Coming Home to Jesus

Luke 15:11-32

Our scripture lesson this morning is Jesus' parable of the prodigal son. Briefly summarized, it is the story of a young man who left home, experienced life in the real world, lost his way and his possessions, and made the decision to return to his father's home. But even more, the story is of a father who never gave up on his son, who waited and watched for his return, and who welcomed him home with love and hospitality.

Earlier this week, when Ruth called me at home and asked if I could preach this morning, she shared with me the theme and text around which this worship service was planned and asked if I felt comfortable preaching on this theme. I said I did.

After the Purdue - Notre Dame basketball game had ended, I picked up my Bible and re-read this familiar text to again place it in my mind. Then I picked up a book I have been reading off and on over the past couple of weeks. The author is Hunter Fulghum, son of the better known author Robert Fulghum. The book is titled Like Father, Like Son. The next chapter to be read began with these paragraphs I share with you this morning:⁽¹⁾

When you grow up, you move out of the house - your parent's house, where you have lived according to their rules, standards, and ideas. What they want for dinner, what color they want to paint the living room, whether or not Aunt Harriet comes to stay for three weeks in the summer, sleeping in your room, leaving you with the lumpy sofa bed in the family room. As a child, your parent's home was a citadel, protecting you from the unknowns beyond its walls. But with the passage of time, sometimes it feels as much a prison as a sanctuary.

At last you step out into the real world, with college or high school behind you, getting a job, settling into your own apartment or house. Perhaps you have roommates to share the expense of housing, but suddenly the rules are totally within your control. It is pure, undiluted freedom ... This is what you have been waiting for, a chance to be an adult and practice self-determination unfettered by a curfew or any other creature's demands.

"When you grow up, you move out of the house - your parent's house," writes Fulghum. This was exactly what the son in Jesus' parable did. He moved out and moved on with his life. This should come as no surprise to any of us - we have done the same, or are in the process of moving toward that moment in our life. Leaving home is inevitable for almost all of us. It is in fact what we parents spend years preparing our children to do, so that when the time comes they will be ready to make it on their own ... and we hope, will have learned important values for living.

Jesus' parable goes on to say that this son, the youngest of two, may not have been ready for life on his own, having not yet learned the values needed for living in the real world. With undisciplined living, he wasted everything he had. And before he had the opportunity to recover from his mistakes, the circumstances of life (namely a nationwide famine) left him unemployed, homeless and hungry.

There are times in our lives when our common sense and values do not seem to kick-in until we have hit rock-bottom. So it was for the son in Jesus' parable.

He has accepted the only job available - feeding the pigs (now remember that to the listeners of Jesus' parable this was the most degrading job a Jew could accept). His life had reached such a low that even the corncobs and pig slop looked like a banquet to him!

It is here that the parable provides us with a turning point. The son thinks of home - and, perhaps, for the first time since leaving home there is a tinge of homesickness. In the pigpen of life, this young man evaluates his life and the road he has traveled. He recognizes the sinful lifestyle he has been living and he is ready to confess before heaven and family his sinfulness. He also comes to a recognition that he has not treated his father well and needs to ask forgiveness, knowing full well he is not deserving of being treated as a son by his father. With those reflections he turns toward home.

Robert Frost wrote a poem, The Death of the Hired Man, in which a husband and wife, living on a New England farm, came home to discover a former hired hand in their house. Obviously exhausted and ill, the old hired man is given a meal. Leaving him to get some rest, Mary and Warren discuss what to do about their guest. They recall that the hired man has an older brother who lives just a few miles down the road. (Ken Gibble, Yeast, Salt and Secret Agents, pp. 70-71)

"His brother's rich -
A somebody - director in the bank."

"I think his brother ought to help."

They soon realize that the hired man did not go to his brother's place because he would not have felt welcome there. Instead, he had found his way to this farm because in some way he regarded it as home. And Mary says,

"Warren, he has come home to die."

"Home?"

"Yes, what else but home? It all depends on what you mean by home."

"Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in."

That may well be one definition of "home" - "where...they have to take you in" - and it may well be the expectation of the son in this parable. If so, the son was in for a real surprise.

Jesus tells us that "While he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him."

When we understand that the Father in Jesus' parable represents God when we are the prodigal, there is no more beautiful verse in all of scripture. "While he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him."

