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Well, since he didn't bite...; the REAL sermon for 3/14/10
Topic Started: Mar 13 2010, 06:49 PM (196 Views)
Dewey
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HOLY CARP!!!
"A Family Portrait"

Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So he told them this parable:

“There was a man who had two sons. The 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. A 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. When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. But 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! I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.”’ So 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. Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But 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. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate. “Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. He replied, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.’ Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. But 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. But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!’ Then the father said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But 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.’” - Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32


=====

Today’s gospel reading – the Parable of the Prodigal Son - is one of the most familiar passages in the Bible. Even people with little, or even no, connection with the Christian faith, are often familiar with the parable of the prodigal son, or at least that term, “prodigal son,” to refer to a young man who wastes his money on an extravagant and indulgent lifestyle. Over the years, the parable has been the subject of countless artists – here over my head, you can see one of the most well-known of these, a depiction of the parable in a famous painting by Rembrandt.

Of course, the parable is a story that Jesus told to teach us something about God, and us, and the relationships among us. To be honest, the parable should really be called the Parable of the Man with Two Sons – in fact, that’s what it’s becoming known as more and more - because it’s really about much more than just the story of the younger son, as important as that part of the story is. This text, and the historical context of Jesus’ time and culture, tells us a lot about all three of the main characters in the parable – father, younger son, and older son.

Jesus starts this story with the opening, “A man had two sons.” All of Jesus’ listeners were very accustomed to stories meant to teach important lessons through accounts of the relationship between brothers and their parents – Cain and Abel, Isaac and Ishmael, the sons of Noah, Jacob and Esau; these and many other examples are found in the Old Testament to illustrate and teach important life lessons. So when Jesus’ listeners heard him start this story this way, he already had their attention – what kind of moral lesson was he going to teach?

The passage tells us that the younger son was unmarried, which means in this culture that he was probably in his late teens or early twenties, and that unlike the way that Rembrandt painted the story, the father would have been in his late forties, or at most his mid fifties – in other words, he wasn’t really an old man at all; he was in the prime of his life(!). In other words, he wasn’t anywhere near the grave, and when the young son asked for his inheritance when the father was only at that age, he was really jumping the gun. Jesus’ listeners would have been appalled at the young man’s actions – and his turning around and selling it off for the cash while the father was still alive was an even greater social offense. This just wasn’t done in that culture, where honoring one’s parents – and especially one’s father – was of the utmost importance. Of course, the fifth commandment is to honor your father and mother, and that established the baseline. But in the Old Testament, you find even more stipulations, including the death penalty for any child who hurt, or even disobeyed or insulted their parents. While there isn’t much evidence that the culture ever really followed that strict a standard, it shows just how important the standard of honoring and respecting one’s parents was in the culture. And the young man’s actions in Jesus’ story are the equivalent of him telling his father, “You’re dead to me – I’m getting on with my own life!”

And then the story plays out. The young man ends up blowing a third of the family fortune on wild living, and he finally learns the hard way that there’s no one lonelier than a man who’s just spent his last dollar. At this point, most of Jesus’ listeners must have assumed that the whole moral of the story would be to show how this arrogant little snot was going to get what he deserved.

But we know that isn’t what happened at all. Instead, the young man comes to his senses and comes back to the father, not expecting any special treatment or consideration as his son at all. And for his part, the father runs out the road to meet the son while he was still far away – throwing out all the dignity and decorum that a father was expected to have toward even his obedient children, let alone problem children. He warmly welcomes the young man back into the fold. Look at the Rembrandt painting. The young son, beaten by the world, finally repentant and returning to seek his father’s forgiveness. The father - look at the father’s hands – one hand strong and firm, open wide, supporting and assuring him; the other hand soft, fingers together, comforting and offering compassion to him. And in the background, barely visible, is the older son. The “good son.” The one who stayed home. The one who played by the rules, and never caused his father any trouble. He doesn’t even want to go into the house; he’s so outraged at the weak and shameful way the father is treating his good-for-nothing brother. What will the neighbors think about the old man’s behavior? I mean, there are traditions and standards that we’re supposed to uphold. The scriptures teach us that troublemaking children are supposed to be punished, not rewarded. And let’s face it, now that he’s back, you just know the old man’s going to put him back in the will, and I’ll end up with even less of an inheritance for all my playing by the rules. This just isn’t fair.

Whether we consider it fair by our standards or not, Jesus tells us that’s what’s fair by God’s standards.

Jesus is actually telling us something about all three of the people in this family portrait, that obviously isn’t really about a family of first-century Jewish farmers at all, but about God and us.

