Rev. Linda B. Hirst

Luke 15:11-32

 We call this parable, probably the most familiar of all Jesus’ stories, "The Parable of the Prodigal Son" or sometimes it’s called the parable of the prodigal son and his brother,  but really this is a story is about the father.  A story about a father and his love for his  two sons.  A father who’s love for his younger son is so great, that upon the younger son’s return from squandering his inheritance and doing who knows what - is welcomed back to the family with open arms -
 no questions asked - what happened in the past is in the past - what’s important is that he’s back home.  And it’s a story about a father who loves his oldest son so much he doesn’t want him to miss the joy and the celebration of this homecoming.  All that I have is yours, he says. And...right now there’s a party being thrown - come, be a part of it, he says.   Come and celebrate with us.

 This is a story about the father.  And it is a story about grace.

 Grace - that gift of love from God that is so unexpected, so undeserved, so spontaneous it makes people want to sing and write hymns like Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.  It makes people want to write things like this by W. H. Auden, "I know nothing except what everyone knows
 - if there when Grace dances, I should dance.  Philip Yancey in his book "What’s so Amazing About Grace" says that "Grace is Christianity’s best gift to the world, a spiritual nova in our midst exerting a force stronger than vengeance, stronger than racism, stronger than hate."  Frederick Buchner says of grace:

 Grace is something you can never get but only be given.  There’s no way to earn it or deserve it or bring it about any more than you can deserve the taste of raspberries and cream or earn good looks or bring about your own birth.  A good sleep is grace and so are good dreams.  Most tears are grace.  The smell of rain is grace.  Somebody loving you is grace.  Loving somebody is grace.  Have you ever tried to love somebody?  The grace of God means something like:  He
re is your life.  You might never have been, but you are because the party wouldn’t have been complete without you.  Here is the world.  Beautiful and terrible things will happen.  don’t be afraid.  I am with you.  Nothing can ever separate us.  It’s for you I created the universe.  I love you.

 And finally, the apostle Paul wrote of grace, ‘In Christ we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us.

 The Greek word for grace is charis - the root of which means "to rejoice, to be glad".  When we find ourselves on the receiving end of grace, our response should be one of rejoicing, we should be glad, give thanks and celebrate!  Maybe even throw a party.

 Which brings us back to our parable.  Jesus has been teaching the people about the kingdom of God, and a crowd of sinners has gathered around him.  The Pharisees, the popular religious leaders of the time were watching and they are not pleased, nor are they impressed.  They mutter, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them."  To which Jesus responds by telling them a few stories.  Suppose one of you had 100 sheep, he says, and one day you find that one is missing - wouldn’t you search for it until you found it?  And when you did, wouldn’t you throw the sheep on your shoulders and call your neighbors and friends to rejoice with you?  Here’s another story...suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one.  Wouldn’t she search her house thoroughly until she found it and when she did, wouldn’t she call her friends and neighbors together and says, "Rejoice with me.  I have found my lost coin!"  "Here’s one more story.  There was a man who had two sons..."

 Now, our reaction to hearing this parable depends
 a great deal on who we are, how we were raised,  our life experiences.  If you have ever strayed from home, from family, from God, if there’s ever been a time you’ve felt like you’ve fallen so far from God’s embrace that there was no chance God would ever take you back.  If you’ve ever done something for which you thought there was no forgiveness...then there is great hope and relief and comfort for you in this story.

 The youngest  son had sinned - and not just  a little, but big-time.  He had demanded his inheritance - a rather rude thing to do to your father  - then he ran around throwing his money this way and that, doing God knows what with it - we only know it wasn’t good, and when his money ran out, he went to the fields to feed the
pigs which under Jewish law was forbidden.  Finally, he comes to his senses and decides to throw himself at his father’s mercy and ask forgiveness.  He decides to go home. And his father, who had been watching and waiting for this son, sees him way off in the distance and runs out to meet him, wrapping his arms around him, kissing him, all this  before the son can even  utter an apology.  There is forgiveness and reconciliation and celebration for the child who has come home.  There is grace.

 Now, if, like the oldest son,  you’ve always been the good one, the one who always follows the rules, doing what is asked of you even if you don’t want to because that’s what you’re supposed to do.  If you’ve never caused your parents or anyone a moment’s worry or concern, if you are faithful, dependable and true, trustworthy and wise - a real boy scout or girl scout, sought after by every committee because you are so responsible, then you might feel a
 little differently about this story.

 I am the oldest of two in my family - I have a younger brother.  I was the good one, daddy’s little princess - it was a title I did my best to live up to.  My parents practiced child rearing on me - and did a pretty good job - but then they got a little lax with my brother.  They let him stay up later than I did when I was his age, and hang out with questionable friends - he got to ride his bike further and go places I never got to go...not that this ever bothered me, mind you.  Being the dutiful daughter, whenever I saw my brother Ken misbehaving in anyway or not living up to my expectations, it  was my responsibility to bring him to justice, which I did as often I could. Mom, I would say.  You should see Ken’s room - it’s disgusting! AND he forgot to take out the trash, AND I know for a fact he didn’t finish his homework.  Did you hear what he just called me?   I think I should - we should should punish him - let’s ground him for a week or two.  To which m
y mother would say, "Linda, he has a mother.  Thank you very much."   Being the older sister, the good one -  if not the perfect one - I couldn’t understand why my brother’s less than perfect behavior warranted him the same amount of affection and acceptance and love that I received.  It wasn’t right.  It wasn’t fair.

