Lent IV
The Rev. Martha Frances+
18 March 2007, Year C Lent IV
Text: Luke 15: 1-3, 11b-32
Other Readings: Joshua 5:9-12; Psalm 32; 2 Corinthians 5:16-21
This morning the last will be first & the first last, because I begin my meditation on this most detailed of all the parables where I find myself in it. I have to admit to you today that I’m the upright, hard-working, & often self-righteous elder daughter. As I was growing up, I worked really hard to fulfill my father’s expectations of success & honor for his eldest child. But it seems like every instance of freedom I won, like a later curfew or more frequent use of the car, my younger sister got to do earlier than I & with no hassle at all. She even got to go to college out of state & join a sorority. Not fair! Even now, I get a little huffy in righteous indignation!
The elder brother in the parable also comes off as pompous & holier-than-thou, doesn’t he? And I suspect that many of you also relate to the elder brother. After all, he’s been out in his father’s fields slaving all day & he’s pooped. Upon returning to the hacienda, he hears a rip-roaring party going on & asks one of the ranch hands what’s up. When he’s told it’s a shindig thrown in honor of his younger brother’s return, he lets fly a whole bucket full of righteous indignation. He’s so furious he won’t even attend the party!
What does Papa do? First, let’s note that the father notices that his elder son doesn’t come to the party. He must be watching for his older son, too. The father treats the elder son just as he did the younger: he goes out to meet him & pleads with him to join them in the celebration. The father reaches out to his first-born in love just as he has done to the younger. Big brother will have none of it! Although he’s stayed at home & kept all the rules, he’s been alienated from his father by his own anger & resentment. He’s a slave to his own expectations & self-righteousness. I have to ask myself how often I’ve enslaved myself in a similar way.
Now all of us know this parable, but I’d like to suggest that it is misnamed. It’s actually better named the Parable of the Prodigal Parent! I’ve begun with the least-noticed part of the parable, but here, the father lavishes unqualified love on both his sons. Earlier in the story, Papa stands out on the porch watching for his ornery son’s return, runs with abandon down the road to meet the rascal as soon as he spots him, doesn’t even wait to hear the son’s what-a-wretch-am-I speech, but instead, gives him new Levis, a Hilfinger shirt, & some new Nikes. Papa is the true prodigal for he is lavish in his generosity: he gives gifts & throws quite a party for this son who was lost & is now found. Papa is so crazy to have his long-lost kid back that he doesn’t even extract promises of appropriate future behavior from his son.
And what does this young man do to deserve all this? Not one single thing! That’s just the point. This story could also be called the Parable of the Forgiving Father. Papa initiates the reunion by unreservedly showering his son with forgiveness before the son has a chance to confess or ask forgiveness.
Confession isn’t a pre-requisite for forgiveness; it’s something you do after you know you’ve been forgiven. Confession isn’t something you do to earn forgiveness; we confess in order to celebrate the forgiveness we have gotten for nothing. The kid certainly hasn’t done anything to deserve such love & honor; it’s all God’s grace, pure & simple. I’m reminded of one of the closing sentences from the Evening Prayer service: “Glory to God whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine. . . .” This young son could never have dreamt that his father’s love could be so abundant.
Our psalm today describes graphically the consequences of our lack of confession: “While I held my tongue, my bones withered away, because of my groaning all day long.” Then the psalmist makes confession & “did not conceal my guilt.” The effect of God’s forgiving the guilt of the sin is that even when great waters overflow, they shall not reach the forgiven one. “Mercy embraces those who trust in the Lord,” the psalmist continues, & those who have made confession are glad & rejoice, shouting for joy. The Church offers private confession with a priest as one of our sacramental rites, & Lent is an especially appropriate time to make confession. If you desire to do so, please make an appointment with me in the next 3 weeks.
If the scoundrel in the parable was embraced so lovingly & forgiven so completely by his father, surely no one is excluded from God’s grace, not even those whom we elder brothers & sisters know don’t deserve it. How often have we been celebrating someone’s achievement or good fortune, secretly
jealous or resentful that it was he or she rather than we who were being honored?
Folks in Alcoholics Anonymous learned a long time ago that we’re all encouraged when someone in the group achieves a year or multiples of sobriety. Joanie’s ability to stay sober for another whole year makes just such an achievement more possible for the rest of the group. Countless times I’ve heard people in 12-Step Recovery recognize that only in their meetings do they feel everyone wants them to succeed. We in the church promise just such support for each person who is baptized or confirmed in our community. How often do we live that commitment out?
We don’t listen very closely to what we say in the Lord’s Prayer, do we? We ask God to forgive us our trespasses just as we forgive those who trespass against us. Ouch! Every time we say the “Our Father,” we ask God to use the quality of our forgiveness as the model for how God forgives us. Fortunately for us, as we’ve just seen in this parable, God’s love & forgiveness isn’t dependent on how well we love & forgive others. However, I suspect that we can only accept as much forgiveness from God as we’re willing to give to others. We block the forgiveness from our own lives; God never withholds it! God wants us to give love & forgiveness fully & freely.
