The Church that Love Builds
The Prodigal Son
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We're glad you've accepted our invitation to open scripture, join the conversation. If you haven't done so, you might like to read our common agreements and my entry on how to study the Bible. Either way, feel free to jump into the conversation. You'll need to log in or become a member to leave a comment. Otherwise, please read on and enjoy!
The Prodigal Son: Why did Jesus tell a story like this?
In this story (Luke 15:11-32) Jesus is inviting his neighbors who are living upright lives, but disdaining others, to lighten up. He wants two things: to restore the outsiders to fellowship in his new community, and to fill the hearts of the judgmental with joy. The repentance and return of the lost is only half the battle. The community will not reflect God’s will until those who once scorned their prodigal neighbors welcome them with open arms.
In Jesus’ time, people like the older brother were held in very high esteem. They were people who honored their parents, did their duty, followed the rules, and led productive lives. Much like today, they were, in some ways, the backbone of the society. In contrast, people like the younger son, selfish, irresponsible, careless, etc. were looked down upon. As today, such folks are a kind of burden for the rest of us to bear.
There is no hint in this story that good, solid citizens like the older brother should be anything but honored by the rest of us. But as Jesus said: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5:31-32) One important aspect of his ministry was to restore outcasts to the community. Tax collectors, prostitutes, Gentiles, lepers, and others whose lives were deemed unworthy or unclean were the types of people Jesus came to reclaim for his kingdom. Part of the problem he encountered was resistance from the upright when his grace seemed too generous. This parable does not fault the upright life of the older brother, but does call into question his hard heart at the restoration of his younger sibling. Clearly, it is the father’s attitude that Jesus is holding up as a sign of the new age he means to inaugurate. The father shows unchecked joy, even an embarrassing display of enthusiasm, for the one who was lost and is found, the one who was dead and is now alive.
The Prodigal Son: Why did Luke include it in his Gospel?
We are grateful for Luke’s Gospel, partly because he is the only one of the four to include this story. But why did he? Clearly, much of what Jesus said and did is not recorded in any of the books. What did Luke intend to communicate to his readers when he transmitted this story sometime between 70 and 90 A.D?
Luke is the only Gospel writer who is of Gentile lineage. The Church of the first decades after the resurrection was in a state of rapid growth and fluid change. We know from the Book of Acts and from the Epistles (a word that means “letters”) of Paul that one of the most troublesome issues was the inclusion of former pagan Greeks and Romans into the Church. Christ’s earliest followers were virtually all of Jewish descent. At first, Christianity was a movement within Judaism. But as it moved outward into the Roman Empire, it began to attract more and more people who were shaped primarily by the Greco-Roman culture.
In some quarters in Luke’s time, the Christians of Jewish background were suspicious and resentful that these Gentiles were claiming the same grace and salvation of Christ without having taken on the whole pattern of Jewish life. To some, it seemed like they were getting off too lightly. Could one really simply claim faith in Jesus as Lord and step away from a former life and be fully welcomed with joy into the Church? Luke was one of these Gentile converts. Having traveled with Paul, he was convinced that the Gospel of grace was a promise he could trust as much as any of the more traditional Jewish disciples. His inclusion of this parable is, I believe, an attempt to show that the Church’s willingness to welcome Gentile converts without harsh or onerous restrictions is grounded in Jesus’ own teachings.
The Prodigal Son: What about today?
Christians believe that the Holy Spirit continues to “call, gather, and enlighten” the Church today, as Martin Luther said in his Small Catechism. In other words, God continues to address us through the written Word by connecting us to the Word made flesh, the risen Christ. How does this parable “enlighten” us today?
Well, we still live in a world in which there are outcasts. And we still have upright folks who are not especially warmly welcoming or joyful toward those who have violated our sense of propriety. I see at least three very clear invitations here. One is to recognize that if we ourselves have lost our way, we can take stock of our lives and make decisions to put things right. The Twelve Step groups use this insight all the time to help people on the road to recovery from various addictions.
Second, we are encouraged by Jesus to take the father as our model, rather than the older son, when we are in a position to welcome or to judge our neighbors who may have gone astray. This situation really does present itself in our homes, our workplaces and our churches. May we be the source of welcome for those who need it most.
Third, we are assured by Christ’s telling of this parable that we have God’s own blessing to be restored to wholeness and to the gracious kingdom of Christ. Salvation takes many concrete forms; one is the simple confidence that, regardless of our weaknesses and brokenness, we have a God who seeks our renewal and rejoices when we receive it.
