[Propertalk] Gospel tidbits - March 14 - Lent 4 - Part 6

[Joe Parrish]

The poor older brother. He had stayed home and had worked for the father for all these years. The reader can feel the older brother "pouting" that his father actually welcomed home and celebrated the return of the "good for nothing" brother. 

http://www.sermonsfromseattle.com/series_c_lost_sheep_coin_son_GA.htm

Ed Markquart
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The younger son represents the tax collectors and sinners who were coming to Jesus.  The older son represents the scribes and pharisees who "murmur" about the seedy crowd hanging out with Jesus.  Between them is the Father--a Father who forgets his dignity, sets aside his power, and reaches out with compassion and love to both his children.  

http://www.progressiveinvolvement.com/progressive_involvement/2010/03/lectionary-blogging-luke-15-13a-1132.html

John Petty, 2010
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This forgiving and compassionate father is the main feature of Jesus' story.  Yet, we routinely make this story about the younger son and his supposed self-atonement.  We can't bear the thought of one so lowly receiving redemption without first earning it, so we remember only the parts of the story that sound as though he did.  Nevermind the fact that this parable is the third in a serious of "lost and found" narratives, the first two of which concerned a sheep and a coin, neither of which did anything to merit being found!  The whole point of all three parables in this series is the one who searches, and the joy of finding that which was lost.  Merit has nothing to do with it.  These are parables of grace.
Grace is antithetical to our notion of how the world should work.  It seems horribly unfair to us.  We've grown up learning that you get what you've earned.  The unmerited reward of substandard behavior is a threat to the whole system.  But isn't that - threatening the system - exactly the kind of thing that Jesus came to do?  
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It's the season of Lent, and we've got it all wrong.  It isn't about repentance.  It isn't about doing something to atone for our wrongdoings.  It isn't about us at all.
No, it's about the one who atoned for us, the one who died for us while we were yet sinners, the one who rushes out to welcome us home with open arms and rejoices every time he finds us wandering down the road.

http://reflectious.com/2010/03/07/first-look-luke-1511-32/
 
Lee Koontz, 2010
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What about the eldest son? By accepting his share of the estate, he has now become responsible for supporting his father and his father's household. He would now have to provide for his younger brother as well.

The father affirms the eldest son's position with him, and gives him the grounds for joining the party. (Note that the father refers to the younger son as "this brother of yours," emphasizing THEIR relationship, not his.)

The story ends without telling us how the eldest brother responds.

And without Luke telling us how Jesus' listeners respond.

In other words, the story ends with only our responses to it. We are the end of the story.

http://www.holytextures.com/2010/02/luke-15-1-3-11b-32-year-c-lent-4-sermon.html

David Ewart
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The Father is not simply a great patriarch. He is mother as well as father. He touches the son with a masculine hand and a feminine hand. He holds, and she caresses. He confirms and she consoles. He is , indeed, God, in whom both manhood and womanhood, fatherhood and motherhood, are fully present. 

http://www.bridges-across.org/ba/nouwen.htm

Henri Nouwen
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...when we look at the life of the average church household do we not see a constant conflict in our Church Councils, between the Prodigal and the Prosaic. (Guess who the Treasurer usually is?)
The polarities are endless in this encounter:

  a.. Youth versus Elderly 
  b.. Mission versus Maintenance 
  c.. Expansion versus contraction 
  d.. Evangelism versus Pastoral Care 
We can go on and on, but we are missing the point. The Liberal Prodigal Father seems to be saying, "Hey kids, there is enough for everyone!"


"The polarities only exist in your scarcity mentalities. You don't have to compete, judge and resent."


Open up to what is available and join the party!


http://thelisteninghermit.wordpress.com/2010/03/08/the-land-of-the-settling-sons/

Peter Woods, 2010
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the climax of the story is something not in the story yet at all: the climax of the story is the community that will be formed when the two brothers are together again. Anything less than this is just same old, same old: little brother, isolated from big brother, thoughtlessly partying while big brother feels isolated by his own sense of responsibility and all the work that needs to be done. This outcome to the story is the theological equivalent of little bro saying, "I like to sin. God likes to forgive. What could be better?" which is (you heard it here first) not the gospel. 
God hates sin so much not because God is a peevish scorekeeper, but because sin harms those that God loves: namely, you and your neighbor. It is testimony to just how devastating little brother's actions have been that the father needs to find the older son and try to convince him that reconciliation does not mean, "No harm, no foul" and that the old, unfair relationship between the brothers is not the only possible future for the two. 

http://maryhinkle.typepad.com/pilgrim_preaching/2004/03/wherever_you_ar.html

Mary Hinkle
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I ask you: What would happen if everybody ran around forgiving those who hurt them? Sure, there might be better cooperation, there could be more understanding, perhaps even greater peace, but what of justice? Do you want to live in a world where mercy supercedes righteousness, where forgiveness tramples on judgment, and where love is more important than the law?

http://teamnoah.info/Stirred/scribe.html

Sarah M. Foulger 
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