|
First
Reading
|
Psalm |
Epistle |
Gospel |
| Joshua 5:9–12 |
Psalm 32 |
2 Corinthians 5:16–21 |
Luke 15:1–3, 11b–32 |
The fifteenth chapter of Luke contains three closely related parables that all involve having a party at the end. First there is the parable of the shepherd who discovers one of the lambs has strayed from the protection of the herd and is in danger. The shepherd goes searching for the lamb and when he finds it, is relieved, returns it to the fold and shares his happiness with his companions. The second parable is about a woman who misses one of her valuable silver coins. It has apparently slipped behind the sofa or underneath a rug, or maybe even dropped off the desk into the trashcan. So she feels under the sofa cushions and pulls back the rug, and doesn’t stop looking until she finds where the coin has gone. The third parable, which we read today, is about a father who has two sons. One son is a wastrel, who leaves home and alienates himself from the family. Then one day, way in the distance, the father sees him returning home. The father drops everything he is doing and runs to welcome him back and is so glad that the son is safe and alive that the grateful father throws a huge celebration for all his neighbors.
Now it is somewhat ironic that the titles we have traditionally tagged on these parables are negative. We call them the parable of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal or lost son. Yet they are clearly parables about a found sheep, a found coin, and a found son. What ties these parables together is the shepherd, the widow, or the father who is concerned to find and is persistent in searching for the lost, and when the lost is found, heartily rejoices.
That is why we miss their impact if we do not recognize these stories as party parables. The primary analogy Jesus offers us is that God is like one who yearns for the return of those who are alienated and separated, and genuinely rejoices when people are reunited, restored, and reconnected to an awareness of God’s love. We tend to emphasize the lostness of human existence, and perhaps that is why tradition has assigned negative titles to these positive parables of party. Jesus, however, invites us to participate in God’s desire and initiative of healing, mending and reconciliation.
We have difficulty accepting this because we tend to think if God loves someone else, God loves us less. If God searches for the lost, that takes away something from us. This attitude fits with our larger culture that sees most things in terms of either being powerful or powerless. If you are powerless, you need to gain power and if you are powerful, you need to concentrate on holding on to what you have, if not striving to gain more. It is an “either - or” universe, and there is only a limited amount of power to go around, so whatever you gain, will be someone else’s loss and vice versa. Believing that there is only a limited amount of power, or grace or human potential to go around inevitably sows the seeds of human jealousy and violence. A world divided into haves and have-nots is definitely not a fruit of God’s commonwealth.
Tradition suggests the compiler of the Gospel of Luke may have been a physician, because Luke emphasizes healing in many of the stories of Jesus. I am not so sure that a conclusive case can be made, for there is no indication of specialized medical knowledge or training in the Gospel. Yet it is unquestionable that healing the sick is a helpful analogy in describing the mission of the church. A good nurse or physician doesn’t like sick people better than well people; good health professionals want to do all they can to bring people back to and maintain reasonable health. It is natural, I hope, for a surgical team to rejoice over the completion of a successful operation. It is natural for a hospital staff to rejoice when one is discharged from the hospital. Who would want to go to health professionals who worried that if you became well, they would lose their livelihood? In the same way, one needs never to be jealous of God’s grace. The love in God’s heart won’t run out. The question the parable of the prodigal son always raises is who really is the prodigal son? Which son is it that wastes the wise and kind legacy of his father? Which son really trusts the father’s goodwill and love? Therefore at all times and everywhere it is a good and joyful thing for us to rejoice in God’s mission to search for the lost, to be happy when God finds people, when people find God’s grace again, and it is so fitting — to celebrate and throw a party.
And
I offer this to you in the name of the Living God, Amen.
