This past Sunday (the first Sunday in Lent) I preached on The Parable of The Prodigal Son (to listen go to www.wspc.org) and taught on the First Thesis of The Barmen Declaration in the Sunday Adult Education Program) which came together in a very interesting kind of way. It was a great Sunday beginning to Lent at WestSide.
The Context of Jesus' telling of The Parable of the Lost Son(s) in Luke 15 (along with The Parables of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin) is significant as Jesus is responding to the charge that He is hanging out, welcoming, eating and partying with the wrong kind of people ("sinners and tax-collectors") assuming therefore that there are the right kind of people for Jesus to be around. Without a full blown sermon, several things speak to me at Lent in these parables. They are:
1. The Human Condition of Lostness...We may be lost without faith in Christ. we may have lost our way in our faith journey with Christ. But if we have truly lived and/or sought to live out the Christian faith we know the sense of lostness...a deep angst that leaves us empty, bewildered, wondering if there is a way that can lead us. Lent is a great time to reflect on our various experiences of 'lostness".
2. The God who seeks ALL who are Lost and Celebrates when what was Lost is Found...In the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin, God is portrayed as a Shepherd and a Woman, both of whom actively seek what has been lost and then ask everyone to celebrate. But in the parable of the prodigal, God is portrayed as The Father who, on the one hand, does not actively seek his younger prodigal son as he goes into the far country, but simply waits and hopes for His Son's return and then runs to the returning son and embraces him, welcomes him home and celebrates His Son's return. While on the other hand, in relationship to the older prodigal son, the Father goes out to the older son and with the same loving compassion and invites him to the party. At Lent, we can be reminded of a God who actively seeks and/or waits for everyone in their experience of lostness, who then celebrates when we return home.
3. The Importance of Repentance...One of the greatest statements in all of Scripture about what true repentance is in the Christian life is placed in the words of the younger son "I have sinned against Heaven and against you." Every sin is sin against God and is often manifested in our sin acted out towards others. The younger son did not come to that conclusion taking the easy way, but the hard way, but when he "came to his senses" (that is how Luke describes it) the young prodigal heads back home thinking he is no longer a child of the Father but perhaps a servant/slave of the Father. And how wrong he is. Lent reminds us that the gift of repentance is that it is almost always the gateway to being able to go home and be at home with God, with others and ourselves.
4. The Grace of God and The Joy of God...The Grace of God can be defined in one sense as simply being "the gift(s) of God who gives in abundance to the people of God". The Father gives the inheritance to the younger son. The Father takes the initiative and runs out to his returning son as well as going out to his prodigal older son. God is a joyful and abundant Giver...A God of Grace. Lent is a great time to be reminded of the Grace of God and a time to give thanks for the Gift of God in Jesus Christ.
The Joy of God is all over these parables...it really speaks of the party atmosphere in the Kingdom of God (both in heaven and on earth) whenever that which is lost gets found, whenever that which was dead resurrects to newness of life. Lent should be a time for introspection and deep reflection, but also of great joy and celebration.
In this rich parable we may discover anew the Gospel of Jesus Christ and His Kingdom.
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