Sunday Homily - March 31st, 2019 - Scandalous!

The Prodigal Son

I.

Scandal.
 Etymologically, the word "scandal"
  comes from a Greek word
   that is sometimes translated as "stumbling block."
    So, fun fact, when you see "stumbling block" in your Bible translation,
     that's the Greek word that gave us our English word "scandal."
     [https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/scandal-meaning-origin]

But that word "scandal"
 is such an incredibly dark and nefarious word.

When something happens in the world
 that becomes worthy of the word "scandal"
  it is a serious charge
   with layers and layers of wrongdoing and cover-up efforts
    that later reveal just how inescapably evil
     the whole situation became.

How many major scandals in politics have we had
 just within the past 20 years alone?
  I'll let your imaginations do the work for me
   because I don't need to give you an example.
    Y'all already know them.

What about Hollywood,
 where interpersonal scandals are SO routine
  that it almost seems to be a requirement for any actress, actor, or celebrity
   to at least have ONE scandal in their career.

Business scandals:
 Enron - Anybody remember the Enron scandal?
  How about the one at Wells Fargo, still happening right NOW?

Scandal:
 something that is so egregious that the fallout topples entire corporations,
  and destroys the reputations of those involved so badly
   that you almost never hear about them again
    except as a cautionary tale to the hearers of the story.

Because scandals are supposed to be cautionary tales,
 ones that rarely have any positive ending to them,
  ones that are so lopsidedly,
   sinfully,
    completely depraved
     that no stretch of the imagination could EVER include
      some sort of redemption.

And you are about to hear a cautionary tale this morning, friends,
 one that involves one of the most scandalous characters in the entire Bible:
  the Prodigal Son.

II.

Yes, you heard me right.
 The character of the Prodigal Son in Jesus's parable this morning
  is setup to be one of the most scandalous scoundrels
   in the entirety of the biblical imagination.

And to get a little bit into just how rotten this dude it,
 we need to put on our first-century glasses
  and hear the parable as the original hearers did.

Notice with me the situation and setup of this scoundrel.

First, he is the younger son of the two,
 and approaches his father
  to ask to be given his inheritance
   "Give me the share of the property that belongs to me."
    [Luke 15:12 NRSV]

So, let's make this really clear:
 the younger son basically just told his dad that he wishes he was dead.
  Because, in Jesus's culture, the inheritance CANNOT legally be passed on
   unless the father dies first.
    The younger son told his father to his face that he just wanted the property
     and that he didn't give two cents about his own dad's life.
     [Craig Keener, Commentary on the New Testament]

And then, to pile on top of this absolutely ludicrous request,
 the father actually does it!
  Leaving us the hearers maybe asking,
   "What on earth is wrong with this dude's dad?
    Isn't this just enabling bad behavior?"

So, the inheritance due the younger son is given,
 he now has a certain share of the property of his father's house.
  But what does he do with it?
   He SELLS it all and gets out of town
    with all the money from those proceeds.

This scoundrel just took his father's property,
 property, that for any Hebrew person, was given by God
  as an inheritance according to the Old Testament!
   And this son basically flees the country with the money from the sale,
    leaving the father essentially without 1/3 of his estate
    [Oxford Commentary on the Bible]

And for what purpose does this younger son,
 this rotten human being,
  have for all that money that he has now?
   Oh, just squandering ALL of it on what the Scriptures call
    "dissolute living,"
     which basically is telling you, the first century hearers,
      that this guy spent his entire inheritance on partying, fame, and pleasure.

So what happens to this guy?
 The story takes the turn that we all were hoping for:
  he gets what he deserves.

A famine hits the land,
 and this guy has spent everything,
  and instead of having a full belly
   he is now suffering hunger.

He hires himself out to feed pigs
 animals that are unclean according to the Law!
  Y'all know this as good 1st century Hebrews!

And apparently, whoever he hired himself out to
 wasn't even giving him a just wage for him to feed himself on!
  And the Scripture says that no one was giving him ANYTHING,
   to the point that he wishes he could eat the pigs's food for goodness sake.
   [Luke 15:16 NASB]

This scoundrel,
 this scandalous young man,
  told his father to his face that he wishes his father was dead already,
   he runs off with 1/3 of his father's estate,
    he SELLS it,
     leaves the country,
      blows it ALL,
       and hits rock bottom,
        living as someone who can't even feed themselves
         and who wishes for pig food.

Now, at this point, you as the 1st century Hebrew hearers
 might have expected the story to end RIGHT HERE.

Because this guy got EXACTLY what was coming to him.
 He got his just desserts
  for what he did to his family
   and for the devastation left in his father's heart.

This young man is the rich kid of a well-to-do family
 that dramatically disowns his family,
  runs off with his college money that his family was saving for him
  and instead of using it for an education or for a business
   he blows it on narcotics, alcohol, and that new Porche.

