Sermon Starters: The Prodigal Parent

Houghton Wesleyan Church

June 21, 2020, Father's Day

Text: Luke 15:11-32
Recording

Introduction

• Happy Father's Day. It's not technically part of the Christian calendar, but fathers are in the Bible.
• Reflected on a number of fathers... considered Eli in 1 Samuel. My son thought that would be interesting, but probably not uplifting.
• I finally felt peace about the story of the prodigal son. You'll notice I've titled the story of the Prodigal Parent. I'm not the first to notice that the father in this story may seem quite reckless in more than one way. More on that in a moment.
• A family had two sons. The daughters aren't mentioned. They must have been perfect.
• It is an ancient story, so the father had control over the property, and who inherited it.
• The elder son seemed perfect, although we will soon find not quite. He was the kind of child that you didn't have to ask if they had done their homework. You never worried about him getting a speeding ticket or getting drunk. They used to call him a "goody two-shoes" (and since I was once called that, there's nothing wrong with that :-)
• The younger son was quite different. He was the kind of child that gave you gray hairs prematurely. Notice how brown my hair is, a sign that I have perfect children. The younger son didn't do his homework. He was the kind of child that kept you up late at night worrying if he was ok. You might even get up and drive around looking for him, hoping that he was alright.

The Younger Son

• When I think of the younger son, I think of that first seed in the Parable of the Seeds, the one that falls on the path and the birds eat it up immediately. It doesn't have any time at all to take root. I call this sort of person a "spiritual Teflon head." Nothing spiritual sticks to them. They have no interest in God or spiritual things (and they're certainly not interested in the liberal arts).
• Kierkegaard considered this stage of development something like the "pleasure" stage. For those of you who grew up in the 80s as I did, you might call it the "girls just want to have fun" stage. You'll be glad to know I won't be singing it for you.
• So he comes to the father and says something like, "Dad, I noticed you're not dead. Could we pretend you are and give me my inheritance now?"
• It's quite an insolent thing to ask. I would be deeply hurt. Another father might be very angry.
• But the father in the story seems quite even-keeled about it. I was in a discussion with Houghton's Michael Jordan recently about the word confident. According to his definition, the father in the parable is a confident father who is not rattled by situations that would make other people melt in fear or blow up in anger.
• I will say that I am struck that the younger brother is receiving anything at all. You will remember the story of Jacob and Esau in the OT, where it seems pretty much all or nothing.
• This leads me to one of my first observations in this story: Our prodigal parent loves us all equally.
• By the way, I used the term "parent" in the title as a reminder that, while it is Father's Day and we are focusing on fathers, God (whisper) does not have a male anatomy. God's maleness is a picture, not literal. This story could just as well be about mothers as fathers and about two daughters as about two sons. 
• And the father gives it to him. This is quite remarkable. I don't think I would have. Somewhere we could tell another parable where the father says, "Son, it's not going to be good for you if I give this. You would later regret it if I did." Certainly the elder brother wouldn't have given it to him. 
• This brings me to another take-away from the story. Our prodigal parent doesn't always protect us from our own foolishness.
• The older brother no doubt thought this was a reckless decision. What a waste!
• You may know Cory Asbury's song that marvels at the "overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God." There are some who don't like this song (including my wife, so I have to be careful here). Mostly they don't like the idea of God's love being reckless. I've seen some heated Facebook debates about this concept (which is funny because nothing is ever heated on Facebook). The elder brother certainly didn't like that song. What kind of reckless father "leaves the 99"?
• As I reflected on the father giving him the money, a slightly different perspective did occur to me. What if the father had waited? What if the son had inherited the property and possessions after the father was gone? He would have still wasted it. But then, he would be dealing with his older brother, not his father. His older brother either would have flat out told him no or might have taken him up on his offer to become a servant. And he would have never let him forget it. By giving the inheritance now, the father leaves room for his full redemption.
• There are two reasons God lets us go. The one is the Romans 1 reason. There is nothing left to redeem in us because we have set our course and hardened our hearts. God lets us go, lets us spiral out of control, and the penalty is entailed within our own course.
• The other reason is redemptive. God wants us to wake up. This a third take-away I have from this story. Our prodigal parent is patient with our foolishness, and eagerly longs for us to wake up.
• We know the story. The younger brother goes to a far off country. He has truly left the building. I don't think we naturally get the level of offence that he does here. His world is an honor-shame world, not a world of individual guilt where it's all about being true to your principles. He insults and disgraces not only his father, not only his family, but he is an affront to his people and his God.
• The fact that he is in a place where they herd pigs is significant. I used just to think "Yuck, smelly pigs," but there is something more significant going on here. There were no pigs in ancient Israel. This is one of the ways that archaeologists can tell that an ancient site belonged to Israel and not, for example, to Philistines. There are no pig bones in ancient Israelite settlements.
• So this son has left Israel. And since the ancients lined up gods with peoples, he has left his God. He has insulted his father, his family, his village, his people, and his God.
• Finally, the son hits rock bottom. We know the story. The father takes him back, even throws him a party. What a reckless father!

