Lent Day #10

Luke 15:11-24 (ESV)
11 And [Jesus] said, "There was a man who had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.' And he divided his property between them. 13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. 14 And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.

17 "But when he came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants."' 20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' 22 But the father said to his servants, 'Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.' And they began to celebrate."

THOUGHTS:
Today is homecoming here at GMU, and this parable is about a different kind of homecoming. This is one of my favorite passages of scripture. And it needs a new name! It isn't about reckless extravagance of the younger son, but rather about the loving grace of the father.

The story begins with the younger son going and asking for his share of the inheritance. Now, I have a good relationship with my dad and he's been very generous to me my whole life, but if I walked up to him one day and said, "Hey pops, put your will into effect now because I have things I want to do with that money" ... well, you can guess how far that idea would fly...

Rather than calling out the ungrateful little twerp, dear old dad in the parable says "OK." This blows my mind, and the story has barely begun. He enacts his will. In a way, the father declares himself DEAD. Let that sink in for a moment...

So what happens next? The son takes what was probably one heck of a fun trip! Let's modernize this to say he went to Mardi Gras in N'Orleans, took a Caribbean cruise, and then headed off to Vegas where he partied with all the high rollers until his luck ran out and his funds ran dry. Sure, it was irresponsible at best, but it's OK to admit that he probably had a lot of fun.

Of course, he goes from the top of the world to the gutter. He ends up feeding the pigs and dreaming of eating their food. Remember, this is a story being told by a Jew to a Jewish crowd, so we have to assume that the connotations of caring for unclean animals and willingness to eat slop would have been noticed. He would certainly be considered unclean now. He wants to go home, but he knows he burned that bridge, so he starts rationalizing ways to make it work. He says, "I'll be a servant -- I'll live at home, but not as part of the family...the scraps on the margins there are good enough for me now." So he makes his way home, a broken shell of his former self.

He plans out this nice apology to try to win his father over, but while he is still a long way off, his father saw him. Why do you think the father saw him a long way off? Maybe he was looking down the driveway hoping and waiting for his son to come home...and if so, it probably wasn't the first time he was there. I get the sense that the father had a great longing for his son to return. The son probably looks like a tattered beggar on his way up the lane, so his wastefulness is probably rather apparent to the father. So when the father sees the son, he RUNS to meet him, EMBRACES him, and KISSES him. This all happens before the son apologizes, confesses, seeks forgiveness, or even says "hello". When the son tries to apologize, the father shrugs it off and throws a party.

In the midst of that embrace, I think it probably sets in on the son that he had also died. He had thrown his former life away, and any life he had now was due to being resurrected by his father. What a homecoming! If the father is a stand in for God, does he act the way you expect God to act? During Lent, we seek to return to God the way the son returned to the father. We acknowledge that we are dead in our sins. We trust, hope, and pray that God is as loving and merciful as Jesus portrays him in this parable.

The loving grace of the father is what the story is all about, so let's call it "The Parable of the Loving Father". We'll finish this parable on Monday when we look at the dialogue between the father and the elder brother.

PRAYER:
Dear God, we trust that you are a loving parent to us all. We thank you for giving us all that we have, even though we know we don't deserve it. We ask your forgiveness for using so much of it for our own purposes, rather than to do your work in the world. We ask that you daily renew our hearts to your will and help us to know and serve you. We trust that your grace really is sufficient for us. All this and more we pray. Amen.