Picture in your mind someone who fits this description.
 who do you know in popular culture or in your own life fits this picture.

And the sickness you may feel in your stomach about that person?
 That is what you are supposed to feel.
  And now that you have that picture in your head,
   prepare yourselves now for something even MORE scandalous.
    Because Jesus isn't done with the parable yet.

III.

This scandalous son comes to his senses
 when he hits rock bottom.
  And what does a young son do when he hits rock bottom?
   He thinks of home.

Our Scripture this morning even says
 that he rehearses a line that he is going to say to his father
  when he goes home in shame and without any expectation of reception
   by his family.

"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.

He gets up, his dirty clothes hanging around his body,
 his hair matted from sweat,
  his body emaciated from lack of food,
  and he clambers off to his childhood home.

Scandalous.
 Yet not as scandalous as what happens next.

The Scripture says that even when this scoundrel of a son was a long way off,
 just a speck in the distance,
  a random stranger on the road,
   that the father was ALREADY looking for him.

The father sees this son of his in the distance,
 even before the scoundrel could make it back home.

And the father RUNS toward him,
 takes off sprinting for him,
  because the father had been looking on the horizon for YEARS,
   having no idea if he would ever see his son again.

And notice, y'all, the scoundrel of a son
 didn't even get to say his rehearsed line to his father.
  Because his dad gives us NO room for any qualification of the love shown.

A PARTY breaks out at the request of the Father!
 The scoundrel is WELCOMED back in to the household with pomp and circumstance!
  the son who was dead is now alive again!

Leaving us the hearers, if we are honest with ourselves,
 falling into the character that WE are designed to inhabit in this parable.
  That's right, the hearers of this parable,
   you and me,
    are personified not in this scoundrel of a younger son.

No.
 We are the older son.
  [Oxford Commentary on the Bible]

Because, let's at least face the potential fact
 that some of us in this room
  understand the older son better than we like to admit.

The older son doesn't even go into the house to party.
 Instead, he seethes with anger.

And when his dad comes out to him,
 the SAME dad who had scandalous compassion for this younger son,
  the older brother is LIVID with him:

"I have not ONCE disobeyed you!
 I have worked for YEARS, never complaining or questioning!
  I was a GOOD son to you,
   and yet when this son of YOURS comes back
    you throw the biggest party that I've ever seen,
     a party that not once you ever offered me.
      What is WRONG with you, dad?"

IV.

Let me be honest with y'all for a moment.

When I hear this parable,
 I'm so often tempted to see it as a compassionate father
  welcoming back a wayward child
   who the world was unkind to,
    and to see the older brother as a righteous jerk
     who just rains on the parade.

And yet, when I hear the parable how I'm supposed to hear it,
 I can't shake the voice in the back of my head that says,
  "Does God really forgive someone this sinful?"

Maybe I'm not the only one this morning who thinks that sometimes.

Often,
 we are no better than the grumbling Pharisees,
  looking over at Jesus and sneering at the kinds of people he associates with.

And not often enough do we see what the parable of the Scandalous Son
 was actually about.

It was about the father all along.

And that father in the story is dad to BOTH the older and younger son,
 both the scoundrel who wishes his father was dead and blows his inheritance,
  AND the faithful, good son who shows love for his father by his loyalty.

So also, our Heavenly Father is the Father of both the scoundrels and the faithful.

He is Father to both the millionaire schemers
 the greedy CEO
  the corrupt politician
   the dissolute Hollywood personalities.

That is ANY of those people should come to their senses and return to God,
 the Father doesn't even wait for them to get their pre-rehearsed lines of repentance
  out of their mouths
   before rejoicing, celebration, and a scandalous reception of love
    befalls these people who are UNFIT to be called daughters or sons
     and yet ARE anyway.

AND God is father of the faithful,
 those who have spent years in loyalty to the work of God's household
  and who are sorely tempted to be jealous and angry
   for the scandalous compassion that the Father shows
    to those who are undeserving of it.

God is the God of BOTH kinds of people.

Scandalous, isn't it?

Scandalous the kind of love that God shows to the undeserving.
 That's the real scandal of this parable.
  Because it shreds every piece of self-righteousness that we have
   in the wake of the scandalous compassion shown by the father.

So also, friends:
 we here at Trinity Parish
  are called to remember that scandalous love
   already shown to us through Jesus Christ.

So also let your own love be scandalous to the undeserving,
 even when you don't think someone deserves it.

Let you own compassion be scandalous,
 even when everything inside of you can't stand the person
  whom compassion is being shown.

Because, y'all, we are sons and daughters
 of a father who shows scandalous love.

And like it or not:
 you are now commissioned
  in the name of Scandalous Love.

In the name of the +Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.