Lent 4

 The prodigal son … who has heard this one before? It’s funny how the better we know a story the harder it is to preach.    It means we all know this story inside and out…and if we didn’t, the title says all.           Or does it? There are three main characters in this parable…a father and two sons, and we hear the perspectives of each at some point or another in the tale.  And what we pay attention to is strongly determined by who we are.  Do you feel yourself to be prodigal? Or are you a parent waiting to the return of one you love? Or are you the responsible one who slaves away with recognition.   Each of our lives can be reflected in this story, and each of us tend to relate to one character or another. It is a popular story and one we have become quite familiar with, but have you ever taken the time to realize exactly how ludicrous this story is? Can you imagine a child asking for their inheritance while the parent is in their prime?  Can you imagine your heirs making such a request?  While you were in your 40’s?  Beyond the audacity of such a request, most people’s assets aren’t simply sitting in the petty cash drawer… the father in our story would have to sell large tracts of land, sell off livestock, likely at a loss…reduce his income and the profitability of his estates.  Not to mention this man had two sons, who knows how many daughters and wives, he had servants, slaves and a household to manage …now on half of what he had before.  Imagine the hardship! …and all we read is ‘the younger said to his father, “father, give me the share of my property that will belong to me.’ So, he divided his property between them.   No one would ever do this!  No reasonable child would suggest it and no parent would agree to it…it’s madness.  And can you imagine the fights in that household when it was done. Nevertheless we read, the son receives the inheritance and goes off to party in foreign lands and wastes his entire family fortune.  We eventually arrive at the point where he realized that he’s done a terrible thing and then repents of it. And the question I have is ‘does he really repent?’  we generally understand that it is so, and we are in lent so we assume that is the lesson of the story, but if we look at the text… 15:17 But when he came to himself he said, 'How many of my father's hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! 15:18 I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; 15:19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands."' This doesn’t sound like repentance, it sounds like a plan, and a mellow dramatic one at that.  Not a true hearted and simple I am so sorry… it’s exaggerated to the point of drama.  I wonder what he expected to happen?  He knew his father well enough to make the audacious claim for inheritance, perhaps he knows which buttons to press to get back in the father’s good graces once more?  Prodigal son?  Perhaps manipulating son? He reminds me of Jacob the schemer who stole his brother’s inheritance. Check out Genesis 25 if you’ve forgotten the story. And then we go from one brother to another.  After the youngest brother is welcomed with open arms, enrobed with fur and covered in family heirlooms, the fatted calf killed and wine cask broken open, we cut to the eldest brother. The elder brother who witnessed the shocking scene years before when half the family estate was torn away and the brother who should have been working alongside him…abandoned him for a life of party and pleasure.  The elder and responsible brother who likely had to pick up the load dropped by this younger brother.      Imagine how he would feel! Don’t forget as well that the properties had been divided and the youngest already received his share…so the robes, the rings and the fatted calf, by rights would have been part of the elder brother’s inheritance…and now, even these were being given to the younger.  And no one even bothered to tell him what was going on…he was left in the fields toiling away…while his brother partied. Again.  The elder brother had to find out from one of the slaves what was happening… it is no wonder that he became angry and refused to go in. And then in the midst of all this madness, the father pleads for the elder brother to forgive and join the celebration.  Perhaps the parable should be called the Parable of the Foolish Father.  Because none of his actions make sense, his action is not fair…not logical…not normal.  Listeners in Jesus time would have been awestruck by the foolish simplicity of the father in this story. And perhaps that is the point, “For since in the wisdom of God, the world through it’s wisdom didn’t know Him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.” 1Cor 1:21 “For the foolishness of God is wiser than a man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.” 1 Cor 1:25 No one in their right mind would seek the cross for salvation…an instrument of torture and death as the means of life and health…yet it is so.  Contrary to expectations and logic we are called to embrace the foolishness of God.  In the father figure in our parable we are confronted with the mirror of a God who is extravagant and generous beyond all reason.  A God who forgives the unpardonable and expects us, pleads with us, to do the same.  Ours is a God who simply doesn’t do what is fair and reasonable…and thanks be to God for that! Because what we need in our world is beyond what is reasonable and beyond what could be expected.  Thanks be, for a God who even when people chose to step away, chooses to love, and plead and embrace.  Thanks be, for a God who counters anger and hurt, with love and acceptance and a willingness to let people take their time and then waits with them. Thanks be for a God who calls us to slaughter the fatted calf and throw a party in the midst of a desperate situation.  