(This message was preached at a United Service with Anglican’s & URC from our town - including my old College Principal!)
Luke 15 : 11 - 32
Religious people criticized Jesus because he ate with sinners & so He told this story.
A story so familiar to us who have been attending churches – yes? Most, if not all of us could re-tell the story, missing nothing out, for we know it so well. I must say I was surprised to notice this is only the second time I’ve preached on it in all my years as a preacher.
It is of course known as the parable of the Prodigal Son – that is, the youngest son.
The one who wasted his living in a foreign land & ended up going from bad to worse until - at last - he comes to his senses & goes home. He hoped that then he could put his life together again – even if it must be as a servant - for he knows that in his father’s house, even servants live better than he was. In reading this account, we more often than not think of things from his perspective.
A lot of parents find themselves seeing things from the perspective of the parent in the story. Those of us whose own children have gone, or are going wrong ; we hear the Father & the Mother’s cry & echo their prayers. Personally having had a son leave home & do things we wish he hadn’t & wasn’t doing, the parable offers us great comfort & hope that one day we will see him returning to us & our job now is to wait & pray.
Today though I want us to think about the other person in this story – the Elder Son.
What about the oldest brother? Do any of us identify with him? Well we should, & I’ll tell you why.
This one gets up & goes to work every day & tries to be responsible. Indeed, he feels he must be all that is expected of him, so when his brat of a brother asks for his inheritance early, while his father was still alive, he takes that as being selfish & an insult – the same as wishing his father was dead. You can almost hear him moaning about his younger brother being irresponsible as ever.
But now he comes home, & his Father throws a party for him. Can you understand the rage that burns in the older brother’s chest? he throws a party!?
‘Nobody ever threw a party for me - nobody ever appreciates that I stuck around & did what I was supposed to do. I didn’t waste Dad’s money - I worked hard in the fields every day, & do you think anybody ever sacrificed anything for me, so that I could have a party with my friends? No way! No one cares about me.’
I have to say that everywhere I have ministered, I have recognised that sentiment in some of the people in the Church.
‘I have been working hard – at the coalface of the Church’
‘I have put in the hours & it’s just not fair’
‘Why should we change for these Johnny come-latelys?’
‘Why do the youngsters always have to have their way?’
‘Why don’t the young people want to do the jobs – all they do is take, take, take’
‘Why should they come in & enjoy the benefits of all our work?’
Sound familiar? It should because I am convinced that at least a little bit of the older brother lives in our hearts; that responsible part in all of us, which doesn’t like it when somebody else gets something for nothing.
‘Why change the worship for those who don’t come’
‘What have they got to do with anything – it was good enough for me’
I have even heard again in almost all of the places God has called me to serve ’as long as the Church is there for me when I die’ - what a terrible thing to say.
Terrible because the parable teaches us that we need to be searching, looking out for those who have yet to taste the love & joy of God. Perhaps we are like the elder brother because we have forgotten or are yet to taste the real joy of being a disciple for ourselves.
Of course the tax collectors & sinners with whom Jesus ate are not simply friendly folk who have been misunderstood. Publicans were making a good living, taking money from their own people for the sake of the occupying forces. Sinners were those whose behaviour had got them ejected from the synagogue. The Pharisees & Scribes quite naturally & logically could see the corrosive effect of not distinguishing between good & evil people. Wouldn’t we?
Why did Jesus tell this story?
To try to explain to these & all religious people the true nature of love, grace & forgiveness.
Yet the really shocking thing for many in the Churches is not that the Father welcomes the Son, but that he throws a party. That is the real thorny issue isn’t it - the party – yes?
Let the penitent return, there’s nothing wrong with that. But return to bread & water, not a fatted calf & the fruit of the vineyard. Let him come back, but to sackcloth & ashes not expensive robes & rings & merriment.
Perhaps we need to understand the heart of our God for the lost better. Perhaps we need to hear the laughter & joy of heaven when just one sinner repents. Perhaps we need to recollect the joy that filled our hearts the day we first believed. Isn’t it sad that so often we forget? How often do we treat our relationship with God as just a big responsibility devoid of joy?
The Religious folk back then were, in Jesus story, quite clearly like the elder son. God forgive us today, if we ‘religious’ folk are that way too.
It’s one my favourite sayings that much of Church is devoid of joy – but it is true. You know the old one about the Church looking like a dentist waiting room is true so often.
We need to get our act together or else we will be like those Pharisees, the people who Jesus condemns.
So who are you in this story? Are you the older son, jealous that somebody else is receiving God’s love? Are you the younger son, afraid to come home and ask for God’s love? Are you the Pharisee, so aware of what you have done & what others have failed to do that you can’t get on enjoying the party? Are you like some in Church who seem to resent God for being loving, & forgiving the people we consider are beyond the pale?
In the story, Jesus tells the Scribes and Pharisees who resented his eating with sinners & hence by His Spirit, He tells the ‘oldest brother or sister’ who lives inside our hearts:
"My child, you are always with me. You are very special to me - all that I have is yours. Understand that & rejoice with me that your younger brother - he who was as good as dead, is alive - he was lost - but now is found"
Throw away the things that are blocking you from receiving the fullness of the love that God is aching to give you - and party a little. Embrace your brother or your sister. Welcome them, pray for them, give thanks for them. The world won’t end if you do; indeed it will become a better place for everyone.
Amen.
