Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, "This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them." So he told them this parable:
"There was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.' So he divided his property between them. A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself he said, 'How many of my father's hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands."' 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. 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.' 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. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!' And they began to celebrate. "Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. He replied, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.' Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. 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. But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!' Then the father said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 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.'"
If you are diligent, you might look at the entry by P-basement from aught 7... and the ensuing discussion. . .
The discussion of PB and PNT is rich and gets me thinking...
Surely the focus on the younger son skews our read of this parable. (Or should I say “our hearing of the this parable”?)
For me, Helmut Thielicke first turned my eyes in a new direction with the title “The Waiting Father” - (I’ve preached whole sermons on a parable simply walking through the many different titles given it - and the ways a different title might re-direct our hearing, so that God’s Word works on us afresh.)
PNT - speaking of both sons says that
“each in their own way . . . break [the Father's] heart. If this father is revealing God to us, it is a pretty startling image.”
Startling indeed. . .
PB speaks of this story revealing
“The broken-hearted God. Part of the heart-break results from the freedom he allows each son. In their bondage to sin they misuse it. And in the father's bondage to love he can't give up on either of them.”
Broken and Bound.
Perhaps there are times when we take a text and hold it in higher regard than it might deserve. . . Perhaps I should not say so, but it comes to mind to suggest that the whole nativity stuff seems a bit overdone at times. (Not that there’s anything wrong with it, it just comes to mind.) I might add, I'm not talking about Christmas shopping.
Yet this greatest - and most well known of parables seems to me to deserve to be held in high regard, and to merit our delving as deeply as we can into its riches. It is a story that bears power.
Power to open my eyes to the wonder of our broken hearted God.
I should stop writing at this point. . . but I won't
Family Values
Listening to sermon brainwave, I had the notion to title a sermon on this: “It’s the Economy Stupid” and focus on the ways people imagine God to be, and the deeply different economy by which God works in the world. . .
Mindful of the fact that to allude to Clinton in any way positively might well bring on a coronary or two. . . I won't do that.
Not only that, it is sort of overly “girardian” I suspect. . . borderline gnostic.
But an interesting tack.
I saw a title for an article in JBL. "The Indentured Labor of the Prodigal Son”
And I thought, not of the younger son, who had hired himself out to indentured servitude, but of the older son, and his sad, sad comment - “Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you”
It is so striking when the older son portrays his residing in his father’s house in such a way.
Servitude. Without pay
Heart breaking indeed. . .
2 comments:
There's lots of stuff one can read on this story. . .
I liked this line in an article in the journal SEMEIA by Susan Wittig, titled: " A Theory of Multiple Meanings"
It sought to explore the fact that there might be more than one way to read this parable.
It had this line:
“An explanation of the fact of plurisignification can be constructed by using a semiotic model of analysis.”
Sez you!
come to think of it, I didn't like that line about plurisignification. I quit reading at that point. And that was in the first paragraph or two.
Whatever.
Reminds me of the Alban Institute thing I saw on "narrative leadership." They lost me when they spoke of "narrativity." Sounds like someone explaining what incarnation means.
HOWEVER -
Here's a great line:
From Raymond Schwager - quoted by Nuechterlein
"In his basileia message, salvation and penance seem to have exchanged places."
AND
"The amazing thing about grace is that it bears the fruit of repentance, not the other way around. Repentance doesn't merit grace. Grace creates the possibility of starting over and living a life of repentance."
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