Watch "Lump" (video by Rob Bell)
Discussion Questions:
What are the signs of a community that is truly open to all, to both the prodigal son and his older brother?
What might we say to or do for someone who has not yet made a decision to return? for the older brother?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Paul F Berg on -
Could this be the first reply posted since Feb 27? (It's March 15 now) Anyway, I wanted to point out how well this ties in with what's trying to be said in the RIC series: Inclusion of someone for whom it might be argued should be excluded. I notice the prodical son didn't return (as far as we can tell) from anything anybody said to him but, rather, because his worldly circumstances turned sour for him. This happens to all of us to varying degrees, and I think the church could best "promote a decision to return" by letting it be known that it is a conduit to the comfort provided by the assurance of God's forgiving love.
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Permalink Reply by Scott Cady on -
You are the first! How do we "promote a decision to return?" A public expression of welcome may help, but we have to hope someone is listening.
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Permalink Reply by Paul F Berg on
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Hey, it works! First message and its reply went through. Right now I think we have two problems to work on. One is more immediate and hopefully short term, and that is: How do we get more participants on-line here? Frankly I think the necessity to sign up and select a password and other requested information is a bit of a turnoff. I know I didn't proceed further a few days ago when invited to leave a condolence message for the Halmers and was required to become a member first, but now I've relented. I know it's a standard interface put out by Ning, but it might confuse or at least annoy some would be contributors. (Do I want my reply posted to my Facebook page? Noooo!) I think these initial hoops to jump through stop some folks right there. I wonder if Philip can do anything to grease those skids.
Now, to the more important and long term problem of getting disenfranchised individuals (Prodigal Sons) out there to think of Emanuel as the first place to come when the realization hits that their Father''s forgiveness and love is needed in their lives. Imagining myself in such a position, I think I might be first tempted to try the Salvation Army Mission or the Full Gospel Interdemoninational Church here in town. They might hope to find more folks there that they think are more like themselves. For that reason I think we're on the right track with our RIC efforts.
Let's hope we can get more people to weigh in in this.
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Permalink Reply by Cliff Stratton on
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Hello, I'm sorry for getting back to this topic so late. I just received my invitation to join the list on the fourth of April. I didn't find the sign up to be difficult and it seems to be a basically simple format to follow. It took me only a few minutes to figure out how to navigate through the system. Whoever set this up... WELL DONE !!!
And now back to our topic . :-)
The Prodigal Son has always been one of my favorite bible stories for a couple of reasons. God KNOWS, I am not perfect (major understatement). I was raised going to Sunday School at Emanuel and have been blessed by experiencing the love, devotion, dedication, and Patience of the many volunteer Sunday School and Nursery School Teachers. Once I reached the age of adulthood,many different circumstances kept me away from going to church and/or Emanuel. None of them were Emanuel's fault. I found excuse after excuse not to go and eventually it was so long that I had attended a service that I felt that should I show up for a service again...The walls of the church would just crumble down upon me. Lest we not even mention the worry of the regular member's scorn of this guy they "know" belongs to the church but doesn't ever show up. (I must add this was only my thoughts and is not based upon any sense of reality or the warm welcome I did receive upon returning). It wasn't until my oldest child was born and I needed to talk to the Pastor about the baptism of my baby that I made any type of contact with the church. Upon a lengthy discussion with him, I started to attend church on a regular basis. In fact, after 3 weeks, the Pastor approached me about setting a date to have my oldest baptised. I believe he saw my commitment to having my children raised up Lutheran. Four kids later, I made sure all four of them attended Sunday School and church services and I attended them too. My Grandmother's death has shaken me from attending services regularly (again, not the church's fault) but my Grandmother was part of the Sunday morning hectic routine of getting the kids ready for church, dropping them off at Sunday School, getting them all together after Sunday School, driving down to the local supermarket to get some deli meats with italian bread so that I could go visit my Grandmother and have lunch with her. I'll admit it is still painful for me to go into church and not think about how much a part of my Sunday ritual she was. A hole has developed that I haven't quite figured out how to fill to this day. (See yet another excuse to not go to church). What I must remember now, is what I experienced when I first returned to Emanuel when my oldest was born, the church and its members are welcoming, non-judgemental, show empathy for people and their situations, forgiving, show inclusion. show they care, and never made me feel unwelcome or like I didn't belong. I felt like they showed true concern for me. My political, social, family, race and/or cultural, financial, educational background didn't matter. I guess what I'm trying to say here is that there are MANY of us that can fall into the prodigal son category. Some more than others. This story serves as a reminder of the unconitional Love and Grace of God. It serves to remind us that it is never to late to accept God's love. It is a great parable that shows why we shouldn't force our religion onto anyone, but be caring and supportive of people that don't always make the right choices. We can correct them, but lets not judge them. Some of us, it just takes a little longer (in my case a lot longer) to see the light.
