Do
you have a Bible that has titles in it for various parables and other sections?
I notice that often more recent publications and translations of scripture have
left those titles out. Frankly, I’m glad about that because I often find myself
disagreeing with the titles. Today’s scripture, for example, is titled, “The
Prodigal Son.” And in part because of that, we mostly tend to focus on the
younger son and his behavior. I’m convinced, however, that the more I read this
parable and the more I discover about Jesus, that if we were going to give the
parable a title, it would be, “The Prodigal Father.”
Various
dictionaries define the word “prodigal” this way: spending money or resources
freely and recklessly, wasteful, extravagant, spendthrift, profligate,
improvident, imprudent. And the second definition is slightly different: having
or giving something on a lavish scale, generous, lavish, liberal, unstinting,
unsparing, bounteous. Now I ask you, even though the first definition certainly
fits the behavior of that younger son, doesn’t the second definition fit the
behavior of the father? In most dictionaries the second definition listed is
usually the one with a longer history, the way a word originally was intended
to be used, or an archaic use. The first definition is usually how the word is
used in contemporary common language.
But
if for a moment we look at the Prodigal Father, we might see the behavior we
know from God. Lavish, generous, unstinting, bounteous, and so on. And that is
exactly the way the father behaves in Jesus’ parable.
A
wealthy landowner in those days had dignity, presence, and power. He did not go
running out to greet people, even his own kin. That is what servants were for,
and wealthy landowners had plenty of those. What the landowner did here by
rushing out to his son was to ignore convention and bypass the household
steward, the servant whose duty it was to welcome.
In
addition, the part we often miss is that the wealthy landowner father also went
out to greet his older son. He sought his son out. He did not tell someone to
bring his older son to him, which again was the proper etiquette for the time,
place, and person.
This
parable, at least in large part, is about God’s generous, profligate, lavish,
unsparing grace. It’s about God seeking us, not us seeking God. There are two
responses to this lavish grace. One is that when you are completely down and
out, in the pit of despair, to borrow a title from an old movie, you receive
grace with surprise and wonder and delight. The other response is when you have
been working your fool tail off and trying every moment to do right. And that
response often comes with resentment because it appears that all your hard work
and effort have been useless and maybe even ignored.
But
God is a God of generosity and lavish grace, poured out continually for all of
us. God wants us to respond to that grace with surprise and wonder and delight.
As
I stand here, looking at all of you, I remember and cherish the stories some of
you have told me of God’s surprising grace. So for a moment here, think of one
of those times. Maybe there is one that really stands out to you, something you
will never forget. Maybe it’s just a sense of overwhelming peace and love. Or
maybe there have been many times and it’s hard to pick just one of those times.
So just sit for a moment and enjoy the memory of God’s surprising grace…
(Pause)
Now
that you have that moment, yes, there are pieces of paper and markers at the
aisle end of each pew. Please take one of those and write or draw that moment
or those moments. And when the offering plate comes by, please put your moment
or moments of grace in the offering plate. Later today we will add them to our
banner for the Palm Sunday processional. And if you haven’t looked at it
lately, do look at it today. We’re going to cover both sides of it with all the
surprise and wonder and delight of the grace that God has so generously run out
to greet us with when we least expected it, when we most needed it, and when we
were empty and needed filling. AMEN.
The
Rev Nicolette Papanek
©2016
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