Transformed by Faith

Rebecca Sheridan
Sunday, March 27, 2022
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

    Relationship, relationship, relationship!  Relationship with God, relationship with each other, and relationship with our world.  This is what our faith is all about!  We can intellectualize and try to explain our faith in creeds and doctrines, but at the end of the day our faith in God is not just words we say or good ideas we think about but the living, dynamic, active relationship we have with God and others.  What better reminder of this relationship we have with God than the famous prodigal son story that we have for our gospel for today!
    Whenever this gospel passage comes around for me to preach on, I am tempted to just read the gospel and sit down.  What else can I possibly add to Jesus’ powerful description of God’s compassionate, extravagant, merciful love for all of God’s children, especially for the lost?  There are cultural details that we don’t understand as much in this story because they are different from our own.  We might not know, for example, that it would be a great embarrassment for a faithful Jew to live and work among pigs which are considered unclean; he's breaking social and religious norms by doing so.  We might not recognize that to ask a living parent for his inheritance is beyond rude; it is as if the younger son is telling his father, “I wish you were dead,” according to New Testament scholar N. T. Wright.  The father gives his son a robe, a ring, sandals, and has a party with a fatted calf, which may not be exactly what we’d do today if a wayward son returned home.
    But the basic gist of the story almost all of us can relate to.  Whether we identify more with the wayward, rebellious younger son, the obedient and yet resentful older son, or the patient, grieving and hopeful father, if we haven’t been there in our family relationships ourselves, we certainly know people close to us who have been.  Jesus tells a story about how relationships with those closest to us are easily broken, and God’s persistent, passionate desire that those relationships be restored – that our relationship with GOD be restored!  It’s a story about the heart of the gospel; that Christ desires that all people be reconciled to himself on the cross, as Paul tells us in the second reading from 2 Corinthians.  And it’s a powerful reminder that faith is not primarily about the inheritance. It’s not about the stuff or what we get out of our relationship with our parents or with God, but it’s the relationship that is most important when it comes to our families and when it comes to faith.  Despite our faithlessness, God is faithful.  This is so important that I am going to say it again:  despite our faithlessness, GOD is faithful!  God is always waiting to welcome us home with open arms, and to point us back to a right relationship with him.
    We refer to Jesus’ parable as “the prodigal son,” but over the centuries preachers have pointed out that the title should be “the prodigal God.”  The word “prodigal” means “extravagantly wasteful.”  It’s true, the younger son is wasteful with the inheritance he asks for in advance while his father is still living.  But from the perspective of the older son, the father is equally wasteful in throwing a party for the unsuccessful son who has brought shame to the family.  In the eyes of God, there is no price too high, no gift too great to pay for the relationship between him and his creation to be restored.  And this extravagant wasteful love is for both the younger and the older son.  Let’s remember that Jesus starts telling the parable, Luke tells us, to two very different groups of people:  tax collectors and sinners on the one hand and grumbling Pharisees and scribes on the other hand are all listening to Jesus.  God’s reconciling love is for all of them, Jesus is saying, and ALL need a transformation of heart to come back to a loving relationship with God, to recognize the love that God already has for them.  Perhaps the point of the story is to recognize that what we see as extravagantly wasteful on the part of God is exactly who God is for all of us; the righteous faithful and the repentant sinner alike.
    So this story is for tax collectors and sinners.  For those of you who left the church and are maybe still unsure about coming back.  For rebellious teenagers, addicts, and those who spend beyond their means and are trying to crawl out of debt.  For people who have had tense relationship with their parents or siblings and may feel like the black sheep of the family.  For those who have felt like the church was primarily a place of judgment.  For people who don’t like to conform and who have doubts and questions. Like a parent who never gives up on their child, God is waiting, on the lookout, for you to come home. God is longing to have a relationship with you and welcome you with open arms.  God is calling you to come to yourself and return to God without shame or regret.
    And this story is for Pharisees and scribes.  For those of you who have been lifelong, faithful Christians.  For you who grumble about young families on the soccer fields rather than being here in church on Sundays.  For people who wonder if deathbed confessions are fair.  For people who like following the rules and get frustrated when others disregard them.  For those of you who like the idea of earning points with God and who feel entitled or more deserving of God’s favor because you have worked hard to be good.  And this story is for you if you sometimes feel like the older brother and the younger brother at the same time.
Did you notice?  In the story, the older brother is home and has never left, but there is a great distance between himself and his family, too.  He compares his relationship to his father not as a loving one, but as an obedient slave who is clearly harboring some resentments.  He refers to his brother as “this son of yours.”  He is so angry he can’t bring himself to call him his brother or his father “Dad.”  In response, the father gently asks his older son to change his heart, too: “Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.”  The father is not his son’s demanding taskmaster, but a loving parent.  “And this is your brother, not just my son.  Why can’t you be happy and celebrate with the family, rather than insisting on keeping score?”  This story is for those of us who have a hard time seeing our sisters and brothers in Christ as truly our sisters and brothers because they don’t dress the way we do, they’re not as successful, they have an unsavory past etc. etc. etc.  Just like the father in the story, God asks us to let go of categories of undeserving and deserving.  To let God simply just love us, love ALL of us and recognize there’s enough love to go around for us all.  Jesus’ call is to bring us all back into a right relationship with God and with one another, to see ourselves as a part of a much larger family of faith.  
So, as we continue to ponder what it means to be transformed by grace, faith, and love in the next two weeks, meditate on this powerful story from Jesus.  What is Jesus trying to tell you in particular about how you might change your heart and mind to be in a better place with God?  Relationship, relationship, relationship.  This is what our faith in God is all about.  Thanks be to God!  Amen.