Pastor Tom Johnson, March 6, 2016
The father gives his son what he asks for—half of his inheritance. The son seems to find more value in a rich and dead father’s estate than a living and loving father. The father’s heart must have been broken. His son goes to a distant country. He knows his son is about to go to the school of hard knocks and has lost his senses. His son does not appreciate the loving home he is leaving. The father is also making a risky move. Amazingly—and what appears to be recklessly, the father lets his son go. The father is out of his son’s sight and out of his son’s mind. But he knows his prodigal child will continue his downward spiral. Each day he looks to the horizon. He looks as far as the eye could see. He sends out prayers in groans too deep for words. No doubt people would hear about a severe famine in a neighboring country. This would only add to a grieving father’s anxiety. How will his son survive this crisis? To what depth of need will he fall? To what lengths will he go to stay alive? And remember, the father could not check his son’s status on Facebook or read through his twitter feed. There were no snapchats or Instagrams of his son walking through a foreign country homeless. There were no selfies of him with pigs hungrily looking at their fodder.
But the father is as worldly as he is godly. He knows His son is lost to a cruel world. His son is as good as dead among a sinful and indifferent humanity. It would not be hard for him to imagine his son taking care of ritually unclean animals while at the same time not being taken care of himself. The father knows that there are many in this world who have never known an accepting, nurturing, and loving parent. He knows that many people are unable to give care and compassion to others when they have never had it themselves. The father knows, as we grow older, that the love we have been blessed with in our families is rarely matched by those who come across our paths. We are truly blessed if we have caregiver or mentors who truly care about us and nurture our development.
The more we go through life, it seems, the more impersonal relationships can become. We no longer spend the day with a caring teacher in grade school but just 50 minutes in high school and college. Police officers would like to know each kid by name in their community but have little opportunity. Those who have only had understanding and kind bosses are truly blessed. I always tell our younger members that caring people in authority become more and more rare as we get older. That is why honoring our parents is so important—to see the love we have—to not take our parents or caretakers for granted—so that it may go well for us and live long in the land. The father knows that some people care more about their pigs and wealth than they do for the people who work for them. As long as they are doing their job, it doesn’t matter to them if workers don’t have a living wage or something nutritious to eat.
But thanks be to God that the father does not stop looking toward the horizon and sending his muttering prayers to God of the fatherless. His prayers have begun to shake his son out of his senseless and deadly slumber. The kingdom of God breaks through in a moment of clarity. The truth about who the father is for the son finally takes root in this prodigal child. The father’s goodness brings his son to his senses. He has his first rational thought in a long time: “Even those who worked for my father had it better than I do now. It would be better to work for my father as a hired hand than to starve to death here.” The father’s reputation and character fuels his son’s courage to return home. It’s the good news of loving and caring parent that propels him forward. And as he goes, he confesses his sin. He rehearses his short speech of repentance: “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.” Guilt and shame. Guilt; it’s about regret for the things he did, the relationships he has broken, the selfishness that consumed him, and the resources he has squandered. Shame; it’s about no longer feeling worthy to be called a daughter or son, it is the sense of worthlessness, and knowing that we dont deserve even an ounce of goodness. Guilt and shame.
Finally, the prayers of the father are answered. He sees his son on the horizon way off in the distance. The father sprints toward his son to close the gap sooner. Before his son can get a word out, his father bear hugs him and kisses him. The father’s embraces squeezes air out of his lungs and the pitiful truth: “Father, I have not only dishonored you but the God who blessed me with you. I don’t deserve to be treated as your child.” But the father will not let him finish his rehearsed speech. He won’t hear his son’s suggestion he be treated as a hired hand. The father clothes him as a true and devoted child. He adorns him with gold as a royal son. The father spreads a table before him in the presence of his adversaries even if one of them is his own brother. His cup will run over. Nothing will stop the father from celebrating his son’s return. It was his love that brought him back in the first place. He wants all prodigals to join the celebration. For he was as good as dead but now he is truly living. He was lost in a cruel world and now he is found in a loving and nurturing home. The Father gives his Son Jesus Christ away in death to a sinful, broken, and cruel world. He receives daughters and sons back permanently. He makes us worthy. He clothes us in Christ’s Baptism. He stands us up in the power of his resurrection to dwell in his house forever.
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