What is life like when we are in fellowship one with another in the community? St. Paul describes it to encourage the Corinthians who were about as irascible a bunch as we find in our churches today: “. . .if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” Where do we receive this re-creation? Paul says all this is from God who provided Christ to reconcile world to Godself. What’s our part? God has given us the ministry of reconciliation. Look it up in the Catechism in the Prayer Book, p. 855: “The ministry of lay persons is to represent Christ & his Church; to bear witness to him wherever they may be; &, according to the gifts given them to CARRY ON CHRIST’S WORK OF RECONCILIATION IN THE WORLD. . . .” What an awesome responsibility we’re given! Paul says God entrusts the message of reconciliation to us, making us ambassadors for Christ. Ambassadors don’t go out on their own private crusades but are representatives for another & go at the pleasure of that other. If we go as Christ’s ambassadors, we are responsible to do our own personal work of reconciliation so we can be worthy examples of Christ’s reconciling love & desire for relationship with others.
Each year during Lent we emphasize the importance of personal & community house-cleaning so we can be the best ambassadors we can possibly be in the world. God gives the invitation, kills the fatted calf, sets the banquet table, & throws the party. We at Hope will celebrate with those being baptized at the Easter Vigil & then on Easter morning celebrate God’s great gift of love through Christ’s resurrection. Our ability to enter fully into that resurrection joy is enhanced if we’ve done the preparation of a disciplined & holy Lent. It’s not too late!
God offers the reconciliation. God provides the means for us to accept it through Jesus Christ. We don’t have to deserve it. All we have to do is accept it. All we have to do is come to the banquet table. God invites us to come in & celebrate the lost which has been found, which includes each of us. God calls us to enter the feast. Come & feast! Come & be Christ’s new creation!
18 March 2007, Year C Lent IV
Text: Luke 15: 1-3, 11b-32
Other Readings: Joshua 5:9-12; Psalm 32; 2 Corinthians 5:16-21
This morning the last will be first & the first last, because I begin my meditation on this most detailed of all the parables where I find myself in it. I have to admit to you today that I’m the upright, hard-working, & often self-righteous elder daughter. As I was growing up, I worked really hard to fulfill my father’s expectations of success & honor for his eldest child. But it seems like every instance of freedom I won, like a later curfew or more frequent use of the car, my younger sister got to do earlier than I & with no hassle at all. She even got to go to college out of state & join a sorority. Not fair! Even now, I get a little huffy in righteous indignation!
The elder brother in the parable also comes off as pompous & holier-than-thou, doesn’t he? And I suspect that many of you also relate to the elder brother. After all, he’s been out in his father’s fields slaving all day & he’s pooped. Upon returning to the hacienda, he hears a rip-roaring party going on & asks one of the ranch hands what’s up. When he’s told it’s a shindig thrown in honor of his younger brother’s return, he lets fly a whole bucket full of righteous indignation. He’s so furious he won’t even attend the party!
What does Papa do? First, let’s note that the father notices that his elder son doesn’t come to the party. He must be watching for his older son, too. The father treats the elder son just as he did the younger: he goes out to meet him & pleads with him to join them in the celebration. The father reaches out to his first-born in love just as he has done to the younger. Big brother will have none of it! Although he’s stayed at home & kept all the rules, he’s been alienated from his father by his own anger & resentment. He’s a slave to his own expectations & self-righteousness. I have to ask myself how often I’ve enslaved myself in a similar way.
Now all of us know this parable, but I’d like to suggest that it is misnamed. It’s actually better named the Parable of the Prodigal Parent! I’ve begun with the least-noticed part of the parable, but here, the father lavishes unqualified love on both his sons. Earlier in the story, Papa stands out on the porch watching for his ornery son’s return, runs with abandon down the road to meet the rascal as soon as he spots him, doesn’t even wait to hear the son’s what-a-wretch-am-I speech, but instead, gives him new Levis, a Hilfinger shirt, & some new Nikes. Papa is the true prodigal for he is lavish in his generosity: he gives gifts & throws quite a party for this son who was lost & is now found. Papa is so crazy to have his long-lost kid back that he doesn’t even extract promises of appropriate future behavior from his son.
And what does this young man do to deserve all this? Not one single thing! That’s just the point. This story could also be called the Parable of the Forgiving Father. Papa initiates the reunion by unreservedly showering his son with forgiveness before the son has a chance to confess or ask forgiveness.
Confession isn’t a pre-requisite for forgiveness; it’s something you do after you know you’ve been forgiven. Confession isn’t something you do to earn forgiveness; we confess in order to celebrate the forgiveness we have gotten for nothing. The kid certainly hasn’t done anything to deserve such love & honor; it’s all God’s grace, pure & simple. I’m reminded of one of the closing sentences from the Evening Prayer service: “Glory to God whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine. . . .” This young son could never have dreamt that his father’s love could be so abundant.