The church these days seems to be in the midst of  desperate situation.  There is much debate about what the future will look like, how COVID has affected worship and whether the church will continue to produce any fruit or if the church is withering away. It is not unlike the parable of the fig tree of last week.  Where the owner planted a fig tree and three years later when it still hadn’t produced fruit was ready to cut it down. However, we read the gardener said give me more time, let me nurture this tree and we shall see if it will fruit. I think that we often think like the landowner, Logic and responsible management tells us to tighten the belt and prepare to dig in…to make cuts and pare back.  To get rid of trees that bear no fruit in a quick and orderly fashion.  To stick with the tried and true.  However, it may simply be our expectations that need to be adjusted.  The owner of that fig tree had the expectation that the tree would be covered in fruit within 3 years…and some fig trees do mature that fast, but the reality is that fig tree can take up to 6 years to achieve mature fruit!  Patience is what was needed, not the ax!  Especially if we fig trees have had years of plague to contend with. The parable of the foolish father or the lost son…tells us to adjust what we expect to happen and foolhardily expect the unexpected.  This is the basis of our entire gospel, this is the Good News.  We read over and over again that the way of the cross is simply foolishness and in our parable today the response of our foolish God in the midst of hardship is to rejoice and celebrate every step of the way.  So, perhaps we are called to be fools for Christ!  To cast off expectation and realistic assumptions and do what is ludicrous and counter intuitive… and live in joy…joyful expectation that what has been lost will be found and what some would call failure is simply an opportunity to embrace God’s foolish ways. After all our whole faith is based around a God that does the unexpected and is generous and abundant in ways that make no sense at all.    That the way of the cross is the way to resurrection and new life…So I say lets go with it! Let’s not stand outside and wait to see what happens, frustrated at what has happened but rather let’s join into God’s unexpected party, take part in the foolishness and live life in abundant community. Lets take the manure that is all around and use it to make that fig tree grow!  It may take 3 years or it may take 6, but God’s kingdom will grow and bear fruit. So thanks be to God for the place we are in and the community that we have.  Thanks be to God for a faith which looks at death and sees new life growing.  Thanks be to God for the foolish fathers and persistent gardeners.  Thanks be to God for each of you here this day. I look forward to the growth that is going to spring forth among us as we all become fools for Christ. amen      The prodigal son … who has heard this one before? It’s funny how the better we know a story the harder it is to preach.    It means we all know this story inside and out…and if we didn’t, the title says all.           Or does it? There are three main characters in this parable…a father and two sons, and we hear the perspectives of each at some point or another in the tale.  And what we pay attention to is strongly determined by who we are.  Do you feel yourself to be prodigal? Or are you a parent waiting to the return of one you love? Or are you the responsible one who slaves away with recognition.   Each of our lives can be reflected in this story, and each of us tend to relate to one character or another. It is a popular story and one we have become quite familiar with, but have you ever taken the time to realize exactly how ludicrous this story is? Can you imagine a child asking for their inheritance while the parent is in their prime?  Can you imagine your heirs making such a request?  While you were in your 40’s?  Beyond the audacity of such a request, most people’s assets aren’t simply sitting in the petty cash drawer… the father in our story would have to sell large tracts of land, sell off livestock, likely at a loss…reduce his income and the profitability of his estates.  Not to mention this man had two sons, who knows how many daughters and wives, he had servants, slaves and a household to manage …now on half of what he had before.  Imagine the hardship! …and all we read is ‘the younger said to his father, “father, give me the share of my property that will belong to me.’ So, he divided his property between them.   No one would ever do this!  No reasonable child would suggest it and no parent would agree to it…it’s madness.  And can you imagine the fights in that household when it was done. Nevertheless we read, the son receives the inheritance and goes off to party in foreign lands and wastes his entire family fortune.  We eventually arrive at the point where he realized that he’s done a terrible thing and then repents of it. And the question I have is ‘does he really repent?’  we generally understand that it is so, and we are in lent so we assume that is the lesson of the story, but if we look at the text… 15:17 But when he came to himself he said, 'How many of my father's hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! 15:18 I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; 15:19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands."' This doesn’t sound like repentance, it sounds like a plan, and a mellow dramatic one at that.  Not a true hearted and simple I am so sorry… it’s exaggerated to the point of drama.  I wonder what he expected to happen?  He knew his father well enough to make the audacious claim for inheritance, perhaps he knows which buttons to press to get back in the father’s good graces once more?  Prodigal son?  