Rev. Paul Tellström Irvine United Congregational Church4th Sunday in Lent, Year C “The Prodigal Son” March 18, 2007
Gospel Reading: Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 word count: 1,724
In 1986, French theologian and writer, Henri Nouwen toured St. Peters-burg, Russia, the former Leningrad. While there he visited the famous Hermitage where he saw, among other things, Rembrandt’s painting of the Prodigal Son. There is a black and white copy on our front cover. It is missing all of the light and color of the original, which is in a hallway and receives the natural light of a nearby window. Nouwen stood for two hours, mesmerized by this remarkable painting. As he stood there the sun changed, and at every change of the light’s angle he saw a different aspect of the painting revealed. He would later write: “There were as many paintings in the Prodigal Son as there were changes in the day.” It is difficult for us to see something new in the parable of the Prodigal son. We have heard the story so many times that we believe that we have squeezed it dry of meaning. Not only that, but, as the saying goes, familiarity breeds contempt. When we hear the opening words of the parable once again, “And there was a Father who had two sons,” we greet the words with “Heard it. Heard it. Heard it.” Yet, I would suggest that just as Henri Nouwen saw a half dozen different facets to Rembrandt’s painting of the Prodigal Son, so too are there many different angles to the story itself. A parable is a riddle; a story that is told that makes us look for the answer, recognizing that we will see different answers depending on where we are in our lives when we hear it. The way in which we perceive truth has become so much about face-value. We want to discover the facts and string them together into something ironclad. Hearing a story is a distraction when we want to get at truth. Being told a riddle when you want a straight answer makes us tune right out. Yet these were the ways in which people once communicated all of the shades that existed within a truth they were looking for. In this information age of factual fundamentalism, our religious traditions have subtly shifted to taking our common stories and making them literal. Many secularists (among them fundamentalists of another stripe) disallow any thinking that cannot be factually shown to be true. So it is interesting that in the midst of this comes the post-modernist, who will look at an event in another way: The event is actually as many events as there are witnesses to it. Say that there is a traffic accident and a car bumps into another at a red light. The person whose car is hit will tell a story of surprise, of shock, of pain, and maybe of anger. The person whose car hit the first one may downplay the event, may find external events that caused the accident, or may turn the event into a “why me,” experience or even an event of righteous anger or extreme contrition. The person on the sidewalk near the first car will look up just after it happens, and will notice that the driver of the first car is that neighbor who is known for making sudden stops and starts, and is not surprised to see that this neighbor has caused the accident. The person on the corner who saw the accident saw that the driver of the second car was talking on a cell phone and wasn’t looking, and therefore caused the accident. The person who was turning the corner and only heard the accident will describe the event of a large noise. To the post-modernist, there is no Truth with a capital “T”, but different truths for those who have been placed in a situation to witness to it differently. There is no one traffic accident in this case, but five very different ones. We all know the story of the prodigal son. Jesus tells a parable that must be looked at from all angles. It may be like the post-modern exercise in discerning truth, as there are several characters that experience different feelings, and we are invited to see the whole story through their eyes. The post-modernist will look at the event as a series of events. A profligate son has taken his inheritance and blown it and returned home only to be accepted. He is truly penitent and his father’s forgiveness humbles him. The father cares only for his son whom he loves, above all other costs, and his truth is about love, forgiveness, and reunion. His brother has another truth. He has seen his father’s hurt by the actions of the prodigal. He has had to work harder in the fields. He has honored the old ways, while his brother is off singing, “How Ya Gonna Keep ‘Em Down on the Farm, Now that They’ve Seen the Well at Beer-Sheba?” The household of the family has their own truth—there is less money, yet the father is happy, so that’s all well and good, but what about the dynamic of these two brothers? Jesus invites his hearers to become all parts of the story. We know what it is like to be foolish. We know how it feels when someone hurts and rejects us. We know what it is like to be disappointed in someone. We know jealousy and the experience of being on the wrong end of an unfair action. We know how it feels to realize that we need forgiveness, what it feels like to carry anger with us so that forgiveness is out of the question, and ultimately (we hope) we know what it is like to accept someone who has transgressed against us back into our lives with full forgiveness. Like the members of the household, we have been observers of forgiveness, and like the father and sons, we have been on all sides of forgiveness. There