One popular approach to life these
days is what I call the myth of “life strategy”. Go figure out what you want in life, decide
what you’re willing to do to get it, and go get it. A few decades ago the question was what do
you want to do with or in your retirement.
But, now things are more immediate.
What do we want now in life and what are we willing to do to get it and
do we have the courage to go and get it. Now before going on and dealing with this
parable which I would rather call The Parable of the Dysfunctional Family, take
a moment to think about your life strategy.
What do you want in life and what would you be willing to
do to get it? Or, to be more true to
context here what did you want in life and did you do what it took to go and
get. Did you follow your "life strategy"?
I think those questions are at the
heart of this parable. There are two
sons here and what they want in life is their inheritance. They want their father’s estate. Now, what are they willing to do for it? Well, the younger, he realizes that he is
never going to have it as good as his older brother. In their way of doing things back then the
oldest son got the bulk of the estate.
This younger brother was likely to get his own little corner of it and
as long as he hung around and did what his brother said he’d get a share of the
profits. But apparently, being a glorified
slave in his brother’s yard wasn’t good enough.
He wanted his own digs. He wanted
to see the world. So what is he willing
to do to get what he wants? Well, he is
willing to wish his father dead to get that inheritance. In those days, asking your parents for your
inheritance before they died was more than just rude. It was the same as saying, “You are dead to
me.” But, that’s what he does and for
some reason of parental providence the father gives it to him.
The older brother…well, he’s the
typical oldest child. His values are
more conservative, more reflective of his parents values. In his opinion there’s only one way to skin a
cat. The way the parents always did it
because that’s what put the money in the bank.
He appears to be of better moral stock.
He honours his father and mother like it says in the good book. But, let’s not forget something here. He’s still primarily motivated by that
inheritance and in order to get it he is willing to live like a dutiful slave
in his father’s house all his life never to see the world. “Yes, Father” this and “Yes, Father” that. I'm guessing it must have been a big estate for these boys to carry on this way.
Well, we know how this one plays
out. The younger brother, driven by his
passions, wants to live life to its fullest - have it all now. He’s your typical youngest child. He’s basically a spoiled brat who’s learned
that there’s more than one way to skin a cat...but he’s got to go procure his own
cat to prove it. He rudely demands and surprisingly
gets his inheritance and then leaves the estate and sets out to be “King of the
World”. But for every Titanic, there is
an iceberg. The money runs out and he soon hits rock bottom. It
gets bad. This young man, this young Jewish man, winds up feeding the pigs of a Gentile, a non-Jew. Jews back then concidered pigs and Gentiles
as untouchables. What’s even worse he
winds up envying the pigs for the food they eat.
So there he is. He’s lost everything…except his will to get
what he wants by weaselly doing what he can to get it.
So, he considers his options and comes up with a new life strategy. Basically, “Dad will bail me out. I’ll just go back and say I’m sorry and offer
myself as a servant in his house. He
can’t say no. I’m his son.” That’s his plan but what’s missing is genuine
remorse. Contrary to popular belief, he
is not sorry. He’s just hungry and
looking to do what he can to survive and so he’s just going to tuck his tail into a bowl of obsequiousness and go
home to his father.
He goes home looking like death warmed
over and what a surprise he gets. The
Father sees him coming. He’d probably
been waiting for this moment since the boy left, preoccupied with it, knowing
what was going to happen. Parents are
like that. Unexpectedly, the old man filled
with compassion starts running across the fields to meet his son. Culturally speaking, this act was completely
out of step. Yes, his son had come
home. But, remember the boy had at one
time wished his father dead. If his
father were to receive him, it should be on a more formal basis. The father sitting in the front room of the
house looking stern and not making eye contact while the son groveled. This
prodigal son had done nothing to deserve his father’s welcoming him with such great
joy and outpouring of love, nothing. He starts
to rattle off his grovel but what does the Father do? He cuts the groveling short and ignoring it,
he tells the slaves to get a robe, a ring, and some sandles and to go kill a
fatted calf and ready a feast for this son who was dead is now alive. He was lost and now he’s found.
This moment is Easter morning, my
friends. This is what Jesus wants us to
understand about the way that God loves us.
This son returned home expecting to live like a slave but instead winds
up feeling his father’s love like he never had before. The father dresses him and restores his
honour and dignity as a son. He’s done
nothing to deserve it. Yet, the father
has raised him from the dead. I don’t
know what your thoughts on God's judging us are but one thing we have to take into
consideration is that instead of being punitive or retributive (you get what you deserve), it is in someway rather having to live with the restorative
effects of the overwhelming love of God the Father which is beyond our
understanding.
Now how about that older brother? He has lived his whole life like a glorified
slave because it was in his “life strategy” to please his father to get what he
wanted, which incidentally was the same as what his little brother wanted – you
know, his share of that inheritance that his little brother was willing to wish
his father dead for. This older son had
made a life of dutifully going to work that family farm day after day after day
after day after day like a slave, never knowing anything more in this life than
that plot of land that would be his when his father finally died. He may not have been wishing his father dead, but he certainly was waiting for it to happen.
The surprising twist in the story is
that for all this obedient son has done to please his father he wasn’t
content. He’s done everything his father
has asked of him but it seems he has never experienced his father’s joy for him or his father’s
love. So he’s thinking, “Where’s my
party?” He's left to believe there's no party for
doing what you’re supposed to do. There’s no justice if things aren’t fair,
right? His whore-mongering little
brother got his honour and dignity restored after his father’s humiliating
display of affection like he’d done nothing wrong. Understandably, he refuses to take part in
the celebration. But unfortunately, his righteous
indignation was keeping him from joining in the gracious celebration of family
love that his father was having with the younger son…and the slaves too. This older son was just as lost and distant
from his father as was the younger son.
This time as I have thought through this
parable for the umteenth time what hits me is that there was something wrong
with that family dynamic. How could
these two sons go through life not knowing their father’s love for them. Instead of the bond of love, their relationship with the father seemed to be
based on a social transaction involving an inheritance. It’s as if the giving and receiving of the
inheritance overshadowed the giving and receiving of love. Pretty dysfunctional, don’t you think?
Luke uses this parable as a brutal
commentary on the religious types in his community who were caught up in a
transactional religious system where everything was focused on how well one
observed the “commandments, statutes, decrees, and traditions” in order to get God's blessing. Observe them and you get the rewards. Ignore them, squander your life and there
are consequences. But, this
transactional sort of religious system always leads to the more “devout” (if we
can call it that) passing judgement on the less “devout” and, in turn, missing the party.
Jesus’ point in this parable is that
“tax collectors and sinners” are coming to him because in the fellowship he
shares with them they are perceiving the love of God the Father. A new day has arrived! The party the Father is throwing for the
youngest son returned is the older son’s party too. A new day has arrived! Jesus has revealed
the love of God the Father to us. The
party is on. In Christian fellowship we are perceiving God's extravagant love for us. Here’s our party. Yes, gathered around the table of our Lord for a
simple meal are sinners who are saints and saints who are sinners, but that is
not the point. The point of the party is
that the family of God is together, bonded in the love of God…but beware this
love. It will expose you, heal you,
restore you. Give you honour and
dignity. Raise you from the dead. It’s better than any life strategy we can
devise. Amen.
