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A PRODIGAL GOD

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 March 14, 2010 It’s a good story! The story of "prodigal" son is probably one of the best-known parables told by Jesus. It's probably also one of the most challenging ... hard to understand, if you look at it in all its complexity. Many of us are used to thinking of this as just another story about another bad kid who spent his fortune on "bad" things and "bad" people ... a wayward "sinner" who eventually "saw the light" and came home. Ralph Milton Friesen writes of a time when he had a brief stint teaching drama at Silliman University in the Philippines. Some of the students asked to produce their own version of "The Prodigal Son." "It's a Biblical story," he thought, and so gave them his permission without much thought. When he saw the dress rehearsal he realized he'd made a mistake. It was an hour's production, of which the first five minutes was the youngest son leaving, and the last five minutes was the youngest son returning, and the 50 minutes in-between was a very graphic presentation of the youngest son wasting his living on the harlots! Well, that's part of the story. But there's more to it than that. Let's begin by noting that "prodigal" comes from the root word "prodigious" which means "extraordinary" ..."amazing" ... "excessive." It's the same word as "prodigy" comes from. "Prodigal" doesn't mean "bad" - it means "recklessly extravagant!" We have three "recklessly extravagant" people in this parable: people who do things "to excess." And we have two kinds of "parties" in this story. There's the one the younger son is looking for, where the folks are simply getting bombed out of their minds. "Party on, dude!" And then there's a party of a whole different nature - a genuine celebration. I like this story. I can relate to this story. I think most of us can in one way or another. Most of us are fascinated by the character of the youngest son. There is something within us that wants to admire a person who can take the family fortune and blow it all on one big debauch. For me at least. I never did anything much like that. But my morality had less to do with virtue than with lack of opportunity! So, while I "tut-tut" the behaviour of other people, part of my psyche is attracted to the 'nerve' it must take to live in a "wastefully extravagant" manner - with excessive "joie de vive!" This younger son had no "scruples" at all. He walks up to his Dad and, in effect, says: "Listen, old man. I'd just as soon you were dead. But since you're not, let's pretend you are. Give me my inheritance ... as in, NOW. I'm outta here! I got things to do and people to see." And he's off ... to live the "life of Reilly" ... to enjoy himself ... to make hay while the sun shines! The NERVE! The amazing thing is that his Father gave it to him! His Father had, in effect, been slapped in the face and kicked in the stomach by someone he loved. Have you any idea what that feels like? Many of us do. Many of us have had children who cause pain, who reject us and our values, who leave us to follow a lifestyle or a belief which we find repulsive and hurtful. Some of us have been slapped in the face and kicked in the stomach by someone we love. Most of us are insulted. And most of us get angry. I don't know about you ... but when one of our daughters decided, many years ago, at age 16, that she'd had enough of rules and curfews and expectations, and left for the city of Winnipeg, all I gave her was a toaster oven and some pots and pans, and a couple of phone numbers so she would have some contact with people who could help her - if she needed help. [She never used those phone numbers either!] And you bet! I was insulted, and I was angry ... "After all I've done for you .........." As Ralph said last week, "there are many cuts in the umbilical cord ... and letting our children go ... even if ... even when ... is the most painful of all." The Father in this story gives the kid the money! Half of everything he owns! Is he nuts? Or what? And then, broke and probably carrying some sexually transmitted disease, the kid comes home! And Dad welcomes him. Not only welcome him ... but rushes out to meet him! There was severe social cost to the father in this. For a patriarch to pick up his skirts ... (because that's what he would be wearing) ... and show his legs and run out to meet an errant son is the equivalent to me running down the streets of Dominion City in my underwear. Then throwing a party for the kid? "The old geezer's really lost it this time!" Can you hear the neighbours? "You know that kid of John and Mary's ... the one that got busted in Winnipeg (for possession of pot - which he wouldn't have had if they hadn't given him that money!) ...” “Remember that kid - the one that "did some time" at Stoney ... did you hear he's home?” “Did you hear they threw a party for him? At the Community Centre yet! They must be nuts! They've lost it this time!" And then we have "elder son!" Can you relate to him? I can relate. I was an "elder" daughter who played for church and went to all the church groups and got good marks and came in on time ... - well, most of the time - and Marge, my sister, was the one who got expelled on a regular basis and partied with the popular gang in town. And, as she grew up, she continued to "worry" Dad and Mom. And now? Well, Marge is the one who vacationed in California and Mexico and Hawaii, remember? She's the one with the huge home on Rainy Lake. We've been taught