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A MAN AND TWO SONS. Luke 15/ 11-32

This morning I wish to invite you to look, with me, at a very

familiar passage of scripture;-the parable that 1s known as the Predi-
gal Son.| In choosing this well-known passage as a sermon text I am
motivated by twe phenomena which I see happening in the Church.

Firstly, from the fundamentalist circles of the Church at large I hear

the clarion call to return to Biblical preaching. \ In the mid-west,

and I presume it is true here also, the air-waves are flooded with

preachers touting themselves as expositors of the Bible.| But the
content of their deliverances never quite fulfills it’s lofty imtreduetiens .

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Biblical preaching teday, unforturately, usually means lifting a pontion

ef scripture out of it's context and retelling, through a series of

a story that everyone already knows. | No thought is given

variations,

to the context, the motivation, the "historicity" of the moment when

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the passage was first proclaimed. \ tas, I would suggest, is not Biblical

preaching at all.

Secondly, I see a reaction to the fundamentalists in the more
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liberal churches. \ We just don't read the Bible.\ We don't read it

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devotionally; we certainly don't study it.| In fact for most Presby-

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This morning I want to take a fresh look at a parable we all know.

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And, as we begin I ask you to forget everything you've ever heard

as my sermon title suggests, I'm not at all convinced that the parable

is converned with prodigality.
cabaret heen

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There are a few general comments that ought to be made about the
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Parables at this points..| Firstly, a parable is a literary device.

/2.
2 is a tool used in teaching; the first century equivalent of film

strips and flannelgraph.\ To understand a parable we have to see that

Jesus composed it; he drew from everyday life situations; he used people

and objects of nature. \ they were not wild stories -- but stories s that,

sain +s could have happened in any day in the life of aaley man.

Secondly, a parable is an illustration. \1n other words, the point

of the parable lies beyond the story it tells. \ A parable is a means to

an end. If we remember this we will avoid much of the abuse the parables

receive.\ They are illustrations of a point Jesus was driving home;

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they are not simple moralisms good for every situation \ For instance,

if the parable of the mustard seed were a moralism, it's point ¥ would be

spite ia ‘a *

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\ that ("good things come in small packages".) Obviously this is not zi whet

Jesus had in mind. \ The parable I have chosen is particularly vulnerable

at this point; and has been subjected to as much abuse, and probably more,

than any other.

Thirdly, a parable has one main point, and only one. \ There may be

/ more than one character; | there may be two or three motifs-- this is true

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| in our text for this morning. \ But the interpreter mus must try to tie it

all together—— and discover the ha or thrust; the single point our Lord

was maki ‘ing. \

The parable I have chosen for our text this morn

been called the Parable of f the Prodigal Son. \ But, there
in this little 2 story; and, frankly, I'm not a 1 certa

{3 () traditional prodigal plays the leading role. | tantects-# y Lien
here are Ars in fhe MMe

ought to begin by saying the three axe mutually interdependent. — and

that the point Jesus was making is clear, only if we allow each his

distinct role. ee m sure you know the three;-the Father who raised his

two sons-- the father who gave the younger son his part of the inheritance-

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-and then forgave him when he squandered it.| The younger son, who

seems the epitome of youthful rebellion and irresponsibility; the

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older son who is obedient and respectable.| Somewhere, in the complex

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relationship of these three is the one main point of the parable.

It is easy to forget this and I have heard it blatantly forgotten

many times.| I have heard the parable used as a jumping off point ina

sermon dealing with a child's respect for his parents.\ The story appears

readymade for the task; the young son is a complete catalog of what

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we feel is wrong with young people today. \ Likewise, the older son,rB

max obedient, respectable-- is the kind of son every parent

But this is not what Jesus had in mind. \ I have heard_the parable used

wants.

to drill _home traditional moralisms, such as the evils of drinking and

loose Living. \ It seems again to be up to the task. \ The young son
was a bad_sen-— he lost all his money in a spending spree-- he threw

his home training to the winds in one brief binge. \ And, he got what

was coming to him.\ The moral;| save your money, avoid drink and loose

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women and stay at hone.) Admittedly, this is not a bad idea.\ But it

is about as distant from the immediate contxt~-—-and therefore the true

meaning--as we can get.

