Rancho Bernardo Community Presbyterian Church

Malachi 4:1-6, Luke 15:11-32

"He was lost and has been found." Luke 15:32

This week we kick into our summer series of sermons on the parables of Jesus. Most of you know that I began my ministry (thirty years ago) in a small Indian village in Alaska. The Tlinget people are storytellers. In fact, they hardly ever answered a question with a straight yes or no. Instead, they told stories and waited for the listener to figure out the answer.

I will never forget my first elder meeting in the village. They were getting to know me and I was getting to know them. I learned at that meeting on the first Sunday in December that they expected me to lead a mid-night New Year’s Eve Service. The service would finish with communion together as we brought in the New Year.

They had also made it clear that each month the congregation had a tradition of having communion on the first weekend. So I asked if the midnight New Year’s communion counted as the communion for the month of January. The elders sat in silence for a while and then one elder began a story.

"Pastor, when I was young my uncle taught me to hunt. He showed me in the forest that deer have a tendency to travel along certain trails. I learned to track the deer as they use the same trails to the water. While the grizzly bear travels more widely than the deer, he also has recognizable patterns that a hunter can learn to avoid."

He finished his story and the rest of the elders turned to me. I did not know what to say. I thanked him for telling me about hunting and assured him that when I got my hunting license the next fall I want him to take me hunting. In the mean time, I needed an answer to a practical question about the church. This time I worded the question differently. "Should we have one communion at midnight on January 1 or two communions with communion also served the next Sunday morning?"

The elders seemed embarrassed for me. They studied their shoes. Finally a second elder broke the silence. "Pastor, there is a stream near here where the salmon swim every summer. These salmon left that stream when they first hatched from eggs. Scientists tell us that they have followed these salmon and know they swim hundreds of miles in the ocean. But they come back to the very same stream where they were born."

By now I was totally confused. I again thanked the elder for tips on fish, but attempted to get the meeting back onto the topic. "Let me simplify the question: one communion or two?" At that point the youngest elder, who had been away from the village to get a college education, told me they were answering my question. "Pastor, they are telling you in our Tlinget storytelling way that you are to keep both of the traditions. They want communion at midnight and again on the first Sunday in January."

The Tlingets taught me to listen for myself in the story. Jesus, like the Tlingets lived in a storytelling culture. This Mother’s Day I want to reflect on one of his most well-known parables. It is commonly titled "The Prodigal Son."

The Prodigal Son

And He said, "A man had two sons. "The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me (A)the share of the estate that falls to me ‘ So he divided his (B)wealth between them. "And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country, and there he squandered his estate with loose living.

"Now when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country, and he began to be impoverished. "So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. "And he would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating, and no one was giving anything to him.

"But when he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger! ’I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men."’

"So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. "And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

"But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet; and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’ And they began to celebrate.

"Now his older son was in the field, and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. "And he summoned one of the servants and began inquiring what these things could be. "And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has received him back safe and sound.’

"But he became angry and was not willing to go in; and his father came out and began pleading with him. "But he answered and said to his father, ‘Look! For so many years I have been serving you and I have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends; but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.’

"And he said to him, ‘Son, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours. ’But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.’"

Luke 15:11-32

Pastor Joe and his wife Anne are preparing for their third child this summer. It takes me back to the exciting stage of being an expectant father. I was so solicitous during Kate’s first couple of pregnancies. However, by the last one I had become a bit lackadaisical. I recall one evening during Kate’s last pregnancy; she saw me heading for the kitchen and asked if I would bring her a glass of water. By the time I took fifteen steps to the kitchen I realized I had forgotten why I was going to the kitchen. I turned on the light and stood there looking around the room repeating to myself, "Why am I here?" Suddenly I remembered, "I came to get a glass of water for Kate!" I filled the glass with ice water, returned to the living room, sat down, and drank the water.

Jesus used our tendency for forgetfulness in his sequence of parables about losing things and finding them again. Notice how we traditionally title the three parables in Luke 15. The first is traditionally called the parable of "The Lost Sheep." Then we have the parable of "The Lost Coin." Finally, the chapter concludes with the parable of "The Prodigal Son." If we are to be consistent, it makes sense to rename this parable the story of "The Lost Son." However, I don’t like calling it this. All of these traditional titles focus on the first half of each story. They focus on the negatives: lostness and wastefulness. Why not rather call these the parables of "The Found Sheep," "The Found Coin," and "The Found Son?"

Jesus focused on the finding rather than the losing. He ended each parable by describing the celebration at finding what was lost. When it comes to celebrating the finding, does it make a difference how something got lost? When I was young and misplaced my father’s tools, he would often say to me, "Well, the hammer didn’t get up and walk away, where you put it?" Glasses and umbrellas do not lose themselves. Coins and toy cars do not purposely hide from their owner.