are symbols in the parable that speak volumes. The son who falls down symbolizes penitence, and the father who stretches his arms out symbolizes unconditional acceptance. The son who refuses to enter the home symbolizes alienation and the father who comes out to bring him in symbolizes reconciliation. Which symbols stand out most for you in this story today? Which character were you this time? Sir Noel Patton was a renowned artist. He was known for his exquisite and beautiful paintings of birds and flowers and children at play. But in each of his paintings he would always put in the very corner some grotesque symbol or object, such as a serpent, or an eel. This is what Christ has done with this parable. We see this loving scene of the father and the prodigal in one another’s embrace. But in the shadows of Rembrandt’s painting we see the grotesque face of the elder brother as he is watching what is happening. I believe that one of the things Jesus is trying to tell us that there are really two prodigals in this story. The transgression of the younger son is plain for all to see. But then there is the elder brother. His offenses are subtler but nonetheless real. His is the sin of temperament and in this case resentment. But for him, his anger and resentment made it impossible for him to see his own sin. He was so caught up in the righteousness of who he thought he was, that he could never allow himself to learn the truth about himself. Back in 1893 there were a group of four sisters, the Cherry Sisters they called themselves, who made their stage debut in Cedar Rapids in a skit they wrote themselves. For three years, the Cherry Sisters performed to packed theaters throughout the Midwest. People came to see them to find out if they were as bad as they had heard. Their unbelievably atrocious acting enraged critics and provoked the audience to throw vegetables at them. It was so bad that the sisters traveled with an iron screen, which they erected in front of the stage in self-defense. Amazingly, in 1896 the sisters were offered a thousand dollars a week to perform on Broadway -- not because they were so good, but because they were so unbelievably bad. Seven years later, after the Cherry Sisters had earned what in that day was a respectable fortune of $200,000, they retired from the stage for the peaceful life back on the farm. And yet, these successful Broadway "stars" remained convinced to the end that they were the most talented actresses ever to grace the American stage. They never had a clue as to how bad they were! The parable this morning does not tell us what the elder brother did when his father came out to speak to him. It doesn't reveal to us whether he ever realized that his envy and disdain had made him just as bad as his brother. Yes, the elder brother had never stooped to find himself in the pigpens of life. He would never have been caught dead carousing with prostitutes or wasting his resources in riotous living but in the end his refusal to rejoice at the return of his sinful brother was, to Jesus, just as offensive. We are all at different places in our lives in relation to the people around us. From whose perspective do you perceive the truth this morning? Whose story in Jesus’ parable is closest to yours? All of them? One more that the others? Of all of the symbols at work here, which is dominant? I looked up that painting that Henri Nouwen spent hours looking at. The symbols are all there. As he said, it is many different paintings, and yet the dominant symbol that Rembrandt painted is the one I believe Jesus intended. A father greeting a long lost son with arms outstretched and hands opened in welcome and love. In the cosmic dream of God, that is the governing symbol. Arms outstretched, reaching toward us, welcoming us back. What Jesus says through this parable is, “That's how God loves us.” In the cosmic dream of God, we are all parts of the dream. This symbol of forgiveness is one of the closest to God. Let that spirit of forgiveness work through us all, wherever and whenever and however it needs to. AMEN.
Sermon Resources: I acknowledge Christianglobe.net for providing the illustrations about Sir Noel Patton & Henri Nouwen. The Cherry Sisters is a story I found years ago, and there is a lot out there about them. Try: http://www.wfmu.org/LCD/Early/cherry.html
Scripture for Sunday, March 18, 20074th Sunday in Lent, Year C
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, "This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them." So he told them this parable: "There was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.' So he divided his property between them. A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself he said, 'How many of my father's hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, "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."' So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. Then the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' But the father said to his slaves, 'Quickly, bring out a robe--the best one--and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!' And they began to celebrate. "Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. He replied, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.' Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. But he answered his father, 'Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!' Then the father said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.'"
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