Scripture/Sermon of the Day

Scripture/Sermon of the Day. March 30, 2025

Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

3 So he told them this parable:

The Parable of the Prodigal and His Brother

“There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the wealth that will belong to me.’ So he divided his assets between them. 13 A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant region, and there he squandered his wealth in dissolute living. 14 When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that region, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that region, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. 16 He would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, and no one gave him anything. 17 But when he came to his senses he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! 18 I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.” ’ 20 So 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. 21 Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 But 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. 23 And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate, 24 for 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 as he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. 27 He replied, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf because he has got him back safe and sound.’ 28 Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. 29 But 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. 30 But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your assets with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!’ 31 Then the father said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 But 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.’ ”

I. This is one of the most famous stories in the Bible — even in human history! Who hasn’t read or heard about this story? The Prodigal Son. It is so great, and so short. It’s only two paragraphs long. And yet the best works of Earnest Hemingway, Leo Tolstoy and Jane Austen don’t come close to it in terms of a powerful message about people, God, and the human condition. Two paragraphs to tell us all we need to know about ourselves and Jesus and God. This is a miracle of a story.

II. The youngest of two sons doesn’t want to wait for his father to die to get his inheritance so he tells his father, “Give me my inheritance now. I don’t want to wait for you to die — what if you live a long life? By the time your estate is settled I’ll be an old man too! I want to enjoy your wealth now. Give it to me.”

III. He sounds like an adolescent, doesn’t he? He doesn’t have empathy — he doesn’t think that his father might be hurt by his selfish demand. And yet — the father grants his request, without question. He gives his son what he asks for — a lot of money.

The son takes the money and moves far away — and spends all of it “on dissolute living.” I had to look up that word — dissolute. It means “lacking in morals, licentious, debauched, decadent, self-indulgent.”

IV. Now he’s poor, he’s homeless, he’s hungry. He can’t afford food. “Friends” have deserted him. He finds work — for the first time in his life! — at a pig farm, so hungry that when nobody’s looking he eats the pig’s food. He has never suffered like this before — never felt this kind of pain.

V. The 19th century Danish philosopher Kierkegaard wrote:

“Suffering is the element in which that which is religious begins to breathe.” Suffering, he said, is the beginning of the spiritual life. And we can see that in this story of the Prodigal Son. The son has hit bottom and he’s suffering more intensely than he has at any time in his life. And what does he think of? HOME. But with Jesus telling the story, of course, home isn’t home where we live — it’s the place where God lives — our real home — the kingdom of heaven. Because of the prodigals suffering, his consciousness has broken open into another realm. He is ready to repent — to return “home” —the kingdom of God, love, forgiveness.

VI. In the world of the Bible, things are usually not what they seem. We might dream of winning the lottery and how wonderful everything would be if that happened. But in the Bible — the real gift would be winning the lottery, then losing everything, and then discovering, if we’re lucky or blessed, finally discovering WHAT MATTERS in life —which is our connection to other people and the earth and God — and treating those relationships as sacred.

VII. Remember — why did Jesus tell this story? The religious leaders, the Pharisees, criticized him for welcoming tax collectors and sinners and eating with them. The Pharisees felt superior to the people Jesus spent much of his time with — prostitutes, poor criminals, extortioners and adulterers. The Pharisees were the White Supremacists, the Christian Nationalists of their time. They lived for power and their sense of being better than other people. In Jesus’ story, they were the older brother, the villain of the story, the angry and heartless and spiritually dead human being.

What happens to him? I don’t know. If he doesn’t repent, he will probably kill the father and his brother and take over the farm.

VIII. Either way — God loved both sons, and always did, and always will. Because this story is really not about the Prodigal son or his brother — it’s about the father, God — and God’s eternal love for us — so powerful, it calls us to the place of forgiveness and love in our own lives, which is our true home. HOME — THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN — IS ALWAYS HERE FOR US, WITH THE DOOR OPEN.

Each time one of us returns home to the place of compassion in our hearts, the whole world changes.