Today is my husband John’s birthday.  It is interesting that I have preached, on my father’s, my brother’s and now my husband’s birthdays.  There is a real family connection.  John’s birthday follows St. Patrick’s Day a nice upbeat holiday.  Whereas my birthday on 3/15 is the Ides of March best known as the date Julius Caesar was killed by Brutus.  Now some of you may be saying, oh shoot, I didn’t realize it was Mary’s birthday this week. Don’t you like the sneaky way I planted for you to remember my birthday next year?  Well anyway, while celebrations may be common on a birthday, this story today speaks of an unexpected and extraordinary celebration.

This parable, which was dramatized this morning, is also about family connections.  While this story is familiar to most of us, there is a lot to this parable and Jesus is clearly making a significant point as it is the third story of something that is lost and then found following the story of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin.

Jesus is associating with tax collectors and sinners and the Pharisees and scribes, the religious people of the day, resent it.  To this original audience, he tells this shocking story.  It is more startling to the 1^st century Palestinian due to their culture so we must step into their sandals for a moment to fully appreciate the message.  “And the younger of the brothers said to his Father “give me the share of the property that will belong to me.  So he divided his property between them” (Luke 15:12).  It is a great insult for a son to request his inheritance while the father is still living.  Some settling up could occur on a deathbed, but not while a parent was in good health.  The property is split between the brothers, in essence leaving the father without land. This is like wishing for the father’s death. ^[1] and is an extraordinary insult.  And if division of his inheritance is not enough, he also impliedly asks and gets the right to dispose of the property.  So this younger son does not just go off to seek fame and fortune or to sew his wild oats; but he wants to seek this freedom and wild ride on the back of his father and his money.  Can you imagine how you would feel and react if your kids said, “sell your house Mom and Dad, liquidate your 401(k) and other savings and give me my half now.  No, you won’t have interest or earnings to live on, but that’s your problem.”  The parent in this parable loves so completely that he grants the freedom to love and the freedom to reject his love. 

What we don’t often focus on in this story is the older brother.  And if we do consider him, it is usually to relate with him, since he is supposedly the good child.  However, in his culture, he should have been the reconciler. It was his duty to have objected to his brother’s request for property and to try to reconcile the family.  Even if he hated his brother, mideastern custom would dictate that he serve as reconciler for his father’s sake. Deficient in serving in that role, he should of at least rejected the distribution of the other half of the estate to himself for this left the father dependent upon him.  So the older brother is also out of family connection.  He is at home, but not really at home. He is not in right relationship with his father. He too by his actions and lack of love is wishing his father dead.

The story continues and the younger son wastes the money and ends up living with the pigs.  He is literally starving to death.  A lone Jew in a foreign land, cut off from his religion and community.  In this low moment he remembers that even the servants of his father have enough to eat and he decides to come home.  He has his speech ready for his father.  He has prepared his confession “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” (Luke 15. 1518b-19). His hometown will not be welcoming to him, because his rejection of the father is a rejection of their community as well.  Maybe you can relate to some aspect of the prodigal son’s waywardness I certainly can.  Well we have all sorts of stories throughout history of people that leave home, if you will, and run away from God; all sorts of pursuits and waywardness separate them.

I recently read an essay by a famous author entitled My Confession.   He was raised in the Orthodox Christian Faith in the 1800’s in Russia. When he went off to college he discarded all belief and realized later that he never had a serious belief.  In a search for meaning he strove for perfection and began with an intellectual pursuit.  Then he decided that moral perfection was the key. However, he wished to be better not in his own eyes or in God’s, but as he says in the “sight of other men and very soon this striving again changed into another desire to have more power than others, to secure for myself a greater share of fame, of social distinction, and of wealth”. ^[2]  Well he became a famous and wealthy author of social distinction and this did not satisfy. Have you guessed to whom I am referring?  Yes, it is Leo Tolstoi who wrote one of the world’s greatest novels, War and Peace?  Since this wasn’t enough Tolstoi pursued a new experience, family life.  He married has something like 13 children and dedicated 15 years to his family.  To which he said, “The new circumstances of a happy family life completely led me away from the search for the meaning of life as a whole”.^[3]  He finally came to the conclusion that life was meaningless and he fell into a suicidal despair.  After exploring all sorts of paths including perfectionism, achievement, family, philosophy, and science- he finally decided to turn his attention to faith.  It was in the faith of the peasant believers that he came home to God.   He realized that his pursuits were based on reason, while his faith came from the heart. God calls us home.

