Tag Archives: parable of Jesus

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We Are All Prodigals

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“We Are All Prodigals”

Luke 15:11-32 (15:3) – March 30, 2025

We have the familiar parable of the Prodigal as our Gospel reading today. One of the best known of the parables, one that resonates with the heart and soul of many. It’s the story of two brothers and a father, the story of discontent and disgruntlement, the story of wandering in a far country, the story of return, and most of all, the story of forgiveness, reconciliation and redemption.

What is the setting for this parable? In verse 1 of chapter 15 we see Jesus sitting down to dinner with a bunch of social outcasts. As far as the scribes and Pharisees were concerned, that is—they were outright offended! How could Rabbi Jesus, a self-respecting, reputable rabbi, be associating with riff-raff, with undesirables, with people like that?

Tax collectors, outcasts and sinners. The upright, righteous Jewish leaders even had rules about associating with those people. They just didn’t. They were forbidden to have any dealings with them at all. But—Rabbi Jesus welcomed the tax collectors and sinners. Get this—He even ate dinner with them!

Except, Jesus wanted to stay in dialogue with these Jewish leaders, so He did was he often did – He told them parables. What a story! “And yet, the characters, the scenario, the family dynamics, are so familiar to us, it is real. And it is true in all the ways that matter, of course, for in one way or another we have lived this story. From one viewpoint or another, this experience is ours.” [1] It’s a story about brothers (or, siblings), about family, a loving father, repentance, and ultimately, about forgiveness.

This younger son was no prize, was he? He had been selfish and self-centered, for sure! Imagine, asking his father for his inheritance right then and there! (Which is kind of like saying that he wished his father had died already!) The nerve of that kid! However, his father went along with it, maybe cashed in some stocks or sold some property, and gave the younger son what he demanded. And, the ungrateful kid promptly goes out of the country to live it up.

One title this parable could have is “The Story of the Lost Son,” because the younger brother goes to a far country, spends all his money in riotous, profligate living, eventually doesn’t have a penny to his name, and is forced to herd pigs for a farmer just to scrape by and earn a pittance.

We heard the first half of this parable in our Scripture reading today. I continue now:

Remember, we left the younger son starving in the pigsty, with the pigs. ““When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father.”

It’s so easy to point the finger at this younger son, isn’t it? He was selfish and self-centered, wasn’t he? He didn’t think of anyone else, except for himself. Especially when he lived it up in the far country with high living, wine, women and song. Yet – how often are you and I selfish? Thinking only of our own interests, not caring for anyone else? Sound familiar?

Let’s continue with the parable. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. 21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’” 

My, goodness! What a turnaround this young guy has had! Sure enough, he has had a major change of heart and mind. We can see how much the father loved his younger son, can’t we? Imagine, a fine, upstanding middle-aged landowner comes running to meet his son, from far away down the road! The father must have had an eye out for his son for some time!

Yet, what about the older brother? What has he been doing all this time that the younger son has been partying it up in the far country? “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 father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’

28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘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!’”

Think about it. You and I can easily see how “lost” this younger son was. But, what about the older son? On the surface, he’s the perfect son. Always obedient, always compliant.But underneath? Discontented, disgruntled, resentful, angry. Do we see anything selfish and self-centered about the older son? Even though he stayed at home, he was pretty “lost,” as well.  

We are in the middle of Lent, a season of reflection, contemplation, particularly on our human brokenness and our need for God’s redemption, God’s forgiveness.[2] If we are honest, Lent helps us see the “lostness” of all of us – just as much as both the younger and the older sons were “lost,” too.

Both sons need a change of heart, a repentant heart. And, both sons are equally loved and forgiven by their father. We are considering the part of the Lord’s Prayer this week where we say “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.” It doesn’t matter whether we say “sins” or “trespasses” or “debts.” What we are asking God to do is to forgive us! Except, we ask God to forgive us exactly in the same way we forgive others!