 If you are an older sister or brother, you know what I’m talking about -  there’s that feeling of righteous indignation.  Well, after the Pharisees heard this story, you can bet that’s what they were feeling, too.  Righteous indignation.  Afterall, they were the law-abiding ones, they were the ones who followed the Torah - the five books of Moses - to the letter.   They weren’t sinners.  On the contrary, they were the righteous ones, the faithful ones.  Didn’t they pray every day? Didn’t they observe the dietary laws and keep themselves pure and holy? Didn’t they worship God and observe the Sabbath?  They were the good ones.  So why was Jesus spending all his time with sinners and tax collectors, the ones who  were cast out to the edge of the community?  Why was Jesus talking to them about God and the kingdom of heaven?  Those people didn’t deserve God’s love and forgiveness and acceptance.  It wasn’t right and it wasn’t fair.

 Which is another thing about grace that should be mentioned.  It quite often doesn’t seem fair.  It falls upon the just and the unjust alike.  The rich and the poor.  The happy and the miserable.  The deserving and the undeserving.  The stand-up, law abiding man and the homeless woman with a criminal record. As a popular bumper sticker says, "Grace Happens" and not always to the people we would choose.

 Brad and I have a saying around our house.  Whenever we hear of what we think is an unjust situation...of someone getting too much of something...too much money,  too much of a good thing...to much grace...we say, "Why if I were King or Queen..." and then we finish the sentence with what we determine is a fair and just response or sentence.  For example, one of our standard lines is..."Why if I were King, baseball players would make no more than one million dollars a year."  We figure they ought to be able to live on that and that way we greed wouldn’t rule sports.  Another one is "If I were King, only deserving people would win the lottery, people who planned to set up foundations and give away their money to the poor, to the church...with the exception of perhaps buying a car or two."  One of those deserving people being me.   We say these things in jest of course and yet... there’s just a little bit of truth behind our words, a little bit of self-righteousness,  a little bit of the older brother in us coming out.

 I do believe when it comes to grace, that most of us would like to have a say in who gets to receive it and who doesn’t.   We would like to pick and choose and - if we had our way -  only those we deem deserving would be on the receiving end of God’s goodness and abundance.   The hard working neighbor, the dedicated church goer, the responsible employee, the loyal friend, the nice elderly lady down the street, that family we know who’s in desperate need.  That’s only fair.  It’s only right.   And yet...as we find out time and time again, that’s not the way God works.
 
 

 Which brings us back to Jesus’ story...here is a young man who clearly doesn’t deserve grace - he’s sinned against his father, he’s sinned against God, he’s done all kinds of terrible things...yet grace is what he gets - a gift from God - grace found in the arms of a loving and forgiving father who wants nothing more than to have his son back home where he belongs.  He who was lost has now been found and the father is throwing the biggest, best party imaginable.  The older son is lived.  The father goes outside to find him and asks him to come inside and join the party. He tells him, "You are always with me, all that I have is yours."  Will you leave your anger and your hurt behind and come celebrate with us?  Will you come?

 Will you come? Jesus asks the Pharisees.  God is throwing a party.  God’s forgiveness and love is being poured out on all people. Those whom we think deserve it and even those whom we think don’t.  Sinners and tax collectors, the poor and the homeless, the old and infirm, the young, the outcast, the neglected and the forgotten.  God’s love and forgiveness and joy is being poured out on everyone, even you, the Pharisees.  Can you see it?  Can you feel it?

Will you leave your righteous indignation and your narrow-mindedness behind and come celebrate with us.  Will you come?

 Will you come?  Jesus asks us.  God’s grace is right here and it’s yours if only you will open your hands and your hearts and receive it.   God’s abundant, unexpected, life giving, life saving, amazing grace.

Will you turn from whatever keeps you from rejoicing with God’s people and join us?   Will you leave your pride, your guilt, your hurt, your "older brother or older sister" mentality behind and come celebrate with us?

Will you come?

Will you come when the sinner among you is forgiven and there is mercy and reconciliation?

Will you come, when the lost is found, the blind see, when  hope comes to the hopeless and faith to the faithless?

Will you come, when the good news is preached and embraced by all people and everywhere they sing God’s praises?

Will you sing and dance when God’s grace falls on and around you?  Will you come?

 I want you to notice one more thing about this parable and that is the ending.  It really doesn’t have one.   We don’t know whether the older son joins the party.  We don’t know if the father and the two sons live happily ever after.  Instead, we are left with an invitation: Will you come?

 God’s grace is everywhere.  We’ve got a lot to celebrate.  Welcome to the party!