The Third Sunday after Trinity - June 20, 2010

The Church Season of Pentecost
The Third Sunday after Trinity, One Year Series
Father’s Day
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (June 20, 2010)

“The Father’s Love”

Readings:   
    Psalm 103 verses 1 - 13
    Micah 7:18-20
    1 Peter 5:6-11
    Luke 15:11-32

Sermon Form    Deductive

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Grace, mercy and peace be to you from the Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen

The text for today is as recorded in the Gospel Lesson from the 15th chapter of St. Luke, especially the following verse:

Luke 15:31-32 (NIV)

“ ‘My son,’ the father 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.’ ”

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Today is Father’s Day and I know that everyone here had a father, or we would be here of course.  I know on this day I miss my father very much.  He was an intense competitor, whether it be at any sport, or any game, he did not like to loose.  Thank God that trait was not passed down to me or to my children.  But, the thing that I think I appreciate the most about my father, and my mother for that matter, is that they just loved me.  They loved me when I did well, they loved me when I stumbled.  This is not to say that at times they didn’t like me or my actions, but at the end of the day, they always did love me.  And, I will always remember about my very special relationship with my father.

In the parable today we hear of a very special relationship between a Father’s and His Son.  There is quite an adventure for this young man, from the love of his father, to the love of his father’s money.  From the short lived happiness from found wealth and wild living, then to be faced with famine in all aspects of his most basic human needs.  None of what happened for that young man was the way he thought it would play out.  In fact, he might even think that he didn’t get what he deserved, but with every move he made things seemed to get worse.  And actually, if you really think about it, there are two sons and both sons in this parable have challenges.  This parable includes the story of these two sons, but more importantly it is about,

“THE FATHER’S LOVE”

When we hear this parable we often ask ourselves ‘which brother in this parable would we be?’  Would I be the brother who took the money and squandered it?  Or would you be the brother who stayed home?  Careful how you answer, for the older brother was the one who was quick to throw stones in his inherited glass house.  Whether we would act like one brother or the other, we do know that certainly not many of us would be able to act like the father of those two sons.  Truth be told none of could show that kind of compassion.  Giving away his estate knowing that it was going to be frittered away on wine, women, and song.  And then the sheer audacity of that father to welcome home the wayward son.  Most parents would be inclined to point to the door and say get back out there your on your own now. 

But this parable begins with the younger brother who knew of his fathers love, yet he longed for a life that his father couldn’t give him.  He didn’t want what he had.  He wanted everything that was outside of what his family had.  In fact this younger son longed for a life of sin and he has enough audacity to ask for his father for his share of the inheritance.  But even stranger still, the father gave it to him.  And to further compound the situation scripture tells us that the father divided the estate equally between the two sons.  So really, the older brother had his inheritance too.  Both sons received their inheritance long before their father’s death.  Meaning they not only received early, but they also received it long before there was any obligation for that transfer of wealth.

So maybe a better question might be, “Why didn’t older brother speak up sooner?”  Why didn’t he honor his father and wait for the inheritance to come with the passing of time?  Why didn’t he acknowledge that his father would love him so much that he would give everything away for his sons?  So, actually it is the older brother who puts on his second face before the younger.  For the older brother says nothing, he just takes his portion, and does so without comment.  So, in reality the older brother’s sin is by default, by silence and it is greater than it appears.  For as the older brother he would have received a double portion from the father.  And the fact that the elder son agreed indicates that he too alienated himself from his father.  He may not have said it as bluntly as his little brother, but his agreement shows that he was thinking along the same lines.

No matter how obtuse this parable may sound it is indeed an accurate picture of a father dealing with his children out of his love for them.  For this is how God the Father deals with His children.  In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, (Mt. 5:45) "He makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust."  Martin Luther built on that thought in the explanation to the fourth petition of the Lord's Prayer, "God certainly gives daily bread to everyone without our prayers, even to all evil people …" In His grace, God provides the inheritance of creation, our needs of body and soul, to all people.  Even the most wicked person on this earth still has their food, clothing, shelter, and is offered the knowledge of the truth.  And the world sees this as insanity.  Our sinful nature wants our daily bread now.  We want that thing that would make us happier, make us equal to the person next door, that would give us everything that is out there, at the expense of everything God has promised us. 

And so in the parable the next humiliation is the father's action to take the younger son back into the family.  A man of wealth and prestige never runs anywhere, but this father did.  He ran to meet his wayward son as he came home.  This was an act of humiliation by the father.  This father runs to his son, falling on his neck with kisses, replacing his rags with royal robes, placing the ring of authority on his hand, and inviting the community to a welcome home party.

Furthermore, the father saw the son returning from a distance, so we know this father was always actively looking for his son.  And when the son returns we something spectacular for the father ran to his son and overwhelmed him with grace before the son could get one word of repentance out of his mouth.  Jesus' description of the father's actions is a portrait of complete and total grace, of unconditional love.  The father's actions would overwhelm the son in the parable, but would also totally surprise those who were listening to the parable.

The final humiliation of the father happens in His gracious reaction to the elder son's anger.  The father actually pleads with the older son to attend the party.  But, the elder son actually responds by loudly accusing the father of treating him unfairly.  He insults his father by arguing with him in public and by not addressing him as his father.  The elder son even refuses to acknowledge his brother instead calling him, "Your Son."  Furthermore, he refused to celebrate with his father and brother.

In the face of this furious attack the father graciously and affectionately replied with a repetition of the invitation.  But the older son is still indignant that his father would invite an admitted adulterer and philanderer back home.  Yet the father loved both sons.  And he welcomed both of sons to the feast.  The father is the absolute picture of unbelievable love and grace. 

Jesus never tells us what happened to the older son.  But the Pharisees and the scribes who were listening to Jesus would recognize themselves in the story.  Just as we too recognize ourselves in the story.  When Jesus told the parable the end of the story had not yet happened.  But the end of the story did come.  God was willing to humiliate Himself in His love for us.  God still invites us to the feast.  But, do we ever rejoice over the dead who are alive again - the lost who are found?  Do we see that the celebration was for everyone?  Do we see the Father’s love for even us?

Repent, for we have all strayed.  We have taken the things of this world and left our thoughts of the Father behind.  Yet in the face of all that we have done, we still have a loving God who willingly suffered humiliation for us.  When we would want to squander the Father’s love, He gives us more.  In fact, He gives us everything when He gives us His Son.  And His love draws us to Himself.  He runs to us, He opens His arms, and the Father welcomes us into His Kingdom.  God put upon you the robe of righteousness in your baptism.  God gives up His Son in unconditional love, and that is more than just a Father’s Day of love, it is a Father’s eternity of love, for us.  Amen.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
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