The parable is actually the final of a series of three parables-~

that comprise Jesus' response to a certain specific situation.\ Too

frequently we lift these_passeges-from- the text—without ever asking,

“why_and—where-and-who?"))- and, as a-consequence, We are rarely able—te
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apply them to-our-own Life-situetions. \ The (rwny and when and rho)

of this parable are clearly set forth in the first two verses of the

15th chapter. \ Jesus had been teaching; the preceding chapter indicates

that (great multitudes accompanied him") and as the 15th Chap. begins,

we read, \"now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to

hear him. And the Paarisees and Scribes murmure@, saying: \'This man

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receives sinners and eats with them.’ So he told them this parable".

This tsthe-combext_that—prompted—the-parabes| in-the—centext- ot
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ap: ua“ par. re fr

‘’ the first century situation that | prompted the parable thei are three
participating actors.\ Firstixy, there is Jesus the teacher—the one

who receivea others at his table and into his company. Secondty, the

tax collectors and sinners. — Tax collectors were societies worst;

the quislings, the ones who sold their souls to Rome by extracting

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the hated tax from their countrymen. The sinners were the poor people-

~ the people who made up the great mass of Jews. They had forgotten xh

their heritage; they paid little h heed to the laws or the temple ritual.

They had little time for the niceties of gracious living \ te third

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party is the group of Pharisees and scribes who had also gathered

around Jesus. \ They were obviously upset by the way this man so freely

received the riffraff; Wey, He even ate with them; they were constantly

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seen in his company. \ By association he seemed to be conding their sin;

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customs. ee so the third party murmured and we can be sure that

their murmuring was full of pious indignation and righteous resentment.

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drama of the ensuing exten 8 this peony it is difficult | bs CFOn

call the story,-"the parable of the prodigal son". \ For itis much

more; he is but one of the actors; and in the original context, perhaps

the least significant of the three. \ In light of this background then,

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the parabolic symbolism is clear. \ The younger son, the traditional

prodigal, is the lst t group. The tax collectors and sinners. | The

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elder son—-the Pharisees and scribes. \ And the father--the father's

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attitude toward his sony, refers to God.

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two expressions of man's sin. Vn ihe the moment let us assume e that sin

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is like physical affliction. \Here in this parable the young son breaks
his leg. \ He disregards ali the rules. \ He takes his inheritance

and flagrantly violates every morali_and ethical code exi stant. | He

gets drunk , he lives with prostitutes, his is a life with no holds

barred.\ In time he is reduced to utter degradation, no task Was so

foul for the Jew as feeding swine | But this son feels pain; he knows

something is wrong, he comes to his senses and in humility and peni-

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tence returns to his father. | te reunion is jubilant. \ The son has

repented; and the Father, on his initiative, restores bhe old rela-

tionship. The vréit i s set -~and healed.

The second son, however, if we pursue the idea of sin as physical

affliction--has a virus lurking somewhere in his system.\ Unlike his

younger brother, he has no visible stain, there is no break. | Uniike

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his brother he has done nathing wrong; technically he has committed

no sin. \ and unlike his brother, he feels no pain. \ Ana yet, this

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son is sick. \ His disease, lurking in his system, is pride and

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arrogance.\ He has been good, | comparea to the dastardly behavior of
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his brother he has been saintly. \ He is the one who should be rewarded.

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And the virus comes to the surfact and his illness is revealed in his
complaint, \"these many years 1 have served you, and I never disobeyed
your command, yet you never gave me a kid, that I might make merry

with my friends. But when that son of yours came, who has devoured

your living with harlots, you killed for him the fatted calf." )

father makes no argumentative retort; but accepts the son, forgiving

him aiso.\ But the son has not seen; he has not felt the pain of his

sin. \ So caught up in the injustice of the moment is he that he

completely misses the lesson that is being taught to him. \ The parable

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ends with this disconcerting finale. \Fer the older son there is no

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redemption; no healing; his virus is still present.\ And we can imagine

that he returned to his work wallowing in resentment and self-pity,

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At this point I would think the Pharisees and scribes would be
squirming; they had been gently, and yet brilliantly rebuked.\ But
like—the-older—sen;—we-ean—asoume—that—they~—toe—missedthe—point.

