A
homily by Fr. Gene Tucker, given
at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon,
Illinois on Sunday, March 10, 2013.
THE
YOUNGER SON, THE OLDER SON, AND THE LOVING FATHER”
(Homily text:
Luke 15: 1 – 3, 11b – 32)
This
morning, we have before us the very familiar Parable of the Prodigal Son. Since this parable is generally known by this
title, it is easy to overlook the important roles of the other two persons in
the story….the loving father and the older, hard-hearted son.
At our
“Step by Step into the Bible” session last Tuesday, we had quite a lively
discussion about each of these three characters.
So,
have you ever thought much about the father’s role in the story, or about the
role of the older son?
It’s
easy to overlook these two others, isn’t it?
The commonly given title for the parable leads us to focus on the
younger son alone. This is aided, in my
view, by the fact that Jesus begins the story with the younger son. The father also appears in the story early
on, but mainly as the person who makes possible the younger son’s folly by
giving him the share of the estate that will fall to him.
At last
Tuesday’s “Step by Step” session, I asked this question: “Who is Jesus referring to as He talks about
the younger son, the father, and the older son.?” Another way of asking that question is this
way: “Did Jesus have an intended target
as He told this parable?”
As we
look at a passage of Scripture, it’s important to try to figure out what the
meaning and application was for the first
hearers of the story (or witnesses to an event). We can also ask: “What might this parable have meant to
Christians at various points in history?”
As we study Scripture, it’s also important to understand what the
meaning and application is for us today
(after all, we don’t read the Bible with the same goal in mind as we do when we
read the newspaper or a book). And
finally, as we read Scripture, we want to determine what the timeless truths of God are that lie within the sacred pages of
the Bible.
All
these of these goals are aspects of studying and applying God’s truths as we
discover them in the Bible.
As I
asked that question, “Who is Jesus referring to in this parable?” I think some
in the class struggled to answer the question.
(Not surprising, of course, as we try to determine what the application
and meaning was for the original hearers, and for the early Church.)
Just
who did Jesus have in mind as the tax collectors and sinners gathered around
Him, and as the Pharisees and the Scribes murmured?
I
believe that the younger son represents those tax collectors and other sinners
who’d spent much of their lives squandering the inheritance that God had
promised them, just as the younger son did in Jesus’ parable. The father who freely gives to both sons all
that he has is God, and the hard-hearted older son is the Pharisees, the scribes,
and others within the Judaism of 2,000 years ago who smugly claimed some sort
of spiritual superiority because of their blood relation to Abraham and their
singular claim to be scrupulous followers of the Law of Moses.
In due
time, however, I believe that many in the young Church came to see the Gentiles
as those who had been foolish in their beliefs and in their living, who’d come
to faith in God the Father through God the Son.
(This is the point that I made in class last Tuesday.) The older son still represents the Judaism of
2,000 years ago, with its reliance on the strict observance of the Law and its
abhorrence of anyone who was “unclean” by that Law’s definition (including
Gentiles).
Before
we consider the implications of Jesus’ parable for us today, we ought to list
some of the important details of Jesus’ story.
After all, the Lord is a master storyteller. His parables are full of
small-but-important details which merit our notice and our contemplation. I offer these details to permit and encourage
your own reflection on this very familiar parable. Here is the list I offer for your
consideration:
“Father, give me the share of the property
that falls to me”: In Deuteronomy 21: 17, we find that the Law
of Moses dictated that the first-born son received two-thirds of the father’s
estate. Thus, in Jesus’ parable, the
younger son got one-third.
Feeding swine: Perhaps Jesus’ hearers recoiled at this part
of the parable, for pigs were unclean animals by the standards of the Law. Jesus’ point seems to be that the younger son
had sunk to the lowest possible point in his life, becoming unclean himself by
his association with these unclean animals.
“When he came to himself”: This is a sign that the younger son has
“bottomed out”. Apparently, the
difficult and dire circumstances that the younger son finds himself in has
caused him to realize the consequences of his free-wheeling lifestyle. At least he knows where home is, and where
help is to be found.
“Treat me as one of your hired
servants”: In ancient times, a
slave was considered to be part of the family.
