March 27, 2022 – Fourth Sunday in Lent

Repentance isn’t necessary for God to love us – it’s necessary for us to receive the fullness of God’s forgiving love.

Let us pray.  Holy and merciful God, we give you thanks for your presence in this time and place, and within each one of us. Help us now to open our minds, our hearts, our whole lives, to receive the gift of your living Word for us this day, and may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer.  Amen.

You have just heard in the Gospel Reading the well-known parable of the Prodigal Son. I found it surprising, knowing how well-known the parable is, that it only appears in the Gospel of Luke. It is not present in any of the other three Gospels. And I’m going to guess that you’ve probably heard lots of sermons on this story.  A popular approach amongst preachers in the last couple decades or so, has been to invite members of the congregation to place themselves in the story – to decide which character resonates with them.  I don’t know about you, but I always seem to end up being the ‘older brother’ – so we’re not going to do that today!

There are a few interesting things to note, though, about the story.  The older brother says that the prodigal son “devoured his father’s property with prostitutes.”  How does he know that?  It’s a distant country that the brother went to - he’s had no contact with him. But I think it’s a little bit like what we do when we say this – when we see the guy or the girl on the corner asking for spare change, and we immediately assume to ourselves that, “He’s going to use it to buy drugs.” Well maybe – but how do we know?

The second piece – the prodigal’s plans about going back to his father.  He says these words, “How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.” It has been suggested by some biblical scholars that we don’t know whether this is sincere repentance on this son’s part, or just a reasonable scheme to improve his dire living situation.  But I say, “So what?” His father didn’t seem to care.  In fact, look at what he does. It says, “But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him.” His son was back!  So when the prodigal then starts in his spiel, the father doesn’t even care to listen. He cuts him off and says, “Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate.” Repentance is not a precondition for the father’s love. Let me say that again, ‘repentance is not a precondition for the father’s love.’ It may be a necessary condition for the prodigal to feel forgiven – to be free of the guilt that he may feel for what he’s done. But the father’s love does not depend on repentance.

And then, recall the setting for the telling of the parable.  Jesus uses it to explain why he welcomes sinners and eats with them. Now remember, Jesus’ primary task is to reveal God to us and to the world.  This father’s love for the prodigal is an example of God’s love for us – amazing love. And as I spoke last week – pure grace – totally unmerited – unearned – amazing grace!

Now what about to those of you who are fellow-elder sons and daughters like me – trying to obediently follow God’s way in our lives – clearly detesting those who throw their lives away – irresponsibly and senselessly? How do we respond to the prodigals that appear in our lives – in our families, at our workplace, even maybe here in church? Or what about the prodigals that we see trying to make their own way “home” – that we see on the street corners, or outside Tim Horton’s, hoping to receive something from us?  Why do we want to distance ourselves from them just like the elder son who refused to go into the house where his brother was? If we’re sitting in our car, as I often find I am, at an intersection where persons are panhandling – why do we hope that the light will suddenly turn green and we will have an excuse to pull away before they get to us? We try to disassociate ourselves from them even though we have no idea who they are. Because if I make eye-contact, or lower the window, they’re going to expect to receive something – yes? And I’ll feel obligated to give them something. But why – I don’t even know who they are? They are obviously in need – true – and that’s unfortunate. But what does that have to do with you or me? It is because they are fellow-human beings! You and I try to distance ourselves to deny our connectedness. But why do we strive so hard to do that? I think it’s because, deep down, we know darn well that we’re connected to them.  We just don’t want to accept it. Jesus could welcome and eat with sinners because he had no problem sharing his humanity. The father had no problem rejoicing over his younger son’s return because he was his own flesh and blood!

And what about the elder son? Where was his focus? We read these words – he says complainingly to his father, “Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!” That son’s focus is on earning his father’s love – being rewarded for ‘good behaviour.’ It is not focussed on his father’s love for him, or on his love for his father or even his younger brother.

So how do we move from being elder brothers or sisters, to the unconditional love of the father in this parable? Saint Paul’s teaching in today’s Second Reading, I believe, points the way. Paul says of his fellow Christians, he says, “From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way.” So clearly something has changed for Paul and his colleagues. And he says what it is in the next verse. “If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” This is the transformation that is taking place within us. And notice how I use the present participle ‘taking place’. It’s a process – seeing ourselves, seeing others, seeing the whole world through new eyes. And Paul explains, “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.” And we can’t pass on this message if we, ourselves, have not truly received it. We have to become conscious of our own sin, our own need to be reconciled, in order to receive this love of God – this amazing grace.

When we are fully aware of that unconditional love of God for us, then we are set free to love in the same way. It is not that God’s love for us is conditional on our repentance, but rather our ability to receive the depth and the fullness of God’s love is conditional on our repentance.

Today’s Prayer Over the Gifts says this to God, “Your word calls us home to faith and love.” Allow God’s Spirit to show you the things that currently are blocking your being free to “come home” – the problems in relationships, the hurt or disappointment in your own life, the grudges or self-condemnation – that are keeping you trapped – bound. As today’s psalmist proclaimed – acknowledge it to God, receive forgiveness, be made new once again by God’s amazing grace. Don’t stay outside as an elder brother or sister. Go inside – join the party – take your place in God’s celebration!

Amen.