There’s the young son who rejects his father and wants to call our own shots. He’s hit rock bottom. Jesus is telling his listeners that, just as the young son found out, there isn’t any depth that we can sink to, or any disgraceful or hurtful treatment that we can show to God, that will keep God from welcoming us back into his loving embrace. Think about how amazing that is: there is *nothing* that we can do that God hasn’t seen a billion times before. Nothing. You just can’t screw up so badly that God won’t welcome you back. If we hit rock bottom in our own lives, whatever that means in our own circumstances, and we come to our senses and want to turn back to God, all we have to do is take that first step on the road home. God will come running out, even while we’re still a long way off, and meet us and usher us back into the house, into the family.

And there’s the older son. The good son. The respectable one; the one who doesn’t like the grace and forgiveness offered to the one who didn’t. The one who doesn’t see anything in it for him for having played by all the rules if the other guy is going to get off scot-free. The truth is, it was the people who identified with the older brother that Jesus was actually trying to reach by telling this parable. His message to them is to remember that God loves all of his children - and there is always room at the table for any of his children who want to come home. In Jesus’ lesson, we need to notice that just because the young son received the father’s grace and love, the older son wasn’t rejected. The older son still has God’s love - he always has, and always will. And with God, there’s plenty of inheritance to go around – just because God shows unbelievable, illogical, limitless grace to others, there’s still an unending supply of that same grace for all of us.

Have you ever felt like one of these two brothers? Do you feel like one of them now? Jesus offers a message of warning, and hope, and grace, to both of them equally. It’s the message of Lent – turn away from the sin of wanting to call the shots ourselves – whether that’s in defining our own lives, or in defining how God should behave – and step onto the road that leads to forgiveness and reconciliation. God’s watching out the window, waiting to run out to greet us.

And look at the father in this story. Look at the picture of God that Jesus paints for us. It’s a picture of a God who won’t be hemmed in by social expectations, traditions or customs that try to define and limit him in how he acts to reconcile his children to himself. A God who won’t stand on formality, who is so strong that he doesn’t worry about being seen as weak. A God who even acts in ways that we, from our human viewpoint, might think is shocking, even scandalous, in order to bring us back into the family. That isn’t just the message of this parable; it’s the message of Easter. It’s a picture of a God who embraces us, whether we think we’re the “good one” or the “bad one,” with the strong hand of support, and the soft hand of compassion, and who says “Welcome home, child – you were lost, and now you’re found.”

Thanks be to God.

"By nature, i prefer brevity." - John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, p. 685.

"Never waste your time trying to explain yourself to people who are committed to misunderstanding you." - Anonymous

"Oh sure, every once in a while a turd floated by, but other than that it was just fine." - Joe A., 2011

I'll answer your other comments later, but my primary priority for the rest of the evening is to get drunk." - Klaus, 12/31/14
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blondie
Bull-Carp
I'm thankful I've been able to read and reflect upon this bible story again Dewey.
I'm also reminded that God wanted us siblings to love and care for each other too. Brothers and sisters cannot be angry and jealous of each other. We need to be thankful and honoring of each other. We can become quite alone without our siblings too.
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Dewey
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HOLY CARP!!!
You're right, blondie. The actual sermon "as delivered varied quite a bit from this manuscript, for a couple different reasons. But in that ad lib-ing, that theme got teased out a bit (unfortunately, the sermon audio wasn't recorded this morning). Did you notice in the reading that when the young son came home, the older brother wouldn't even refer to him as *my brother*" but rather, called him *your son.* But when the father replied the older brother, he deliberately turned it around and called him *your brother.* It drives home the idea that the primary message of the parable isn't the message of hope for the young son - even though that's powerful enough as it is. Rather, it's a message to the older brother, and those who think like him. It's a warning to them - us - not to try to define or limit how God will work, or should work, by applying human, cultural, social - or even scriptural - limitations to God; and by extension, it's a warning that we aren't to do that in our relationships with each other, either.
"By nature, i prefer brevity." - John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, p. 685.