Now that we have seen the context; the why of the parable we can
apply it to our lives and times.\ In Jesus day it was a barb, adminis-

tered to respectable, religious eople.\ And in this light the question
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now becomes,| "do we have the courage to interpret the Bible responsibly

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and honestly?" ) Do we have the courage to apply the parable, and it's

contents to our own lives?- Can we pursue the parable's intent and see

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that we are perhaps more the older son than the prodigal-—-and that our

illness is much more serious than a broken leg?

Reinhold Neibuhr is a contemporary theologian who has, in my mind,

been the definitive voice for modern ethical theology.| He deals with

spiritual pride in his monumental work, /"The Nature and Destiny of Man "/

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in a way that fits right into a sermon. \1 can't assume to do better

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than Prof. Neibuhr,so allow me to read some of his words. \ "Moral pride

makes virtue the very vehical of sin, a fact which explains why the N.T.

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isse critical of the righteous in comparison with publicans and sinners......

The sin of moral pride, when it has conteived, brings forth spiritual

pride...{For this reason religion is not simply, as is generally

supposed, an inherently virtuous human quest for vod.\ It is merely a

final battleground between God and man's self—esteem.\ In that battle

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even the most pious practices may be instruments of human pride."

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History is full of object lessons here.\ The worst form of class

domination is religious class domination, such as the Indian caste system.

The worst form of racial prejudice is that which finds it's insidious

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rationale in religious writing; the worst form of intelerance is relig-
ious intolerance. The worst form of self-assertion is religious self-

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assertion, in which the particular interests of a man are hidden beneath

religious absolutes.\ A modern missionary has said,( "What goes by the
name of religion in the modern world, is to a great extent unbridled

human self-assertion in religious disguise") Pascal noted that, ("Dis-

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courses on humility are a source of pride to the vain. ' One could _go on

queting authorities for eternity. The point is clear--religious pride

is the worst we can do-~--—the worst we can be.

Neibuhr makes another telling point later in his argument. He

points out that the whole Roman idea of Papal infallibility is a direct

{| contradiction of the N.T. \ But then he reminds us, (mat as soon as the

Pretestant assumes that his more prophetic statement and interpretation

. of the Gospel guarantees him a superior virtue, he is also lost in the

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/ sin of self-righteusness.\ The fact is that the Protestant doctrine of

the priesthood of all believers may result in an individual self-deification

\ against which Catholocism has more adequate checks."

The older son in the parable, the Pharisees and scribes, displayed

religiom, or spiritual pride.\ It seems to me that contemporary Christian-
ity frequently borders on the same fundamental error that caused Jesus to

use this parable. \ Like the Scribes and Pharisees we would prefer a

doctrine of sin that can be expressed in a legalistic code; the following

of which makes 2ibe a righteous man.\ For the scribes and Pharisees it

a phen e EE ——

was some 600 regulations of the Law. For modern Roman Catholics it is

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a similar code of behavioral prescriptions. | And for contemporary Protest-

ants it is a preconceived morality based on not smoking, not drinking,

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not dancing and so on. \ If we have the courage to read this parable

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honestly we are driven to the conclusion that these three approacheé to

religion share the common error of missing completely Jesus’ teachings

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This, for me, ig a sobering thought. \ put the parable is clear
that forgiveness, that joyful reunion with the father, is a possibility

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for all men.\ Ged forgives; on his own initiative he prepares the fatted

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calf.\ In Jesus Christ he has acted on our behalf \ He has opened , for

us, the door to His kingdom.

Let us never forget that in the parable the son who was the prodigal

was restored, but the good s on, returned to his work--bitter, arregant

+--and unredeemed.\ Let us have the courage to face the fact that the

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grace of God extends to all men, in and out of the Church) Let us_have

the courage to be honest with ourselves;and to allow a new humility,

g new need of forgiveness to grow out of our honesty.\ And then let us

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ask our father to forgi ve us.