Just think about that. If you and I are unforgiving people, why on earth ought God forgive our sins? If I come to the Lord, praying the Lord’s Prayer and asking – petitioning – for God to forgive my sins, how can I – you – we – possibly think we are going to get away with regularly being mean, nasty, and especially unforgiving to others?

            Finally, we consider that Lent is the time when we are following Jesus on His journey towards the cross. “the cross is not a means of payment [for our sins] but rather shows us just how far our prodigal God will go to tell us of God’s immeasurable love. Period.” [3]

            Did you ever think of God being a prodigal? Our prodigal God, wandering in the wilderness, seeking each one of us as we sojourn in the far country. Just like the younger son. And, just like the older son – resentful and disgruntled, and especially unforgiving to others?

            In our parable, what is the father’s response? “‘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.’”

If we had a title of this parable from the father’s point of view, it could very well be “The Story of the Forgiving Father.” Yes, he freely forgave the younger son for his extreme disrespect, for spending all his father’s hard-earned money, and for crawling back home in such a disreputable condition. Plus, the father was loving and welcoming to his older son, the one who seemed to be permanently disgruntled and resentful, with a huge chip on his shoulder.

Praise God, we know how far our Lord Jesus went to tell us about God’s immeasurable love. He went to the cross, for our redemption. For our forgiveness. And with this parable, Jesus wants us to see how much God loves each one of us, and how willing our loving, caring, nurturing God is to welcome us home. Even going so far as to run down the road to embrace us when we return in penitence and tears, or when we stay at home doing our duty in self-righteous disgruntlement and discontent.

Yes, God forgives! And yes, we are to do the same. As the petition of the Lord’s Prayer says, “forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.”  God offers forgiveness to both prodigal sons, all wayward children, no matter what. Remember, what a loving, caring God we have. Always loving, caring and welcoming toward each one of us. Amen!

@chaplaineliza

(Suggestion: visit me at my other blogs: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. #PursuePEACE – and  A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!

[1] http://words.dancingwiththeword.com/2016/02/two-sons-how-will-story-end.html

[2] https://www.workingpreacher.org/dear-working-preacher/perspective-matters

[3] https://www.davidlose.net/2016/02/lent-4-c-the-prodigal-god/

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Generosity – and Grace!

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“Generosity – and Grace!”

Matthew 20:1-16 – September 24, 2023

            I often think of my four children. I sometimes remember them as younger children. I can remember very well those times when I went to school to help out in classrooms, or to chaperone on field trips. I especially remember the times when I overheard arguing and bickering in the classrooms, in the halls or on the playground between the school kids. “It’s not fair!” was one thing repeated over and over.

            Let’s see how the Rabbi Jesus begins this parable. Jesus is on His was to Jerusalem, and it will not be long before the Triumphal Entry on Palm Sunday and the Passion Week. It’s perhaps a few weeks before all those weighty events begin to happen. I am certain Jesus wanted to be certain to get some very important truths across to His disciples and to the crowds.  

            As is common with the Rabbi Jesus, when He wanted to teach some very important ideas and truths, He used parables. You and I know that using stories really helps to cement ideas into our heads! So it is with this story. That same complaint, “It’s not fair!” seems to come forth from some of the workers in this parable of Jesus. In our Gospel reading, “Jesus tells a story that reflects a completely different way of looking at things. It is a story about a vineyard owner who pays his workers on the principle of generosity, rather than on the principle of merit.” [1]

            In our parable today, Jesus tells what the kingdom of heaven is like. This is another parable in His series, in response to questions asking about what the kingdom, what heaven is like, for real! “Come on, Rabbi! Tell us! Enough with this confusing religious mumbo jumbo! Give us some straight talk about what we can expect from God!”