Our psalm today describes graphically the consequences of our lack of confession: “While I held my tongue, my bones withered away, because of my groaning all day long.” Then the psalmist makes confession & “did not conceal my guilt.” The effect of God’s forgiving the guilt of the sin is that even when great waters overflow, they shall not reach the forgiven one. “Mercy embraces those who trust in the Lord,” the psalmist continues, & those who have made confession are glad & rejoice, shouting for joy. The Church offers private confession with a priest as one of our sacramental rites, & Lent is an especially appropriate time to make confession. If you desire to do so, please make an appointment with me in the next 3 weeks.
If the scoundrel in the parable was embraced so lovingly & forgiven so completely by his father, surely no one is excluded from God’s grace, not even those whom we elder brothers & sisters know don’t deserve it. How often have we been celebrating someone’s achievement or good fortune, secretly
jealous or resentful that it was he or she rather than we who were being honored?
Folks in Alcoholics Anonymous learned a long time ago that we’re all encouraged when someone in the group achieves a year or multiples of sobriety. Joanie’s ability to stay sober for another whole year makes just such an achievement more possible for the rest of the group. Countless times I’ve heard people in 12-Step Recovery recognize that only in their meetings do they feel everyone wants them to succeed. We in the church promise just such support for each person who is baptized or confirmed in our community. How often do we live that commitment out?
We don’t listen very closely to what we say in the Lord’s Prayer, do we? We ask God to forgive us our trespasses just as we forgive those who trespass against us. Ouch! Every time we say the “Our Father,” we ask God to use the quality of our forgiveness as the model for how God forgives us. Fortunately for us, as we’ve just seen in this parable, God’s love & forgiveness isn’t dependent on how well we love & forgive others. However, I suspect that we can only accept as much forgiveness from God as we’re willing to give to others. We block the forgiveness from our own lives; God never withholds it! God wants us to give love & forgiveness fully & freely.
What is life like when we are in fellowship one with another in the community? St. Paul describes it to encourage the Corinthians who were about as irascible a bunch as we find in our churches today: “. . .if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” Where do we receive this re-creation? Paul says all this is from God who provided Christ to reconcile world to Godself. What’s our part? God has given us the ministry of reconciliation. Look it up in the Catechism in the Prayer Book, p. 855: “The ministry of lay persons is to represent Christ & his Church; to bear witness to him wherever they may be; &, according to the gifts given them to CARRY ON CHRIST’S WORK OF RECONCILIATION IN THE WORLD. . . .” What an awesome responsibility we’re given! Paul says God entrusts the message of reconciliation to us, making us ambassadors for Christ. Ambassadors don’t go out on their own private crusades but are representatives for another & go at the pleasure of that other. If we go as Christ’s ambassadors, we are responsible to do our own personal work of reconciliation so we can be worthy examples of Christ’s reconciling love & desire for relationship with others.
Each year during Lent we emphasize the importance of personal & community house-cleaning so we can be the best ambassadors we can possibly be in the world. God gives the invitation, kills the fatted calf, sets the banquet table, & throws the party. We at Hope will celebrate with those being baptized at the Easter Vigil & then on Easter morning celebrate God’s great gift of love through Christ’s resurrection. Our ability to enter fully into that resurrection joy is enhanced if we’ve done the preparation of a disciplined & holy Lent. It’s not too late!
God offers the reconciliation. God provides the means for us to accept it through Jesus Christ. We don’t have to deserve it. All we have to do is accept it. All we have to do is come to the banquet table. God invites us to come in & celebrate the lost which has been found, which includes each of us. God calls us to enter the feast. Come & feast! Come & be Christ’s new creation!
posted by
Hope Episcopal Church
at 8:31 AM
1 Comments:
RE: Prodigal Parent Alliteration
Great points by Rev. Martha, however (and isn't there always a however) we must never refer to God as the Prodigal Parent which happens inadvertantly should we compare ourselves to Him.
DYK? That the word, "prodigal" isn't in the Bible? (Check your Strong's Concordance.) "Prodigal" was added as a heading by the King James scholars and thus I believe the parable could have aptly been called, "The Parable of the Elder Brother" since Jesus just as often spoke to the religious leaders hanging around Him. And really the focus Jesus gave was just as much on the Elder Brother--even ending with the Elder Brother sadly shutting himself outside. He feels left out, but it is by his own choice. How tragic.
Never was Jesus more compassionate to the Pharisees and religious leaders than here in Luke 15. The Father pleads with him [and them] to accept his brother and come in!!!
My backround is that I was a very, very, VERY self-righteous Elder Sister.
What was the cure?
Per Romans 2:1, I reaped what I had sown. I became the very person I condemned.
I became the Prodigal.
Then I repented.
Someday I hope to help bridge the gap between the Elder Brothers and the Prodigals coming home. (Or is it the Prodi-GALS coming home?) I plan to make provision so that they can sit together at the Feast. Isn't that what the Father wanted?
Daddy loves the Elder Brothers as much ss He loves others. He's waiting for us to help bridge the gap in the church between these two groups of people. The Elder Brothers have much to teach us--and we them.
Sincerely,
PAtricia Nash
Arlingtom Texas 4/13/08
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