Gordon E. Ellis
March 18, 2007
ACCEPTING AND EXTENDING FORGIVENESS
The parable of the prodigal son is probably the most important of ALL the parables of Jesus. It’s a story that talks about FORGIVENESS, and there’s NOTHING more important than forgiveness. And this parable invites us both to ACCEPT forgiveness AND to EXTEND forgiveness. First, let’s talk about HOW we are invited to ACCEPT forgiveness.
IN the parable, a man with 2 sons is REJECTED by each of them. And in turn, he FORGIVES each of them. The YOUNGER son takes HIS turn first. He LEAVES home in DISGRACE. You see, one day he asks his father for HIS share of the inheritance. Now, an inheritance normally comes after somebody has died, right? So this YOUNGER son is saying that his father is already DEAD to him. Strangely enough, the father GIVES this HURTFUL son his proper SHARE, which consists of large tracts of LAND. The land is SUPPOSED to remain in the FAMILY, but the boy SELLS it OFF as FAST as he CAN, with NO reluctance at all.
Now, in those days, in such SMALL communities, these proceedings would NOT have remained a SECRET. People would have HEARD about them and been SCANDALIZED! They would have found this son’s behavior to be utterly DISGRACEFUL. Likewise, they would have found the father’s acquiescence to be utterly INEXPLICABLE. The old man must be LOSING his marbles! I’m SURE the neighbors thought that, and SO did the servants. It seems that the ELDER son must have remained silent, but INSIDE, he was AFLAME with RAGE, as we’ll see LATER on.
SO, the younger son TAKES his money and BOLTS. He puts COUNTLESS miles between himself and his family. And IN some distant land, he goes through his money QUICKLY, living a FAST life, a DISGUSTING life. Well of course, he SOON runs out of money, and as a FAMINE strikes the countryside, this one-time spoiled, RICH kid finds himself working as the LOWLIEST of farm hands, slopping the HOGS. CAROB pods were what these pigs ATE, and the boy is HUNGRY enough to want to CHOMP down a few himself!
And REMEMBER: Jesus is TELLING this story to a JEWISH audience, and JEWS avoid ANY association with pigs. That’s the LAW. It’s written in Jewish scripture. And HERE, Rabbi JESUS is talking about a WAYWARD young man, who is reduced to serving PIGS. He BRINGS them their DINNER, and as he does, he has to ENDURE the way they BUTT and shove him, and KNOCK him around!
Well, FINALLY, a LIGHT goes on in the young man’s MIND, and he figures a way OUT of the pigpen. He’ll go BACK to his family FARM. It WON’T be HOME any more, but he’ll get a JOB there. And at least, he WON’T be STARVING anymore! Now, this realization is not REPENTANCE. It’s calculation! It’s problem-solving! Going BACK to where he CAME from will mean a full stomach! There’s no CLUE yet that he’s CONCERNED about his hungry HEART. And SO, OFF he goes, crafting a smooth SPEECH as he walks along. He’s MANIPULATED his father ONCE; MAYBE he can do it again.
MEANWHILE, back at the RANCH, DAD has been keeping an EYE on the HORIZON. He’s been DOING that since the DAY his son LEFT. But NOW, he sees a TINY figure in the distance that looks familiar. COULD it BE? Oh, yes it IS! It’s his SON! What MATTERS to the old man is that his boy is BACK. WHY he’s back, what his MOTIVES may be, simply DON’T even ENTER the father’s mind. And so he DOES something that an OLD man in HIS society -- OR ours, for that matter -- is very UNLIKELY to DO. He RUNS down the driveway toward his SON. His HEART doctor would NOT approve, but he RUNS. This fleet, PORTLY figure catches the ATTENTION of some of the servants, and they run AFTER him. The old man is close to TEARS. He GRABS the boy in a big BEAR-HUG, and plants a WET, sloppy KISS on his cheek. And the SON doesn’t even get a chance to GIVE his smooth SPEECH. Instead, his dad YELLS to one of the SERVANTS for the BEST suit in the closet, some shiny black DRESS shoes, and a RING so FLASHY that it would put a Mafioso to shame.
He tells ANOTHER servant to slaughter the CALF they’ve been fattening up and COOK it. THEY’RE going to have a PARTY, a welcome home dinner that will NOT be some small FAMILY affair: just dad, mom and their 2 sons. NO! HE’S giving a party for the whole TOWN -- the whole WORLD, if he could. And DON’T expect LEFTOVERS! THIS dinner will draw a cast of THOUSANDS! Can you PICTURE it? IMAGINE the HUSTLING in the kitchen! Out come the best CHINA and SILVER, the LINEN table cloths, and VINTAGE champagne! BREATHLESS invitations go out to ONE and ALL, and THEN some! A JAZZ combo is hastily organized, and the RUGS are rolled up to CLEAR the floor for DANCING. The BOSS has demanded a PARTY! And a PARTY, he shall have! And pretty soon, the house is ROCKING!