             Remember how the parable starts:

“Early one morning a man went out to hire some workers for his vineyard. 2 After he had agreed to pay them the usual amount for a day’s work, he sent them off to his vineyard. 3 About nine that morning, the man saw some other people standing in the market with nothing to do. 4 He promised to pay them what was fair, if they would work in his vineyard. 5 So they went. At noon and again about three in the afternoon he returned to the market. And each time he made the same agreement with others who were loafing around with nothing to do.”

            Remember, Jesus is answering a continuing question: what is the kingdom of heaven like? What will happen when we get there? In other words, another way to ask this same question is, what is God like? What can we expect from God when we get to heaven?

            I know this might be difficult, especially if you’ve been prudent with money all your life, but try and put yourself in the place of the workers who were chosen, who were sent to work at the end of the day. Imagine being a day laborer. There is no Social Security, no social safety net. Such a hard life! Imagine earning just enough to support you and your families for just one more day.

            “What we now call food insecurity is their norm, and so it’s easy to imagine their excitement when they finally get an invitation to work – they won’t earn a full day’s wage, but enough perhaps to scrape by. That excitement only multiplies when the manager unexpectedly and inexplicably pays them for a full day! I suspect that equal measures of relief, joy, and gratitude suddenly coursed through their veins as each received their payment.” [2]

            When people in the crowd or among His group of disciples continue to ask, the Rabbi Jesus is telling us that in the kingdom of heaven, God is generous! The loving, kind generosity of the owner of the vineyard is truly evident from this parable! Which brings us to the workers who were hired first, the ones who have seen all of the others, the workers hired later that day, already receive their wages for the day. Let’s hear Jesus describe the scene.

 “10 The workers who had been hired first thought they would be given more than the others. But when they were given the same, 11 they began complaining to the owner of the vineyard. 12 They said, “The ones who were hired last worked for only one hour. But you paid them the same that you did us. And we worked in the hot sun all day long!”

            Can’t you just hear these workers say, “It just isn’t fair!” Face it, their reaction ‘is almost exactly what most of us would have felt had we been in their shoes. Because what happens to them simply does not add up and so doesn’t seem fair. Never mind it’s what was contracted – if those who worked an hour received a day’s wage, then those who worked so much longer deserve more.” [3] But – the owner of the vineyard is generous. Generous to everyone, no matter who, no matter what!

            Another word for this lavish, overabundant generosity is GRACE. Have you ever received grace for something you absolutely did not deserve? Many people read this parable, and say “That’s not fair!” That is exactly the point. If God were absolutely fair, none of us would be loved by God, none of us would be embraced by Jesus our Good Shepherd. No one. None. It is only by the Lord’s love, grace and mercy that any of us are welcomed into God’s family. It is all God’s grace and generosity. It is NOT about working in the vineyard, or working for salvation, at all.

                  We all have had grace extended to us here in the real world, haven’t we? – a grace period to turn in homework you did not finish or the work project you needed to finish last week. What about the landowner paying the last hired workers a whole day’s wage? And what about God forgiving us even when we don’t deserve it, or when we do things and say things that make God sad or even angry? That is grace. That is God’s generosity. God does not have to, is not obligated to forgive us and be gracious to us. But – that is exactly what God does.

      We don’t have to do more or be better in order to ensure that God loves us, because God loves each of us completely already. As Desmond Tutu puts it, “There is nothing we can do to make God love us more” and “there is nothing we can do to make God love us less.”  It is a strange kingdom indeed where there is nothing to earn.[4]

As Jesus said, this is what the kingdom of heaven is like. It’s fairness, God’s way. ”Everyone who is now last will be first, and everyone who is first will be last.” Abundant grace and generosity for all, no matter what. Thanks be to God! Alleluia, amen!

@chaplaineliza

(Suggestion: visit me at my other blogs: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. #PursuePEACE – and  A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!

[1] https://thewakingdreamer.blogspot.com/2011/09/nothing-to-earn-mt-201-16-1-i-have.html

[2] https://www.davidlose.net/2014/09/pentecost-15-a-love-or-justice/

[3] Ibid.