We find in this verse, Jesus own description of the pro-active love of God. It echoes in a very personal and visual way the verse many of us memorized from John 3:16, which begins:

"For God so loved ... the world ... "

Note the role of the Father in this parable as described by Lloyd John Ogilvie in his book "Autobiography of God."⁽²⁾

Note that the father of the parable did not step in to save his son from reality in the far country. There were no dispatched guardians standing by to soften the blows of coming to himself. The father allowed the shame and the degradation....

So often I hear people ask if God sends difficulties. He doesn't have to. Life offers more than enough. We cry out, "What's the meaning of this, God?!" (God) patiently waits until we can humbly ask, "What's the meaning in this, God?"

It's then, like the son, that we come to ourselves.... We want to go home.... What has happened around us drives us to realize what has happened in us. Life without the Father is no life at all!

So far in this parable told by Jesus we have noticed three major chapters in the story:

• First, is the son leaving home to experience life on his own.
• Second, is that turning point when the son has examined his life and turns toward home.
• Third, is the father who sees his son while he is yet a long way off and runs to meet him with an embrace and kissed him.

But now, for the rest of the story. The father's welcome does not end out on the road. In response to the son's repentance and confession of sin, the father calls for a party to celebrate his son's return. He then has three gifts brought for his son:

1. A robe, the best robe, is offered to one who is being honored;
2. A ring, is symbolic both of authority but also of family bonds;
3. Sandals, which were never worn by servants, symbolizes full acceptance into the family.

And finally, they feast and begin to celebrate the lost son who has returned home.

What is wrong with this picture? Does it sound like a fairy tale, ending with "they all lived happily ever after?" What's missing? Ah, yes, the other son. That side of the family that holds grudges and keeps some of us from attending the family reunions. Or those already living in God's Kingdom, ie. the church, already living in relationship with the Father who desire to protect our relationship and may become extremely jealous when the Father's love and forgiveness is extended to newcomers in the family of faith.

But notice the response of the father to the other son.

• First, the father takes the initiative and goes out to meet his son;
• Second, he listens to his son express his anger and jealousy;
• Third, he re-affirms their own father-son relationship; and
• Finally, he invites this son to join in the celebration of one who was lost and is found.

I don't know where you find yourself in relation to this parable that Jesus' told.

Perhaps you can identify with the younger son early in the parable, finding yourself with stirrings to leave home, establish your independence, and experience life in the far country. If that is where you are in this story, I only ask you to remember that God loves you enough to let you go.

Perhaps you identify with this same son a bit later in the parable, who has lost his way and his possessions, who has examined his life and found something missing. He is homesick, repentant, and desires forgiveness - both from God and family. He wants a new and better life and understands he needs help from beyond himself. If that describes where you are in this story, I invite you to come home to Jesus. God sent Jesus into our world to express God's love for us. He opened his arms and gave his life because he loves us and forgives us and wants to show us another way of living.

Perhaps you identify with the other brother in this parable. You are satisfied with your life and feel a strong family bond with your heavenly father. Your brother (or sister) has made their own decision and must now live with the consequences of their choice. You feel that there is only so much love, and resources, to go around; so you are looking out for yourself first. I ask you to remember that God's love is unlimited and there is plenty of love for you and the prodigal.

Or perhaps you identify yourself with the father in this parable. Perhaps your heart is full of love for a son or daughter you fear is never coming home again. Perhaps you find yourself loving children who are unable to get along with each other. I invite you to continue to reflect God's love each day in each and every relationship. Patiently watch and wait for the very next opportunity to express your compassion with an embrace and a kiss in Jesus' name. For you and I together make up the church, the body of Christ, and expression of God's love in the world in which we live.

Where ever you find yourself this morning in the parable that Jesus told, remember that God loves you and will forgive you; Jesus loves you and invites you to come home; and the church (while not perfect) will do its best to welcome you and offer you here a new beginning in Jesus' name. Amen.

Sermon by Herman Kauffman
Union Center Church of the Brethren
March 21, 2004

1. Like Father, Like Son, Hunter S. Fulghum, Putnam, 1996, pp. 228-229

2. Autobiography of God: God revealed in the parables of Jesus, Lloyd John Ogilvie, Regal 1979, p. 17