The Fourth Sunday in Lent, 03/18/2007

Sermon on Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32, by Timothy J Hoyer

Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. ²And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, "This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them." ³So he told them this parable: ¹¹"There was a man who had two sons. ¹²The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.' So he divided his property between them. ¹³A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. ¹⁴When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. ¹⁵So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. ¹⁶He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. ¹⁷But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many of my father's hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! ¹⁸I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; ¹⁹I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands."' ²⁰So he set off and went to his father. But 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. ²¹Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' ²²But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly, bring out a robe-the best one-and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. ²³And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; ²⁴for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!' And they began to celebrate. ²⁵"Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. ²⁷He replied, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.' ²⁸Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. ²⁹But he answered his father, ‘Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. ³⁰But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!' ³¹Then the father said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. ³²But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.'"

Sisters and brothers in Christ,

Don't waste it, we are told. Don't waste the water because we only have a little. Don't waste the food because we don't have much. Don't waste your time on silly things.

When the essentials for living-water and food-are scarce, the need to save and not waste is urgent and so the work of being frugal is easily done.

But when we have a lot, when the water table is high, the lakes and wells full, so what if some water spills? We have plenty. We will splash the water. We will increase our standards for having clean water because we have lots of water. Dirty and used water that before was good enough for washing is now thrown out for cleaner water.

When we have a lot, we do not work so hard at saving. When we have a lot, we use it. We spend it. We eat a lot of it. That is just how we are. When we have lots of time we are glad to help, even if takes all day. When the person we help worries about using up all our time, we say, "Don't worry. I had nothing else to do today. I have plenty of time!"

But hardly any one is ever wasteful of money, even when they have a lot of it. No matter how much profit a company makes, every penny must be accounted for. There can be no spilling, no splashing of pennies.

Another essential for living is love. Do we waste our love? Does the level of love in our hearts ever run low like water in a well when it hasn't rained? We run out of love for others easily and often. Look at the son who insisted on having his inheritance. He ran out of love for his father. He wanted what was his. Let his father be as good as dead to him so that he can inherit his share of the property. The younger son insisted on having what would belong to him. He insisted on having what he deserved. No matter to him how it hurt his father or the rest of the household or the neighbors. He will do as he darn well pleases.

And that is why our love runs out. We would do what we darn well please. We will give our love only to our family. We will give our love only to those who love us. When our children wear us out with their teasing and with their not listening to us, we will stop our love and loudly use our voice with no love in it. When our neighbor starts talking about others and complains and complains in an annoying way, we stop our loving and leave them. When someone hurts us, we have no love for them. In some places, avoiding that person is the way love is not given. In other places, it is not enough to avoid the person. No, that person must be hurt and hurt harder. People will insist on what they deserve, and they think they deserve to hurt back, to punish, and to cause more pain than they were given. They make it sound right and true by saying they must return the harm in order to protect their honor, their status, or to get even. In other words, it is done because of pride. So, if harm is done to one's family, greater harm must be done to the family of the person who hurt us. If harm is done to people of my faith, greater harm must be done to those of the same faith as the person who harmed us. It does not matter if the people we hurt back are not the ones who hurt us. We do not love them. We do not care for them. As long as we can do as we darn well please out of pride, do not stop us.

Love is not wasted there. Rather, no love exists at all.

No love exists, not just for others, but no love exists for God. When we want to do whatever we darn well please instead of what God wants, we have no love for God. When we want to hurt others for hurting us, we have no love for God. When the younger son insisted on his share of the property, he had no love for his father and no love for God.

We have no love for God. When we have no love for God, then we have broken God's very first commandment. When we hurt others back harder than they hurt us, and we do that in the name of God, we have broken God's very first commandment. We think we act in the name of God, but we go against God whenever we harm another out of vengeance and pride. So we have twice broken God's first commandment, and blindly do not realize that. Which is why we are surprised when God stops us from doing harm by having us die. We are shocked to learn that death is how God puts an end to our unbelief.

