SERMON FOR THE FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT

TEXT: Luke 15: 1-3, 11b-32

Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So he told them this parable: There was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.’ So he divided his property between them. A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need.  So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. 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! I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.”’ So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’  And they began to celebrate. “Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. He replied, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.’ Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. But he answered his father, ‘Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!’ Then the father said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.’”

TITLE: "Only Fair"

PREACHED BY: the Rev. Stuart R. Tucker at Carter Memorial United Methodist Church, Needham, MA on March 18, 2007.

We all know the fable of the ant and the grasshopper. The industrious ant worked hard all year gathering food for the winter. The fun-loving grasshopper never worked. He just played on his fiddle all day.

The ant would warn the grasshopper he’d better get ready for the snows, but the grasshopper would just make fun of the ant for not enjoying life. But then the snows came. The ant was safe and warm in her nest underground with plenty of food. The grasshopper was hungry and frozen in the snow outside. He was miserable, but it was only fair. He got what he deserved. It’s a hard lesson about the virtue of hard work and the bitter wages of laziness. It teaches a useful lesson about the real world, and that is what a fable is supposed to do.

In today’s gospel lesson we read the parable known as the prodigal son. It’s a mis-named parable, but more on that latter. Unlike a fable, which teaches what we already know about the world, a parable teaches about God, and sometimes God surprises us. Jesus created this story because of an incident between Jesus, a group of assorted sinners, and a group of Pharisees. Jesus was preaching to a group of tax collectors and other disreputable types, telling them the good news of God’s forgiveness. A group of Pharisees and scribes got together just within earshot. They murmured among themselves, pointing and Jesus and saying, "This man receives sinners and eats with them." There was Jesus trying to convince these outcasts that they were loved, and that God welcomes those who turn from their sins. Then along comes the religious crowd making it clear that to them Jesus’ audience was less than dirt, and would never be welcome no matter what.  Do you see why Jesus used to get cross  with people like the scribes and Pharisees? It’s like when a little league coach is trying to build up his players’ confidence only to have the adults in the bleachers screaming at the children that they stink. So what does Jesus do? He starts telling stories. The first was about a man with a hundred sheep. When he lost one he left the other ninety-nine and searched for that one lost sheep. When he found it he carried it back on his shoulders. He called his friends and neighbors together and they had a party. Jesus said that’s how it is in heaven. There is more joy over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine who need no repentance.

The second parable was about a woman who had ten coins and lost one. Jesus said God is like the woman, because she swept the house from top to bottom  until she found the coin. Then she called her friends together to have a party. That, Jesus said, is how God and the angels celebrate whenever one sinner repents. With these two stories Jesus captured the attention of his audience, including that of his critics. The experience of losing something that is so valuable we stop what we are doing and search for it is a universal one, in both the first and twenty-first centuries. Reading glasses: I own half a dozen. You’d think I’d never have to search for a pair. Your car keys; Your wallet; The postit on which you wrote your department’s budget for next quarter; The napkin on which the young woman you met last night wrote her phone number. I lost something particularly valuable to me: my voice. I could not sing in the choir; could not sing the hymns on Sunday; could not preach or teach or call on people without considerable pain and discomfort. This was bad news for me, professionally. Like most preachers I am rather fond of the sound of my own voice. But it also affected me mentally and spiritually as well. But I’ve been in voice therapy, and my speaking voice is healed and I am recovering my singing voice. The closing hymn I have chosen from the new hymnal is my invitation to you, my friends and neighbors, to celebrate and rejoice with me, for something precious which was lost has been found.

So with the first two stories Jesus captured his audience. With a third story Jesus drove his point home. Jesus told a parable about a father with two sons. As we shall see, both were lost, but in different ways. The first part of the parable is the story with which we are most familiar. The younger son asked the father for his inheritance so he could go out and start living la vita loca. This he did until the money ran out  and then the younger son was slopping pigs for a living. Eventually he remembered that the hired hands on his father’s farm were better off than he was, so he decided to go back home. His plan was to ask for a job as a farm hand. He knew he was no longer worthy to be treated as a son. When the father saw him coming he ran out to meet him. He jugged and kissed him. He called for the best robe, shoes and a ring,  and ordered a fatted calf to be killed for a feast,  and they had a party. If the parable had ended here it would deserve to be one of the best known and loved passages of scripture. It reveals so clearly how much God forgives and welcomes us when we turn to him. But in fact the first part of the story only serves to set the stage for what comes next. The older brother was coming home from the field.  He was covered with the dirt and sweat of an honest day’s work.  As he got near the house he realized a party had been going on while he was working. He asked one the hands and learned the celebration was a welcome home party for his worthless younger brother. What’s more, as the sole remaining heir of the estate, technically that was his well-marbled veal they were feasting on. Now that wasn’t fair. The older brother had been doing right, and he got no acknowledgement. The younger brother made a total wreak of his life and now he was being treated like a hero. No matter how you look at it that wasn’t fair. But the father didn’t try to say it was fair. All he said was, "…we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead, and has come to life; he was lost and has been found." Now if you find yourself feeling sorry for the older brother, if you are a little scandalized by the unfairness of it all, and find yourself resisting this picture of a God who could be so unjust; Then good! You get the point.

Remember why Jesus told the story? The scribes and Pharisees, whose pillars of the religious community who objected to Jesus being friendly to sinners: they were the real targets of this parable. With the story of the younger son and the loving father  Jesus lured them in and set them up. By telling the story of the older brother Jesus sprung the trap on his critics. The Pharisees were like the older brother. They believed in everybody getting what they deserved. You got respect if you behaved respectably. If you sinned you could get lost and stay lost. You were no longer fit for the company of decent people. That’s only fair. When Jesus welcomed sinners and ate with them he was breaking the rules. That wasn’t fair. But it was the amazing, surprising grace of God. The love of God is not fair, not by our human standards. By our standards the early bird catches the worm and devil take the hindmost. But by God’s standards the first shall be last and the last shall be first. By our standards of fairness the hard working ant stays warm all winter and the lazy grasshopper gets left out in the cold. But God is not tied to our standards of fairness. God is free to love both the early bird and the Johnny come lately. God can love both the ant and the grasshopper. And just as the father loved both the good son who stayed home and the prodigal who ran away, so God loves us when we do what’s right and still loves us and seeks our return when we are lost. Now that’s not fair. But the Bible never claims that God is fair. It says the Lord is merciful, and kind, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. God is not fair, because God seeks the lost and receives every sinner who turns to him. Now we must decide for ourselves, what kind of God do we believe in, and what kind of God do we, by our actions represent? Do we want to believe in a God who is only fair, or do we believe in one who is a source of amazing grace? Can we be like our Lord, and follow his example. Can we become his instruments for seeking the lost? Can we welcome people we know have sinned?  Or will we be only fair? The challenge for us is to be ambassadors and representatives of the God whom Jesus revealed to us: a God who is not fair, but who welcomes sinners and celebrates when one repents. Can we be that church which patiently seeks out the lost and forgives and loves no matter what the cost? Lord grant that the point of Jesus’ parable pierce us to the heart, so that we can go beyond what’s only fair. May we as forgiving and welcoming  as the God we claim to represent.