Lent 4C 2007

Joshua 5:9-12

Psalm 32

2 Corinthians 5:16-21

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

My sister and I will be bickering someday in the hopefully distant future. You see, my mother has a cross-strung baby grand piano. It is very old but very well maintained. I like to play piano for fun. My sister is a church musician and teaches piano lessons.

Neither of us, at present, would have room in our houses for this piano…but that’s not the point, is it?

Also, the women in my family tend to live a very long time, well over ninety…some into their 100’s. So we may have a very long wait…

And, after all, it’s just a piano.

Not like in today’s story. The 2 sons in today’s Gospel each get half of everything…right down the middle. Of course, they are supposed to wait until dear old dad is dead. Then divide it up. But the youngest son wants to sow his oats, see the world, live life to the fullest. Party hardy. So he asks Dad for his share, now. Which, in this culture, is the same as wishing his Father dead. Give me half your life!

And the Father does. He doesn’t have to. He shouldn’t. His neighbors will be appalled. What is he doing? It just isn’t right.

But the Father divides his life, his inheritance.

And we know what happens. Of course…the son goes and parties and gambles and spends it all. Ends up in a pig pen; slopping the hogs. This is a Jewish boy…pigs are considered unclean…and he is working for Gentiles….the shame of it all!!

Our bishop tells of a time he was in Tanzania and this story was told to a group of church-goers. Our response is what? The boy should have known better, been more cautious…he got what he deserved, slopping hogs.

Their response? The community failed him. How come no one took care of this boy? Fed him and sheltered him? Instead, they stood back and said, “It isn’t my problem”. And let the boy sink.

The older son also failed his brother. He could have protested the dividing of property and tried to reconcile his father and brother early on. He didn’t do that either. Just stalked off resentfully.

The younger son, stuck in the muck of the pig pen, decides to swallow his pride and go back home. He is going to beg to be a servant; he is going to beg to be let back into the household and the village. He is willing to put up with the shame. The village won’t treat him well, he knows that. They will disown him, may even physically abuse him for taking his inheritance and losing it to non-Judeans.

But the boy is desperate, lonely, scared, and hungry. And he wants to go home.

How often do we get stuck in the muck of the pig pen? How often do we spiral down and see no way out? Afraid to ask for help….afraid to admit wrong-doing…afraid that coming clean would make us seem weak…

We are a proud, independent folk. We expect everyone else to take care of themselves. Then when we are in trouble, how can we expect others to care for us?

So we sit in the muck of life. Stuck in the muck.

Until at last we decide to come crawling home, hat in hand, speech prepared. Oh God, how often have I sinned and done what is unpleasant in your sight. I am sorry. I expect to pay for it, just let me come home. I know I have abused life itself.

So… the son risks returning home. That has to be hard. He knows life will never be the same. He expects nothing but to labor hard for food and shelter.

But what’s this? The village has seen him coming and is ready to spit on him…jeer at him…increase his shame.

But now, in the distance…could it be? Yes it is! The Father! Running! (Old men in this society do not run!!)

And before the son even has a chance to repent….did you catch that? Before the son has a chance to repent his is covered with kisses…forgiven and restored. He is welcomed back into the household not a servant, but as a son.

Scandalous! The thought of it!! Shameful!!

The older son…we are all him sometimes too, aren’t we…the older son is resentful. He is not in the mood, not in the repenting mood or the welcoming mood.

But even so the Father still loves him too. “Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.”

So what do we have here?

2 Sons. Both loved and cherished and given life. One son lives dangerously, sinks low and returns in shame. And is restored to the family, to the community even before he asks. The other son lives safely, keeps up community appearances, tows the line, and is restored to the family, to the community, even before he realizes the sin of his own attitude and actions.

This is one of those stories we like to tame. We have heard it so much we don’t think much of it. If we do we make it nice and sweet and isn’t that nice.

But it is loaded. The older brother and the community fail the youngest son. He returns and is welcomed back before, before he even has a chance to beg. The oldest son is reminded that he, too, is an important part of the family.

And the Father? He defies the community and greets his son. He restore the family…this youngest son wanted him dead. The father wants his youngest son alive.

If we are to live as the second lesson tells us to…regarding no one from a human point of view…but through the eyes of a reconciling Christ…we are to live as the Father in this parable.

Extravagant with love…overflowing with forgiveness…eager to restore those who have strayed, bringing them back into the community….

We are to refrain from judging. We are to hold up one another, help each other out of the muck.

So no one will ask of this community…why did no one help the son when he was hungry and lonely?

What happens next? After the fatted calf feast, which will help the villagers welcome the son back….

The next morning when the youngest son thinks it has all been a dream until he sees the robe and the ring and the sandals of a free man…

Did both sons realize the importance of the free gift of grace that had been given to both of them? Did they shake hands and go to the fields together?

Does the youngest son keep his humility?

This parable ends rather abruptly. It is up to you and me to live out the ending of this story.

How do we respond to a love that comes to us even before we ask for it?

How do we respond to a forgiveness that is ours before we even know what to repent of?

How do we respond to a healing that covers us before we even realize how wounded we are?

The grace of this story is overwhelming. A parent who loves so much they don’t care what the neighbors think. A parent who gives their child freedom and wings yet always welcomes them back to the nest. A parent who loves the obedient steady child as much as the rebel.

A parent who give life, overwhelming abundant, never-ending grace-filled forgiving loving restoring life.

This is our parent, this is our God. Welcome home!