The Sermon title is Get Found!
Early Thoughts: When have you been lost? When have you had to look for something or someone that was lost? When, perhaps, have you lost your sense of self?
Many of us know this story as "the Prodigal Son". Certainly that is how I learned it and how I have referred to it many times over the years. I am not convinced that is the best way to title it. In fact I think this is the story of the lost son, or even better the story of the lost sons. It is not a story about a wild rebellious child who squanders their inheritance (the term prodigal seems to want to cast a moral judgement on the younger son), or at least not only about that. Given that the two stories we find in Luke 15:1-10 have similar beginnings but are clearly about a lost sheep and a lost coin it seems that this is a story about losing and finding -- not rebellion and riotous living (though that is part of being lost as we may find).
More importantly, all three stories are about being found and the celebration that comes with being found.
So who is lost? Who gets found? Who does the finding? And what does this parable tell us about the Reign of God?
 |
| Source |
To begin, let us look at the beginning of the story: "There was a man who had two sons...". The earlier stories in the chapter now prompt us to wonder what is going to happen to the sons. What is the man going to lose? How will he search for that which is lost? After all that is exactly what happens with the sheep and the coin and we are starting to see a pattern. This is a story about a family unit (or at least part of it -- has mom died? are there sisters?)
So there are these sons. One, the elder, is portrayed as dutiful and the other, we are told, seems a bit restless, wanting to get out and make a life for himself. The restless younger son asks his father for "the share of the wealth that will belong to me" and heads out to make a life. It does not go well. At first life is grand but restless youth does not always make for careful planning and things start to go south. The vagaries of life lead to poverty and bare subsistence. The son is lost. Lost to the father and maybe lost to himself.
Then we are told that he comes to his senses (the King James says "came to himself") and realizes that he would be better off as a slave/servant in his father's house than he is right now. There at least he would have enough to eat. He resolves to go and plead for mercy. The finding, it seems has begun. He has begun to find himself again. It is not clear he likes what he has found.
The son returns home but does not get the reception he expects. Dad [long ago I read a suggestion that dad has been anxiously looking down the road every day since the son left, hoping against hope that he would see a familiar shape on the horizon, I like that image] looks out and sees his son, his beloved child, returning. Dad runs out with no worries about decorum and embraces his child. Before the confession and the pleading can even begin dad is kissing him and, I think, weeping with joy. The wayward son makes his confession but dad seems to ignore it. There are more important things to worry about! It is time for a party! The lost has been found, has come home. Wonderful!
The story could end there and make perfect sense. Indeed when I think back to hearing it as a child I am sure it ended there. But Jesus continues. After all, there is another son.
Enter the eldest, dutiful, faithful son. Is he excited to find out that there is a party because his younger brother has returned? Nope. He is resentful. He feels that dad is being unfair. Where is his party? I suggest the eldest son is now lost.
Dad remains dad. Dad challenges the eldest son to see things differently. Dad tries to help the elder son find his way back to the family. We are not told if this is successful, if the resentment is indeed overcome.
Poor dad, in this story he has, to a degree, lost both his sons and it is not sure if he has got both of them back.
So what does this tell us about the Reign of God? Traditionally it tells us that God is the one who keeps searching, who is overjoyed when the lost becomes found, when the wayward comes home. What else might it say?
Maybe it reminds us that we can never be so lost that we will not be welcomed back in, that we have the chance to come to ourselves and find who we really are.
Maybe it reminds us to not be resentful when grace is offered to others, and maybe to recognize that we could be gracious as well.
Maybe it reminds us to find ourselves, to reflect, to come to our senses so.
What else does this well-known story say to you?
--Gord
No comments:
Post a Comment