Sorry to ramble on...
Cliff
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Permalink Reply by Paul F Berg on
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Cliff,-- Thanks for chiming in on the discussion. Don't know about Pastor Cady, but I was starting to feel a little lonesome in here. You make a good point--it's all too easy to get distracted by the ways of the world and drift away from our purpose here in the first place. But it wasn't too bad: At least you didn't go off and "waste (your) substance in riotous living", like the kid in the parable!
Anybody else with a comment?
-=-Paul-=-
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Permalink Reply by Scott Cady on
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I appreciate your comments, Cliff. You remind us that the whole process of "going to church" and participation in a community of faith is not simply a matter of logic or decision making, but has a deep emotional basis as well. Feelings like not being worthy, or left-over grief at the memories of loved ones we remember as part of worship carry a lot of weight. I had a pretty long absence myself many years ago, with no good excuses either, and was blessed to stumble back into a congregation that welcomed me anyway. And you are also right that whenever you do attend, we will be delighted to see you and share our common celebration of God's very abundant grace. I look forward to seeing you. Scott Cady
Cliff Stratton said:Hello, I'm sorry for getting back to this topic so late. I just received my invitation to join the list on the fourth of April. I didn't find the sign up to be difficult and it seems to be a basically simple format to follow. It took me only a few minutes to figure out how to navigate through the system. Whoever set this up... WELL DONE !!!
And now back to our topic . :-)
The Prodigal Son has always been one of my favorite bible stories for a couple of reasons. God KNOWS, I am not perfect (major understatement). I was raised going to Sunday School at Emanuel and have been blessed by experiencing the love, devotion, dedication, and Patience of the many volunteer Sunday School and Nursery School Teachers. Once I reached the age of adulthood,many different circumstances kept me away from going to church and/or Emanuel. None of them were Emanuel's fault. I found excuse after excuse not to go and eventually it was so long that I had attended a service that I felt that should I show up for a service again...The walls of the church would just crumble down upon me. Lest we not even mention the worry of the regular member's scorn of this guy they "know" belongs to the church but doesn't ever show up. (I must add this was only my thoughts and is not based upon any sense of reality or the warm welcome I did receive upon returning). It wasn't until my oldest child was born and I needed to talk to the Pastor about the baptism of my baby that I made any type of contact with the church. Upon a lengthy discussion with him, I started to attend church on a regular basis. In fact, after 3 weeks, the Pastor approached me about setting a date to have my oldest baptised. I believe he saw my commitment to having my children raised up Lutheran. Four kids later, I made sure all four of them attended Sunday School and church services and I attended them too. My Grandmother's death has shaken me from attending services regularly (again, not the church's fault) but my Grandmother was part of the Sunday morning hectic routine of getting the kids ready for church, dropping them off at Sunday School, getting them all together after Sunday School, driving down to the local supermarket to get some deli meats with italian bread so that I could go visit my Grandmother and have lunch with her. I'll admit it is still painful for me to go into church and not think about how much a part of my Sunday ritual she was. A hole has developed that I haven't quite figured out how to fill to this day. (See yet another excuse to not go to church). What I must remember now, is what I experienced when I first returned to Emanuel when my oldest was born, the church and its members are welcoming, non-judgemental, show empathy for people and their situations, forgiving, show inclusion. show they care, and never made me feel unwelcome or like I didn't belong. I felt like they showed true concern for me. My political, social, family, race and/or cultural, financial, educational background didn't matter. I guess what I'm trying to say here is that there are MANY of us that can fall into the prodigal son category. Some more than others. This story serves as a reminder of the unconitional Love and Grace of God. It serves to remind us that it is never to late to accept God's love. It is a great parable that shows why we shouldn't force our religion onto anyone, but be caring and supportive of people that don't always make the right choices. We can correct them, but lets not judge them. Some of us, it just takes a little longer (in my case a lot longer) to see the light.
Sorry to ramble on...
Cliff
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