Luke 15:1-3, 11-35

“He Came To His Senses”

The Reverend Victoria Millar

Covenant Presbyterian Church, Racine, WI

         Sunday, February 28, 2010                                                        

The story is most often known as The Prodigal Son

but is also called The Prodigal Son and His Brother,

The Parable of the Two Sons

            and even The Parable of the Elder Brother.

It is actually a story in two episodes.

            The first centers on the younger son.

                        And the second centers on the elder son.

Listen to how the characters speak to claim or disown relationships—my son, your brother, this son of yours.

Listen to the word of the Lord to us.

1        Now the tax collectors and the sinners were coming near to listen to Jesus.

2        And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling, saying :

“This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

      3 So Jesus told them this parable:

[Episode one]

‘There was a man who had two sons.

12The 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.

13A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and travelled to a distant country,

and there he squandered his property in dissolute living.

14When he had spent everything,

a severe famine took place throughout that country,

and he began to be in need.

15So he went and hired himself out

to one of the citizens of that country,

who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs.

16He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating;

 and no one gave him anything.

17But when he came to himself [some translations say “came to his senses”], he said,

“How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare,

but here I am dying of hunger!

18I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him,

‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you;

19I am no longer worthy to be called your son;

treat me like one of your hired hands.’ ”

20So 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.

21Then the son said to him,

“Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you;

I am no longer worthy to be called your son.”

22But 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.

23And get the fatted calf and kill it,

and let us eat and celebrate;

24for this son of mine was dead and is alive again;

he was lost and is found!”

And they began to celebrate.

[Episode  two]

25 ‘Now his elder son was in the field;

and when he came and approached the house,

he heard music and dancing.

26He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on.

27He replied, “Your brother has come,

and your father has killed the fatted calf,

because he has got him back safe and sound.”

28Then he became angry and refused to go in.

His father came out and began to plead with him.

29But 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.

30But when this son of yours came back,

who has devoured your property with prostitutes,

 you killed the fatted calf for him!”

31Then the father said to him,

“Son, you are always with me,

and all that is mine is yours.

32But 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.” ’

The word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

No doubt you have heard

that only three factors count in real estate:  location, location, location.

Some claim that personality development also depends on

location, location, location,

                        depends on where one is located on the family timeline,

depends on whether one is firstborn, a middle child, or the youngest child. 

Birth order theories attempt to explain why children in the same family seem so different.[1]

Psychologists claim our position in the family is but one of many influences.

            But a birth order consideration is worthwhile  

not because it is conclusive

but because it is one way of recognizing we are formed by our relationships.    

This is a quick sketch of the birth order stereotypes.[2] [3] [4]

• The oldest child, born to inexperienced parents, their new center of attention,
  • learns to relate to adults, approval seeking, responsible  
  • can be highly rule-conscious, can be a perfectionist, can be rigid
  • when siblings arrive, seeks to maintain superiority over them.

• The second child, born to experienced parents, always shares parental attention,
  • is often competitive with the older child
  • gets more attention by being different from the older child
  • can be more risk-taking and rebellious.

It is as if the birth order theory took a page from today’s story from Luke’s gospel.

The older son fits the stereotype—do-what’s-expected, parent-devoted and scorekeeping.

The younger son also fits the stereotype—less responsible and less conforming.

Reading the gospel of Luke suggests human nature hasn’t changed much in 2,000 years.

   Every family has its tensions.

          And this story is about the big, defining moments.

• If you are one who has been steadfastly devoted and dutiful, this is your story.  
• If you are one who traveled far into ruin and regret, this is your story.
• If you compare yourself to your sibling--for better or for ill--this is your story.
• If you are a parent who struggles to love the children equally, this is your story.
• If you are a parent who has poured out tears and savings

and endured the disruption of the entire family for one wild child, this is your story.

• If you’ve longed for or struggled with forgiveness, this is your story.

This is a beautifully constructed story, in the manner of great literature.

Unfolding in two episodes,

the first is about the actions of the younger son

and the second about the reaction of the older son,

both held together by the presence of the father.

According to scholar Kenneth Bailey, each episode has a shape, a V shaped symmetry,

            a mirror image that drives to a central turning point. 

Listen to how naming the themes of the story gives it shape.[5]

Episode 1

Episode two

The turning point of the first episode, literally and figuratively,

is when the prodigal comes to his senses.

                        The turning point of the younger son

                                     is his willingness to turn around and go home.

                                                            Turning around is literally what repentance means.

