Psalm 1,1-2

Is God Fair?

Hear the Word of the Lord:

„Blessed is the man who does not walk in the council of the wicked,
or stand in the way of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers. But his
delight is in the Law of the Lord and on his law he meditates day and
night.“ Psalm 1, verses 1 and 2.

Now the tax collectors and „sinners“ were all gathering around
to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, „This
man not only hosts sinners but he also has fellowship with them.“

So Jesus told a story to explain what he was doing.

Well, who of us hasn’t wanted to sow a few wild oats? Who of us hasn’t
sown at least some wild oats? You, say it was just a little? No? OK,
it was a lot of wild oats. Some of you have done that. Some of you may
be doing that at full blast today, even though you’re here today.

Some participated in the free sex of the ’60ties, ’70ties, or whenever.
We drank ourselves silly, experienced all the highs we could get from
whatever came along. We spent all the money we had to give us the appearance
of being with it–so we would look good, look „in.“ We were
there with the“in“ people of that day, or week. We didn’t give
a hot-damn about anything, any authority, or what anyone thought. Sowing
wild oats–we thought that was fun, fun, fun!

Of course, it is a little difficult to tell your son, worse, your daughter
just how many persons you slept with or what substance we ingested or
what you want them to do. After all, it just a bit difficult to say: „Do
what I say; not what I did.“

But you’re here today. Here in the Father’s house. Home again. And all
of that simply doesn’t matter it seems. Accepted, loved, cared for, perhaps
sought after by some for advice and help, responsible, a family person.
Isn’t the Father’s house great? Imagine (and who doesn’t remember what
you have done?), imagine that Someone wants you, still sees something
good in you (you don’t know what), accepts you without blame, without
reprisal, without making amends, without explanations, without excuses–just
loved, just wanted back. Home in the family again.

It’s even better than that! You get embraced despite the fact that you’ve
been with the pigs. You get new clothes, that cover all the needle marks,
the scars, the signs of deprivation you’ve done to yourself. You get
riches, although you’ve wasted so much on nothing (now you know that,
of course). You get riches that will never go away. And the food! The
best food in all the world. A festival every week of bread and wine (don’t
ever make fun of bread, if you’ve never been hungry). And people who
love you, don’t ask about your past, don’t think you’re anything but
acceptable.

Why does this happen? Because the Father, well, the Father gave this
son his life to begin with. A Father, at least this Father, would not
want any of his children ever to be lost, to die, to be gone. He gave
him life and he will restore him to full rights in the family when the
Son wants to be back in the family.

All that is possible because of the Oldest Son, the One not mentioned
in Jesus‘ story. He is the One who got it from the Father. He was lashed
and beaten, and spit on. The Father took all his anger, his indignation,
his sense of justice out on this Oldest Son of all. The Father finally
let him hang out there, despised, rejected, alone. Now loathed by the
Father. He tore the life from that Oldest of all sons. He handed it to
those who had not a chance of ever really living. He took all the right
stuff that belonged to this Oldest and gave it to the beggars to cover
their sin and shame. He literally gave that renegade son everything the
Oldest had, and now calls these returned prodigals his sons, his daughter,
his family, his holy ones, the church.

I know this story is hard to hear by many of us. Were you ever a disgrace
to your parents? Oh, sure, a few minor things, but we didn’t shack up
with whomever. We were loyal to the Father. We stayed in the church.
We were here. We worked hard for all this.

Now these upstarts, these new people who have given so little while
we have given so much over the years want to take over. (Over my dead
body!) Do they even have the faintest idea of how hard we’ve worked,
of how much we’ve sacrificed? They, with their music, their ideas, their
new ways of wanting to do things, taking over. How dare they? What is
God thinking about anyway? Why should we share anything with these new
people? Why should we want new people? Let them go back to their life
which they thought was so great. Let them keep whoring around until they
die of disease. Why should any of us ever want to be in the same room
with these people who have done everything in their life to poke fun
at us, ridicule us, and tell others how old-fashioned and out of date
we were?

Have we ever gotten any recognition for what we’ve done? One extra blessing?
One special embrace? They get what belongs to us. It’s ours.

It is a haunting voice we hear, because we know it is true. „My
son, my daughter. You have always been here in this house with me and
all I have is yours. My life I gave to you, and my life is yours. But
shouldn’t we be glad, shouldn’t we celebrate, should we rejoice because
a sinner comes to the light and is rescued from misery and hell. Shouldn’t
we be glad that your brother, made of the same stuff I made you is alive
and we can see him again?“

Is God fair?

Surely the man is blessed who has not fallen into the ways of evil,
gone down a road which would lead to destruction, or felt close to those
who look at religious folks as bubble heads.

Surely the man is blessed who returns from the ways of evil, who has
been able to remember that God is good, all the time to all, who wants
life, hope and peace, a future, a covering for sin, and a place where
this is taught, preached, learned and practiced.

Is God fair?

God is not fair. Look at what he did to his Oldest Son? Call that fair?
No, call that love for every single one of us here, and every one out
there. And when you can understand how God could do that to his Oldest,
perhaps then you will understand how he loves and acts toward young and
old sons and daughters.

Perhaps then you will know whether God is fair or not.

Perhaps we have to go a long way before we get an answer to that. Amen.

Walter W. Harms, retired pastor
Austin, Texas
Comments? Waltpast@AOL.com