[Propertalk] Gospel tidbits - March 14 - Lent 4 - Part 7

Sun Mar 14 01:21:24 EST 2010

The father goes out to him and begs him to join the party, to celebrate the return of the one who was lost and is found, was dead and is restored to life.  The father asks him to let go of his anger and resentment, let go of his grievance, let go of his own righteousness and superiority, let go of his sexual jealousy - and enter the Kingdom.

Will he do it?

We don't know.  That's part of the wonder of this story:  Jesus/Luke leaves the ending open.

Personally, I don't think he will, or that he can.  I see him as the type of all those righteous people who fail, by their own choice, to enter the Kingdom.

So his is a tragic story:  he has failed to choose life.  He can console himself with bitter thoughts of how virtuous he is, and how unfair the father is, and how "disordered" his gay brother is - while he stands outside alone in the dark.

That is his "hell" - and he's chosen it for himself.

http://gospelforgays.com/?p=741

Jerry Bartram 
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Methinks whatever else Jesus means, he means us all to be prodigals with the grace God bestows so prodigally on us. Even if that means learning the hard way that it's better to 'pitch our moving tent a day's march nearer home' than to stay in any far land. 

http://www.angelfire.com/journal2/laterallyluke/LLK151132LENT4.html

Brian McGowan
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It was not uncommon for parents to settle their estate before their death.  It was like retiring and putting the family farm into a corporate trust for the children.  As a second child, this boy could rightfully ask for one-third of his father's estate, just as the elder brother could rightfully ask for two-thirds.  Each child would be in charge of his portion of the property, which included slaves, siblings, their spouses, and even their children.
Yet, knowing what we know of the elder brother, would we want to work for him?
Given the situation, are we so sure that the younger brother obstinately walked out on his responsibilities or was he driven out by an irresponsible older sibling?

http://onefamilyoutreach.com/bible/Luke/lk_15_01-32.html

Jerry Goebel: 2007 © http://onefamilyoutreach.com
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         Interestingly enough, theologian Karl Barth heard something else in this parable. "We do not do justice to the story if we do not see and say that in the going out and coming in of the lost son in his relationship with the father we have a most illuminating parallel to the way trodden by Jesus Christ in the work of the atonement, to His humiliation and exaltation" (p. 23, Church Dogmatics IV:2, ©1958, T&T Clark). Unlike the prodigal, our Lord didn't demand his inheritance from God, but still he left for a "far country." There he lived and died as a servant (cf. Philippians 2:5-11). The homecoming of the son of man brought great joy in heaven, and created a community of joy on earth - the church (which holds out open arms to tax collectors and sinners, as well as pharisees and scribes). 

http://rockhay.tripod.com/sermons/texts/NT/gospels/luke_15_01-32.htm

Peter L. Haynes, 2001 
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The words spoken to the elder son were implicitly directed to Jesus' opponents. They repeat, gently and imploringly, the justification for the festive celebration: "Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to make merry and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost and is found." As the climax to a spoken parable in a setting of actual controversy over table fellowship, the final words hang in the air trailing an unexpressed question. Will the elder son join the festivity? Or will he let his own standard of proper behavior prevent him from joining the celebration? Will the protesters' commitment to the quest for holiness make them adamant that outcasts such as these cannot be part of the people of God? For them to have accepted the invitation would have required a seismic change in their understanding of what the people of God were intended to be, a radical reorientation of both their perception and their animating vision, one that would fundamentally transform their social world. 

http://wiki.faithfutures.org/index.php?title=Lent_4C

Faith Futures Jesus Then & Now
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So how will things be different? Will the younger son repeat his stunt seventy times seven times? Will he bring new technology from afar and make the land more productive? Will he be a catalyst for a moment of revelation by his brother? Will he find himself slain in a field at Cain's long hand?

http://kcmlection.blogspot.com/2007/03/fourth-sunday-in-lent-c4.html

Wesley White, 2007
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17"At last she came to her senses and said, `All my mamma's employees make a living wage plus benefits, and they have more than they can eat. But here I am eating Union Mission soup and starving? 18I will get up and go to my mother and say, Mamma, I have turned away from God and disrespected you. I am not worth a damn! 19I am no longer fit to be called your daughter; treat me as one of your part-time employees.' 20So she got up and started back home. 