But a hired servant could be dismissed at any time. So the son is asking to be restored to some
lower status within the father’s household, a tentative one, one that is
dependent on the father’s generosity and continued good will.
The expectant father: Notice that the father has been waiting and
looking for the
son’s
return home, for the father sees him at a distance, has compassion for his son,
runs and kisses him.
The younger son’s truncated confession: An important detail in Jesus’ story is the
younger son’s rehearsed confession. In
English, the younger son’s rehearsed confession is three phrases long. But notice that, as the younger son faces his
father, he can get out only two of the three phrases before the father
interrupts him. Apparently the father is
very eager to receive his son back, so eager that he interrupts the son’s
confession.
Relationship restored, but not the
inheritance: Notice that the father places the best robe
on the younger son, gives him a ring and shoes for his feet, and throws a party
for him, but does not replace the lost wealth of the younger son’s inheritance.
I think the point here is that the
consequences of the younger son’s actions are not erased, even as he is
forgiven and restored to a loving relationship with his father. (An important point arises here with regard
to past sin…The Lord forgives the sin as we confess it to him. However, oftentimes the consequences of that
sin continue to be present.)
“I never disobeyed you”: The older son’s characterization of his
relationship with his father is one of duty, but not one of love. Nowhere in the older son’s statement is there
any hint of affection for his father, only adherence to the father’s desires
out of a sense of grudging duty.
“Your son”:
Here a very important detail emerges in Jesus’ teaching…He says that the
older son tells the father that the younger son isn’t “his brother”, but is
“your son”. The older son refuses to
claim any kinship or relationship with the younger son. This way of looking at his younger brother is
consistent with the concepts of who is “clean” or “unclean” by the standards of
the Law. The way the Law was regarded in
Jesus’ day demanded that there be no contact with unclean persons or things.
“Your living with harlots”: The older son now gets specific about the
nature of the younger son’s squandering of the father’s wealth…he has spent it
on harlots. Of course, in Jesus’ day,
the tax collectors and sinners who’d gathered around Jesus to hear His teaching
were often lumped in with harlots.
Now,
let’s draw some conclusions from Jesus’ excellent parable for our own day and time:
1.
At any time in our lives, we can find
ourselves on one side or the other of the circumstances of the two sons. At times (if we are honest with ourselves),
we have acted foolishly, squandering the richness of God’s love and mercy. Perhaps we’ve done this in small,
almost-unnoticed ways. Or, perhaps we’ve
done this in significantly damaging ways.
In either case, we fit into the category of “sinners”, whether our sins
be small or large. At other times,
however, we might be tempted to think that we’re OK, and that we’re doing
pretty well in our walk with God. We
might be tempted to think that, because things seem to be going pretty well
with our lives, that we have produced that good condition by our own efforts,
forgetting the power that God alone has to initiate change toward a holy life. We might be tempted to look down on others
that we think are spiritually unclean or immature, like the Pharisee in Jesus’
Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector, who prays saying, “God, I thank
you that I am not like others.” (See Luke 18: 9 – 14) Here the issue becomes one of “smugness” of
the sort we spoke about in last week’s homily.
And, like the older son, it’s possible that our walk is one of grudging
duty, and not one of love and cheerful adherence to God’s commands.
2.
The
way home to the Father begins with honest self-examination and confession. This is the beginning of the younger son’s
return, as he says, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.”
There is no shortcut in this process.
Confession is the beginning of the process. It always is.
3.
God,
the loving father, expectantly awaits our return home. Our wonderful Prayer Book affirms the reality
of the Father’s anxious, expectant gaze….The Collect says: “Almighty God, who art always more ready to
hear than we to pray, and art wont to give more than either we desire or
deserve: Pour down upon us the abundance
of thy mercy, forgiving us those things whereof our conscience is afraid, and
giving us those good things which we are not worthy to ask, but through the
merits and mediation of Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth
with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.”
(Book of Common Prayer, 1979, page 182).
May
God’s Holy Spirit enable within us the ability to see ourselves as God sees us,
to make confession for the ways in which we have squandered His rich
inheritance, to the end that we may be restored to a right and loving
relationship with Him.
AMEN.