They simply get misplaced. Who is to blame? Not the coin. It was the owner who misplaced it through some forgetfulness. We don’t get upset at the object. Rather, we get upset at ourselves for misplacing it. The celebration, then, is a way of laughing at ourselves and sharing our relief at finding the lost.

Sheep and pets are a different matter. They can wander away. They are not being mean spirited as much as adventurous. We can get frustrated and worried, but not really angry at them. After all, the cat did not mean to get stuck up in the tree. He was simply having an adventure and then had to run from a neighbor dog. The hamster did not realize his escape might mean he would go without food for three days before being found. It is easy to feel pity and forgiveness for a lost pet. The celebration is partly for the pet and partly for the ending of our worry.

Is this the same thing as with a lost son? The son knows exactly what he is doing. He has decided to reject his father’s lifestyle and make his own choices. He intentionally walks away from the home. Our worry is mixed with fear and anger. We feel hurt by his rejection. Does that change our celebration on his return? We might call this the parable of the found son or the expectant father. I suggest we refocus on the central character in the parable: the father.

The story begins with the father. "A man had two sons." Before we get to enjoy the expectancy of fatherhood, the story immediately jumps to the younger son who wanted his inheritance. He as much as told his father that he wished the old man were dead so he could get on with his life. The loving father, knowing his son was not ready to handle such finances, but also knowing there are some lessons which are only learned through the hard knocks of life, divided the estate and gave the money to his younger son.

The young man headed off to a place where he could live the high life with his fortune. He partied and collected fair-weather friends around him. Then one day he ran out of money and the friends disappeared as quickly as they had gathered. Nobody invited him home. He was out on the streets and in need of work. He found a menial job feeding a farmer’s pigs. A Jewish boy feeding pigs! How demeaning! How unkosher! He got so hungry he seriously considered eating some of the garbage that the pigs were eating. Then comes one of the wonderful moments in the story: "He came to himself."

He remembered his father and the family farm. The servants at the farm were doing better than he was. He began to practice his speech of honest confession. "Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son." He recited it over and over as he prepared for the embarrassment of returning home. However, before he arrived home the father ran to greet him. The father interrupted the son’s carefully rehearsed speech and announced a party. New clothes, new ring, kill the fatted calf!

We tend to be surprised at the wrong things because we read this story from our own culture. We are surprised that the father would give of his best to welcome the son back to the home. In the culture of Jesus’ day the surprising thing in the story is that the father ran to his son. Men did not run. Running involved lifting the robe and exposing the lower part of the leg. This was considered an embarrassing act by a man. Yet the father ran!

The story then takes a surprising turn. The older son refused to attend the party. He stayed outside and pouted. He had remained home and done his duty. He had worked hard and held the family business together. What thanks does he get? The father left the party and tried to explain to the son why it is right to have a celebration for the younger son’s return.

For a second time in the story the father was willing to embarrass himself. The second embarrassment was when the father left his own party to go talk with the older son. Hosting a party was a very important thing in the culture of Jesus. For a host to leave his own party would have been highly questionable. This is an amazing father in the parable! He was willing to embarrass himself twice, once for each son.

This weekend, while honoring our mothers, I invite us to share the worrisome, fearful expectant attitude of parenting in general. We never really stop worrying over our children do we? Our children graduate, move away, marry, have their own children, and yet we never stop being their parents. If one of the adult children is struggling, we share their struggles.

This truth leads me to the surprising ending of this parable. The first two parables leading up to this one conclude with a party for what was found. The people gather to celebrate. At first it appears that this parable ends with a party also.

However, there is a missing sentence in this one. The others end with the celebration in heaven. Jesus concludes by saying this is how the party on earth is merely a reflection of the party happening in heaven among the angels. However, this refrain is missing in the last parable. Why?

I think Jesus is making a very important point. The curtain draws while the father in the story is still outside reasoning with his older son. The father is left in the embarrassing situation of leaving his party un-hosted. Twice he has embarrassed himself.

I know the traditional interpretation focuses on the father’s forgiveness and love as a reflection of God. And this is clearly taught by Jesus. Of course, we are to emulate the loving father in the story as we seek the lost and celebrate when they are found. But there is something about this surprise ending that I don’t want us to miss. The father in the story is still waiting for the older son and embarrassing himself by leaving his guests at the party.

The Tlinget elders would invite us to find ourselves in the story. Over the years we discover that we are different characters in the story depending what stage of life we are in. Many of us have been either the younger son who rebelled or the older son who remained compliant. Later in life we become the father. In the process we discover that an expectant father can be expectant not just during his wife’s pregnancy, but also through the children’s emergence into adulthood.

Of course, on this Mother’s Day we celebrate that generally mothers are better at this than fathers. Mother’s seem able to keep forgiving and keep loving even through the painful times of separation. Most fathers don’t find it quite as easy to do this. So I want to conclude this Mother’s Day message with a question addressed to those who discover they have become the father in this story. Do we care enough to embarrass ourselves?