3/27
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| Good Shepherd Faith |
It's a cold March morning, Adjusting to the temperature after a few days in Florida. Preaching live and in person at Good Shepherd Faith. Today a mainly Korean congregation. Here's what I had to say:
Okay. The equinox is past and we are officially into spring. The days are getting longer and the weather is getting warmer. And baseball is back and my much delayed annual trip to Florida happened. It’s that season when anything seems possible, even for Pirate fans. The city has ended the vaccination mandate. And tonight is the Academy Awards.
But underneath it all, there is that nagging awareness that won’t go away that across the world, a war is going on. A nation that was not threatening any other country has been invaded and bombs are falling on houses, schools, theaters and even maternity wards and innocent people are dying daily and we know this. Even as we are inspired by courageous resistance, there is an almost helpless feeling as we watch the daily reports and feel like there’s nothing you and I can do except maybe support humanitarian relief efforts.
And dare I say it, for the first time decades, we worry again about the possibility of nuclear war. Those are the worst kind of worries…ones where you have no agency in the outcome.
And this is the context, this 4th Sunday in Lent, when my job s to try and find a new angle on a very familiar story …Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son.
Told in response to the scribes and Pharisees grumbling about the kind of people Jesus hung out with, its contours are all familiar to us. A headstrong young man demands his inheritance, goes far away, squanders all his money in dissolute living, winds up feeding hogs, those despised unclean animals, decides to go home and finds his father waiting with open arms, ready to celebrate. And a grumbling older brother.
We all know the standard interpretation…we need to “come to ourselves,” get real about our shortcomings, ask God for forgiveness. Repent and be forgiven. Turn around and be ready to live in a new way. And God is always ready to forgive us.
It’s the overriding theme of this whole season of Lent.
There have been efforts to deepen our understanding by focusing on characters other than the son. The father, for example, has to look past that his son's actions were equivalent to wishing him dead. (Ironcially, it’s the son who later will become as dead.) The father sees the son while he is still far off, meaning he had to be out there looking, looking, waiting for the son’s return, believing he would come back. And he runs to greet him. Leaving aside all dignity and runs. And this is a metaphor for how God is out there looking for us.
And we have looked at the older brother. The apparent bad guy of the story, at least as our spoil sport. Until we stop and think about. Sympathize with his position. He has stayed, been responsible and done the right thing. Taken care of his father’s business. And never received a word of thanks. Or felt appreciated. His feelings are hurt. He needs to be reminded that his father is “always with him.” That all that his father has is his. And that this son of his fathers in truth, his brother. And that it is our job to be compassionate and see the reason to rejoice.
Okay. Not sure what new I can add to these understandings. But here’s my idea. What if we pause and reflect on each character of the story? Pause and think about what each thinks and feels and imagine ourselves in the place of these characters? (Which is actually the way to read any parable.)
Lent calls us to see ourselves as the son. But can we also see ourselves as the father? Ready to extend forgiveness? Can we see ourselves as then older bother? In fact in any church, there are a lot of elder brothers, we who are responsible, who strive to do the right thing. Who watch others reap the benefits. And perhaps if we step outside the parable and see ourselves as the scribes and pharisees who inspire the parable. Though I’d say for Jesus, these scribes and pharisees are the elder brothers.
We see this usually in terms of our personal individual lives. Maybe sometimes we can extend our understanding to our church community. But there is something broader at stake.
Our Presbytery is currently seeking to deal with its own reality of systemic racism. It is complicated. Deep rooted. Our denomination has yet to acknowledge that a significant part of our church provided theological support for chattel slavery and broke off because of that belief.
Our nation has yet to face fully the truth of the genocide of our indigenous people or the ongoing legacy of chattel slavery. We’re caught between land acknowledgements in theaters and new laws against critical race theory or books or teaching that might "upset" anyone.
We have learned historically from South Africa that only when history is squarely faced and openly talked about can there be reconciliation.
Country blues singer Robert Timothy Wilkins in the 1930's ended his version of the Prodigal Son (later covered by the Rolling Stones) like this:
Well, father said, "Eldest son, kill the fatted calf"
"Call the family round"
"Kill that calf and call the family round"
"My son was lost, but now he is found"
"'Cause that's the way for us to get along”
Yes. That’s the way to get along. The only way to get along. We need to be about the business of truth and reconciliation.
I believe that this war will end. We will need to find a way to get along, even as this divided nation we live in needs to figure out a way to get along. Those moving images from Ukraine…of then people who captured a Russian soldier giving him food and hot tea and offering him a phone to call home to his parents…those images point the way,
Let those words stay with you…
"My son was lost, but now he is found"
"'Cause that's the way for us to get along”
Let those with ears to hear, hear.
Amen.
1Now 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:
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 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.'"
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