First Reading:
9The Lord said to Joshua, Today I have
rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt.
And so that place is
called Gilgal to this day.
10While the Israelites were camped in Gilgal they kept the
passover in the evening on the fourteenth day of the month in the
plains of Jericho. 11On the day after the passover, on that
very day, they ate the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and
parched grain. 12The manna ceased on the day they ate the
produce of the land, and the Israelites no longer had manna; they ate
the crops of the land of Canaan that year.
Second Reading:
Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to
him. 2And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and
saying, This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.
3So he told them this parable:
11There was a man who had two sons. 12The
younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of the
property that will belong to me.' So he divided his property between
them. 13A few days later the younger son gathered all he
had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his
property in dissolute living. 14When he had spent
everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he
began to be in need. 15So he went and hired himself out to
one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to
feed the pigs. 16He would gladly have filled himself with
the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him
anything. 17But when he came to himself he said, 'How many
of my father's hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I
am dying of hunger! 18I will get up and go to my father,
and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and
before you; 19I am no longer worthy to be called your son;
treat me like one of your hired hands.”' 20So he set
off and went to his father. 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.
25“Now his elder son was in the field; and when he
came and approached the house, he heard music and
dancing. 26He called one of the slaves and asked what was
going on. 27He replied, 'Your brother has come, and your
father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe
and sound.' 28Then he became angry and refused to go
in. His father came out and began to plead with him. 29But
he answered his father, 'Listen! For all these years I have been
working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command;
yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might
celebrate with my friends. 30But when this son of yours
came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed
the fatted calf for him!' 31Then the father said to him,
'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is
yours. 32But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this
brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has
been found.'
So an update on the baby front at our house… There's no baby yet, some days the contractions are stronger than others, some days less so, but as you might imagine, I've been spending a lot of time lately remembering the first few days after bringing my other children home… there are some times that are especially significant. There was one day shortly after we brought Natalie home when I was standing there in the middle of the afternoon changing a diaper and it was like it hit me with full force, this whole parenting thing… it really is a long term commitment. And later on, either really late that night or really early the next morning, I'm not entirely sure which, when I was changing another diaper and trying to calm a screaming baby and remembering my earlier insight about the commitment of parenting, another insight hit me… parenting is going to take on a whole bunch of different forms… it won't always be like this, in fact it won't be like this for long. And what I took from it that night was that I'd better enjoy every moment of it. Here it is 4 years later and every time I write one of my email updates and tell everyone that the baby hasn't come yet, somewhere in the back of my mind even, I have that little reminder, it won't be like this for long… change is coming.
For the people of Israel, our first reading was one of those moments of profound change for the people who had wandered so long in the desert. It was the end of an era because it marked the moment when the people of Israel stopped wandering in the desert and started settling in the Promised Land. They were once slaves in Egypt, but God led them out of slavery and into the desert… When they got to the desert, they were hungry and scared, but God led them through the desert and gave them manna to eat. Even today in the Jewish tradition, manna is celebrated as one of the miracles of God's providence. And this was the point in time when it ended. On the day they ate the produce of the land, the manna ceased… they didn't have manna any longer. It is a dramatic reminder that no matter the situation, things change… and it was also a day worthy of celebrating God's faithfulness because the people who had once been lost in the desert were now living into God's hopes and dreams for them in the Promised Land.
Change, celebration and people living into what God hopes for
them… it was fun for me to see the ways those three things
played together in both the old and new testament readings this week.
Of course the New Testament lesson is one of those stories that if
you've been around church very much in your life, you've heard this
parable, probably more than once. The parable of the prodigal son as
it's usually called is one of the favorites of pastors because there's
just so much in it and it begins when the first son said to his
father, give me my share of the inheritance.
Of course in doing
that, he broke protocol in a pretty major way. After all one of the
commandments goes something like Honor thy father and thy mother. But
with that declaration of independence, it was as if the son was saying
Dad, I know that sooner or later part of what you have will be mine,
but I don't want to wait around until you're dead… I don't want
things to be like they are. Things could be better for me and I want
to start living that new way now. Give me what will one day be mine.
Give me my freedom from you.
And then the story then follows the younger son on the journey he's undertaken… he goes to the far country and he lives it up. I didn't know exactly what dissolute living meant… so I looked it up and it means overindulging in physical pleasures… parties, food, drink, perhaps women, now-a-days it might be fast cars and drugs too… who knows. The scripture don't know how long he lived like that… but it turns out, no matter how much he was enjoying himself, it wasn't going to be like that for long… he ended up broke and it got worse as the a famine hit… he went to work but it wasn't just any work. It was pig farming which is something that no self respecting Jew would have done… the law of Moses made it abundantly clear that pigs weren't kosher. Now according to some, it was a feeling of discontinuity between who he truly was and who he had become that led him to seek solace with his father… others say there was no change of heart only a longing for food… but regardless of what it was, he realized something wasn't right and there's a way it could be made better… it doesn't have to be like this… so he went home to test his fortunes there.