"Never waste your time trying to explain yourself to people who are committed to misunderstanding you." - Anonymous

"Oh sure, every once in a while a turd floated by, but other than that it was just fine." - Joe A., 2011

I'll answer your other comments later, but my primary priority for the rest of the evening is to get drunk." - Klaus, 12/31/14
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kathyk
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Pisa-Carp
These stories hold more and more fascination for me as I hear them through the prism of others who have been able to more deeply glean the meaning. I learned two things this morning from my pastor's sermon. One, was that the "good son" in his chagrin about the father's treatment of the prodigal said something to the effect of, "you never even offered me a lamb to celebrate with my friends." Her meaning was that, this son, although playing by the rules, wasn't really there for his father much more than the his younger brother; he didn't want the lamb to celebrate with his family, but rather to party with his friends. The other point, was that the older son was apparently not even invited to the father's lavish reunion celebration with his younger son - he didn't give the older son a second thought at that point. Forgiveness is of course the overriding message of the story. But, the more subtle message that she made the focus of her sermon was how these parables can be a mirror for us so see our own shortcomings. In this case, the good son was perhaps not so totally good after all.
Blogging in Palestine: http://kksjournal.com/
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NAK
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Senior Carp
I liked your other one better... :hide:




:D

j/k, Dewey. That was very enjoyable and informative. The older brother is so often glossed over, and it's amazing how much more there is to the parable when you look at all characters involved. The message regarding the older brother sounds almost like a different take on the parable in Mt 20:1-16 - the jealousy of the first hired hands over the later workers getting the same reward as them. The moral lesson is similar: a prodigal son is as much a son as the obedient son; a one-denarius worker hired in the afternoon is entitled to... :blah:

Dewey
 
It’s a picture of a God who won’t be hemmed in by social expectations, traditions or customs that try to define and limit him in how he acts to reconcile his children to himself. A God who won’t stand on formality, who is so strong that he doesn’t worry about being seen as weak.


My favorite line. :)
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Dewey
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HOLY CARP!!!
Quote:
 
The older brother is so often glossed over,


Correct - and yet, when you look at the context of the teaching, Jesus is replying to the scribes and Pharisees, who had been criticizing him for hanging out with the sorts of people who, like the younger son, deserved scorn and punishment based on tradition and scripture. As powerful as the message of grace given the younger son is, the parable is mainly directed at those who are like the older son; and about what God is like.

Quote:
 
The message regarding the older brother sounds almost like a different take on the parable in Mt 20:1-16 - the jealousy of the first hired hands over the later workers getting the same reward as them. The moral lesson is similar: a prodigal son is as much a son as the obedient son; a one-denarius worker hired in the afternoon is entitled to.


Very perceptive, and very correct. Just as the baskets of loaves and fishes are bottomless, so to is the ature of God's grace and reward. There's plenty to go around. The comparison of these two stories, and the similarity in the financial metaphor in the message, is even more visible when you recognize the societal standards fo the time. A firstborn son was typically given a "double portion" of a father's estate when he died. So in this case, the younger son blew through one-third of the father's estate, leaving the remaining two-thirds portion for the older son (assuming there weren't other brothers we don't know about). But now that the son comes back, the older son - and Jesus' listeners - would understand that the inheritance issue would be reset, and now there's a smaller pie that's going to be divided up - and the older son's slice of pie was going to be smaller now that the younger brother came back - and who's not going to be punished, but actually rewarded, in the wake of wasting his original portion.

Quote:
 
It’s a picture of a God who won’t be hemmed in by social expectations, traditions or customs that try to define and limit him in how he acts to reconcile his children to himself. A God who won’t stand on formality, who is so strong that he doesn’t worry about being seen as weak.


In actually delivering this sermon, I did a bit more ad lib-ing than usual - partly because this week's schedule meant I didn't get enough time to really craft my sermon and internalize it for specific delivery, and partly because I delivered it just after visiting the African American church, where a lot of the delivery was from the cuff. But as I was making that point, somehow I ended up in a sports analogy, talking about how we want to define, using our own standards and rules, how God should act. We want to line off a football field, and set up goal posts, and then tell God he's got to keep his actions between those goalposts, and on the field. I said that isn't the way God works, and it's wrong, it's sinful for us to try to force God into those limits. I said that in doing what he wills, God's going to go way out of bounds, and not stay between the lines - and that we should all be grateful for it, since none of us is anywhere on the playing field, and God's had to go way out of bounds to reach us sitting way up in the bleachers, and welcome us, and bring us onto the playing field, when we didn't even deserve to be wearing a uniform. We should be thankful that we worship a God who won't stay between the goalposts, or color within the lines that we would lay out for him. I don't have any idea where that whole way of drawing out that strain of the sermon came from, but as I was saying it, I just thought, "hey, it works - you're ont he field, and you have the ball - run with it!" ^_^
"By nature, i prefer brevity." - John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, p. 685.

"Never waste your time trying to explain yourself to people who are committed to misunderstanding you." - Anonymous

"Oh sure, every once in a while a turd floated by, but other than that it was just fine." - Joe A., 2011

I'll answer your other comments later, but my primary priority for the rest of the evening is to get drunk." - Klaus, 12/31/14
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