Love Calls Us Home
Notes
Transcript
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.’ ”
How do we hear good news for the poor in this text? How does this story set us, God’s people, free, from the oppression of this world?
Can we hear the father’s words of blessing for ourselves? “You were lost and now you are found!” What joy! Can we hear that for ourselves?
Can we feel what it would be like to be the younger son? The prodigal. First, can we feel the angst and desire to get out from under our father’s household? To run away and make a name for ourselves? Of course we can, we understand that impulse. If we could just break free. All the more, think of this parable through the life of the poor — If we could call for our material blessings to be disbursed now, if only, then we could rise up out of our poverty.
With no judgement, I know I have to acknowledge that when I feel poor or when I witness poverty, don’t I just want the immediate solution to present itself? If only we could get enough cash, then things will get better.
Can’t we understand the prodigal’s perspective here?
I want to be careful in how I talk about the poor because I know I am a person will privilege and great wealth in comparison to many people in our community. It is through being with and witnessing the lives of the poor that anyone in my shoes can speak with any sort of authority. Friends, understanding the good news of the gospel requires us to love and learn from the poor.
One of the clearest things I return from my time in El Salvador thinking about is this: we must listen to and learn from the poor. They know something of the Gospel of Jesus that I will never understand without getting close with and listening to the poor. I deeply believe this.
And when we get close to the poor, we can understand this parable more clearly.
Think about it. You want to get out from under the authority of your family or your position in life. And so, you make a bold request — give me my inheritance. Give me my portion and I’ll be gone. How many of us have felt that before, that draw to blow it all and go far away? We’ll make a better life somewhere. The grass has got to be greener on the other side.
And so the prodigal takes the money and runs.
Again, let’s consider how poverty and wealth impact the son’s stories. The oldest son, as we will see, has access to anything he needs, and yet feels jilted by the father’s grand love of the younger son. The younger son gets what he wants and, in reality, misuses it because of his impoverished mindset. Spend while you’ve got it. Live it up.
This past week, reflecting on this text, I’ve been thinking about cars.
Cars. In high school, I drove a navy blue 1987 Volkswagen Golf. A little four-door buggy of a thing. I loved that car. But by no means was it anything fancy.
Now, there were other kids in my high school who had some pretty tricked out, supp-ed up cars. Shiny rims. Booming bass. Tinted windows, cool decals.
For high schoolers, especially high school boys, the work you did on your car was a status symbol. If you had the loudest stereo, you could impress people when you posted up in the school parking lot after school. And having these kinds of things, well, they could cover up for a lot — perhaps things weren’t all that good at home or maybe school wasn’t going well, but at least we had our cool cars and our performance of wealth.
See where I’m going here? Access to wealth is often used to show a certain personality trait or highlight something “cool” in us that can hopefully cover up some of our insecurities.
And you know I’m not just pointing out the cars we drive. It’s also the ways we project our personality through clothes or vacations or entertainment. And especially for the poor among us, those fringe or marginal expenditures, they can make us feel good about ourselves, even just for a moment.
This is not just something that the poor do, it is something all of us are prone to. Present ourselves a certain way.
And as we reflect on the youngest son — can we see this — he’s living it up out of an ultimately impoverished understanding of his own worth.
We could say the younger son only believes he has worth because of the wealth he holds.
Contrast this, of course, with the eldest son, who seems to believe that regardless of his own holdings, he is not quite enough for the father, not quite lovable even with all he possesses.
I’m finding, as I sit with this well-known parable yet again, that its power is in how it unmasks the benefits of wealth and privilege. Yes, certainly, the abundance the father has allows him to give his one son wealth and still have plenty enough left over for a celebration. But what I’m seeing here today is that our place in God’s family, our belonging as children of the Creator, is not wrapped up in our wealth or privilege.
The younger son hits the wall. He realizes he’s blown all the money and he’s living in slop. His place in society has been relegated to farm hand. And not even like the farmhands at his father’s estate, but rather a swine herder, not good enough to even share the meal they eat. The farm hands back home have bread, clothing, shelter — enough.
And so he decides — he’ll go back home and get a job on the farm. His father could even hire him on like one of the other laborers, that’d be better than what he’s living now.
Access to wealth and the ability to spend freely — it does not give the son what he needs.
Deep poverty and hunger — I see this less as a punishment for squandering the riches and more as a simple reality check — impoverishment and struggle is the reality for so many people, the younger son is just now finally being exposed to it. He is the same son he was, as we will see in the father’s response. But at this point, now, he no longer has the resources to keep propped up and keep up presentations. The jig is up.
How often do we feel like we’ve exhausted our resources? Like we’ve finally hit the wall. How many of us have been given much, but not necessarily taken the best care with it?
Do you feel like the good graces of others might run out? Like maybe that last thing was the last straw, the final breaking point?
Would you go back home? What would you expect?
I’m sure most of us know the story. The son wanders back home. Imagine what he must have felt.
When he is anticipating visitors at our home, my son Asher will sit perched at the front window, watching for their car to turn around the corner to our home. I remember doing the same thing. Hope, anticipation.
So I imagine the father. Maybe he’s not keeping constant watch at the window, but you know when you’re hoping something happens, that it just nags at our, riggles around in your mind. Every time the father passed the window where he could see out to the horizon, he’d glance, just hoping. I feel that anticipation like watching a kettle come to boil — you just hope it will happen quickly…hoping, hoping…
And finally, the father sees his son.
The text tells us he ran out to greet him. In his love, he welcomes his son home.
Did the wealth still get squandered? Yeah.
Did the son come back the same person? No.
Did it matter that he’d wasted it all? No.
Jesus tells this story amongst other lessons on God’s desire to seek out even the most lost of us. The parable is meant to remind us — we are not too far off. The father, the mother hen, the Creator of the Universe, will come out to find us. Lost sheep, lost coins, and lost sons.
The good news is that God’s love calls us home, to be received regardless of our wealth or poverty, our sin or our righteousness — God’s love calls us home.
How is this good news for the poor? It is good news in that there is no position or wealth or power or privilege that can get in the way of the Father’s love.
Remember the older son — I have always felt connected to the older son. He balks at the father’s lavish response. The good news for the poor, how can it be good news for him?
What if God’s lavish love for us knows no status, or position? What if those of us who look on at the younger son, what if we could learn to celebrate the return of the one who is hurting? What if we could set down any need to compete or have more access because of our righteousness? What if we could see and celebrate the return of the one who needs it most?
Can we be this kind of people? In our poverty, can we find loving sanctuary? In our privilege, can we seek access and restoration for the least of these? In our abundance, can we share lavishly?
Friends, while you are still far off, God’s love comes running for you. Here and now. God is coming to set us free. Amen.
