GRACE:  A REASON TO CELEBRATE

4th Sunday in Lent

            It happened at the Post Office, on a busy day.  While Bev went in to stand in line, I parked the car.  I may have lingered a bit to listen to the radio.  Eventually, I decided to join Bev in the Post Office.  The line to the counter was a lone one.  When I reached Bev’s place in line, we began to chat.  That’s when it happened.  The man behind us began to shout something about me going to the back of the line.  I think I turned around and smiled, thinking it must be someone I knew, joking with me.  The man was as serious as a police officer in a speed trap.  He went on shouting about people waiting in line a long time and how I shouldn’t be butting in.  He paused from his boisterous chiding.  Then he asked me if we were together.  I think he had just figured out that this was my wife here in line and my joining her did not represent a second transaction at the counter.  I said yes.  I thought he might apologize for making such a needless scene, but he didn’t.  The whole thing made me embarrassed.  What’s more, I was embarrassed for him.  I couldn’t believe that anyone could be so rude.  Frankly, I find such behavior offensive.  Whew!  Thank you!  I guess I needed to get that off my chest.

            Well, some people found Jesus’ behavior offensive.  People that mattered were offended at some of the things Jesus did.  Case in point:  Jesus welcomes sinners!  In today’s gospel lesson, it says, “Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him.”  Also present were the religious authorities who grumbled at this, saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”  Grumble.  Grumble.  Grumble.  Jesus welcomes sinners!  Well, he does, doesn’t he?  There he was one day, out picking up a few disciples when he came upon a tax collector named Levi.  Tax collectors were Jewish turncoats, working for the occupying Romans.  Jesus approached him and said, “Follow me.”  And Levi got up, left the tax collecting business then and there, and followed Jesus.  Jesus welcomes sinners!  Another time, Jesus quoted what the people must have been saying about him, “Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!”  It was not meant as a compliment to him.  Indeed, Jesus welcomes sinners!

            Of course, you know what that means.  If Jesus is the self-revelation of God, then God welcomes sinners.  If we learn of God’s true nature from Jesus, then God welcomes sinners.  In other words, if Jesus is the self-revelation of God, then welcoming sinners is not some misguided human activity; welcoming sinners is divine behavior.  Jesus told a story about how God welcomes sinners.  Our parable in today’s gospel lesson is not about the sons primarily, but about the father.  Let’s look at what he does.  The younger son has asked for his share of the inheritance, which, according to Jewish custom, would have been one third.  After blowing his whole wad, the kids hire out as a pig feeder.  Anyone hearing this story understands that the kid has defiled himself, making it impossible for the father ever to accept him as his son again.  Even the son understands that, for he rehearses a speech about returning home not as a son but as a hired hand.  With that preparation, the kid comes home.  Now watch the father’s actions.  Does he see the kid coming home?  He does.  Does he turn his back on his son?  He does not.  Instead, the father is filled with compassion.  He runs out to his son, puts his arms around him, and kisses him.  The kid begins his rehearsed speech:  “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.”  Just then, his father begins to bark orders:  “Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.”  You see what is happening?  His son is getting to return as his son.  He is being forgiven.  His relationship with his father is being restored, because his father welcomes him back.  The robe, ring, and sandals are all symbols of sonship.  On top of it all, the father orders that the fatted calf be barbequed for a coming home party!  You want to see how God welcomes sinners?  Jesus says it’s just like this.

            “Not fair!” someone must be saying.  Isn’t that what the older son says to his father?  You bet!  Listen to him.  You can hear him seething.  He tells 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 my celebrate with my friends.  But when this son of yours came back. . . .”  Oh, listen.  He doesn’t say, “But when my brother came back. . . .”  No, he says, “But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!”  Not fair!  Why a party for this sinful son?  Why doesn’t he get what is coming to him?  Instead of the best robe, why doesn’t the kid have to wear the tunic of a slave?  Instead of a new ring, why doesn’t the son have to wear the calluses of hard labor?  Instead of these symbols of sonship, why doesn’t the kid have to serve the father like a slave and eat their food and remain outside the family?  Why isn’t he crawling back to his father, instead of dancing at a party?  What was it we wore on Ash Wednesday to mourn our sins?  Ashes.  We had no party that day.  Not on Ash Wednesday.  It wasn’t fitting.  We left the service in silence.  That was fitting.  A party for a sinner?  Not fair!

            When you hear this story, with which son do you most identify?  For those of us who have been Christians all or most of our lives, we probably identify with the dutiful son.  Chances are, we see people around us who need to repent, who need to come begging for forgiveness.  But we’re not like them.  We see those people who terrorize family members during a domestic squabble, taking their wives away at gunpoint.  We’re not like them.  We see those corporation executives in their tailored-made suits being dragged off in handcuffs, charged with cooking the books and giving themselves golden parachutes while the company collapses and while the pension funds of their employees evaporate.  We’re not like them.  We see those young men on TV, giving drugs to toddlers.  When interviewed on TV, the perpetrator could only mutter, “Well, at least it wasn’t as bad as some other stuff.”  We’re not like them.  No!  No!  We’re not like them.  And when one such person smiles at the TV camera and says, “I’ve got Jesus,” some of us might be thinking to ourselves, “No way!  He doesn’t get to be let off that easily.  Let him serve his time.  Let him come crawling down the aisle of a church to confess his sin and plead for mercy.  Let him plead for mercy for a good long time.”  That’s what we think.  We’re not like them.

            Or are we?  I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t want to receive what’s fair.  I wouldn’t want to receive fair treatment.  If you think that’s odd, consider what I would receive if my treatment from God were fair.  Fair would mean that I have ruined my chances of ever getting to return home as a son of my heavenly Father.  Fair would mean that I had ruined my relationship with God forever.  Fair treatment would mean that I would be forever distant from God.  That would be fair.  If God were to give me what I deserve, it would be banishment from God’s presence, now and forever.  That’s what’s fair.  I wouldn’t want to get what I deserve.  I wouldn’t want what’s fair.

            Good news!  God welcomes sinners!  Remember?  Good news!  We don’t get what’s coming to us.  That’s why people like me ought to celebrate.  Our gospel lesson today tells the story of how freely God welcomes sinners.  That’s me, a sinner!  You, too?  Then we should celebrate that we do not get what we deserve.  Instead, we get grace.  We get God’s unmerited favor toward us.  “Unmerited.”  That means we don’t deserve it.  We don’t get what we deserve.  We get grace instead.  So maybe when someone like Chuck Colson comes out of prison saying that he’s been born again, we should celebrate with him.  He’s received the same grace we have all received.  So we should be willing to join the party that celebrates his return home to the heavenly Father, for that party celebrates the grace of God.  It is that same grace that allows us to return home to the Father.  And that’s a reason to celebrate.

            Before we go, just this one more observation.  In Jesus’ story, the father has two sons.  He loves them both.  He demonstrates his love as he goes out to each one, as each one needs him.  When the prodigal son returns home, his father runs out to him, puts his arms around him, and kisses him.  Then he begins to order that symbols of sonship to be given placed on the son.  When the party for the younger son begins, the older son becomes angry and refuses to go in.  What does his father do?  He comes out to his son to reassure him of his continual love.  Both sons have the invitation to be with him, both the prodigal son and the steadfast one.  The father loves them both, giving to each one what each needs.  One son needs forgiveness, and he receives it.  The other son needs reassurance, and it is offered to him.  The father loves both.