God’s Grace I

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
March 14, 2010

There are many stories in the Bible. So many that to distinguish one story from another we usually give them titles. The Good Samaritan, Noah’s Ark, Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat… People often call the story I just read The Prodigal Son. That’s an odd name – in fact I have never heard the word “prodigal” used except in reference to this story. I wasn’t even sure what “prodigal” meant – I had to look it up in the dictionary. This made me wonder if we might consider giving the story a different name – something more people would understand.

Prodigal Son
When people think of this as the story of the Prodigal Son they are focusing mostly on the younger son. Prodigal means wastefully or recklessly extravagant, and that’s what this younger son became. He asked his father to give him all of his inheritance right away. Then he turned his back on his family, sold the property, moved far away and was recklessly extravagant with what he had until all his money was gone. When he was finally desperate enough to look for a job the only work he could find was feeding the pigs. And then he was still so poor and hungry he wished he could eat their corncobs. We might think of this young person as a student who goes off to a very expensive college and then skips her classes, spending all of her time going to the movies, shopping, out to dinner, to parties and eventually flunking out. Or this person might be like a senior who takes all his money out of his investments, hops a bus to Foxwoods and gambles it all away until there is nothing left and he becomes homeless.

Perhaps a better title for this story would be the Wasteful Son or the Sinful Son – for besides being wasteful of what he had, the son’s sins include breaking his relationships with his family, treating his father disrespectfully and even associating with disreputable people. Since we are in the season of Lent, a time when Christians are called to examine our lives and acknowledge our sins it might be fitting for us to hear Jesus’ teaching about sinfulness.

Some say that humans have to hit bottom before we repent of our sins and this is apparently what the younger son did. Finally, poor, humiliated and hungry he came to himself and began to make his way home. He realized that he had treated his father very poorly and didn’t deserve to be treated like a son. But he knew that his father was kind even to the servants, so he hoped that his life would be better if he returned home.

As he walks along the son makes up a speech in his head, rehearsing what he will say to his dad – trying to get the words just right, hoping that he might convince his father to accept him back. The son’s speech is a good pattern for acknowledging our sins before God. Listen again to his words. “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.” The young man starts by addressing God as Father. That very address shows the type of relationship between him and God. Not as a slave to a master, not as a student to a teacher, not as a serf to a Lord, but as a child to a loving parent. Father. Then comes the confession. “I have sinned against heaven and before you.” He doesn’t sugar coat anything, he doesn’t try to make excuses for his behavior. He just states it plainly and clearly. I have sinned; confession. Then comes contrition - which means being humble, deflating one’s ego, stating the truth “I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” He realizes that after his bad behavior he doesn’t deserve any more special favors. He will be content with much less than he had before. And finally the son makes his request, his petition. “Treat me like one of your hired hands.”

This pattern can be useful for us as we examine our lives in this season of Lent. When we find a sin for which we are ready to repent we can follow these steps. Turn to God as our loving parent, trusting in God’s goodness and love for us. Then state our sin plainly and simply, with a contrite, humble spirit and finally make our request of God.

Angry Brother
But there is a problem with calling this story the Prodigal Son or the Sinful Son. He’s not the only son in the story. Jesus starts the parable, “There was a man who had two sons.” The other son is the older one, the good son who stayed home, obeyed his father, and worked hard. What about him? One hint that this Son is also an important part of the story comes from the very beginning of Chapter 15. Here we read that Jesus told this story in response to a complaint of the Pharisees and scribes. Pharisees and scribes were good people. They tried very hard to live by God’s laws, to rid their lives of all sin. And they were upset with Jesus because he was associating with sinful people. He was teaching them, and even sitting down to eat with them. The older brother in the story is just like the Pharisees and scribes. When his younger brother returns home, ragged and poor, a family disgrace, he is not pleased. He clearly keeps his distance from his brother. (see him on the right of the painting). When he speaks about him to his father he calls him “this son of yours.” The idea that the father not only welcomes the wasteful younger son back as a son, but even lavishes gifts and throws a party with the most expensive food makes the older brother furious. He says what many children say when they think their parents favor a brother or sister, “It’s not fair! It’s not fair. I’m the good son. I’ve stayed home and worked hard and you’ve never even given a pizza party for me and my friends.” You love him better. He took all that money from the family and wasted it. And now he’s come home and you’re giving him presents and throwing him a banquet and hired a D. J. It’s not fair!” And he sulks outside, refusing to join in the fun.