[4] https://thewakingdreamer.blogspot.com/2011/09/nothing-to-earn-mt-201-16-1-i-have.html

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How Many Times?

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“How Many Times?”

Matthew 18:21-35 – September 17, 2023

            Do you remember someone doing something really awful? Maybe you had something you really loved, your grandma’s favorite dish or teapot or picture. And, someone broke it! Into a hundred pieces, so broken that you never could fix it! Or, perhaps it was your brand new cell phone that someone dropped in a deep puddle! Even though the person at the AT&T store said it might be able to be fixed, you knew that soggy cell phone was a hopeless case.

            And, every time you see that clumsy or thoughtless or idiotic person, you can’t help but remember again what happened! What was that person thinking? Or maybe that person just didn’t think! That was the problem!

Let’s take another look at how this parable was set up. The disciple Peter – you remember good ol’ brash, foot-in-mouth Peter, don’t you? – comes up to the Rabbi Jesus and asks him, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” 22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.”

            In Jewish practice of that time, forgiveness was not taken for granted. Forgiving someone three times was considered generous! So, for Peter to ask whether forgiving SEVEN times was sufficient, he must have thought he was going way above and beyond! Yet, how does Jesus respond? How many times does Jesus tell Peter to forgive? Seventy-seven times?

            If we consider the times we are living in, today, people are not very forgiving. People are really divided! If I am a Chicago Bears fan, and someone else is a Green Bay Packers fan, that can be a real deal-breaker as far as being friends is concerned. My daughter Rachel lived in St. Louis for six years, and occasionally went to Busch Stadium to watch the Chicago Cubs play the St. Louis Cardinals. She told me many St. Louis fans objected to her Chicago Cubs gear!

            Except, our Gospel reading today is a lot more serious than sports teams and rivalries. This parable of Jesus is about two servants of the King. The first servant owed that King a whole lot of money! Bags and bags of money! Maybe as much money as you or I would earn in five whole years, or more! When the first servant went down on his hands and knees and begged the King to be merciful, and to give him time to repay his loan, the King did.

            But, that is not the end of the parable! By no means! No sooner did the first servant leave the throne room of the King, when who should he meet but a second servant. This second servant owed the first a small sum of money. Perhaps two weeks’ wages, maybe a month’s wages. The second servant did exactly what the first had done with the King, got down on his hands and knees and begged the first servant to be merciful.

            Did the first servant remember how generous the King was to him? Did the first servant extend the same mercy, grace and forgiveness to his fellow servant? No! The first servant had his fellow servant collared by the police and thrown into jail for delinquent debt!  

Our Gospel reading today is difficult. That is, when you and I try to put it into practice. When we gather for worship and hear this parable “where Jesus tells Peter that we forgive 77 times, or 70 times 7, or in fact, we just keep forgiving, we smile and nod and clap our hands. “Of course,” we think, “we worship a forgiving God, and we know we need God’s forgiveness over and over again.” But then we realize that this means we also must be forgiving of those who offend us, again and again, perhaps. And then we wonder if that’s even possible.” [1]

Sometimes, it’s just so difficult! Especially with certain people! When they overstep the mark or put their foot into their mouth again, for the twentieth, or hundred and twentieth time, it can be so difficult to forgive them again and again! We all know we are not living in particularly forgiving times! People and groups are so divided, forgiveness seems like a real impossibility.

Except, this is not merely a suggestion from our Lord Jesus. He doesn’t ask, “pretty, pretty please?” No! Jesus is serious. He means what He says. We need to forgive others if we expect God our Heavenly Parent to forgive us. Not once in a while, but all the time.

