Pentecost 17, the Prodigal Son Luke 15

Luke 15 :11-32

Th story of the lost sheep and the prodigal son are about who enters the kingdom of God, who is welcomed by God. And the answer is those who repent, turn away from what they are doing wrong and start doing what is right. This sounds easy but in reality is very difficult. 

The bad guys, the Pharisees have been complaining that Jesus welcomes sinners and eats with them, so Jesus tells them the story of the Prodigal Son.

The younger son says "Give me my share of the property". So in these days before inheritance tax and care charges, - he separated, and distributed. Even then it was unusual to divide an estate between the sons before the father's death, but it is only a story. It is possible that the son is taking a share of the family property (one third) and foregoing his inheritance. The parable serves to illustrate the father's generosity, and leaves us wondering whether the younger son will show himself worthy of the father's trust. The root meaning of the word used for property here  is "life", but here the word is being used in the sense of "means of family income", that which gives life to the family.

  

Soon after the younger son cashed in his inheritance and went away to a far country and squandered his inheritance on reckless living.  He was  forced to work for a Gentile in a job that compromised his faith, and to feed pigs. He even ate the pigs food because he was so hungry.

He came to his senses because he was starving to  death. And decides to go back home to his father, and say to him " I have sinned against you and against heaven and earth. I am no longer worthy, to be called your son. I am like one of your hired servants."

He went home and even when he was  a long way off from home his father saw him or got news of his coming, and was filled with compassion for him. He ran to him, fell on the ground and threw his arms around him and hugged him. He put on him his best robe and gave him a ring and sandals, because servants did not wear sandals. He prepared a banquet in celebration for the lost son's return to the family, because his son was dead and was now alive. His relationship with his son was dead but was now restored. 

 

But meanwhile the older son is sulking and he comes home to hear this merry making, and he's consumed with jealousy and anger. The father goes out to plead with him and says everything I have is yours. But your brother is lost and now is found, was dead and now is alive. What do you think happened next? 

                              

  

Lent for Ordinary People-Ash Wednesday

During the service for Ash Wednesday a cross is drawn on your forehead in ash and we are reminded that from dust we have come and to dust we will return. So begins Lent.

Ash Wednesday is about  repentance. Repentence in the Greek of Jesus' day doesnt just mean saying sorry, it means a change of direction. Not just words but a change of intention. We can all do with time for self reflection to get us back to our own "true North".

In the Old Testament, Amos speaks  of the inevitability of God's judgment on a
society that turns it's back on humility before God and tramples the poor, by laying burdens on them in the form of taxes, taxes on food. How appropriate for today in Britain! Judgement will come on the rich, says the prophet, on the leaders, the powerful, who have turned away from humility to a life of materialism and comfort, who have turned away from caring, to feather their own
nests. Such times are evil says Amos. As for the wise, the godly, he tells them to follow goodness and not evil "that you may live" with echoes of Deuteronomy -"Choose life!". There's a health warning here, and a promise-if you seek good, God will be with you. If you seek justice, God will be with you.

In the well known story of the prodigal son, the father is like God. He has riches, inheritance to give and he shares it out with his sons. One chooses to live wildly-that is his choice. He is like some of us, maybe. He is like our society. Live, drink and be merry! He runs out of money and becomes a begger, scrounging the pigs food and finally he comes to his senses and returns to his father. Similarly we have been given an inheritance, our faith is an inheritance and as God's people we can squander it; our society has been given an inheritance and we can end up selling it off. The NHS, the Welfare State. Will we return to God as the son returned to his father?

Jesus cries from the cross "Father forgive them, for they dont know what they are doing".
In these words there is the recognition by Jesus that what we do is inevitably short of the mark. We are always messing things up. We can all look back and realize our failings. We are all capable of
crucifying Jesus in our own way by losing that humility, of relationship of the creator to the created one, losing the sense of the sacred, the sense of the divine image within us. And so becoming Godless.

And so we say sorry. Not just for the big mistakes, the mistakes we inherit as part of a flawed humanity but also for our individual failings; for our capacity to treat others whoever they maybe as less than ourselves. We create in this way-fragmentation, an unloving, competitive people who neither care for one another or their neighbours. We may excuse our behaviour but God does not. And we cant help it!

And we accept that in some way that we may not fully understand Christ has made an atonement for us and we can be at peace. Forgiven. Whatever we have done. We can make a new beginning, a returning, like a lost wayward child, to make amends, like the prodigal son, to make our peace with God, the God whose mantle covers us all and who we worship ....fitfully.

"Teach us to sit still
Our peace in His will...
And let my cry come unto Thee." Ash Wednesday, T.S.Elliot. 1930.