When sons come back

The prodigal son is one of the best known stories in all scripture.  It's a well known story for a good reason, and it's got all the Hollywood weight that we would expect from one of the best stories in all of creation.  It is the story of the departure of a son who takes without earning, who burns through all of his inheritance without much of a thought for how it was earned by someone else, and what it was ultimately worth.  As usual, easy come and easy go, and the cash was burned up, leaving the son with nothing.  And the moment in which he 'fain would have fed himself on the pods the pigs were eating' is the all is lost moment.  And in keeping with the traditional story structure, the young man heads home, to throw himself on the mercy of his father.  And wouldn't you know it, his father has been fretting that he has been killed, or otherwise compromised, and when he sees his son coming from a long way off, he rejoices, and runs out to meet his son.  He threw his arms around the neck of his son and hugged him, bringing him back to the fold.  There was a party, and much rejoicing, for the return of the wandering one.

Well, that would be a great story if it ended there.  But it doesn't.  As a fan of horror movies myself, an ending that this reminds me of is of Pet Sematery.  It's a movie that also features a son that comes back.  That movie ends about 15 seconds after it should.  The image of Louis carrying Rachel down towards the Sematary, stumbling down the hill, talking himself into burying her in the burial ground, saying that it'll work this time.  It's a heck of a moment, and it sort of gets ruined when Rachel actually comes back, mainly because the re-appearance of Denise Crosby isn't as scary as the idea that she might come back.  You know.  There's a right time and a wrong time to end something.  And sometimes, things go too long.

The story of the Prodigal Son goes too long.  It goes too long for our Hollywood desires.  For in the midst of the story of feasting and celebration, of a joyous homecoming, is the elder son.  He's where all the problems in the story lie.  The elder son doesn't join in with the celebration, at least not right away, mainly because he's out working in what is left of the fields.  He's been shouldering more and more of the load ever since the younger son absconded with all the loot, and now that the younger son has come home, he's angry.  He's angry that everyone is making much of the reprobate, of the rogue, of the rascal who left and then returned.  The older son is furious, and what makes this part of the story so hard to bear is that the older son has every right to be angry.  Why is everyone making much of the rogue when they should absolutely be making much of the one who stayed behind and did all the work.  Why is everyone being so jubilant at the return of the one who devoured the property with prostitutes when the one who never disobeyed has been there forever?  Why indeed?

Well, it's high time we understood that, and getting to the bottom of it is always easier if you take the time to ask yourself who you are in this story.  And most of us who are solid Lutherans, good solid church-going people, we see ourselves as the older son; and why not?  Surely, we have been about our father's work, we have been working faithfully in his kingdom, and assisting in his requirements.  We have been good servants, working diligently in the fields, scattering the seed, and never disobeying the commands and edicts of our father.  And are we recognized, lauded and applauded when we come to church? We are not.  We tend to be asked to take on more and more responsibility, and tend to be overlooked when it comes to hand shaking and adulation.  It seems, more often than not, that those who devour their father's property with prostitutes are lauded and applauded, and when we return, we get largely ignored.  And this doesn't seem fair.  And it's not.

But every time the holy scriptures seem unfair (which they are, on numerous occasions), you have to ask yourself who they are unfair in favor of.  I know I talk about this comic strip all the time, but it's important, what with being out of the mouths of babes and all that.

Ayeah, we best part of this comic strip is the complete ignorance that Calvin has that as a young child, growing up in the 1980s in America, the entire world is unfair in his favor.  It's all unfair in his favor, but Calvin can't see it because he's living in it.  In the same way, in the parable of the Prodigal Son, we think it's horribly unfair precisely because we think of ourselves as the wrong son.  We think of ourselves as the elder son, and we've been working hard all this time, and it all seems horribly unfair.  But Jesus shows the secret when the elder son is talking to his father.  Look closely at verse 29.  The elder son says of himself that he never disobeyed his father's command.  If you are looking for yourself in this story, do you really think that you can say the same? Can you say that you never disobeyed Christ on his throne? Can you really say that you have been diligent in everything that has been placed before you, haven't ever disobeyed the word of God? Can you say that you've never wandered, never strayed? I know you're good Lutherans, so you have to know that every service begins with a confession of sins, in which you confess that you have sinned in thought, word and deed, by what we have done and by what we have left undone.  You know that we are sinners through and through, and that the return that we have back to the church on Sunday is a return of a reprobate son.  this is the return of a son who has sinned ,who has gone against the father's will.  The walk back to church is the walk back of a child who has used up the inheritance that he was promised, and has nothing to show for it.  And the return to church by the parishioner from every congregation is someone returning to where the elder son has been all along.  And this is absolutely key.  

This story is unfair.  It is completely unfair, truly it is, but as Calvin shows us, frequently we complain when things aren't unfair in our favor, even when they are.  And in this case, they are.  I want you to look closely at this parable, and to think about the righteous anger that you felt when you thought of yourself as the elder son.  Think about how much it bothered you when you had to volunteer for funerals, for the board of trustees, for the parish fellowship committee, and nobody gave you any attention while constantly lavishing attention on newbies, well, think about how Christ feels when we waltz into the church as people who have sinned openly and vigorously against the Lord your God.  If we get to thinking about this story as being unfair when it applies to us, then it is important for us to realize that it is unfair in our favor.  Christ's work, his obedience, his sincerity, his commitment is what he does because we don't.  We take the inheritance and squander it, we take what is given to us and waste it.  The Christian life is one of the younger son, wandering away, and then wandering home.

The good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the good news that the sinners can always come back.  We are celebrated, we are loved ,and we are embraced.  The hard working son, the one who never leaves and never disobeys, is always there, and always present, and we are equally thankful not just that we can return, but that someone is still doing the work.  We continue to reap the rewards.