When the son requested his inheritance from his father, it began an
entirely different journey for the father. First of all, it was a
gross insult… the son effectively said to the father it
would be better for me if you were dead
but in a system that was a
land based economy, the son's request didn't only affect the father.
To divide and sell off land would have hurt the family and the
community because they all depended on the produce of the land. And
on top of that the Jewish people in biblical times considered their
land to be a gift from God so selling off the ancestral lands to give
the younger son his inheritance would have also raised questions of
their religious standing, and their connection to God, a point that
wouldn't be missed on the Pharisees Jesus was telling the story to.
And yet the father recognized that with a request like the one his son
made, there was no way around it. Things weren't going to be the same
for long… and he was faced with a choice. If he said no you
cannot have your inheritance the son would stay and do his duty as a
son at least partly because he had no other choice. If the father
said yes you can have your inheritance, he would risk the scorn of the
community and the religious leaders and the rest of his family. If he
said yes, the son would likely go his own way, perhaps never to be
heard from again. And if he said no, the son would be there in his
household every day, upset. I can imagine that sooner or later the
son would forgive the father and they would have gone on with life as
usual but I can also imagine a scenario where every day the son would
grow in resentment because he was never allowed to follow his dreams,
no matter how misguided they were. Apparently the father wasn't
willing to take that chance. His relationship with his son was too
important to risk losing it by making him feel captive. So he let his
son go and a third of the estate along with him. He did it fully
aware of the risk that the son might not return and also knowing that
if he did in freedom chose to come back than the relationship would be
all the stronger for it. And so the father waited… I can't
imagine that he expected to see his son again but by the reception he
gave when his son did come home, I know that he was prepared. He was
hopeful that it wouldn't always be that way… he was hopeful
that his gamble would pay off and that the freedom he extended to his
son would one day lead to reconciliation between them and restoration
of their relationship.
And then there was the third player in the story… he wasn't mentioned in the version of the reading that was in the anthem… in fact he's often left out, or left as an afterthought, but the way this segment of Luke's gospel is structured, he's actually the main point. Jesus was talking with some Pharisees and he told a series of three parables… in each one something is lost and in each there's a great celebration when it's restored. But in this the third parable, when the great celebration happens, there is still someone who will not participate. Verse 25 picks up.
The elder son was in the field; and when he approached the house,
he heard music and dancing. 26 And He called one of the slaves and
asked what was going on. 27 The slave replied, 'Your brother has come,
and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he's back safe and
sound.' 28 The elder son became angry and refused to go in. His father
came out and began to plead with him. 29 And he answered his father,
'Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you,
and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me
even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. 30 But
this, your son came back, who has devoured your property with
prostitutes, and you killed the fatted calf for him!' 31 And the
father said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine
is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this, your
brother was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been
found.
The elder son has been responsible, he's behaved well, he has acted
with prudence… when he refers to the younger son as this
your son
he's saying that he hasn't forgiven the prodigal for his
offence and that he had written his brother off. But it turns out, it
was not always to be that way… the prodigal has returned but
for the elder, it's not necessarily good news. Every morsel the
prodigal eats and every dime the prodigal spends is taken from the
older son's portion of the inheritance. And to hear about the fatted
calf was an insult… it ends up that the prodigal who was only
concerned for himself shares something in common with the
elder… Funny isn't it that the same self-centeredness can wear
different such different expressions.
But this is the point where it becomes clear that the parable is more a reflection on the compassionate love of the father than it is about the behavior of either of the wayward children. In the midst of the elder son's anger the father doesn't justify the younger son's behavior… he doesn't defend or even justify his own behavior. He simply says all that is mine is yours… this party is not for the prodigal… it is for me to express my joy and my welcome… he has been invited and so have you…
If there's one thing we can be sure of, things won't always be like they are now… whether we demand change, whether we want change or even if we're happy with things pretty much as they are and we don't want anything at all to change, it is inevitable that things will change… And the question we're left with is how. Will the change be centered around our own desires alone or will the desires of the one who led the people through the desert and has known the cost and the patience of parenthood longer than anyone also be taken into account…
Arch Bishop Desmond Tutu wrote about his understanding of God's dream… of a world whose ugliness and squalor and poverty, whose war and hostility, whose greed and competitiveness whose alienation and disharmony are changed into their glorious counterparts… God's dream is of a time when there will be more laughter, joy, and peace, where there will be justice and goodness and compassion and love and caring and sharing… it is a dream where swords will be beaten into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks… and it is a dream of a time when God's children will know that they are all members of one family… the human family, God's family…
The parable of the prodigal son reminds us of the expansive love of God. After all, the father says it is not only my son who was lost and now lives again, but it is also your brother.
Thanks be to God.
Amen.
The foregoing sermon was given by Rev. Dan Holland at the United Parish of Bowie on March 14, 2010.
© 2010 Daniel Holland