at home and at school that if we are good little boys and girls and keep our noses clean we will receive our reward. And it simply doesn't seem fair when someone who doesn't do all that gets the reward anyway! You bet I can relate to that elder brother! "How come he gets the party?!" I’m the one who has been faithful! I know, I’m also stuffy and sanctimonious and judgemental! But I have been faithful! And Dad hasn't even given me a trip to the Maritimes ... or had my friends in for pizza! It's the same kind of thinking that, in church circles, says: "Are you telling me that Jews and Muslims and atheists and convicts are loved by God - as much as I am? With all the stars in my crown? After all those years of service and clean living?" It happened in our church in 1988 when all the older brothers saw these homosexual persons wasting their living in immorality and suddenly they were welcomed into the fold and the older brothers were blazing mad. And some still are! Anna Murdock writes (on Midrash): “I think that it was Barbara Brown Taylor who suggested that maybe, just maybe, many good, hardworking-in-the-church people are the older brother at times. Yikes! What? We are welcoming “who” into our church?!!! You’ve got to be kidding!!!??? Hurrumph. Pout. Don’t expect me to eat from the same Table as “them.” You know who they are and what they’ve done. It’s shocking to see how all-encompassing, extravagant, amazing God’s love is, isn’t it?” Anna shared her own story: My greatest moment of Truth (as the Older kid) came one Sunday when I was serving communion and I looked at the people coming forward. I knew some of them and knew their “history.” And as I broke the bread, held their hand for a moment, looked into their eyes and said equal words to each person, I realized that the grace and mercy that has been poured my way is poured in equal amounts for all of those whose hands I touched, whose eyes met mine ...” In our Gospel Lesson, the father remains steadfast in loving them both, in seeing the worth of both ... and the holiness of both! He embraces his younger son and responds with a feast of forgiveness. And he reminds his elder son that "everything that he has" is his ... and always has been. Was the younger son able to cope with his father's grace? Was he able to accept his love and enjoy the party? Can you? Can I? I think it would have been easier if Dad had laid the heavy on him. And the older son? Was he ever able to cope with his father's love? Did he ever go to the party or reconcile with his brother? Could you? Could I? It would have been easier if Dad had rejected his younger brother. Jesus doesn't answer those questions. Only those who hear the story can provide its ending. What story do you hear today? Are we able to cope with this unconditional love which the father extends to his children? ..... all of them? ..... the love which God extends to us? Certainly, the "father" in this parable is God ... a God of extravagant, excessive love ... who welcomes all people to the party ... including you, and me, and all younger and elder sons and daughters and all those of us who muddle along somewhere in between: being neither fittingly faithful nor failingly flunky. God always has. From about the third chapter of Genesis on, we children have been busy slapping God in the face and kicking God in the stomach. There's nothing new about rebellious and "sinful" children. And from about the third chapter of Genesis on, we children have been picked up, forgiven, restored to wholeness, offered new life ... all of us have. We have been loved. We are loved. Jesus reminds us of that in this parable. It is a win, win, win situation. Everybody wins in this story. Our culture tells us that if there's a winner, there's got to be a loser. "Mom always loved you best!" as the Smothers Brothers used to say. But Jesus says, "No. Everybody wins. Nobody has to lose. There's enough for everyone." The younger son and the elder son both expect to be losers - they see themselves as losers - but the father says, "We're all winners!" "Everybody's welcome ... always welcome ... at the party!" There's one more thing. Henry Nouwen, in The Return of the Prodigal Son, writes: If the only meaning of the story were that people sin but God forgives, I could easily begin to think of my sins as a fine occasion for God to show me his forgiveness. There would be no real challenge in such an interpretation. I would resign myself to my weaknesses and keep hoping that eventually God would close his eyes to them and let me come home, whatever I did. Such sentimental romanticism is not the message of the Gospels. What I am called to make true is that whether I am the younger son or the elder son ... (the younger daughter or the elder daughter) ... I am the child of a compassionate God. I am an heir ... with an inheritance. No one says it more clearly than Paul when he writes: "The Spirit himself joins with our spirit to bear witness that we are children of God. And if we are children, then we are heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ ..." As children and heirs, we are to become successors. We are to step into our Father's place and offer to others the same acceptance and compassion that has been given to us. The return to the Father is ultimately the challenge to become like the Father: the compassionate one who cares deeply, forgives fully, calls to life, and arranges the celebration. Best we stop worrying about who's invited, and get on with the party. "Welcome to the Kingdom!" "Let's celebrate!" Amen.