The Older Son

• Most of you know the story. The older brother is not pleased at all. We might call him the "law and order" son. To him it just isn't fair. And of course it isn't.
• He seems to relate to Kierkegaard's second stage. If the younger son lived for pleasure, the younger son is oriented around duty. This is better than living for pleasure because you are living for something bigger than yourself. But because you are focused on rules rather than people, you can become oppressive to others.
• I find the Parable of the Prodigal Son deeply subversive. The father doesn't say, "Well, I'd love to take you back but first you need to find someone to pay. Maybe your older brother will do it."
• There is a kind of theology that looks at the atonement a little like this, like there is an angel accountant somewhere in heaven keeping track of the units of sin (maybe, "sin-ons") that Jesus has to mathematically atone for. Then on the cross, God calibrates the sun gun and zaps Jesus with exactly the right amount of penalty, as if Jesus has to dip his toe in Gehenna hell just long enough to pay for all that sin.
• But the parable knows nothing about this sort of necessity. The father is sovereign and has the authority simply to choose to forgive. Don't get me wrong. We need the cross even if God didn't. Perhaps C. S. Lewis gave us the best picture of Aslan's death working a deep magic. The sense that Christ's death satisfies the sense of justice God has built into the universe is also true.
• And Terry Paige would be upset with me if I didn't at some point give the original connotations of this story. It is of course a great story about how God will take us back if we leave him and how we should be happy when God forgives others we don't want to be forgiven.
• But the Prodigal Son represents the tax collectors, prostitutes, and sinners of Israel. They weren't even trying to keep the covenant. They weren't even trying to follow the Old Testament. They were the spiritual cast-aways of Israel... and of no interest to religious leaders.
• There is a shorter version of the Parable of the Prodigal Son in Matthew. There was a father who had two sons that he asked to go work in the field. One said he would but didn't. The other said he wouldn't but did in the end. These relate to the reactions to Jesus. The tax collectors and prostitutes are those who weren't even trying to be righteous, they they accept Jesus and go work in the field. 
• The Pharisees, scribes, rabbis, and religious leaders were the "healthy" that Jesus shouldn't have needed to minister to. They were voted "most likely to be righteous in high school." But the funny thing is, they don't accept Jesus' reckless love, and they don't accept Jesus.
• But our prodigal parent is God and isn't accountable to his law and order children.
• The elder brother also disgraces and insults his father, because he refuses to join the party for the sheep that was lost and now found. We don't feel his shame, in part because we identify him and in part because we don't get the shame dimension of the story.
• The older brother in story story reminds me of the priest and Levite in the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Some scholars say they didn't have a legitimate purity reason not to help (Amy Jill Levine), so that can't be the meaning. But since when have people not used Scripture as an excuse not to do the wrong thing. I think these two were hiding behind a purity argument not to help.
• Jesus makes a Samaritan the good guy. They certainly weren't thought to be "good." Pick the person you least want to love, the person you least want to be the good guy. That's who the Samaritan represents.
• But our prodigal parent is patient with children who think they know law and order better that our reckless father.

Kierkegaard's Third Stage

• I'm not a full blown Kierkegaardian. His third stage is a blind leap of faith. But there is a stage beyond pleasure and duty. A stage of surrender to God as our reckless parent.
• The younger son in the pleasure stage only lives for himself and eventually crashes in self-defeat.
• The older son in the duty stages does live for something bigger than himself, but it is not the person of God. It is the rules, and those rules are unforgiving and rigid. 
• Our higher calling is to be like the prodigal father. We submit ourselves to our reckless Parent, who loves even those who are foolish and stubborn.

Blessing

• Now may the God who is patient with foolish prodigals and stubborn older brothers, receive you into his kingdom of reckless love and welcome you with open arms into the eternal celebration. Amen.