Fourth Sunday in Lent

| Welcome Statement

Good Morning! Last week we reflected on the fig tree and how we are given a second chance in Christ who is the gardener. As we journey through lent, the lectionary decides to take us through the time of Joshua. Moses first prepares the 12 tribes in his time to eventually go through the promised land that he could not go into. Joshua becomes and is considered the New Moses, Joshua calls upon Israel to follow the commandments, he sends spies to figure out what preparations are needed, and subsequently enter the land. this passage takes right after he meets the Angel of the Lord, who tells Joshua he is neither for or against the Israelites. A strange meeting. But it is right before the siege of Jericho, remember that old song? Joshua fought at the battle of Jericho? Yeah, that’s right where we are at. Joshua 5:9-12 is a reminder of what God is already proclaimed. They haven’t conquered the land entirely yet, but God has declared he has already rolled away the disgrace of being slaves in Egypt.

Old Testament Reading - Joshua 5:9-12

Joshua 5:9–12 NRSV

The Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt.” And so that place is called Gilgal to this day. While the Israelites were camped in Gilgal they kept the passover in the evening on the fourteenth day of the month in the plains of Jericho. On the day after the passover, on that very day, they ate the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. The manna ceased on the day they ate the produce of the land, and the Israelites no longer had manna; they ate the crops of the land of Canaan that year.

No longer did God have to directly provide, as the produce of the promised Land was abundant. No longer was Manna a necessity in scarcity, they received what was promised to them. We see this in our own time too. Times where Churches must provide in a sense, manna to those who are struggling. There is this mentality that one must pick themselves up by the bootstraps, even if they don’t have the ability, is not biblical. Don’t get me wrong, I value hard work, I value the work of those who want to contribute. But grace calls me to love those who don’t directly benefit me. The thing is, there will always be moochers in every system, but I’m not called to deal with abuses in that sense, I’m to encourage responsibility and uplift gently. Im called to pick people up, and let Christ transform them. For example, a kid has a natural ability or talent, but never uses it, like say they are good at music and I got them an instrument. I could punish them and take away things, and sometimes we do have to take away things from kids for their own sake as they grow up and learn. But instead, I could point that they need to be prepared for a recital, and explain the natural consequences of if they want to go to that. If they say “I don’t care” of course that requires a deeper conversation. Now in the case of Emery, yesterday she was running around At Mosaic breaking into things, and I told her we were going to leave if she doesn’t stop. But I realized instead of making empty threats, I could have been calmer, less reactive, and said, “Emery, do you need a break? What’s wrong Instead of the Israelites getting what they deserve for whining, and probably being more than able to get food from the cattle they had, God provided Manna, an abundance in scarcity. He helped those who could not help themselves, and helped those who actually could help themselves! What a weird idea. Most conversations today are about if people paid their fair share. The problem is, especially in context to the Cross, no one is sufficient enough to pay their fair share on the overarching sin in their lives. Just as manna was poured out to the Israelites, Christ’s Blood was poured out for all, Even if not everyone accepts the gift, God pours it out anyways, we believe this to be true as we call out how prevenient grace affects all hearts and souls across the earth, even if they harden their hearts like the Pharaoh, they still receive blessings by the Body of Christ and how it moves in and out of communities.

Old Testament Point #1

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Old Testament Point #2

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Old Testament Point #3

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New Testament Reading - Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

Luke 15:1–3 NRSV

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: Luke 15:11-32

Luke 15:11–32 NRSV

Then Jesus said, “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.’ ”

The Prodigal Son or the Mooching Stranger?

Now it comes full circle. The prodigal son story, is a description of how radical God’s Grace is in a world that demands a worldly sense of the word justice. Kierkegaard himself made this point in his book, Works of Love. In this book, he was exploring the idea of Christian love, agape. In this book he contrasts it to human love, a love out of passion, not duty. He argues that true love is actually rooted first in God, and therefore becomes not just an emotion and feeling, but a duty. Here is a quote: “But he who loves justice only for the sake of its results does not love justice, but something else, which he loves more than justice. If he therefore cannot love justice for itself, it is better that he should not love it at all; for by using it as a means he blasphemes against it.” (Works of Love, Hong translation, p. 138) Justice, when it is severed from Love, simply becomes a noisy gong. Instead of restoration or correction, it simply becomes punishment. True Justice, in the form of God’s Love, restores broken hearts, and pushes people to action through conviction and hope. Love must be selfless, any sense of justice we hold to must be rooted in love itself, otherwise we are a noisy gong as Paul proclaims, only adding more noise to the world. This is relevant, as we see how noisy social media is with its demands for retribution, and payments for wrongs made towards others. I want to note I am not criticizing criminal justice, if you make mistakes in the world, the world responds to those mistakes. Whether the form of justice aligns with God’s form or not is always debateable, and it’s not the point of what Im talking about. Our actions do have consequences, but we also find grace in these situations. In the story of the prodigal son, We see a son who squanders wealth, and comes from an outsider’s perspective, moping, back to his father. There seems to be a since of humility on the son, however, this should not be the conditional. The conditional is that he walked back home, that’s it, not that he was in full agreement with his father. In our case, as believers, when we walk back to God, sometimes we do so with conviction, possibly even guilt in the understanding of what we did, but that isn’t always the case! Sometimes we don’t understand WHY we need to repent, or even understand that we do, which is okay, santification is a process over time, not an instantaneous thing. The proof is that Christ made us a clean slate through his death. The Prodigal son desires to take on the role of a slave, a suffering servant, to simply be near his family’s love once again, to make up for his loss. But instead of being given that, his father fills him with a banquet, this is the representation of the spiritual manna we receive once we are convicted in turning back towards the Kingdom, we are fed, abundantly. The other son, represents the world and its passions. This sense of duty and grit, a black and white, transactional world, where one earns their place, even if it is done in tradition and respect for elders, it is painted with a worldly brush that one must pay their share. Note I am not criticizing the protestant work ethic, I myself belief that ethic is important as it roots itself in Paul’s own ideas of being self sustaining for the Kingdom, I am pointing out that we tend to have a weak view on what grace is. Cheap grace is when we treat forgiveness of sin as a free pass, without actual discipleship or transformation. In the case of the son here, we presume he is transformed by this experience to reconcile with his family. Real Grace then, is about welcoming people into the family of God, pointing them towards the Kingdom, and through pointing at what is really important, it sometimes requires correction, but always in Love, the same way Paul did in his letters. Cheap Grace is when we allow people to stumble in sin without picking them up, real grace is welcoming them into our homes, pointing them towards the Kingdom, sometimes that comes in the form of correction, but the Spirit guides us on how we must agape, or love, appropriately.

New Testament Point #2

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Closing Statement

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Closing Prayer

Heavenly Father, adfs asdfa

Amen.

Doxology / Benediction / Closing

May you Have a Blessed Sunday, and rest of your Week! Amen!