Dysfunctional Families All Over The Place

Fourth Sunday of Lent 2025

Forty years did the people of Israel travel here and there through the southern desert. That was time enough for their nation to become the butt of jokes for all the people around them. It’s true that when Joshua took command from Moses, now taken to God, the Lord dried up the river Jordan kind of like He turned the Red Sea into dry land to let Israel escape from Pharaoh. That got everyone’s attention. Moreover, after crossing the Jordan, they took camp in the land of Canaan and had time to circumcise the men and boys who had been born during the forty years. That sealed the covenant originally made at Horeb/Sinai that gave them the Law, the Ten Commandments that had kept them mostly faithful and well-ordered on their journey.

Our scripture hears the Lord telling Joshua that the reproach of Egypt has been rolled away by the renewed covenant. They are no longer a joke among the nations. Now they could renew the covenant from their Exodus by keeping Passover with unleavened bread. The psalmist celebrates by blessing the Lord, not just at solemn feasts, but all the time. By seeking the Lord, we will find Him, in word and sacrament, each week as we gather here. By His power our sins are forgiven, and we are filled with His grace, His very life. We can smile always because of God’s deliverance.

If you remember the story of the Exodus, you also recall the disputes that arose among the people of Israel. There was tension between the various leaders. After all, it seemed like every time there was a problem, Moses would go up the mountain to fast and pray for forty days and nights. At one point they even forced Aaron to make them a golden bull as an idol for them to worship, and they gave themselves up to riotous and drunken behavior. Moses had, and not for the last time, to get them in order.

Today’s Gospel shows Jesus in contention with the Pharisees, who were the up-tight class of their day. The Pharisees (the name literally means “separated ones”) took exception to Our Lord’s habit of associating with tax collectors and women of the street, so Jesus first shares two parables of seeking out the lost. Then He relates what may be the most famous of His parables I call The Dysfunctional Family. And some of you may first note that a big part of the problem with these three men is that there was no mother.

The basic story is well known even by non-Christians. The younger brother yearns for adventure and essentially tells dad that He wishes the old man were dead. But short of a probate situation, dad, why not give me my share of the inheritance. Surprisingly, the father does that. He liquidates half the estate and off goes little Jimmy for fun. Dad and the older brother stay home, but you can be sure they heard the gossip that resulted from Jimmy’s extravagance. He runs out of funds and actually has to find a paying job. It’s minimum wage caring for swine—pigs—which Jews were forbidden even to touch. He lusts after some of the pig slop. He’s starving so he puts together another half-baked plan to at least get a slave’s job for daddy. At least he gets the first step right, even rehearsing his daddy speech: “"Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son;” Those words of repentance are all he’s allowed to get out, because dad has thrown off all dignity and gravitas and run to embrace the boy. He orders a party be prepared. Even has the fatted calf, the one that would ordinarily be served to the king on a surprise visit, prepared for the feast.

What about the older son? Well, the younger son is obviously the tax collectors and other sinners, leaving the older son to be the up-tight Pharisees. But Junior gets harsh treatment because he made the situation all about himself. Dad reminds him that Jimmy has given up his part of the inheritance, so the rest will be his someday, and Jimmy will have to do some work. But boy, you totally missed the point. Jimmy was lost and is found; should we not keep festival? Isn’t that the whole point of the Passover deliverance?

St. Paul brings it all together in his letter to his church at Corinth. Remember that of all the communities he founded, Corinth was the trickiest and hardest to get in order. He constantly reminds them of the reason they are followers of Christ in His Church. They do not have to wait for Christ’s return to become new creations. Their baptismal anointing in faith has done that already. They live in Christ if they follow His way of loving service and right worship. They have been reconciled to God by admitting their sin. God loves to hear sinners give Him thanks and praise. Paul and all Christians are called to be agents of reconciliation.