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Sermon for 4th
Sunday In Lent Yr C, 21/03/2004 Based on Lk 15:1-3, 11b-32 By Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson, Pastor of Grace Lutheran
Church, & Chaplain of the Good
Samaritan Society’s South Ridge Village,
Medicine Hat, Alberta “Asher’s Story” Shalom
everyone. Some of you may remember me as the “elder son” in Luke’s Gospel,
chapter fifteen, and my name is Asher. For centuries people have read this
story with a particular bias and have given me “bad press.” Too many people
pay way too much attention to my brother, the “younger son,” his name is
Reuben. So today I’d like to give you my side of the story. I especially
speak on behalf of all you folks who are elder brothers or elder sisters—if
not by age, then by personality. You know, we’re the kind of folks who tend
to be what you label these days as “Type A” people. We are the overly
responsible; sometimes we have the tendency to want to take too much control.
We are the hard workers of the world; we’re what you call “the gold watch
people.” We are good, solid citizens who do our duty and remain loyal and
obedient. Instead of being the life of the party, we are the ones who do all
the planning and make all of the arrangements so that there can be a party.
We’re the ones who fret about details like running out of food and drink.
Then, once the party is over and everyone has left, we are the ones who stay
behind to clean up and put everything away again. So, now that I’ve told you
a little about me, and about a lot of you too, here’s my side of the story.
First of all, you will recall that my
younger brother, Reuben, insulted my father and shocked the daylights out of
both him and me by asking for his inheritance. If you could have been there
to see the pain and agony in my father’s eyes and on his face, you too would
have cried, if not openly, then at least inside—for that is what my father
did. In fact, he cried a lot of the time after Reuben left. How Reuben could
have been such an insensitive clod as to ask for his inheritance before our
dad died is beyond my comprehension. It was as if he was saying to dad: “Drop
dead!” Anyways, I did empathise with dad and worked even harder on our farm,
taking over most of dad’s work because he was no longer motivated and he fell
into a deep depression after Reuben left home with his inheritance.
However, there is one little, but
very important detail that Luke mentions; yet most people fail to “get it.”
After Reuben asked for his inheritance, Luke has this to say about what my
dad did next in verse 12: “So he divided his property between them.” Now this
little detail of the story is a very important one from my point of view.
Why? Because it has a lot to do with what happens when Reuben returns back
home from his loose living.
Let me explain. People both lay and
clergy for centuries have focussed on how generous the father was when Reuben
returned home. As the elder son, I really question that “take” on the story!
You see, Luke brings out all the worst in me by insinuating that I was angry,
jealous, bitter, and self-absorbed when my dad welcomed Reuben back and had a
party for him. I’m pictured as the bad guy wearing the black yarmulke. Yet, I
ask you, how would you feel if someone threw a party “at your expense,”
without even so much as getting “your permission or opinion” on the matter?
After all, it was, as Luke says, MY INHERITANCE that footed the bill for
Reuben’s homecoming party! What’s going on here anyways? First, dad says I
get two-thirds of his property, then he turns around and throws this lavish
party without even asking my opinion and leaves me to pick up the tab! So,
yes, I was rather angry with my brother for being rewarded for his
irresponsible and careless living! And yes, I was ticked off with my dad too
for being so extravagant with MY INHERITANCE and playing favourites like
that! Now can you see my side of the story and appreciate how I was wronged
and taken advantage of by my own dad and brother?
Yet, there is more to the story than
that. Luke leaves the story open-ended. After describing me as the villain of
the story, he raises the question: “Will I, Asher, the elder brother listen
to my father’s words and come join in the joyful celebration of my brother
Reuben’s homecoming or will I refuse and walk away?” Well, let me tell you, I
did refuse to go in and join them at that party. However, Luke didn’t live
long enough to see what happened to me next. You see, some time after that, I
figure it was a year or two later, I was given the opportunity and privilege
of meeting Rabbi Jesus myself. What a meeting it was too! There was something
remarkable about his presence—it made me realise that he could see right
through me. He knew me completely. He conversed with me, and helped me to see
how I too had been dead and lost. You see, I was living my life by measuring,
calculating, and comparing everything and everyone. That way of living only
leads a person to judge and condemn others. It sets up life as an exacting
system of rewards and punishments for everything we do or fail to do. It
leaves no room for love, forgiveness, and mercy. How wrong I was! Now I see
that “MY MONEY, MY INHERITANCE” was mine not because I had worked hard to
earn or deserve it and was rewarded accordingly. NO! It was a sheer gift of
love from my father BECAUSE OF HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH ME; BECAUSE I WAS HIS
SON AND HE WAS MY FATHER.
So, my friends, my brothers and
sisters, I came to see that the story Luke told about me, my brother and my
father is really a story about God our Loving Father and all of us. God our
All Loving Father wants us to be members of his family and live in an
unconditional, loving relationship with him. His welcoming arms are always
open to everyone—including us elder brother and elder sister types. Everyone
is in need of being found by him. Because we are all his children, he will
not give up on us until he finds us; welcomes us home and freely offers us
his inheritance. And Rabbi Jesus is the one who makes it all possible for
us—he is the Way to the Father for us; his death on the cross showed us once
and for all what the Father was willing to do to win us back to him. In
suffering and dying on that cross, Jesus shows us how much the Father loves
us.
Now I, Asher, am able to rejoice, even
during this season of Lent, over everyone who is lost and then found,
dead, but has come back to life thanks to the all-inclusive, unconditional
love and grace of Rabbi Jesus and our Heavenly Father. How about you? Why not
join me in rejoicing—whether you are a younger or elder brother or sister,
whoever you are, the Father welcomes you too, each and every one of you.
That’s my story, I thank you for listening, and now I bid each of you God’s Shalom!
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