[Propertalk] Fwd: Sermons for Lent 4 - Part 2

Tue Mar 9 20:06:56 EST 2010

(continued)

Where Are We At the Parable’s End?

Let's step back outside with the older brother, still in need of a
shower, arms folded across his chest, the moral high road. "But when
this son of yours came back ... you killed the fatted calf for him."
He cannot even bring himself to acknowledge his brother with a name
-- "this son of yours." A sense of unfairness, as you know, can turn
venomous rather quickly. 

So where are we at parable's end? Are we inside the party
celebrating? Or are we standing outside with our arms folded,
refusing to come in? Jesus will not tell us how this story will end.
The father passionately invites the older son inside, "pleads with
him" to join in the welcome. Curiously, however, we are never told
what the older brother decides to do. The story ends but it doesn't
end. You can almost hear the voice of Walter Cronkite saying, "You
are there." Will we RSVP to a party thrown by an unfair God? Or will
we stubbornly remain outside? In a world where God does not play
fair, this parable forces us to make a choice. Who is the real
"prodigal" here? Who is the real "waster"? From the beginning Jesus
says that this is a story about two brothers. Which one is the
authentic prodigal? Which one has yet to come home to the Father's
extravagant love? 

Frank G. Honeycutt, Sermons on the Gospel Reading, Cycle C, CSS
Publishing

____________________________

God Loves the Elder Brother Too

God loves the older brother just as much as he does the younger
brother, and I think that its time that the older brother hear about
it.

There have been a lot of elder brothers in the history of the church.
There was St. Teresa, who lived in the 16th century. She never left
the Father’s home. She went into a convent at an early age and
developed a life of self-discipline that would fill anyone with awe.
She spent hours a day in prayer. One day, when she was in her mid
40’s, she was entering the chapel to pray as she did everyday. And
as she entered she noticed a picture, a picture which had been on the
walls for years. It was a picture of Jesus being scourged prior to the
crucifixion. And suddenly the realization came to her the Christ had
been scourged for her. And those who have studied her life say that
this was the great turning point. She had stayed at home in the
Father’s house. She had done the right thing. But she needed to
know that the Christ who was whipped was whipped for Teresa. And
there was joy in heaven that day—-not over a soul returning from
wild living but for a soul returning from the fields after a hard
days work.

United Methodists certainly know about the elder brother, because
their own John Wesley was the best of them. He was so earnest, so
methodical about his devotional life that people called him a
Methodist and the name stuck. But it was not until his 35th year,
after years of ministry, when he was at Aldersgate, that Wesley
experienced God in such a way that he was able to write: “I
suddenly felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt that Christ had died
for my sins, even mine and had saved me from the law of sin and
death.” Wesley had never gone to the far country. But Wesley needed
to know how much God loved him too. He needed to feel some excitement
about his religion. He needed a homecoming party.

Staff, www.eSermons.com

__________________

Our Own Sin Is Hard To See

Let me tell you a true story. Back in 1893 there were a group of four
sisters. The Cherry Sisters they called themselves, who made their
stage debut in Cedar Rapids in a skit they wrote themselves. For
three years, the Cherry Sisters performed to packed theaters
throughout the Midwest. People came to see them to find out if they
were as bad as they had heard. Their unbelievably atrocious acting
enraged critics and provoked the audience to throw vegetables at the
would-be actresses. Wisely, the sisters thought it best to travel
with an iron screen which they would erect in front of the stage in
self-defense.

Amazingly, in 1896 the girls were offered a thousand dollars a week
to perform on Broadway -- not because they were so good, but because
they were so unbelievably bad. Seven years later, after the Cherry
Sisters had earned what in that day was a respectable fortune of
$200,000, they retired from the stage for the peaceful life back on
the farm. Oddly enough, these successful Broadway "stars" remained
convinced to the end that they were truly the most talented actresses
ever to grace the American stage. They never had a clue as to how bad
they truly were!

The parable this morning does not tell us what the elder brother did
when his father came out to speak to him. It doesn't reveal to us
whether he realized that his envy and disdain had made him just as
bad as his younger brother. Yes, the elder brother had never stooped
to find himself in the pigpens of life. He would never have been
caught dead carousing with prostitutes or wasting his resources in
riotous living but in the end his refusal to rejoice at the return of
his sinful brother was, to Jesus, just as offensive.

The tragedy was that he never realized just how bad HE truly was!

Lee Griess, Taking The Risk Out Of Dying, CSS Publishing Company.

_________________

We Prefer Justice to Mercy

Perhaps you remember the cartoon strip, Calvin and Hobbes. Calvin is
a little boy with an overactive imagination and a stuffed tiger,
Hobbes, who comes to life as his imaginary friend. In one cartoon
strip, Calvin turns to his friend Hobbes and says, "I feel bad I
called Susie names and hurt her feelings. I'm sorry I did that."
Hobbes replies, "Maybe you should apologize to her." Calvin thinks
about it for a moment and then responds, "I keep hoping there's a
less obvious solution." We have trouble accepting those whom God
accepts because we take God's acceptance for granted and God's
forgiveness as our right.

We are much like the elder brother who preferred justice to mercy. We
have worked for what we have (or so we think), and it's unfair that
everyone else should not have to do the same. We have earned God's
favor (or so we think) by "staying at home." We have merited his
acceptance by the good life that we live. So how dare God receive and
accept our sinful brother who has returned home saying he's sorry.

Lee Griess, Taking The Risk Out Of Dying, CSS Publishing Company.

_______________

Who Resented The Prodigal’s Return?

The Religious Ed teacher was reading this story of the Prodigal Son
to his class, clearly emphasizing the resentment the older brother
expressed at the return of his brother. When he was finished telling
the story, he asked the class, “Now who was really sad that the
prodigal son had come home?” After a few minutes of silence, one
little boy raised his hand and confidently stated, “The fatted
calf.”

Staff, www.eSermons.com

______________

What the World Expects of the Church

On a cold, dreary December evening, several hundred people gathered
at a large downtown church in Winston-Salem to celebrate the
Christmas season. Bishop Ernest Fitzgerald, present that evening, had
gone down a long hallway to help a small boy who was pushing against
massive oak doors trying to get outside. The boy was about 2 years
old and as he pushed he was crying as if his heart would break.

The Bishop picked him up, thinking he belonged to someone at one of
the Christmas parties but as he opened the doors and looked outside
he spotted an old-model car speeding away in the darkness. Gradually,
it dawned on him that the child he held in his arms had been
abandoned.

Phone calls were made, and soon the church was filled with people
wanting to help in any way they could. Within moments, the local TV
stations interrupted their usual programs to ask if anyone knew the
identity of the little boy. The next morning, one of the city's
newspapers put the child's picture on the front page. Under the
picture there was an article describing the events of the evening
before. The article began with this striking line: "Someone trusted
the church last night, and…

The conclusion to this illustration and for many additional
illustrations and sermons for the Lent 4 can be accessed at
www.Sermons.com <http://www.sermons.com/>

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