Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
2 Cor 5:16-21

The parable of the prodigal son, though one of the most famous Jesus ‘s stories, is the third in a series of parables of “lost things,” all three narrated in response to an accusation by the Pharisees and teachers of law that Jesus welcomes and associates with sinners. In response, Jesus talks about the lost sheep and the story ends with (7) in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. Then the lost coin which also ends in (10) In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” And lastly comes the story of the lost son.

I will break for a while to make a note about a tradition we still have today in Middle East, which is repeating a certain idea three times in order to emphasize that Idea or to offer more credibility. That is also a Biblical tradition: the same thought or story is repeated in three different ways to highlight that thought. For example the famous phrase holy holy holy, or remember when Jesus asked Peter three times do you love me? do you love me? do you love me? Or when Peter is asked three times whether he knows Jesus and he keeps denying. Why am I saying all this? To emphasize that the fact that the parable of the lost son comes in a group of three, and as per the biblical tradition should imply that the point of the parable is the same as that of the two preceding ones, which is: there is more rejoicing in heaven over the one who or that is found after being lost, than over the many others that didn’t need to be found or restored. If that’s the case, then this parable should’ve ended on such a note, namely at verse 24: this son of mine was lost and now is found. As I believe it originally did.

But here’s the problem with this Third story: the ten coins that weren’t lost won’t be offended when their owner rejoices over the one coin that was. Similarly the 99 sheep’s feelings aren’t going to be hurt when the shepherd prefers one over the rest of them. But in a story that involves a parent and their children, and where a child is made to sound more important, or more valued than the other, there’s a problem. So the story cannot end there! And therefore the rest of the story, the logical part of it:

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 mother has killed the fattened calf because she has him back safe and sound.’ ²⁸ “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his mother went out and pleaded with him. ²⁹ But he answered her, ‘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 mother 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.’”

There is a big mess in here. The younger child cut his ties with the family, squandered the mother’s money, already took his share and came back to take part again of what is left, and he’s not even rebuked for what he’s done! The parent does not do much to ease the situation but worsens it by not even recognizing the older son’s right to be angry. And the parable ends leaving us wondering whether this brokenness will ever be fixed.

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When I was in my twenties I once got so angry at my dad and left my parents’ house at night without notice. By that I was challenging my father’s authority, and telling him that I am independent and I don’t need him. When he found out he was so mad and said to my mom: “tell her not to come back!” I am very stubborn; I got this quality after my father! I didn’t visit home for weeks and weeks and I did it as a punishment to my dad because I knew he was going to miss me, though –stubborn as he is- he would never admit it either. We played this ‘cold war’ game for a while, until one day I had a painful breakup and needed my family’s support, so I finally dropped it and went back home. I remember at that time, on top of my sadness I was so anxious and so concerned about what my father’s reaction would be.

My father was never the perfect father, but that day when I went back home, all my anxiety was cast out; it was like the argument never happened, he either forgot or pretended to have forgotten. And I finally realized –after 25 years- that despite our persistently edgy relationship, nothing I can do is so bad that my dad would give up on me. That realization was instantly healing; it was all I needed at such a time, though it wasn’t a magic fix, our relationship didn’t turn into the best father-daughter relationship and probably never will.

When I read the story of a parent/children struggle, I can surely relate. Both sons in the parable have had miscarriages with their parent; as for me, it is the younger son that I identify with the most. And while many interpretations focus on his crookedness and his accountability for wasting the family’s energy and money, little attention is made to his feelings: the pain, the vulnerability, the desperateness and the shame he felt as he went back home and asked to be treated like a slave!

Friends, is this story familiar to you? Have you experienced broken relationships? You sure did! If not in your own families, perhaps elsewhere that equally mattered.

Brokenness is there in every family, in every community, in every church, in every denomination. The younger son is every homeless person we meet on the roads and sidewalks of Sacramento, every least favorite family member, every person of an opposite political view or holding a faith that we view as uninformed… There are terrible conflicts raging around us. There are hostilities that are more than a thousand year old still being fought. There are citizens shooting at other citizens for a belief or a dogma. There are endless struggles in our society… and there are no instant or magical fixes.

But there is the assurance that nothing we can do would cause God to give up on us. We surely aren’t perfect as we are, yet we are never reduced to our sin or to our acts, but are loved just the way we are. Paul assures the Corinthians saying: “God was reconciling the world to Herself by not counting people’s trespasses against them, and has trusted us with this message of reconciliation.” The good news is that God does not look at our flaws with dismay, but looks at our brokenness with empathy.
But here is the bad news: we often get angry at God’s mercy, and just like the older son, we fail to understand God’s message of reconciliation as an invitation for us to do the same.

Nonetheless, we are not alone with us, the Lukan community needed to hear such a message, and so did the Corinthians. Paul urges them to see others with the eyes of God, he says:

“So from now on we don’t look at anyone from a human point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!”

To be renewed is no easy task. Paul is not talking about perspective here, but about a whole transformation, a transformation so radical that he calls it a new creation. Brokenness is still there, but it is no longer the center of focus. In a new creation, we no longer live a self-centered life but a Christ-centered life, a Christ-like life. New creation is the practice of loving one another as God has loved us, seeing one another as God sees us, forgiving one another as God has forgiven us, and finding that unity that is more profound than others’ fallenness.

Friends, we are fallen and broken but we are children and heirs; Christ has reconciled us with God so by reconciling with each other we can evoke God’s new creation. May we be good ambassadors!

Amen.