Sermon for March 10, 2013: "The Father's Example"

Joshua 5:9-12Psalm 322 Corinthians 5:16-21Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

All quotations from scripture come from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, with the exception of the Psalms, which come from The Book of Common Prayer, 1979. Not all scripture passages from the lectionary may be quoted or referenced in a given Sunday's sermon. For more information on the lectionary used in The Episcopal Church, please visit http://www.lectionarypage.net/.

“The Father’s Example”

The Rev. Nicholas S. Szobota

March 10, 2013
Christ Church, West River, Maryland

Fourth Sunday in Lent

People spend significant resources to avoid pain. Sometimes this happens in healthy ways. People exercise, play music, or engage in other hobbies that take their minds off of suffering. At appropriate times, people might use over-the-counter or prescription medications to handle pain. When one has painful invasive surgery, one receives anesthesia. Of course, sometimes people misuse legal or illegal substances because they cannot handle pain.

Today’s Old Testament reading marks a way the lectionary tries to avoid some pain. Staring with verse 9 of Joshua’s fifth chapter, we hear the good news that God has “rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt.” Starting with verse 2 of Joshua 5, though, gives a more complete picture:

2 At that time the Lord said to Joshua, "Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelites a second time." 3 So Joshua made flint knives, and circumcised the Israelites at Gibeath-haaraloth. 4 This is the reason why Joshua circumcised them: all the males of the people who came out of Egypt, all the warriors, had died during the journey through the wilderness after they had come out of Egypt. 5 Although all the people who came out had been circumcised, yet all the people born on the journey through the wilderness after they had come out of Egypt had not been circumcised. 6 For the Israelites traveled forty years in the wilderness, until all the nation, the warriors who came out of Egypt, perished, not having listened to the voice of the Lord. To them the Lord swore that he would not let them see the land that he had sworn to their ancestors to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey. 7 So it was their children, whom he raised up in their place, that Joshua circumcised; for they were uncircumcised, because they had not been circumcised on the way. 8 When the circumcising of all the nation was done, they remained in their places in the camp until they were healed. 9 The Lord said to Joshua, "Today I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt." And so that place is called Gilgal to this day. (Joshua 5:2-9, NRSV)

This passage describes how God has rolled away the disgrace from the Israelites: by the Israelites keeping of God’s covenant, which includes keeping the rites of circumcision. Some commentators suggest that this painful surgery, applying only to males, had to involve flint knives due to tradition, even though the Israelites may have had access to metal knives. In any case, this represents a clear example of how sometimes doing what God wants us to do can hurt.

Today’s reading from Luke represents a case of some severe hurt in people’s lives, although the story here involves emotional hurt. The parable of the Prodigal Son, with “prodigal” meaning “wasteful,” involves the hurts of a dysfunctional family. The first hurt comes when the younger son asks his father to divide the property, so that the son can have his share of the inheritance. The inheritance should have only come after the father’s death. In effect, the son says, “Dad, I wish you were dead and I had your money.” No matter how hurtful this must have been, the father gives his son his share of the inheritance.

The prodigal son goes away, wastes the money in partying, and finds himself in a foreign country during a famine without any means to survive. He goes to work tending to pigs, and he realizes how much he hurts. The son thinks that he would feel much better returning to his father’s house, even as a slave, than he would living amongst the pigs. The son decides to admit his guilt to the father, saying, “I have sinned before heaven and against you.” He heads home, only to discover that his father comes running to embrace him before he can reach the house. His father welcomes him not as a slave, but as a son. He cleans him, gives him the best robe in the house, has the servants prepare a valuable calf for a feast, and throws a party.

Despite the reconciliation, more hurt follows. The older son, who remained home to dutifully tend to the family fields, comes to the house after his labor. He hears the sounds of music and dancing and wonders what’s happening. When he learns that his brother has returned to this kind of welcome from their father, he won’t even enter the house. The father comes out, and the older brother won’t even acknowledge his younger brother in conversation with their father, referring to him as “this son of yours.” This older son may very well wonder if, after wasting half of the family wealth, the younger brother will now get half again. In other words, the younger brother will have had seventy-five percent of the wealth while the older brother gets only twenty-five percent! In this, the older brother reveals how much like his younger brother he is. He is only thinking of the father’s wealth, too, even if he hasn’t specifically asked for it!

In this parable, the only character seems truly happy throughout: the father. He does not let the behavior of either son get to him. He forgives both sons for their failings and sins, the younger for his wastefulness, the older for his judgmental anger, and both for their greed. In Jesus’ parables, a father character usually represents God. We can be grateful that God forgives each of us, even as this father forgives each of his sons. At the same time, the father serves as an example for us to follow. When I look at my life, I can find many times when I have behaved like either son, but too few when I have behaved like their father. I’m not suggesting that the father wasn’t hurt, but rather that he looked beyond his hurt to find forgiveness for each of his sons.

When others sin against us and come with a desire to reconcile, let us follow the father’s example. Let us also thank God for meeting us with open arms when we confess our sins, and be thankful he’s not holding a flint knife. Amen.