“Come Home!
March 27, 2022
Dear brothers and sisters, grace and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.
Today we hear one of the most moving, touching, and often repeated parables of Jesus – and one which we need to hear with fresh ears for today’s world. This story, like most of Jesus’ parables, is one that is meant to be told about who God really is, and how God really is. Indeed, at least one commentator points out that the real hero of this story is not the prodigal son who chooses to return home, but the father who forgives and welcomes him. The story should not be called “The Prodigal Son,” but instead “The Prodigal Father.” One the one hand, the dictionary defines the word “prodigal” as “spending money or resources freely and recklessly; wastefully extravagant.” But on the other hand, it also defines “prodigal” as “having or giving something on a lavish scale.” Which describes the father in this story: the father is as much lavish as the son is wasteful and reckless, but this shows how God really is.
First of all, God is generous. God is generous to everyone, to both the grateful and the ungrateful. In this particular case, the son is ungrateful. He wants to have his share of his father’s property before his father even dies; in other words, he’s looking at his father just as a source of wealth, rather than as someone who provides him with a home, care, and love. He’s saying that he wants to be able to live without his father: maybe he sees life with his father as being too restrictive or too boring. Maybe he thinks there are too many rules he has to follow while living at home. Or, maybe he just wants to be able to strike out on his own. The whole point, though, is how impatient he is about wanting what he feels is rightfully is, and acting as though he doesn’t need his father. But what is remarkable about his father, right from the beginning, is how generous he is towards his son, even though his son doesn’t really appreciate him. The fact that the father is willing to divide up his property among his sons before he even dies shows how generous he really is. God is even generous to people who take Him for granted. Of course, this doesn’t mean at all that we should allow ourselves to take God for granted: we are always to recognize that everything we have comes from God as a free gift, which He gives us out of His love for us, and that He is always generous to us, even in ways we don’t recognize. We are also to encourage others to recognize that everything we have in this world, everything we own, everything around us, is a free gift God gives us, out of His generosity. But, again, one of the many wonderful things about God is He doesn’t lay any conditions on His generosity: He provides life and everything necessary for living life, especially food, clothing, home, family, and friends to everyone, whether they recognize or appreciate Him or not. Even if people waste the gifts He has given them, He still continues to give them all kinds of good gifts, because He does not run out of good gifts. He is also so generous to everyone because He does hope that eventually people will appreciate Him and what He does for them. However, He does not force anyone to appreciate Him, nor does He force anyone to be grateful to Him. In this way, He is the best kind of parent: those of you who are parents know that, sometimes, one of the things you hope for is that eventually your children, your family, will recognize and appreciate everything you’ve done for them and you’ve given them; and, you also know that the best way to do this is to keep providing and being generous, and do so patiently. God is the best kind of parent in this way, because He continues to provide while being patient. He waits patiently for people to recognize Him and thank Him. Which leads to the next point:
God is waiting. God is waiting on every single person: in fact, on the one hand, He waits on people hand and foot. He waits on people by serving them with all His good gifts. On the other hand, He is also waiting for everyone to recognize and appreciate how generous He is with His good gifts. But He is also generous with His gifts because, again, eventually He hopes for every person to be in a relationship with Him. So He acts as though every person was already in a relationship with Him, whether they are or not. He does this because He has given each person life, and each person everything they need for life. He also loves each and every person, and everything He has made. Everyone has special and equal value to Him, and so He treats each person the same way. Even though people may take Him for granted, He still values each person. He also does not hold anything against anyone: He does not push people away because of what they have done, but instead He still remains close to each person, because He loves and values each person, each of us.