Our Jewish friends are observing their New Year this weekend, with Rosh Hashanah and the High Holidays. This is a time for forgiving, for the Jewish tradition of apologizing and forgiving the day before the new year starts. Yes, there are easy things to forgive, like when someone bumps your car in the parking lot and makes a little dent on your bumper. But then, there are hard things to forgive, too. Forgiving is something we all need to do, no matter how young or old we are, no matter how serious or what the trespass or sin is. [2]

            You and I, every person, everywhere, we all make mistakes. We all need to be forgiven on a regular basis. Yet, how often do we go about our lives not paying attention? Or being oblivious to our missteps, or silly words, or angry actions? When we are divided into different camps, into “us” and “them,” on opposite sides of an issue, forgiveness and kindness rarely enter the conversation! [3]

            We all need this call from our Lord Jesus to repent, to forgive, and to be forgiven. In this particular congregation we say the Lord’s Prayer every week. One of the petitions in the Lord’s Prayer is “forgive us our debts—or sins—as we forgive those who sin against us.” Have you ever thought that if you and I do NOT forgive on a regular basis, we are going against this petition we regularly pray? Why should God forgive us if we are stubborn and refuse to forgive others?

            I repeat – our Gospel reading today is difficult. That is, when you and I try to put it into practice. Do we hear this call from our Lord Jesus to live counterculturally? Can we swim against this tide of anger and vengeance and hatred that is so prevalent in our world and our culture? Isn’t it risky, doing this forgiveness thing on a regular basis?

            Right now, I am giving an invitation to consider what a life of forgiveness, mercy and grace might look like, in our real-world living. Hear the call! Do what Jesus said. This is a crystal-clear time to consider: what would Jesus do? Do that. Forgive, as we are forgiven.

@chaplaineliza

(Suggestion: visit me at my other blogs: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. #PursuePEACE – and  A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!

(I would like to express my great appreciation for the superb observations and commentary from the Rev. Dr. Derek Weber, Director of Preaching Ministries with the United Methodist Church. I got several excellent ideas and quotes for this sermon from this excellent website, https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/the-journey-begins/sixteenth-sunday-after-pentecost-year-a-lectionary-planning-notes.)

[1] https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/the-journey-begins/sixteenth-sunday-after-pentecost-year-a-lectionary-planning-notes

[2] http://worshipingwithchildren.blogspot.com/2014/08/year-proper-19-24th-sunday-in-ordinary.html

[3] https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/the-journey-begins/sixteenth-sunday-after-pentecost-year-a-lectionary-planning-notes

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God Baking Bread!

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“God Baking Bread!”

Matthew 13:33 – August 6, 2023

            Has anyone here baked bread, from scratch? I have, although it’s been a number of years since I baked white bread and wheat bread. Now, I more often bake sweet breads – banana, zucchini, apple, and other types. Homemade bread is such good bread!

            In our short Scripture passage today, we have our Lord Jesus, telling another one of His parables. This one is in chapter 13, which has a number of parables or short stories, all about the kingdom of God. These metaphors and word-pictures are meant to help Jesus’s listeners get a little bit better understanding of this huge concept Jesus taught about!

            The topics Jesus used for His parables are down to earth, from real life. For example, Jesus talks about a farmer and his field, and the weeds that grow. Typical of so many in that time, and relatable to so many of His listeners! Remember, we are looking at Bible readings that help us Re-Image God, in a nurturing, feminine way. The parable we highlight today features a woman. Yes, and something typically known as women’s work, in the home.

An unusual topic for a Rabbi to talk about! I am sure there were (and are) men who traditionally and habitually bake bread, but in Palestine as in many other rural-based cultures, but women often did many of the tasks involved with housework and home-making. Including the regular baking of bread. And, in a typical Palestinian house, a lot of bread needed to be baked each week. In the first century of the Common Era, you couldn’t run out to the local grocery store and get a loaf of bread, a dozen eggs and a gallon of milk, after all.

This parable of the yeast is one where our Lord Jesus focuses on work done by a woman. Sometimes, when the Bible mentions yeast in connection with spiritual things, yeast has a negative connotation. Not here! Jesus did something unexpected! He turned the tables on a typical understanding of yeast, or leaven. This parable is unusual and unexpected! In a matter-of-fact way, Jesus lifts up this work of baking, and the work of women, too. And without specifically naming it, Jesus compares God’s work to women’s work.

