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| The Parable of the Prodigal Son as envisioned by Rembrandt |
So I’m trying to come up with a new idea
to preach for this Sunday’s Gospel text (Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32), which is pretty
much at the top of “Jesus Christ’s Greatest Hits.” It’s the parable of the
Prodigal Son. We all know this story, right? The young son of the landowner
asks for his inheritance early so he can go blow it on partying and hookers.
When he’s flat broke and down on his luck he comes crawling back to his dad to
beg forgiveness. His merciful pop rejoices to have the young idiot back again.
After all, the kid is his son.
Unfortunately, the prodigal’s faithful big brother gets his shorts in a wedgie
(metaphorically speaking) because Dad is making a fuss over this sinful,
wasteful, deadbeat brother but has never done anything special for him.
Jesus’ point?
“I tell you, there will be more joy in
heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who
need no repentance.” (Luke 15:7)
And that moral is pretty obvious from the
text. Maybe I should just read the Gospel and sit my overly loquacious butt
down. Ya think..?
I mean, it seems pretty simple: God’s
desire for us is for repentance, forgiveness, and reconciliation. Period. But
this story is loaded with so much family dynamic that I could probably go on forever
parsing all the subtleties of this text. However, “going on forever” is not a
very good idea for preachers, so I’ll just reflect on something which is speaking
to me rather loudly in this American election year.
To me, the character of the elder son is
an indictment against our constant, sinful desire to divide the world into “them”
and “us.” Recently, I seem to be hearing so much idiocy being spewed by people
either in the church or in politics about who is deserving and who isn’t.
In the parable, the elder son may think it’s
all well and good for him to whine about his undeserving moron of a brother
getting so much love from Daddy just because he repents, but this overgrown
crybaby really doesn’t have anything to complain about. In the world of the
text he will be the beneficiary of primogeniture—the practice of leaving the
bulk of an estate to the elder son. By no merit of his own—just the accident of
birth order—this kid is going to inherit everything
when his old man kicks the bucket. All the work he does with his dad will
ultimately be to his own benefit. You’d
think with so much going for him he might be able to spare just a little bit of
compassion for the rough road his brother has been on.
Unfortunately, as individuals and as a
society we all just love to indulge in self-righteous self-pity. Here’s what I
hear the Elder Son saying these days:
“No
amnesty for illegals! Our parents came here legally and learned English. Why
are we giving law-breakers a free pass?” Why? Because so many of these “lawbreakers”
were kids when they came to the US. Their parents have done work we were not willing
to do. They’ve grown up in our country, learned in our schools, paid our sales
taxes, and have been willing to fight in our military. And our faith teaches
mercy, compassion, and reconciliation.
“There’s
a war on Christianity! Our religious liberty is being threatened!” If Christianity is
under attack, why haven’t I been arrested? We Christians are still the largest
religious tradition in the United States, and the largest religious tradition
on the face of the planet. “They” (whoever “they” are) can take away prayer in
public school and take the Ten Commandments off courthouse walls, but when the
sun rises tomorrow the followers of Jesus Christ will still be the most
culturally dominant force in the world. It takes nothing away from our faith
that our Muslim neighbors are opening a youth center around the corner from my
church. Our job as Christians will still be to reflect the love of Christ to
everyone.
“Reverse
discrimination!” Like
the elder son, the accident of my birth makes me the heir to considerable privilege.
I’m a white, heterosexual, male living in America. I did nothing to earn the
privileges I enjoy. I do, however, have a Christian responsibility to see that
such advantages can be shared by all people. It takes nothing away from me to
see others get ahead—especially if they’ve been behind for a very long time.
Let’s face it: If we talk about sin, none
of us are deserving of the grace we’ve been given. None of us deserve to live
in a world which is as magnificent as the one God has created and generously sustained
for us. It’s time we stop our whining and get on with our work—to repent, to
forgive, and to reconcile.
Thanks for reading, my friends. Drop by
again, won’t you?
PS-
For another (and less topical) take on this parable, you might want to check
out an older post I wrote by clicking here.
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