We become desperate when God works to stop us. If God is against us, then we are condemned! We become afraid and do not know what to do.

The young man who took his share of the property did not know what to do when he ran out of money and was feeding the pigs and wishing he could eat their food. He became afraid that he would die. So he decided to return home. He did not think he would be welcomed. But he hoped to become a worker on his father's property and so be fed. He did not want his life to end with the insult of dying with the pigs. He wanted to return at least to the place where people's lives were cared for and not ended.

All we can do is the same. We can turn back to God and say, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your child; treat me like one of your hired hands."

An amazing and wonderful gift is given to us now. God forgives us. God, because of God's own love for us, loved us in this way: God sent his own son to take our place under God's judgment and condemnation. God sent his son Jesus who suffered God's sentence of death against us. For our sake, God's son died. Jesus promised us that his death meant God would welcome us back, that God would have mercy on us, that God would not count against us our selfishness, our pride, our going against God's commandment. No, for Jesus' sake, God would welcome us.

When the younger son got near his father's home, his father saw him. The father could have seen his son and say that his son had wasted his life, had wasted his property, had wasted everything and so was worthless. He would not have him back. That would have been just and fair. But when the father saw his son from a distance, he ran to him! Ran! And he hugged him, and welcomed him and put his robe on him and demanded a feast for his son, his son who was lost but now was found. The father did not rebuke his son. The father did not yell at his son. He did not give him a lecture. Did not ask if the son had learned his lesson. Not one word of blame!

That is forgiveness for us from God because Christ died for us. As a result of what Jesus did for us, God does not rebuke us, does not yell at us, and does not count our selfishness, our wastefulness, or our acts of harming others against us. God does not say one word against us for our unbelief and our going against God. God, for Jesus' sake, welcomes us, forgives us, and covers us with the robe of his righteousness.

We trust that God welcomes us because God raised Jesus from the dead! Jesus did die for us and God accepted Jesus' death as the way to reconcile our unbelief and harm to his goodness. God and us are brought together through Christ. We trust Christ to be our welcome from God.

We are welcomed because of Christ and we are made into new people because of Christ. Christ died for us and gave us his life. We now live with Christ's life as ours. Our old life he took and suffered to death. So we are new people with new hearts with new faith and love for God. Christ in us is our love for God and God's love for us.

As new people in Christ, we are given even more. We are given the love of Christ. We are given lots of Christ's love, and more and more! We are flooded with it. We have lakes and wells full of Christ's love. So we do not have to save it or be careful with it. We do not have to be afraid of wasting it. We are given so much love that we get to welcome those who hurt us. We get to love our enemy. We are given so much love that when we see our neighbor needs help, needs food, we lovingly care and supply for their need.

When someone hurts us, instead of hurting them back harder, we turn the other cheek. When we are insulted, we bless. When we are ridiculed, we compliment. When we are called weak, when we are said to have no honor, we patiently endure those attacks on our pride. Our pride is in Christ. We are proud of Christ instead of ourselves. Our pride in ourselves was taken by Christ when he died for us. It is no more. That old way has been done away with. We have the new way of Christ, the way of mercy and healing and forgiveness. So when our neighbor is hurt, we help bear their burden of hurt and care for them. We do not have to depend on revenge for our honor. Christ is our honor. We do not have to prove ourselves right and the other wrong. Christ is what is right for us.

Because of Christ, God has no word of condemnation against you. You are welcomed. You are forgiven. You are given eternal life. You are given grace that splashes. You are given grace poured out of a fresh bucket over your head, splashing everywhere. There is so much mercy and forgiveness through Christ that we do not have to save it. We trust it, drink it, and we splash others with it. Always God will run to you and welcome you because of Christ. There is only mercy for you from God. For Christ has died for us all. Amen.

Pastor Timothy J Hoyer

E-Mail: gloriadei@alltel.net

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