Lent4-C                         R.Lundquist+                                                      3/18/07

2 Cor 5:17-21  http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=42211097

            “I have learned more about grace, forgiveness, diversity – and yes, original sin – from my family than from all the theology books I have read.  Troublesome issues like divorce and homosexuality take on a different cast when you confront them not in a state legislature but at a family reunion.”

                                    ~ Philip Yancey, in Christianity Today, 5/20/96

Today we hear God’s truth in a family story – a father & 2 sons.  It’s a well-known but seldom examined part of the larger picture of the city of God, where this family reunion takes place…

For example:  what are the circumstances behind Jesus’ telling?

            Luke 15 – Pharisees complain about Jesus dining w/ tax collectors & sinners.  So Jesus tells 3 stories:

            The parable of the Lost sheep (1 of 100 is found and returned)

            The parable of the Lost coin (1 of 10 is found and returned)

            The parable of the Lost son (1 of 2 is found and returned).  Each story ends w/ a party!

                        Each is Jesus’ account of God’s LOVE.

Parable: from Gr, “to put one beside another to make a point.”

            Like a jewel, looks different every time examined…

                        Do we every fully understand a parable?

Case in point:  “Prodigal son.”  Prodigal = lavish, extravagant, recklessly wasteful.  Who here is prodigal?

            Son w/ his inheritance?  Or the Father w/ his love?

7 surprises:

1. The younger son wishes his father was dead (“give me inheritance…now”) [a pre-posthumous gift, if you will…]

2. The older brother says nothing! (splitting the estate?  Where was he?…)

3. Father goes along w/ this scheme – out of love?

4. The younger son cashes in, and goes to Gentile land.  He blows it all.  So he ends up feeding pigs.  How humiliating for a nice Jewish boy!

5. The younger son returns to be a servant, a slave.  Father not only welcomes but celebrates!  He calls for sandals, which shows that the son is no slave in Father’s eyes…

6. So father invites town for a PARTY.  (Does his forgiveness = condoning sinful behavior?)

7. The eldest brother says to father:  “I slaved for you…” Intentionally insulting, isn’t it…

Dennis Hamm, in America 3/14/98

Ah, this is Jesus’ point to the Pharisees!  It’s all about freedom.

            The younger son sought 3 hots & a cot, and was willing to be slave after his escapade…

            Elder son, who “slaved” for Dad, was actually free all along.

            Father:  was he imprisoned by sons’ behaviors?

What does this say about how our actions affect God?  Hmmm…

Who deserves what?  Elder son – “It’s not right to throw him a party.”  Well, yes, he’s got a point – it’s not right, it’s not fair.  But in the city of God no one gets what they deserve.  Thank God!

The son who didn’t deserve father’s love actually experienced it.  And the son who did deserve it didn’t experience it.  Through his own stubbornness.  Father extends compassion & mercy to both sons – a reflection of the prophetic, reconciling mission of Jesus that covers us all. 

Paul, in his 2^nd letter to the Christians in Corinth, reminds us that God has reconciled us through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.  Hmmm.  So we are God’s ambassadors, God making an appeal to the world through us.  The message to us and through us is:  be reconciled to God! 

To reconcile is to settle, to resolve, to make compatible with, to accommodate…

That’s your job description, ambassador…

And how about that party for the sinful son?  “Who would attend today?”  Because there’s no room for karma in God’s world.  Given the God that Jesus proclaims, one can fall from justice, from virtue, from faith, from righteousness – but never from grace.  Because the Prodigal Father is always waiting, with open arms and new sandals.  That party, with the tax collectors and sinners, is already in full swing.

What, does that still rankle?  Leave a bitter taste?  Rub you the wrong way?  Seem just a little, oh… unfair?  In that case, REPENT!

            For God so loved the world… For God so loved the world that He gave his only son so that all who believe would have eternal life.  That’s the party, friends – the one right here at the family reunion.  Amen.