Riotous Living

This Sunday's Gospel lesson is so well known that even Michael Scott knows it!

This past Sunday night I joked with the 5:30 congregation that I thought I was being pranked by my fellow clergy. My first Sunday in the pulpit at All Saints' Church, I got to take on the challenging passage from Luke 4:1-13 in which the Devil tempted Jesus with three tests. Then last Sunday, my second time in the pulpit, I had the "privilege" of preaching on Luke 13:1-9, which can easily be misinterpreted as a "turn or burn" story that personifies God as an angry and impatient landowner in a parable about a fig tree. FUN STUFF (and by that I mean two challenging passages that left me wondering if I was being punked)! These two lessons were hardly cheery stories that described God as a loving and ever pursing presence in our lives, which is precisely who I believe God is. But, turn the page to this week's Gospel lesson from Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32, and you will find just that image of a loving father.

This week's Good News brings us back in touch with one of the most famous and familiar stories of the New Testament. The Parable of the Prodigal Son (also known as the Parable of the Prodigal Sons, the Parable of the Prodigals, or the Parable of the Loving Father) is so well known that even Michael Scott (Steve Carell's character from the Office) knows the gist of it. The quick summary is that the younger of two sons made a request to get his inheritance ahead of his father's death, after shockingly complying with the son's request, the younger son wasted the resources in desolate living, then came home to beg to be his father's servant. Surprisingly the father did not let his son be a servant, but instead welcomed him home as a son once more. The older brother frustrated with the show of love from his father complained, which the father graciously turned into an invitation to celebrate the new life of the younger son after his having come home. Of course, if you are reading this you already knew all of that. And, the challenge (unlike the last two times I was in the pulpit) is not with difficult images from Scripture, but rather an all too familiar story. How will the preacher help the congregation to hear this radical story with new ears? Here are a few ideas!

"I WANT IT NOW!" - We live in a culture that wants everything now. Some call it "Microwave Culture" or blame it on technology, but nowadays people want 2 day shipping, same day pickup, and immediate high speed downloads of everything. Society in this way resembles the younger brother who despite the protocol demanded his portion of his family's wealth NOW! (See Veruca Salt from Willy Wonky) The details of the father having to sell or portion up his property in this way are painful and could be a good jumping off point for a sermon. The latter part of the story (and the father's loving embrace of his once estranged son) often overshadows the first details, but the father's love was so great throughout the story. Early on the father even accepted that his son wanted him dead, so that the son could have the father's property. Still the father kept on loving his son. This is the type of love God has for us... a love worth preaching about this Sunday!

The Liturgical Approach - If you walk into your church on Sunday and your clergy are wearing pink turn around... Okay, I'm just kidding! But, the Fourth Sunday in Lent is called Laetare Sunday. And, it is when Anglo Catholics and other fashion-focused Christians don pink liturgical vestments (okay, it's not about being chic Christians). All joking aside, this Sunday is named such for the first words of the Roman Catholic Mass, which in Latin is Laetare or Rejoice! Why are we rejoicing? Well, historically if you were living in strict observance of your Lenten disciplines then perhaps this day would be a small break from those most rigid of disciplines before the final push through Holy Week and the impending Eastertide. This Sunday's Gospel lesson fits with the lightness of a traditional Laetare Sunday. In what ways do we need to lighten up? How is our Heavenly Father pursuing us like the father from the parable? Can we share with Him all the burdens keeping us from blossoming in this spiritual springtime? These are some questions worth wondering.

Riotous Living - The most surprising thing I have found this week in my study of this Sunday's Gospel has been the way one Greek word was translated into English. On Sunday you will most likely hear the deacon or the priest or the pastor read that the younger son "squandered his property in dissolute living." Dissolute is not all that common a word in our everyday parlance (neither is parlance, mind you). In truth, when I hear the word dissolute I immediately think of the Parable of the Prodigal Son. However, one Greek Interlinear I rely upon gives us Luke 15:13 in this way: "And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living" (italics added)...

RIOTOUS LIVING! The passage opened up in quite a different way for me when I read this translation. Dissolute living has a sad connotation in my mind, as it rightly should, it means an overly indulgent, vice-focused form of living; however, riotous living gives me a different insight into the life of the younger son. The younger prodigal living riotously in that foreign land calls to mind the right desire (to live life abundantly) but wrongly aimed at selfish ends. How many people in the pews are passionate about life, but do not know in what direction to steer that ambition? I would imagine most have felt like they have desire without purpose at one time or another... maybe even right now. This could be the perfect time to tell this story from a new perspective. Instead of simply thinking about how terrible these brothers are could we try to see them as mirrors for us as we grow into the full stature of Christ? How might we utilize our desire for good as we grow? How might we avoid being the overly righteous older prodigal son when we do seem to find our right purpose? Can we become like the loving father who embraces all?

There are so many directions in which a preacher might go this Sunday. While this Gospel lesson might not possess the same challenge as a passage about the devil's temptations or one focused on turning or burning, it does still have its own set of challenges. Namely, that we have heard it all too many times, that its initial surprise ending has become rote, and that we think we already know how to interpret it. However, a faithful preacher will help us to hear these transformational words anew, so that we are again in awe of the grace-filled, abundant love that God shows us through Christ.