The Scandal of Grace
Last week we looked at the call from Jesus for us to repent – or you will perish – you will be lost. This week, our scripture centers around Jesus telling parables to Pharisees, tax collectors and sinners parables. A set of three parables- one about a lost sheep, one about a lost coin and now one about a lost son. Listen to the living Word from
Luke 15:1-3 and 11b-32
15 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
3 Then Jesus told them this parable:… “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need.15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs.16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father.
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate.24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again;he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him.29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”
The Scandal of Grace
Sometimes parables become so familiar that we are numbed and have trouble seeing them with new eyes. Michael Garofalo shares this story on Morning Edition,
Julio Diaz has a daily routine. Every night, the 31-year-old social worker ends his hour-long subway commute to the Bronx one stop early, just so he can eat at his favorite diner.
But one night last month, as Diaz stepped off the No. 6 train and onto a nearly empty platform, his evening took an unexpected turn.
He was walking toward the stairs when a teenage boy approached and pulled out a knife.
"He wants my money, so I just gave him my wallet and told him, 'Here you go,'" Diaz says.
As the teen began to walk away, Diaz told him, "Hey, wait a minute. You forgot something. If you're going to be robbing people for the rest of the night, you might as well take my coat to keep you warm."
The would-be robber looked at his would-be victim, "like what's going on here?" Diaz says. "He asked me, 'Why are you doing this?'"
Diaz replied: "If you're willing to risk your freedom for a few dollars, then I guess you must really need the money. I mean, all I wanted to do was get dinner and if you really want to join me ... hey, you're more than welcome….
Diaz says he and the teen went into the diner and sat in a booth.
"The manager comes by, the dishwashers come by, the waiters come by to say hi," Diaz says. "The kid was like, 'You know everybody here. Do you own this place?'"
"No, I just eat here a lot," Diaz says he told the teen. "He says, 'But you're even nice to the dishwasher.'"
Diaz replied, "Well, haven't you been taught you should be nice to everybody?"
"Yea, but I didn't think people actually behaved that way," the teen said…..
When the bill arrived, Diaz told the teen, "Look, I guess you're going to have to pay for this bill 'cause you have my money and I can't pay for this. So if you give me my wallet back, I'll gladly treat you."
The teen "didn't even think about it" and returned the wallet, Diaz says. "I gave him $20 ... I figure maybe it'll help him. I don't know."
Diaz says he asked for something in return — the teen's knife — "and he gave it to me."
One of the exercises that our Lenten study did last week was to put some terms in order of the sequence we think that they occur – create a timeline if you will. They are familiar words, but the most relevant we also hear today are repentance, grace and reconciliation. Pause and out these in order to yourself that you think they need to occur. We struggled a bit thinking in many ways one doesn’t always come first or they overlap and happen simultaneously. Traditional Lent has us preparing for Easter, but this year we are focusing differently, less on our work, our preparation, and more on remembering and seeing anew what God has given us – the work begun on reconciliation by Jesus.
Our theme this Lent is “Full to the Brim” - abundant overflowing grace – God’s love so full to the brim and yet we have to remind ourselves again and again to not only look for but to expect that overflowing cup. Last week, we were called to repent – yet if you look at the action in the parables that Jesus presents about the lost things – sheep, coin and people. It is never the ‘lost’ that initiates the action. Yes turn toward God but know God is actively, restlessly reaching out to us. Jesus sets out with scandalous, ridiculous grace that is abundant beyond our understanding – leaving 99 sheep to seek one, sweeping the floor, stopping everything for one coin, and running out making a spectacle of himself to embrace a lost son.
Our brains get caught in the logic – what a waste – the father gave him his inheritance; how can he now welcome him with open arms, throw open the doors in a party? Surely he has to repent first? Does this discount those of us who follow the rules, those always in the church?
If it weren’t hard enough understanding our own baggage, trying to interpret what someone else thousands of years ago would have thought throws another challenge our way. The prodigal son regardless of how we interpret his motivations is welcomed back in love. Is he genuinely repentant? The words seem pretty pat and rehearsed. I have always found it easier to put myself into the role of the older son who looks to the father and says – but what about me? The father runs to the lost son before any words of repentance are spoken – pre-emptively pouring out grace bringing about reconciliation.
Are you going to listen to him again the older son thinks? This is a jealous fit at its best. Look what I did – where is my feast. But look closely at the text. The father divided the inheritance and gave it to both sons. The older son felt pushed aside – and even says that he worked like a slave for his father – where is my banquet. If he felt worked like a slave, how has this not come up – why would he not take his portion and responsibly move on. It isn’t about the party. It is about relationship. We need to expect grace full to the brim, scandalously poured out for us. The father runs to welcome back the son who was lost and estranged – regardless of intent. And, the father holds close the older son, but the older son imposes distance refusing to join in.
The father wants relationship with all his children, yet both sons had cut themselves off from the father in different ways. One by leaving and the other by being resentful of his role yet physically close. As we journey through Lent together, think on your perspective. The roles in this parable are much less static than we want them to be. Who are we? Who is God in Jesus’ parable? Spin the roles. Look for God in unexpected places – re-read this beloved parable.
Everything I have is yours says the Father. The older brother builds a barrier – see what ‘your son’ has done. The Father pushes for reconciliation - look – look at ‘your brother’. That which separates us from one another separates us from God. Is this older son actually the prodigal who needs to see the grace offered, reconciliation?
Which are we? What is separating you from God? Who is pouring out grace upon grace to you seeking to walk alongside you on your faith journey. Are you accepting the arms thrown open wide and journeying together? Or are you turning your back on a brother or sister? Are you recklessly welcoming the thief or stranger on the road? All are welcome at God’s feast. God throws wide his arms to pull us all in. God’s scandal of pre-emptive grace is full to the brim now and always. And despite what we may feel, not a drop is wasted.
Regardless of where we see ourselves, God pours forth grace and charges us to be filled with the holy Spirit in the work of reconciliation. That is why the story is open-ended – in the hope of all children reconciled. I often begin sermons with a definition. Instead today, let’s close with one – What is prodigal – “spending money or resources freely and recklessly, wastefully extravagant” or “having or giving something on a lavish scale”. God loves us this much. Thank God the Son is prodigal. Amen.
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