One of my favorite commentators is the Rev. Janet Hunt, a Lutheran pastor in De Kalb, a couple of dozen miles to the west of us, near Northern Illinois University. She loves to bake bread, and talks about her baking at length in her article about this particular parable. Pastor Janet’s mother used to bake bread, too. According to Pastor Janet, she was told “that our mother’s mother also baked as her mother did before her in a time and place where doing so was not an occasional practice or a hobby as it is with me, but was a necessary part of one’s weekly tasks, for bread was an everyday staple and it was not yet sold in stores.” [1]

Even today, in some rural areas and small towns, baking bread at home is much more common than it is in urban areas. The woman in this parable took a lot of flour – over a bushel of flour! She probably ground that flour with a hand-cranked little mill, too. And then, baked some bread. Jesus said that she mixed the yeast into the flour until it had leavened the whole big batch of flour! In case you are not familiar with the process of leavening, the introduction of the yeast causes a transformation of the dough.  

Before the adding of the yeast, before its mixing and incorporating into the whole batch of dough, what do we have? A big pile of flour, and some water to moisten it. Perhaps a bit of sweetener like honey, perhaps not. But, imagine the working and mixing of the flour, water and yeast! As this unnamed woman mixes and kneads the dough, the yeast gets incorporated throughout the whole. As the dough rises, the yeast does its work unseen, quietly.

The woman of Jesus’ parable “would not have had a finely tuned gas or electric oven in which to bake her bread. It would likely have been done in a clay oven over hot coals. And while she certainly could have turned her attention to other things while the bread rose or the coals came to the right temperature, baking the bread would have required her to stay nearby all day long so as to be ready for the next step. For in fact, it is possible to let bread rise too long, making the final product less appealing. And coals need to be at a certain temperature to make the baking optimal.” [2]

I hope I am making the baking of bread sound like a challenging activity, because it was, and is! Let us take a step back, and consider again this short parable of Jesus. He compares the kingdom of heaven to yeast. Could it be that our Lord is saying that “Kingdom work” takes time, energy and attention, just as the work of yeast and baking takes time, energy and attention? That it sometimes requires patience as we wait for ‘yeast’ to rise?    

Time after time, I have heard stories and read accounts of the slow or hidden or pain-staking work of the kingdom of heaven finally showing fruitfulness. Finally, good dough baking and bringing forth good, homemade bread, as we recognize the kingdom of heaven at work in our lives or in the lives of those near and dear to us! We can take common things, everyday materials, and have them transformed by God.

God loves to take things as simple as bottles of water given out for free at a farmer’s market, or boxes of cereal or feminine hygiene products brought to a local food pantry to be a part of God’s kingdom. Because, they are! Something as simple and as straight-forward as common, everyday activities or items can be used and transformed into God’s purposes – God’s work – God’s kingdom.

Remembering this parable of the yeast, we can see how God works quietly, confidently, sometimes over a long time. Today, we come before God to celebrate the Lord’s Supper, that meal of common things that our Lord Jesus transformed into a sacrament. We come to meet God in a special way at God’s table, doing what Jesus commanded us to do. As often as we eat this bread and drink this cup, we celebrate our Lord until He comes again in glory.

Doing Kingdom work as Jesus told us to do from this parable, we can bring glory to our God in common ways, using everyday things. We don’t have to be extraordinary ministers or missionaries, or God’s adventurers. As Jesus told us? We can use ordinary things, everyday items, common ways. And, this will indeed bring glory to God. Let us take these words to heart, and go and do them. Amen, alleluia!

@chaplaineliza

(Suggestion: visit me at my other blogs: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. #PursuePEACE – and  A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!

[1] https://dancingwiththeword.com/a-one-sentence-parable-which-opens-up-the-world/

[2] Ibid.