This Is Us: Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 - Fourth Sunday in Lent

 ¹Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to Jesus. ²And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

 ³So Jesus told them this parable: ^11b“There 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 the father 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. ²⁷The slave replied, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.’ ²⁸Then the elder brother 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.’ ” (NRSV)

Le Breton, Jacques ; Gaudin, Jean. The Prodigal Son, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN.

You don’t need a PhD in parenting to know that if you have multiple children and favor one over the others, you’re going to have problems. Big problems. The Bible will surely tell you so. Just ask Isaac and Rebekah, who favored Jacob over Esau. Or Jacob and Rachel, who favored Joseph over their other eleven children. Even God plays favorites. God chose Moses over Aaron. God chose David over his six older brothers. Jesus praises Mary and admonishes Martha. 

Today, Jesus speaks a parable about a father and two sons. The youngest of two sons brazenly asks his father, “Give me right now what I will get when you’re dead.” Astonishingly, the father gives it to him!

As the second-born son, he was entitled to one-third of all his father’s assets. This would’ve included land and livestock. But the son didn’t want to be a farmer; he wanted to live his own life—so the father had to sell off these assets, which then diminished his capacity to generate future income for the family. 

With the money in hand, the son travels to a foreign country, and lives like a rock star for a time. But when the money runs out, a famine struck—and he’s starving. He hires himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sends him out into his fields to feed the pigs—which is something that no Jew would want to do. He quickly realizes that the swine are living better than he. Therefore, with nothing left to lose, he concocts an apology and heads for home. 

He was still a long way from home when his father suddenly finds him. He runs to him, embracing and kissing him. The son then recites his concocted apology. In response, his father orders his slaves to clean him up, dress him in the best robe, kill the fatted calf, and prepare the celebration of a lifetime—because the son who was lost has been found. 

But the eldest son isn’t celebrating.  He is enraged—and it's easy to understand why… He has never disobeyed or been disloyal to his father. But the idiot son, who disgraced his father and squandered the family’s assets gets treated like a king. We don’t know if he’s sorry for what he’d done, or if he’s manipulating his father once again… 

If this were a real family, their therapist would have their work cut out for them. 

But what I really see in this parable is the dysfunction that exists in the family of God, of which we are all a part. Here’s what I mean:

As sinners, we are not content to be God’s children. Instead of obeying God, we want God to give us whatever we want so that we can do whatever we want. And if God were to give us, all at once, everything we believe we are owed, this parable shows us how disastrous that would be. 

But we see a reflection of ourselves in the elder son as well. When his father welcomed back his wayward brother, he didn’t see grace. He saw only grievance. It’s like the father took something that belonged to him, and gave it over to his brother, who didn’t deserve it—even though everything that belonged to his father stillbelonged to him.

As sinners, we crave status and recognition. We want to be told that we’re worthy, that we’re right, and that we’re superior. We cry foul when someone else is shown mercy, and we think they don’t deserve it. How can you feel important if you’re on equal footing with those you see as below you?  This reminds me of everyone who supports things like affordable housing and recovery centers, but not in their backyard—because it will drive down their property values. 

All told, Jesus is crucified by the sins of the elder son and the younger son. The elites and religious authorities despised Jesus for raising up sinners and outcasts, while not showing them the proper deference. Everyone else was happy to eat of the five loaves and two fish; happy to be healed of their diseases and witness the miracles, but they weren’t interested in forgiving sinners and loving their enemies. When Jesus said, “take up your cross and follow me,” they shouted, “crucify him.” 

Jesus promises us the kingdom of God, but we want our own kingdoms. We can’t be bothered to give Jesus even a fraction of ourselves.

Yet we remain the children of a God who’s gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. This parable is good news if you have fallen into sin and hit rock bottom; or if you’ve alienated all the people in your life by what you have done. Even if everyone else has abandoned you, you still matter to God. God does not wait until you’ve fully repented to show you mercy. The truth is, God is dying to show you mercy. There’s a celebration in heaven for every sinner who calls on the name of the Lord.

This parable is also good news to every person who’s suffered for doing good; every person who’s been denied justice; everyone who’s ever found life (and God) to be unfair. To you, God says, “you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.” “Your trust and obedience to me are not in vain.”

To every person who feels threatened by God gathering in the least and lost into his family, Jesus invites you to get off your high horse and join him in showing them mercy. Jesus was crucified as every person who’s ever been abused, rejected, and condemned. You can’t really know Jesus until you love him in the people who are must different from you. 

After all, what binds us together isn’t that our shared beliefs, our good works, or even the fact that we’re church-going people. What binds us together is that we’re children of God. We are sinners justified by grace; our sins are washed in the blood of the Lamb; we are marked with the cross of Christ, we die with him and rise with him. This Is Us. This is what it means to belong.