So perhaps we should call this story the parable of the older brother; or the sinful sons. Though he doesn’t see it, this older brother is also sinful. Even though he thinks he’s been working so hard to be good, even though he has remained home, dutifully doing his chores his attitude at his brother’s return reveals his offenses. There is a fine line between trying to be righteous and becoming self-righteous. It’s one reason many people outside the church find fault with those of us in the church – we can seem like goody two shoes, hypocritical, harsh. When I look for myself in this parable I know that I am much more like this older brother than the younger one. In trying so hard to be a good person, to keep the laws of God, I struggle with the bad habit of judging others. And like this brother my judgments are harsh and I am slow to forgive those whom I believe have wronged me. All of this ends up hurting my relationships. I end up seeing my brothers and sisters as enemies. I become blinded to the blessings God has graciously given to me, or I start thinking I have earned the good things in my life rather than acknowledging that they are free gifts from God.

When we look at the older brother we see that he is far from confessing his sins. First he doesn’t address his father at all. He just starts out in his tirade, “Listen!” Second, he doesn’t confess that he has sinned. Instead he tries to justify his anger. “For all these years I have been working like a slave for you.” Third, his pride keeps him from being contrite or humble about what he deserves. “I have never disobeyed your command.” He clearly fails to see that not welcoming his brother home is disobeying the command to love his brother as himself. Finally, though the older son might have wanted his father to throw him a party with his friends he doesn’t ask for it, but only accuses the father of not giving it to him. I suspect many of us here might have more in common with the older son than with the younger one.

The only problem with naming the story after either brother is that it might leave us feeling bad because it focuses our attention on our sins. And I believe that this Bible is a book full of Good News, and that even in the season of Lent God wants us to hear the good news of Jesus Christ. So I propose changing the name of this story to the Gracious Father.

Gracious Father
After all Jesus starts the story with the father. “There was a man who had two sons.” When we look at the father as the main character of the story we find someone who is kind, generous and forgiving. When his younger son asks to take his inheritance early, the father doesn’t become offended, as many fathers might. This father divides his property – the Greek word is bios – he divided his life between his children. While the father didn’t try to stop his younger son from being wasteful, or keep him from suffering the consequences, he did maintain a spirit of hope that the son would return one day. Jesus says that the father saw his repentant son while he was still far off, and then filled with deep love and compassion, the father ran to meet his beloved child. When this younger son made his speech the father interrupted him. And rather than being angry, or punishing his child any further, he joyfully offered him new cloths, a ring and sandals and then threw a party. He showed everyone his delight – the son who had been lost was found!

It is true that the father’s relationship to the elder son was different. He was pleased that his elder son was always with him. From the father’s point of view all that he had belonged to this son. If he wanted a party with his friends, all that the son needed to do was ask. And just as the father went out to meet his younger son, so he went out to meet his sulking older son with love and compassion and an invitation to celebrate. In both cases the father works to restore relationships – his relationship with his children as their father, and their relationship with each other as brothers. The good news is that God is very much like the Gracious Father – whether we are more like the wasteful son, or more like the angry son.

I receive
In some ways the story of the gracious father is not finished. We are left to wonder if the older son will let his heart melt towards his family, and humbly and joyfully accept the invitation.

This reminds me of my daughter Grace. Sometimes when Grace gets hungry and I’m a little slow to start feeding her she can start crying, and by the time I get the nipple in her mouth she is crying so hard that she can’t pause long enough to suck for the few moments it takes to get the milk flowing. Everything she needs is right there, ready for her. But she needs to calm down enough to be able to receive it.

God is like the gracious father, forgiving, loving, kind and ready to celebrate when we turn and seek to find our home with him. God invites us to partake of the banquet of life, full of many blessings. If we are like the wasteful son, when we repent through confession and contrition God will change our unworthiness with his loveliness. When we turn to our tender God he will melt our bitterness. All we need to do is receive his love.