The center of the second episode is the elder brother's complaints. 

                        He is the model son.  His standards are high.  He wants what is fair.   

                                    And so the story is open-ended. 

                                                What will the older son do in response to his father's plea for reconciliation?

This story is about us.

    But not in the way it may first appear.

We usually begin at Luke 15:11, launched in ten words:

“Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons.”

And we are drawn in as if it were a short case study for family therapy.

But in his story-telling and his life,

Jesus isn’t focused on the nuclear family.

            His life’s work is to reveal the kingdom of God.

                         Across the gospels, his parables are stories that reveal an aspect of the kingdom of God.

                              His stories startle and teach his audience, the people standing around him.

The prodigal son story is the last in a trio of stories

which Jesus told to address the complaints in the crowd around him,

a mixed crowd of the upright religious types (scribes and Pharisees)

alongside sinners and tax collectors.

The context is that the upright Pharisees

were carping that Jesus ate with and accepted the undeserving, the sinners.      

In response, Jesus told three stories.

  The first parable is the Lost Sheep.

      The second parable is the Lost Coin.

The owners of the sheep and coin

                        search, find then celebrate with friends disproportionately to the value of that which was lost.

And Jesus ends both the Lost Sheep and Lost Coin stories saying

            there is uncontainable joy in heaven over one sinner who repents.

Then, the crescendo, the prodigal story.

If there is joy for the finding of a sheep or a coin, how much more so for a child.

Then the prodigal story and its unfinished, open ending.

            What will the elder son do?

The prodigal story has many layers but it was likely also an allegory.

·        God is the Father.

·        The sinners are the prodigal son.

·        The Pharisees are the upright and dutiful son.

The Father had two sons, loved two sons, went out to two sons.[6]

To embrace the prodigal is not to reject the elder son.

To embrace the sinner is not to reject the Pharisee.

                                    What will the Pharisee do?

A few years ago in Chicago, I was part of a group that brought groceries and made dinner

            for a residence for people otherwise homeless, like HALO in Racine where Covenant faithfully serves.

                        At the Chicago place,   dinner is served quickly

                                    so those who make the dinner can sit down and eat with the residents.

So I took my tray and sat down next to a guy in a wheelchair, about my age.

  He was eager to tell me how he got there.  It went like this. 

17 years in prison.  Released.  Got a job as a machinist.  Health problems.  Missed work.  Lost the job. 

Lost the apartment.  No money for health care.  Out on the street.  Health worse.

This place took me in.  Hoping to get well, hoping for a new job.

Did I know Rev. Liz Lieberman in WI?  Her prison ministry had turned him around.

When I looked around the dining hall, my thoughts got tangled.

• I thought:  this is a roomful of really, really messy lives.
• I thought:  I wonder how many improve in the long run and how our society can afford what it costs.
• I thought:  compared to them, my life looks wise and straight.

And in that moment, I realized I had become the elder brother.

You know, the elder brother is just a different kind of lost.

Then I came to my senses, I got my bearings.

I remembered that what matters most about me is that I am a child of God.

Suddenly, for an instant, my eyes changed

and I saw everyone seated around me was also a child of God.

   Then the voice within me that quibbles and compares quieted down.

And I was simply glad and grateful that these other children

who were lost now are found

and who were dead are now alive again.

The parable of the prodigal and his brother is about us.

For us, a community of faith, to come to our senses is to realize

the three highest virtues are

our relationship with God, our relationship with God and our relationship with God.

That relationship will give us new eyes, new patience, new strength and new values.

To come to our senses is to see that the purpose of life is to be swept into the Father’s arms

            and maybe it doesn’t matter how it happens.

To come to our senses is to rejoice whenever another child stumbles into the Father’s arms.

To come to our senses is to celebrate for all second, third, fourth chances in life—yours, mine and ours.

To come to our senses is to realize that each of us needs forgiveness,

for the big things, the small things, and the repeating things,

and that forgiveness is ever possible because the Father runs to receive us.

You know, the church is called to be the community rehearsing for the kingdom of God.

Some of us rehearse in the dining halls for the almost homeless.

Some of us rehearse in the workplace.

At one time or another, all of us rehearse in our own families

 with our own parents, siblings and children.

We rehearse as best we can, however imperfectly.

May your relationship with God

give you the courage to play your part

as both receiver and giver 

in the timeless drama of love and forgiveness.

In the name of the Father who sent the Son and the Son who sent the Spirit.

They are for us the divine search party from whom we shall never be lost.  Amen.