t all of the honest service and rule following mean anything? How can you forgive what he has done? Why would you want to even be around him?”

And that is what Jesus was getting at.

The focal point of this parable is the son who stayed, because he represents the Pharisees and scribes Jesus is talking to. They have been faithful to the tradition they understand. They have been honest and righteous, but they see this teacher, healer and prophet and wonder why Jesus wants to hang out with sinners, instead of them.

You see, Jesus told this parable, and two before it, about people who would do everything they could to find and reclaim what had been lost. A shepherd abandons 99 sheep to seek out one that wandered off. A woman tears her house apart for one coin that was lost, then spends more than that to celebrate finding it. A father suffers all sorts of insults from both his sons to restore one to the family. Jesus told this parable because the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, "This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them."

The Pharisees and scribes, like the brother who stayed, like all who righteously try to live by God’s laws and commands, who do their best to do God’s work and God’s will here on earth are already receiving their reward. “You are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.” Doing God’s work, following God’s commands are their own rewards. If you are doing them expecting something else, you have more in common with the son who went away and the sinners Jesus is hanging around with than you think.

I think the title of this parable, if it has to have one, is the parable of the lost sons. And I think the title of the Gospels should be the Gospel of the Prodigal God. Because God gives grace profusely. God is recklessly extravagant in mercy and lavishly abundant in forgiveness. God gave of himself, sending his Son to teach, preach and heal, then to suffer and die so that we can see how much we are loved by God.

Our Prodigal God, our foolish and ridiculous God wants everyone to be saved and be with God eternally. God wants this so much that God will leave the 99 who are faithful and true to search out the one who is lost. God is willing to forgive us all that God will celebrate the return of one in an extravagant and lavish way. God loves us so much that God is willing to be ridiculed and made to look foolish, to give away his treasure, to run after those who have rejected him, to shower them with love and to celebrate their return. Our Prodigal God is foolish enough to be nailed to a cross to try and call us back, to die so our death isn’t final and to be raised so we can be raised as he was, without sin or fault in the Father’s eyes.

This God, our God – our Lord and Savior, welcomes sinners, and invites you to eat with him at his table.

I give thanks for our Prodigal God. AMEN.