The Rev. Virginia W. Nagel
Episcopal Diocese of Central NY (Retired)
Today's Gospel reading is the familiar and much-loved story that is usually
called the story of the Prodigal Son. Most of us have read it and heard it over
and over again, so that we no longer really think about the meanings in it. We
have all become accustomed to the traditional interpretation which tells us that
no matter how bad we are, God is willing to welcome us back into his arms, his
heart and his home. In fact, the traditional interpretation says, God is
anxiously waiting for us to return to him...he has never disowned us, or put us
out of his love. On the contrary, we are the ones who have disowned God, through
our sinful ways and lifestyle.
So far, so good. But there is a great deal more to think about in addition to
the traditional interpretation.
Most people have dreams or hopes about living in a certain lifestyle. We keep
saying, "If only I had enough money, I'd like to take a trip around the
world...move to the big city and enjoy high-style living...buy this or do that."
We really don't want to settle for the way of life we have been brought up to
live. We are tired of all the boring stuff...peeling potatoes, changing diapers,
mowing the lawn and weeding the garden, scrubbing the floors. We convince
ourselves that we are made for better things than that, and that we could have a
wonderful, exciting, interesting life if only.... If only...
That's the first thing we need to think about. Why are we dissatisfied with
our life? Do we just want glamour, excitement, money and fame? Why can't we
accept the everyday-ness of the life we are already living, with its security,
self-respect and basic emphasis on doing our duty to God, our neighbor and
ourselves?
It seems to me that most people have this yearning to "break away" and search
for glamour, excitement, riches, maybe fame. Perhaps this is why sports are so
fascinating to many people. They would rather not take the time and effort
required to build a solid marriage and lifestyle. They yearn for the excitement
of the "big game," for having their names in the papers, for the praise and
adulation they will get from other people, maybe for the big paychecks that the
pro teams are handing out. They don't want to spend years studying chemistry or
theology or physics or principles of education or whatever, and becoming
accredited in such a field. Instant glamour and instant riches...that's what
they are looking for, not everyday hard work and struggle.
Pretty much the same thing applies to being a rock star, a movie star, or a
big-league politician or business person. Excitement, fame, glamour, riches...
Maybe this kind of yearning to be a rock star, a star athlete, a party person
or a politician, is part of our burden of original sin. I don't know. Adam and
Eve, we are told, rebelled against the quiet, orderly lifestyle. They wanted
excitement, they wanted to be different, they wanted to be equal to God. So they
rebelled and did what they had been told not to do, and we all inherited that
way of thinking and feeling.
That's basically what the younger son did. He asked for his share of the
family inheritance, and went off to live the glamorous, exciting life. Of course
he ended up broke. He even lost much of his religion: he was so broke that he
could no longer afford to take a respectable job, like a good Jewish boy.
Instead, he had to take care of pigs, which Jews consider unclean and sinful and
just plain nasty. He certainly learned something about doing boring, humdrum
hard work.
And then...it occurred to him that if he was going to have to go back to the
boring, humdrum hard work, he might as well do it at home, where people cared
about him. We are not told that he really repented for his
actions, for his wasteful ways with money, for his breaking of God's
commandments, for his sinful lifestyle. We are not told that he repented
at all. We are only told that he felt sorry for himself and wanted to go
home, even if it had to be as a servant.
So he quit his job and started out. We are left to wonder if he was seeking
to return to the love of his father and brother, the comfort of an orderly life,
even as a servant, and a nice place to live...or if he had really woken up and
realized what he had done to himself and to the people who cared about him. Was
he just looking to be comfortable and accepted, or was he really sorry for his
actions? Who knows?
At any rate, he went home.
All this time, his father had been worrying and waiting to hear what had
happened to him. We may assume, I think, that his dad had even been praying for
protection and for a return home. At any rate, his father was waiting at the
gate when he finally arrived.
The nice little humble speech the boy had been practicing, begging to be
allowed to return home even as a servant, never got out of his mouth. His dad
wasn't listening. He rushed the boy off to have a good bath, dressed him in fine
robes, gave him a ring with the family crest and decent shoes...servants mostly
went barefoot, of course. He called servants to kill the fatted calf, and sent a
bunch of them out to summon guests for a welcome home party. This, you know, is
the way God feels when we return to him after wasting our time, money and life
in trying to be what we are not. God has been waiting for us to come back to
him, back to the boring everyday living according to rules, with hard work part
of the deal. He's been waiting, and hoping we will come back to him, and come to
our senses again. And he surrounds us with the same kind of love and acceptance
that the young man received from his dad...but God has infinitely more to give,
and many more ways to comfort us, and accept us, and forgive us.
Well, it's hardly to be wondered at that the older son had his nose put out
of joint over all this. It sounds as if the father was so happy that the younger
boy came home, that he clean forgot to invite the older son to the party. The
older son had stayed there, working hard all the time that his younger brother
was drinking and throwing money around and getting into all kinds of trouble. Of
course he resented the fuss his dad was making over the younger boy.
The dad, though, is very clear about all this: Your younger brother has been
dead, for all practical purposes...dead to his duty, dead to his family, dead to
his faith. But now he's back, and has come to life again. Of course we have to
celebrate. But don't feel left out, Son. You have been here all along, and
everything I have is yours. I depend on you and I love you for being steady and
doing your duty. I just hope that now your brother has learned his lesson and
will be more like you.
Everything God has to offer already belongs to the folks who stayed home and
mopped the floors and milked the cows and looked after the children and the
farm. It is to be hoped, though, that those of us who live humdrum, ordinary,
boring lives can find it in our hearts to rejoice when someone who's been
wasting their life and their money and their goods, looking for excitement and
glamour, comes to their senses and comes home to God again. Maybe we can even
find it in our hearts to thank God that we didn't do such a thing, ourselves.
After all, doesn't the Bible say that we should not judge others, because if
we do, we will be judged, ourselves? And isn't it true...look what hard things
people have been saying, all these years, about that older brother!
Amen.