During the height of the conflict in Northern Ireland, about forty or fifty years ago, there was a father and a son, named Ronald Bunting and Ronnie Bunting, who were on opposite sides of the conflict: Ronald Bunting, the father, was the head of a pro-British paramilitary, and Ronnie Bunting, the son, was the head of an Irish Nationalist paramilitary. In other words, they were on extreme opposite sides of the conflict. They should have hated each other, and even should have wanted to kill each other, because they were very much on opposite sides in two armies who were deadly enemies, they actually still remained close. Even though the father could have even denied he had a son, and even though the son could have denied and denounced his father, they still remained in constant friendly communication with each other. Eventually, Ronnie Bunting was assassinated by another pro-British paramilitary, not the one headed by his dad, but a different one. But when his son was killed, Ronald Bunting not only publicly mourned his son, he still acknowledged him as his son whom he loved. Ronald Bunting also arranged for his son to be buried along with the rest of his family, continuing to acknowledge that even though he and his son fought on opposite sides of the conflict, they still loved each other as family. This is a powerful lesson we can learn from, even for today: unfortunately, the political and social arguments which have been going on the past few years have torn friends and families apart. While this is a sad reality of what can happen when we let opinions, stresses, and conflicts get in the way of relationships, what we hear from Jesus today is something different: even though there are many things which we might use to divide us from each other, God, our Father, does not use anything to divide us from Him. He also does not want us to let anything separate us from each other, because He has made us to be in caring relationship with each other, just as He is in a caring relationship with each person and each thing. Even though people may consider themselves separated from Him, He does not consider Himself separated from anyone, and still remains close with everyone. He still acknowledges each and every one of us, believers or not, as His child and someone He deeply loves. He demonstrates this by being generous to each and every person; by helping them in every time of need, even in times of sickness, illness, or hardship; and meeting them where they are, at every situation. Which then means:
God meets us where we are. Notice that the father has been waiting this whole time, and it is as though he has been sitting on his porch this whole time waiting for any sign of his son coming home, or any news about his son. When his son finally does show up, the father doesn’t even wait for his son to show up at the front door: he runs all the way out to his son, even while his son is still far away. We would also probably expect the father to scold his son, to say something along the lines of, “Where have you been?” in an angry way, and to make his son feel guilty and ashamed for having run away from home having wasted his father’s property. But the father doesn’t do any of that: instead, he embraces his son and welcomes him home right away. Also, when his son tries to speak, he doesn’t even let his son give the speech he’s prepared. He isn’t interested in hearing his son beat himself up over how bad he’s been, or how bad he feels. He only wants to welcome his son and be good to him again. We usually think that God only helps people who are willing to ask him for help: that is not the case at all. He does not even wait for people to try to help themselves: instead, God helps everyone where they are, and is willing to go out to them to meet them where they are. He does not even wait for people to pray: He gives people what they need before they even ask. If we go back to the original definition of “prodigal,” we could not only say that God is lavish and generous, but, in a way, we would also think He is reckless and wasteful. Normally we would want to make sure that if we help someone it’s going to be worth it: that they would use what we give them wisely. However, God gives things to people without any conditions or expectations, simply out of love and care. It would even seem that Him sending His Son to die on the cross would be reckless and wasteful: Jesus gave up His life and shed His blood, even for people who would continue to separate themselves from God, who would take Him for granted, and who would even hate Him. But He still willingly gave up His life, out of a desire to love and be generous to everyone. He was still willing to meet everyone where they were, and die for them.
One thing to keep in mind, however, is that even though God meets us where we are, He does not allow us to remain where we are. He brings us to where we need to be. The father in this story did not make his son stay out on the porch until he apologized, and then allowed him to come in. Instead, he brought his son into the house right away, and then started making everything better for him. He had him take a bath, then put his best robe and shoes on him. Then, he threw him a party. In the same way, even though God meets us where we are, He does not allow us to stay stuck in where we are: He brings us to Him and makes things better for us. He does not even wait for us to apologize, and does not want us to beat ourselves up over how we have lived or what we have done: He accepts us as we are, and makes things better for us right away. He takes away the stain of our guilt and sin by washing us clean in the blood of His Son Jesus. He takes away everything from our lives which is keeping us from living the life of joy and happiness He wants us to live, and gives us a new life to put on like new clothes. He moves us forward to where we need to be, and changes us.
So, indeed, God is inviting you to come back home again. He is coming out to meet you where you are, to help you. He has been waiting for you all along, and He is coming to you to turn things around for you, change your life, and make things better for you. He has never stopped loving you, and will never stop loving you. He doesn’t want you to come home so He can make you feel guilty or ashamed of yourself. He doesn’t want you to beat yourself up over anything you’ve done, or what has happened to you. He cares about you, and so He wants to bring you to where you need to be: to a place of peace, contentment, healing, and wholeness. He isn’t going to make you go through some sort of waiting period before He helps you: He loves you unconditionally and wants to help you right now. He wants to heal you of whatever has been causing your heart to hurt. He wants you – He will meet you where you are, and make things better for you. So come back home – God’s waiting to love you again.
Now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
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