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| Rembrandt, Return of the Prodigal Son |
This picture hangs in my office. No Jesus story speaks more to me than this one. I have written, preached, studied, and appreciated this story for many years. To me this is the entire gospel in one story.
This chapter contains the three parables of lost things; lost sheep, lost coin, and lost sons. I will focus on the latter story. It is an extended story about a father and two sons, known as the Prodigal son. The story is told in the context of a serious accusation that the religious leaders lob at Jesus. "He eats with tax collectors and sinner." In other words, the company Jesus keeps damages his reputation, tarnishes his image as a righteous Jew, and erodes any teaching authority he may be exercising in his public life. Jesus responds with these three stories. His point? God rejoices over one sinner who repents, more than 99 self-righteous people who need no repentance.
A Father has two sons. This is a Jewish story. Genesis is full of these stories. Cain and Abel. Ishmael and Isaac. Esau and Jacob. God favors one son over the other. Often, the favored one is not the one expected to find favor with God. In any case, God favors forgiveness and acceptance and brotherhood over envy and anger and violent retribution.
A father has two sons. The father in this story is absurdly kind and generous. He is almost foolish in his submission to his sons' requests. He is persistent in his acceptance of them, despite their behavior toward him and one another. When the younger son asks for his half of the family inheritance, takes it and runs away, he is tells his father that he would rather have the money than the relationships. He is telling his older brother that he doesn't value their rule as siblings or sons, that he doesn't respect the work, or that he cares about the family's future. When the elder son confronts his father for welcoming the younger son home, it is clear he doesn't see himself as a son and heir but as a slave. He sees his father as an employer or a benefactor rather than a loving parent. And yet, the Father's actions demonstrate his compassion and love for his sons.
Does Jesus tell the story about himself? Isn't he the prodigal son, leaving his father's house to spend his life with the sinners and the pigs? Aren't the religious leaders the elder sons, self-righteous, bitter, and envious? Don't they see themselves as hardworking, loyal, and deserving?
Aren't we both? Luther said, We are at once both saints and sinners. Sometimes I'm envious of the impious and irreverent and immoral. Sometimes I'm impious and irreverent and immoral.
Do we know the Father's love? As a parent, I know that there is nothing my children could do to make me love them less. They are loved. Period. And that's the point. Prodigal or self-righteous snobs---God loves us all and welcomes us home and throws a feast for us.
I love the image of God's kingdom as a banquet or a gathering for a feast in Luke's gospel. To me that is what heaven will be like. The story of God, according to Jesus, is a family love story. Different than mythologies in which all powerful deities exist but do not act in human history, the story of Israel's God is the story of a God who acts, who shows up, who rescues, who intercedes, who feeds, who nurtures, who protects. It is a love story, in which God is parent and we are children. This is the Jesus innovation on the story of Israel.
A great book on the parable of the prodigal son is Henri Nouwen, "Return of the Prodigal Son."
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