Now back to the parable, the father has been keeping watch. Knowing the village will reject his son, he dishonors himself by running to meet him. You see it is undignified for a man in flowing robes to run in eastern culture.  The father’s acceptance of the son prevents the son from retribution by the rejected community.  The Father, who is a symbol for God, cares more for his children than for himself.  He humbles himself so that the child is reconciled with the community and with him. The Father’s kiss is an act of forgiveness. He does not make the son a servant, because the Father desires a relationship with the son.   But there are ramifications of sonship- the younger son must commit to the relationship and give authority to the Father.  The repentant son has confessed. He was lost and is now found.” (Luke 15:24).  A celebration is in order “Get the fatted calf and kill it and let us eat and celebrate” – the entire community will be invited to rebond with the wayward son who has returned. The best robe (likely the fathers), a ring (indicating he is trusted) and sandals indicating that he is a free person are placed on the son.

Now the older brother hears the festivities. Custom dictates that he must serve as a host and yet he will not enter the house and fulfill his role. Once again he tries to humiliate the father.  Yet, the Father, humbles himself as he did with the younger son and goes out to him.  The older son in this story has consistently failed to reconcile the family.  It is revealing and intriguing that this story is being told by Jesus, the Son of God, and the ultimate reconciler.  The Son of God is born in human flesh, to be in solidarity with humans, to know our struggles and our lives. The incarnation is an incredible act of reconciliation.  The Son of God shows his love for us, unlike the older son who showed no compassion for his father or his brother.  The Son of God humbles himself like the Father in the story.  And yes the Son of God even dies for us while we are yet sinners; breaking the barriers of sin that keep us far from home.  In Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians that we heard this morning, he tells them “in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them” (2 Corinthians 5: 19). 

Over the years, I have met people that feel they have done too much wrong for God to embrace them, too much to come home. That is not what this parable illustrates.  No one is beyond God’s love. I know someone who traveled around Europe after college. He ran out of money and almost starved.  His father was a very wealthy and a prominent businessperson.  When asked why he didn’t go home he merely said, he would rather die than admit defeat to his father.  Our heavenly parent welcomes us home with open arms and a great celebration.

I know that many of you may suffer from broken relationships.  Your family was not peaceful and loving.  You may have had an abusive male in your life and have difficulty with God as Father.  Well that is ok; personally I believe, as did the early church writers that God is gender neutral. Of the three lost stories, the God is depicted as a shepherd, the father in this story and a woman who has lost a coin.  So think of a heavenly parent, if you like.  A close relationship is what Jesus wanted to relay.  God, as revealed through Jesus Christ calls us home to a place of unconditional love; a home where our heavenly parent willingly humbles his or herself.  A home where we are always welcome no matter what we have done or omitted to do. 

Many of you, particularly in the 20 to 40-year-old range yearn for community and relationships that you do not find at work or in the world.  You might have been raised by two working parents striving to get ahead and TV may have been your companion or babysitter as a child. Many families may have been broken by divorce and you may feel let down. It may feel like people and society broke their commitments to you.  But Jesus will not let you down. God wants a loving family restored to right relationship and Jesus is our reconciler to that right relationship. 

“In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself… and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.  So we are ambassadors for Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:19).  So we must ask, do we rejoice when others come home? Do we share the story of unconditional love and do we live the story?  Will we go outside the walls of the church and embrace others with open arms?   You have heard that we have a hospitality ministry.  We are trying to raise our consciousness and authentically extend God’s welcome to all who grace our doors. Are we not called in this story to give the best robe to others, to celebrate with the fatted calf?  I hear glorious stories of people welcoming visitors and walking them over to the children’s chapel; introducing them to the Sunday school teachers.  We celebrate that there are people who give tours, host nametag tables, host the welcome center and many more frontline ministries.  Whether you serve in an official role, we are all, all called to be Ambassadors for Christ. This parable calls us to step out of our comfort zone; to risk humiliation and even rejection, whether that means walking with others in their faith journey or living out a simple rule of 10.  What’s the rule of 10?  You make it a point to greet everyone within 10 feet of you and hopefully by name.  Now at the end of this month, we are finishing our first Alpha Course.  About 50 of us have celebrated over dinner, jokes, music, a talk and table discussion about big questions of life and faith.  I know I have been blessed by the guests and team.  It is an incredible privilege for someone to invite you into their life, their joys, doubts and fears and allow you as a fellow pilgrim to walk alongside.  I invite you to pray about the Fall Alpha course and about friends you could invite who would benefit.  It is a great way for you to be Ambassadors for Christ. 

God loves us so much that God is running towards us and rejoices when one of us comes home.  You who are lonely come home. You who are bruised come home. You who are weary come home.  Jesus is gently and tenderly calling, come home.