Today is the
parable of the prodigal son. We’ve all heard this story before. There is a man
with two sons. The younger one asks for his inheritance early, and the father
grants it. The son goes off to a foreign land and squanders his money. In due
time a famine takes over the land, and he becomes destitute. He finds a job feeding pigs out in the fields.
No one helps him and he would gladly have eaten what the pigs were eating until
he comes to a realization. He recalls back to the days of his upbringing in his
Father’s house. In that place even the hired hands have plenty of food to eat,
with some to spare. He also considers his actions. He knows that by what he has
done his relationship with his Father is not what it was, and that returning
home to step back into his old role is not possible. But perhaps he thinks to
himself, perhaps I can just go be one of my Father’s hired hands. I would be
grateful even just for that he thinks. And so, he swallows whatever pride he
may have left and begins the journey home.
When he is
still far off, his Father sees him, despite the son still being far away, and
despite the years that have gone by, the Father sees his son, that is he
recognizes him, knows him, loves him. The father is immediately moved with compassion.
The word for compassion is a little underwhelming, we don’t have a precise
English translation from New testament Greek for the word compassion here, but
a more accurate word is gut wrenching. The Father was gut wrenched to see his
son walking up the path. The father begins running towards his son for an
embrace.
The son
gives his Father the speech he has rehearsed, I am no longer worthy to be
called your son…But without question or hesitation the Father calls for his son
to be given all the signs of son-ship. A robe, which as the best one belonged
no doubt to the head of the household, the Father. He receives a ring, no doubt
with the family seal upon it, something only an inheritor of the Father would
wear, he is given sandals for his feet and with them his dignity and status in
the household are restored.
We seem to
have a happy little ending to our story, but we come to find out the story isn’t
over. While the title of this parable has been ingrained in our minds as that
of the prodigal son, a more appropriate title might actually be the parable of
the two lost sons.
Over the
next several verses we come to realize it is not just the younger son who was
lost, but the older son too. For the first half of the story the older son
plays a quiet role. While his younger brother is out having a great time with
his half of their inheritance the older brother remains a part of his Father’s
household, helping out, working the land and helping oversee his Father’s
business.
His
character is all but forgotten, a figure in the backdrop of the homecoming
story, that is until he arrives back at the house after a long day of work in
the fields. He hears celebratory music and members of the household are
dancing. Not only is this a party he will come to resent, but it all got off to
a grand start without waiting for him to get there. He asks what all the fuss
is about, and hears not from his Father, but second hand that his younger
brother has returned home and the party is in celebration of his return. The
older son is angry at this news, and refuses to go into the house.
Just as he
has done for the younger son, the Father comes out to greet his older son. He
tells his Father that while his brother was out wasting his money, he was working
his fingers to the bone. He has never strayed from his Father’s commands, and
yet he doesn’t get so much as a small get together with friends. The Father
tells the older son that he has had the gift of son-ship all along. Unlike the
ceremoniously placed robe and ring his brother received upon returning, the
older brother has had the gift of relationship with his Father for all the
years the younger son was gone. This is the portion of the story where we see
that the younger and older sons are two sides of the same coin. Neither really
knew what being a son looked like. While the younger son thinks of himself and
has a grand time spending all his money, the older son has been trying to earn
and work toward love and compassion that the Father has had for him the whole
time.
Both sons
thought there was a test or a particular goal they had to meet before their
Father would love and accept them. The younger son thought he failed the test,
the older son was prepared to spend his
days striving to ace a test that didn’t exist in the first place.
It is the
gut wrenching compassion of the Father that Jesus is trying to get across to
those whom are hearing this parable. But there is one piece of this story we
haven’t fully covered, and that’s the ending, or lack thereof. We don’t
actually get to find out if the older brother is moved by his Father’s compassion
and joins the party, or if he remains bitter and resentful and stays outside
the house, refusing to go in. This I believe is fully intentional. I don’t
think there is a stronger ending because I think we are meant to be a part of
it. We have the power to say what happens. Every day, whether we realize it or
not, we have opportunities to be moved, to show gut wrenching compassion. We
are all standing outside the house, hearing the music and dancing of a party
going on and we can choose to be moved by the love that God has for those who
we don’t think deserve it, or we can stay bitter and alone, and miss out of the
sweetness of community and the banquet that has been set before us.
I recall a colleague
of mine telling me about a time she told this parable to young children. When
she got through the whole story one child raised their hand with a question.
When she called on the child, the child boldly asked, “But what about the pigs?” My colleague
didn’t really understand the question, and wondered with the child to hear
more, “I wonder about the pigs?” my colleague asked back. The child responded, “If
the younger son goes back home, who is going to feed the pigs?” This child
without having to be told or prompted understood the parable of the story from
another angle no one had considered. This child was showing the gut wrenching
compassion the story is meant to convey and that we all are meant to learn.
Some days or
even for some years we are the younger son, rebellious and enjoying our own
ways. For some parts of our lives we find ourselves be the Father, hopeful and striving
to foster, nurture, and heal the relationships around us.
And
sometimes we are the older son, forgetting that true and noble love is unconditional
and cannot be earned.-Forgetting that God loves all the same people that we
hate. In those moments we are standing on the threshold. We can choose to go
into the house and embrace those around us with the same compassion that has
been shown to us, or we can stay outside, stewing and alone. In that moment, I hope
we choose love.
Amen.
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