Perhaps manipulating son? He reminds me of Jacob the schemer who stole his brother’s inheritance. Check out Genesis 25 if you’ve forgotten the story. And then we go from one brother to another.  After the youngest brother is welcomed with open arms, enrobed with fur and covered in family heirlooms, the fatted calf killed and wine cask broken open, we cut to the eldest brother. The elder brother who witnessed the shocking scene years before when half the family estate was torn away and the brother who should have been working alongside him…abandoned him for a life of party and pleasure.  The elder and responsible brother who likely had to pick up the load dropped by this younger brother.      Imagine how he would feel! Don’t forget as well that the properties had been divided and the youngest already received his share…so the robes, the rings and the fatted calf, by rights would have been part of the elder brother’s inheritance…and now, even these were being given to the younger.  And no one even bothered to tell him what was going on…he was left in the fields toiling away…while his brother partied. Again.  The elder brother had to find out from one of the slaves what was happening… it is no wonder that he became angry and refused to go in. And then in the midst of all this madness, the father pleads for the elder brother to forgive and join the celebration.  Perhaps the parable should be called the Parable of the Foolish Father.  Because none of his actions make sense, his action is not fair…not logical…not normal.  Listeners in Jesus time would have been awestruck by the foolish simplicity of the father in this story. And perhaps that is the point, “For since in the wisdom of God, the world through it’s wisdom didn’t know Him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.” 1Cor 1:21 “For the foolishness of God is wiser than a man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.” 1 Cor 1:25 No one in their right mind would seek the cross for salvation…an instrument of torture and death as the means of life and health…yet it is so.  Contrary to expectations and logic we are called to embrace the foolishness of God.  In the father figure in our parable we are confronted with the mirror of a God who is extravagant and generous beyond all reason.  A God who forgives the unpardonable and expects us, pleads with us, to do the same.  Ours is a God who simply doesn’t do what is fair and reasonable…and thanks be to God for that! Because what we need in our world is beyond what is reasonable and beyond what could be expected.  Thanks be, for a God who even when people chose to step away, chooses to love, and plead and embrace.  Thanks be, for a God who counters anger and hurt, with love and acceptance and a willingness to let people take their time and then waits with them. Thanks be for a God who calls us to slaughter the fatted calf and throw a party in the midst of a desperate situation.  The church these days seems to be in the midst of  desperate situation.  There is much debate about what the future will look like, how COVID has affected worship and whether the church will continue to produce any fruit or if the church is withering away. It is not unlike the parable of the fig tree of last week.  Where the owner planted a fig tree and three years later when it still hadn’t produced fruit was ready to cut it down. However, we read the gardener said give me more time, let me nurture this tree and we shall see if it will fruit. I think that we often think like the landowner, Logic and responsible management tells us to tighten the belt and prepare to dig in…to make cuts and pare back.  To get rid of trees that bear no fruit in a quick and orderly fashion.  To stick with the tried and true.  However, it may simply be our expectations that need to be adjusted.  The owner of that fig tree had the expectation that the tree would be covered in fruit within 3 years…and some fig trees do mature that fast, but the reality is that fig tree can take up to 6 years to achieve mature fruit!  Patience is what was needed, not the ax!  Especially if we fig trees have had years of plague to contend with. The parable of the foolish father or the lost son…tells us to adjust what we expect to happen and foolhardily expect the unexpected.  This is the basis of our entire gospel, this is the Good News.  We read over and over again that the way of the cross is simply foolishness and in our parable today the response of our foolish God in the midst of hardship is to rejoice and celebrate every step of the way.  So, perhaps we are called to be fools for Christ!  To cast off expectation and realistic assumptions and do what is ludicrous and counter intuitive… and live in joy…joyful expectation that what has been lost will be found and what some would call failure is simply an opportunity to embrace God’s foolish ways. After all our whole faith is based around a God that does the unexpected and is generous and abundant in ways that make no sense at all.    That the way of the cross is the way to resurrection and new life…So I say lets go with it! Let’s not stand outside and wait to see what happens, frustrated at what has happened but rather let’s join into God’s unexpected party, take part in the foolishness and live life in abundant community. Lets take the manure that is all around and use it to make that fig tree grow!  It may take 3 years or it may take 6, but God’s kingdom will grow and bear fruit. So thanks be to God for the place we are in and the community that we have.  Thanks be to God for a faith which looks at death and sees new life growing.  Thanks be to God for the foolish fathers and persistent gardeners.  Thanks be to God for each of you here this day. I look forward to the growth that is going to spring forth among us as we all become fools for Christ. amen