"She was still several blocks from home when her mother saw her baby get off the bus; her mamma's heart was filled with compassion, and she ran, threw her arms 'round her daughter, and hugged and kissed her. 

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3861/is_200201/ai_n9050471/

Ed Loring, 2002
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One Sunday morning I divided the congregation at a barrio mass into small groups. I asked them to discuss the Gospel, the one we have today, the story of the defiant son and the prodigal Father. After some time an old man raised his hand asking to speak. "How come, Father," he asked, "that Jesus Christ allowed a bad story like this into the Gospel? Isn't it clear that the father should not have forgiven his son? This story is a very bad example to be giving our children. Do you think that we could ask the Holy Father to have it erased?"

http://www.bible.claret.org/liturgy/daily/sundays_pierse/cycleC/C_4thSunLent.htm

Gerry Pierse, 1998
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Sharon Ringe suggests that the title for this lesson should be the "Parable of Two Beloved Sons." Whether we view the story from the younger or the older brother's perspective, the result is the same. The younger brother sees his father squinting as he watches his beloved son approach, then runs to embrace him and pardon him for everything that has come between them. The elder brother has his father's abiding presence, a share of all he possesses, and the joy of celebrating their love in daily life. With God, as with this earthly father, there is no end to the love. This is not a zero-sum game but a win-win situation.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1058/is_5_124/ai_n27172442/

Beth Sanders, 2007
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We have to understand this, the elder son is offered an invitation to the celebration and - because of his self-righteousness - he refuses to come in.  God does not condemn either child, God welcomes both children; but one child refuses God's invitation and chooses to remain in the dark, in his own personal hell.

Jesus sat with sinners and tax collectors and invited the religiously righteous to the party.  They chose instead to curse our Lord and reject the celebration.  They were a breath away from celebration and chose hatred instead.

God does not reject us, we reject Him!  He throws open the door to all but we refuse to dine with the 'likes of them."  Yet, heaven is filled with the "likes of them."  Heaven is all about the return from the brink of the "likes of them."  Will God find us loving "the likes of them?"
http://onefamilyoutreach.com/bible/Luke/lk_15_01-32.htm

Jerry Goebel
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      In truth, this parable serves to remind those who have faithfully laboured in the Father's service, godly churchies, that their standing in the sight of God is on the same basis as the more notorious members of Christ's fellowship. Repentance (turning to God for mercy) is the only basis for forgiveness and acceptance in the sight of God. Once we understand that our own acceptance is wholly on the basis of God's freely given mercy, we are then able to be "glad" with the Lord, "because this brother of ours was dead and is alive again; was lost and is found." 

http://www.lectionarystudies.com/studyg/lent4cg.html

Bryan Findlayson
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I would emphasize the words which entitle this essay: "All that I have is yours" (15:31). The problem of the older son is that he has forgotten the mercy of God. He tends to see his life as one of service that has, over the years, become interpreted as slavery. In seeing one's life in this way we lose the capacity to understand mercy. We lose the capacity to recognize the riches that we do have because we are always focusing on what we don't have. 

http://www.drbilllong.com/Lectionary/Lk15.html

Bill Long, 2007 
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v. 31. The verse ought to be memorized. Each part is a sermon in itself. Teknon (child) is how the father addresses the older son. Why doesn't he say, "My son"? "You are always with me." Isn't that a big phrase? And, bigger still is, "All that is mine is yours." If we truly took in that verse, we would never complain again.

http://www.drbilllong.com/Lectionary/Lk15II.html

Bill Long, 2007 
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