The Prodigal Father
Fourth Sunday of Lent C – 03-14-2010
Luke 15:1-3, (4-11a), 11b-32
“Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? 5When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. 6And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ 7Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. 8“Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? 9When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ 10Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
The folks who decide on the lectionary—which readings from scripture we get each week—have done us a real disservice this week. If you look at the little insert with the readings you’ll notice that seven and a half verses of the gospel of Luke were cut out. Verses 4 through the first half of verse 11 are absolutely critical to our reading of the rest of the passage. Here’s why: On Friday, Jeanne Stewart, Heath Missner, Missy Harrison, and I were at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Des Plains to hear Diana Butler Bass, author of, among others, A People’s History of Christianity, and Christianity for the Rest of Us. Mrs. Bass shared with us some fascinating material about the changing face of Christianity, religion as a whole, the cultural landscape, how individuals experience their faith, and more that I’m sure you’ll hear more about but, what is pertinent today is her discussion of her Lilly funded Project on Congregations of Intentional Practice, out of which came the book Christianity for the Rest of Us. Her study of 50 vital congregations found that the three most often reported Christian practices incarnate in these congregations were prayer, hospitality, and theological reflection or Bible study. What Bass told us about the practice of Bible study—something that we are seriously considering as a practice for our entire community over the next year—is that the most important question we can ask in this era of intense desire for an experience of the Holy, is: “Where do you find yourself in this story?”
Our encounters with these holy texts are most profound when we can place ourselves into the story. It is from that locus that we can begin to do the theological reflection necessary to understand what the stories have to say that is relevant to us in our daily lives. It is this question: “Where do you find yourself in this story?” that makes me say that we need “the rest of the story,” as Paul Harvey used to say. Because without those missing verses, it is too easy for us to look at what we call The Parable of the Prodigal Son and find ourselves deciding which of the two sons we identify with, typically to progress from there to judgment about one or both of those sons. And I’ve been reminded every day this week by Journey to the Cross, an online daily Lenten devotional guide (www.d365.org/journeytothecross/) that making decisions is a part of every day. Judging between one thing and another, determining the best way to go, can't be avoided. But judging another person, determining their value and worth - that is another thing altogether. Whose role is that? We know that is God’s role. We see, time and again, Jesus cautioning us not to judge others—or ourselves. I am fairly confident that in this particular parable, Jesus wants his listeners, and us, to place our focus elsewhere.
So, let us enter into the story. We are told that many people have gathered to hear Jesus—“Now all the tax collectors and sinners,” are there as well as Pharisees and scribes, who are none too happy, and they repeat an earlier condemnation of Jesus, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So Jesus tells us not one parable but three parables. He tells them in a familiar style that begins with the simple and common, known world that is recognizable to many, that then, we will see, escalates into a story about the unknown world of God. Listen now to the first two stories. The Pharisees and the scribes are grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” 3So he tells us this parable:
“Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? 5When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. 6And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ 7Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. 8“Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? 9When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ 10Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Then Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons…”
Who is it that Jesus asks us to identify with in the first story? The shepherd. And who are we to identify with in the second? The woman who has lost a coin. Both of these stories are about finding that which is lost and the resultant, overpowering joy that comes with the finding. The third story—that of the man who had two sons—is also about the return of something lost. Something as valuable as a human life—a beloved son. And make no mistake, Jesus has made it clear who is to be the focus of the story—the trajectory of the three stories leaves us listeners with no where else to place ourselves but in the father’s place. We have mourned the loss of a sheep and rejoiced in its return. We have searched long and hard for the coin which was lost and we have again shared in rejoicing after finding it. Now, however, we are faced with the loss of something of even greater value; of incalculable value—our own child.
This story, though, has several points that Jesus’ listeners would have noticed that tells them this is not any world with which they are familiar. No one in their society would be so brazen to ask their father for their inheritance while the father was still alive—that’s as if he had said, “I wish you were dead!” And yet, the father acquiesces and divides the property between them and the older brother in no way comes to his father’s defense against his brother’s demands. Clearly this is a world unknown to Jesus’ listeners. I believe that’s because in this story that Norval Geldenhuys in The New International Commentary on the New Testament calls the ‘"Gospel within the Gospel," the father is Jesus’ father, his Abba.
This story—all three stories—is told in response to the question implicit in the grumbling of the Pharisees and scribes: “Why does this fellow welcome sinners and eat with them.” It’s because his father acts every bit the prodigal as the son in the story. The word prodigal can mean several things—negative or positive: recklessly extravagant, characterized by wasteful expenditure, lavish, yielding abundantly, luxuriant or profuse (Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary). The son was extravagant in a negative way, but the father was extravagant in a positive sense. Notice, too, how the father’s extravagance is portrayed. The son plans and rehearses what he will say to earn a place in his father’s house, and as the story says, “But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. 21Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; 24for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate.”
The father doesn’t need to hear why his son returned, indeed, just knowing that he returned is enough. “He ran and put his arms around him and kissed him!” This beloved child was dead and is now alive, was lost and is found, was separated from the father and is reunited. And they began to celebrate! “Yeah, yeah,” he says when the son starts to speak, “let’s party!” Jesus is telling the sinners and the Pharisees, the scribes and the tax collectors, “This is who my father is. This is who I am. This is in whose image each and every one of you are made—a father who says “all that is mine is yours.” This is whose place in the story I expect you to put yourself.”
By putting ourselves in the place of the father, our Abba, we too, may come to know that incomprehensible love that God has for each and every one of us—a luxurious, extravagant, lavish love that leads to the practice of prodigal hospitality to all who desire a relationship with us. That is a story all of God’s children want to be a part of. Amen.
