March 18, 2007 LSB Lent 4c.
God is our strength, our lifesong, and our salvation. We deserve no good
thing from Him, but He gives to us anyway out of mercy. He provides for body
and soul. He fills us with a desire to serve Him. He gives true love without
any pretext or conditions, calling us to be His own beloved children.
Yet on this Rejoice Sunday, we confess we often act like both of the sons
of the parable. Do you waste God's love? Do you act as if people must be
worth His love? Do you treat others, even brothers & sisters in Christ, as
some unworthy strangers by your standards?
Our Heavenly Father's love is shocking at times, and hard to comprehend or
apply. He comes to us in His Word so give us power to love as He does.
Understanding the Father's Prodigal Love.
Neither son did; we're both sons; God's power must change us to love others
like He does.
As I said in the children's message, the biggest thing wasted by the
younger son was not the lifetime of his father's property & savings which were
sold at firesale prices so he could quickly leave. He took the things that
were his father's, claimed they were his own, and turned his back on his him -
saying the father was as good as dead.
Our Epistle tells about wisdom, influence, noble birth, and other things
God gives people. It's just as right to say God gives us musical talent,
athletic ability, mechanical aptitude, scholastic achievement, and abundant
opportunities to people today. Do you see them as His property? Or yours?
God also gives rain, sun, soil, wind, muscles, and savvy to farmers. He
gives eyes to see grandkids; ears to hear music; mobility to walk to the car
then to drive on vacation; the senses to take in a spring morning's cool air
and smells; and more.
And many act as if it is ALL theirs for the taking. "God is dead" so lets
get on with what we REALLY want to do! Just like the younger son. Not like
the 1-vs-100 sheep that drifted off; not like the 1-of-10 coins lost in the
dark; but spurning God intentionally.
But do YOU always act as if God your Father is around? That all things in
life are HIS property? You don't. You don't appreciate or understand the
fantastic intensity of God's love for you.
The younger prodigal discovered as long as you have what others want and
you are willing to part with it, they will mooch off you. They won't care if
you won the state playoffs ten years ago. They won't care that you had great
talent at work if you have an accident and can't perform anymore. They won't
care if you were popular or good looking when you're in the nursing home.
You're used up.
Mohammed Ali was interviewed by a magazine a few years ago. For those who
don't know, he was the heavyweight champion of boxing years ago. Now he
mumbles due to boxing Parkinson's, from all the blows to the head. His many
trophies are displayed in a broken-down chicken coop - yes, with chickens
living among the trophies.
Who wants some prodigal foreigner with no money to waste? He did not
respect his father, so now in disrespect the Jew lives with pigs. They don't
even care if he gets paid or gets food. They take care of their own first -
prodigals, not ever.
So long as you have a gift from God the world values, they will take it.
When it's gone & the going is tough: you're trash.
Like an alcoholic hitting rock bottom, the boy finally realized SOMETHING
was wrong; missing; and he had no place to turn: except.
Sadly, the younger boy does not really repent. He does not change his
mind about his status as a son. He does not feel worthy. He thinks he must
EARN his sonship.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch. dad waited.
When he removed the ragged clothes, put the family ring on the finger, and
the shoes that signified he was not a servant: the father welcomed him back AS
his son. The servants knew that, and readied a fiesta to celebrate.
The older prodigal son did not understand the father's love either. He
viewed his father as a slavemaster who had to be obeyed. The same old man who
ran out to the younger son ran out to the elder son with the very same message:
you are part of my family.
Failing to greet that man as his father should have earned him a beating;
or worse. The father should also have disinherited him for lack of respect he
showed toward both his father and his younger brother (see Deuteronomy
21:18-21).
What did the elder son grumble? I've been your SLAVE for years; I'm not
really a son. I obey orders. What did the elder son grumble? You didn't pay
me with a party-sized goat to feast with my friends - again, implying his
family means nothing. A fattened calf could feed dozens! You WASTE food on
your son? To claim you as father means he is my brother.
But, what about you? Do you welcome someone who has been absent from
God's House? Do you search for them to invite them; or do you overlook them
and shun them because they are poor, too fat, foreigners, or "just not your
kind of people"?
Do act as if God should forgive you, or give you heaven because you have
been better than others? Do you ignore your church family in favor of
non-Christian friends?
Are there people who have sinned too much to ever be considered as
Christians again? I wonder how often we put the worst construction on
everything rather than the best.
Back to Christ's parables. Like the older prodigal who wasted his
father's love, the Pharisees viewed their relations with God as Law, and wanted
no part of God's unconditional forgiveness and compassion.
Like the younger prodigal, we often assume God's gifts belong to us and
waste them. Then feel we must become worthy before we can return to God's
House.
But the GREAT Prodigal is the father. He wasted love. He sold his
property and gave it to a prodigal son who wanted nothing to do with him. He
ran out to reclaim him as valuable when he had squandered all.
But the GREAT Prodigal is the father. He wasted love. He acted kindly to
his rebellious, cold, and self-righteous boy out of love for him.
God is prodigal. He does not instantly condemn those who hate him and act
like He is dead. He gives them so many gifts. He works in circumstance
(famines in foreign lands) to bring people back to Him, where He welcomes us
with open arms - UNworthy as we all are.
God is prodigal with His love. When we believe we are better than others,
do not celebrate repentance, refuse to invite or eat with sinners, God still
comes to plead with us.
"The foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of
God is stronger than man's strength." The love God has for us is that way,
too. The tiniest bit of compassion from God is greater than any act of love we
have ever done.
In the extravagant, wasteful, excessive, prodigal love God has for
sinners, He sent Jesus Christ to the cross. By His death, we have the
inheritance of eternal life; and we are called His beloved children.
As I read the parable of the prodigal, I get a little unsettled. Unlike
other parables, the story isn't finished. Does the younger son ever realize
that he IS a son and believe in his father's love? Does the older son finally
realize he has many wrong ideas about the relationship he has with his father;
and hence his brother? Does either brother ever truly repent of their sins?
Jesus tells this parable to help us understand the prodigal love of God.
Faith is a relationship God works in us by means of Word & Sacraments. For all
our faults: acting like the younger OR the older brother, we are His children
and He loves us deeply.
We do not lose our worth by our rebellion, nor do we gain it by obedience.
God loves us by grace. Our worth comes from the sacrifice of Christ. His
cross is the power of God to save us, and it is the thing of which all
Christians boast and rejoice in.
May the prodigal love and merciful goodness of our Lord restore us, change
us, & then move us to rejoice in His cross, act in compassion toward others and
cheerfully serve Him in willing obedience. Amen.
Pastor Michael Harman,
St. Peter LCMS - Newell, IA
vacancies at ...
Immanuel, Pomeroy
First Evangelical, Fonda
