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“The Parable of the Loving Father”

March 21, 2004
Sermon by Peter Terpenning
Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

            There’s an image of God that I want to develop for you today. They say that preachers have five different sermons, and all their preaching is a variation on those five. I shouldn’t tell you that, now Richard will be listening for the five themes. Anyway, if that is true, then this is one of my basic themes: God’s unconditional love. Martin Buber, the great Jewish scholar, said that this is the main new thought that Jesus contributed to the world; a God who loves us unconditionally, like a loving parent.
            One of the best examples of this teaching is Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son. It’s a wonderful story, well told by Luke. Three characters come alive for us and each has symbolism. Jesus is answering the Pharisees, who are angry that he eats with sinners and teaches the low life folks of Israel like the tax collectors and prostitutes. These are people who are far from following the laws of Judaism. Jesus tells three stories: in one a shepherd leaves 99 save sheep and goes to find the one lost sheep, in the second a woman sweeps out her house to find the one lost coin, and finally, the father welcomes home his lost son. God, says Jesus, is in the business of finding the lost and so should the Pharisees.  The term prodigal comes from the Latin word "prodigere" which means "to drive away or waste". Though Luke doesn't use the word, it fits the younger son who does indeed throw away his property.  How I love the prodigal son. At a certain time in my life I felt that I was he. And it is an amazing feeling. This boy rejects the gifts and love of his father and spits in his eye and asks for his inheritance. He gets it, leaves and wastes his money on loose living and prostitutes. He finds himself broke and eating with the pigs (hardly a nice occupation for the Jew) and comes to himself. This means he repented and was ready to change. He decides to go home for even the servants are treated better than he. So he goes and when he is still far down the road, his father sees him coming and runs to meet him, and welcomes him with a kiss and calls for a party- puts a ring on his finger and a robe on his nakedness, and calls for the fatted calf to be killed. This is one of the great stories of Christianity- that God loves and forgives us and welcomes us home to faith. As the ex-slave trader, alcoholic turned preacher sang, "Amazing Grace, how sweet the song, that saved a wretch like me".
            Out focus turns to the father- the old man, waiting, loving unconditionally. Watching down the road to see that familiar figure in the distance. Many have said that this parable should have been named "the waiting father", or as I have named it "the loving father". For as we study this story we come back again and again to this character.  This surely represents God- waiting, watching, loving, and never leaving us alone. The hiding place as our Psalm for today calls God. Rembrandt painted this story as an old man, half blind. And he focused his picture on the figure of an old man, richly dressed, half blind himself, leaning over and gently holding the unkempt son who is kneeling at his feet. This is the heart of the story- the love that God has for each of us- for each person- the more lost, the greater the love.
            And finally our attention focuses on the older brother of the prodigal. He has been loyal all these years. He has worked hard, been dutiful. Like the Pharisees, he has tried to do what the father wanted, and tried to be a good boy. He has earned the love of the father and expects payment. But here comes this lazy bum, his fathers son- he won't even call him his brother, just "this son of yours". And the elder brother is angry. And now that I am a little older I find that I relate to this son as well. Those of us in the church, working along, steady, dependable, unable to believe that God loves us just as we are. We think we need to be better somehow. We need to earn this love- what is salvation worth if it’s free? Like Groucho Marx who said he would never join a club that would have him for a member, I don't always feel I deserve this love Jesus offered, so I set out to earn it.
            But what happens? The father leaves the party. Leaves his returning, prodigal son and goes out to find his eldest son. He says to him that all he has ever had belongs to his son, “won't you come and celebrate for your brother has come home”. Even to this bitter, angry child, who has never learned to accept his father's love, even to this one, the father goes out and welcomes- offers again all his has. And you see this is the real point of the parable. Maybe we should call it the parable of the elder brother- for here the Pharisees receive their answer. Jesus reaches out to them, and says, "See, you’ve been working in God’s vineyard all these years and even though you've rejected God's prodigal children and never understood anything about love- God still loves you, come home".
            Henri Nouwen wrote a book about this parable. Henri loved the painting by Rembrandt that I mentioned earlier and had a print of it on his wall wherever he lived. In his book, Henri tells how he first loved the painting because he realized he was the prodigal son. He had been teaching, preaching and counseling people all his life, but had always been a spectator to the painting –telling people about God’s love. But he had never allowed himself to accept God’s love; to be the young man in the painting, with the old man’s loving hands laid upon his shoulders, holding him to his heart. He, Henri, had been on his way home all the years of his life – heading toward the day when he could accept that love of God – and know that he, personally, was loved like that. I can relate to that – perhaps we all can.
            Then Henri went on to say that part of him was also the older brother, working all his life as a priest, trying to do good work, and never joining in the celebration. He had been dutiful, hard working, and a little judgmental of people who weren’t working so hard. He had stood outside and been a little angry with God. Why did God seem to love all these people who didn’t deserve it? Why didn’t God make the world a better place – correct all the wrongs, end the wars, the poverty. But God was reaching out all the time to this dutiful Henri, and loving him and wanting him to come and celebrate and be joyful. This older son also needs to be embraced.
            And finally, Henri said he was learning slowing to be like the father in the story. That finally, our goal must be to learn to accept others and love them a little bit like God does; to take the hurting, lonely people around us, and embrace them and invite them in, and welcome them with joy.
            We all have a little bit of each character in us. This profound story calls us to accept the love of God, to feel embraced and welcomed – and calls us to share that love with others – to embrace them and welcome them – passing on God’s unconditional love.