You know: OTHER than by His CROSS and resurrection, Jesus has no more OVERT way than THIS to tell us that WE are FORGIVEN when WE play the part of the younger SON. When OUR behavior is just SCANDALOUS, as it OFTEN is; and when OUR repentance is less than PERFECT, as is USUALLY the case, there is STILL a mighty WELCOME awaiting us, because our SIN, no matter WHAT it IS, is NEVER greater than divine LOVE and MERCY. ALL the son had to do was MAKE the decision to turn around and to start walking toward HOME, toward his father, and his father RAN out to MEET him and WELCOME him! What a GREAT picture of God and the FORGIVENESS that God offers us!
But SOMETIMES, our POISONOUS, SINFUL behavior does NOT resemble what the YOUNGER son does at ALL. Sometimes, in fact, we LOOK righteous! We ACT righteous! And we FEEL righteous! But inside, our HEART is a CESSPOOL of RESENTMENT. We HATE anyone who SEEMS to get AWAY with something. And we HATE those who show CONCERN and COMPASSION for MANIPULATORS and obvious SINNERS, like the prodigal son. Well, in THAT case, we DON’T need to TRAVEL to end up in the SAME place of profound ALIENATION that the YOUNGER son does. Resentment and hatred can ALIENATE us WHEREVER we are.
And THAT is the case with the older BROTHER in the parable. HE is hard-working and responsible -- and very UPTIGHT. But he’s also BITTER and SPITEFUL. His SOUL is DRY and hard. Having worked LONGER than anybody ELSE that day, he FINALLY comes IN from the fields, and WHAT does he HEAR? The house is ALIVE with MUSIC, and the SOUND of people DANCING! HE doesn’t know WHY, but finds OUT from a servant, who says: Your BROTHER is back and your FATHER is putting on the PARTY of the CENTURY to welcome him home. Hurry and get IN there while there’s STILL something LEFT from the CALF we roasted!
WELL, the older brother looks like a BOILER about ready to EXPLODE! His father HEARS about it and runs out to him. Though NOT accustomed to BEGGING, he pleads for his son to come IN. But the OLDER son lets LOOSE on his father: Listen! I’ve worked like a SLAVE for you, and you’ve NEVER had me throw a party for MY friends. But when this SON of yours comes back, after blowing YOUR money on prostitutes, you give HIM the party of the CENTURY! But the FATHER remains the model of a NON-ANXIOUS presence. He responds affectionately to his son: My son, you are ALWAYS with me. Everything I have LEFT belongs to YOU. But your dead BROTHER has come HOME. Your LOST brother has turned up SAFE and SOUND. It’s only RIGHT to CELEBRATE and REJOICE! PLEASE come IN and join the party!
Well friends, OTHER than by His CROSS and resurrection, Jesus has no more OVERT way than THIS to TELL us that WHEN we take the PART of the ELDER brother, WE are FORGIVEN. EVEN when our HEARTS turn as COLD as ICE, our EYES look HARD with JUDGMENT, and we WITHDRAW because even the IDEA of mercy just DISGUSTS us, we are STILL invited BACK into the house. We are still WELCOMED at the PARTY! Our highhandedness and our holier-than-thou-ness CANNOT out-reach divine LOVE and MERCY! That ELDER son didn’t even NEED to REPENT and turn around toward his father, as the YOUNGER son did. His father STILL came out to HIM and offered HIM forgiveness as well.
And therefore, the GREATER question is NOT whether God FORGIVES us! God forgives ALL of us! The GREATER question is whether WE can ACCEPT forgiveness. You see: in EACH of us, there is something of BOTH an older brother AND a younger prodigal.… And we NEED to SEE that the FATHER runs OUT to BOTH of them! The FATHER insists that BOTH come to his FEAST of FORGIVENESS. So, can we ACCEPT forgiveness?
But AS I said in the beginning, this parable ALSO invites us to EXTEND forgiveness. You see: when we READ this parable, we AREN’T supposed to just SEE ourselves in the YOUNGER son or the older BROTHER. We are ALSO to find OUR role in that of the father. He offers his sons, and US, an EXAMPLE that THEY, and WE, can FOLLOW, an EXAMPLE of what it MEANS to FORGIVE. And in the PROCESS, he is revealing PART of what it MEANS to be a Christian, AND a human being. And it means EXTENDING forgiveness.
Henri Nouwen’s book, The Return of the Prodigal Son, is a beautiful reflection on a WONDERFUL Rembrandt PAINTING that depicts the FATHER in this parable welcoming home his younger SON. Well, IN the EPILOGUE of the book, Henri writes: Rembrandt portrays the father as the man who has TRANSCENDED the ways of his children. His OWN loneliness and anger may have BEEN there, but they have been TRANSFORMED by SUFFERING and TEARS. His LONELINESS has become endless SOLITUDE, and his ANGER, boundless GRATITUDE. THIS is who I have to become, he writes. I SEE it as CLEARLY as I see the immense BEAUTY of the father’s EMPTINESS and compassion. CAN I LET the younger and the elder son GROW in me to the MATURITY of the compassionate father? [Henri J. M. Nouwen, The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Meditation on Fathers, Brothers, and Sons (Doubleday, 1992), p. 129.]
Friends, it is TROUBLING to find ourselves as the YOUNGER son OR the OLDER brother, EACH in desperate NEED of the new LIFE that comes with his father’s MERCY. Well, that MERCY bears FRUIT when WE can ACCEPT forgiveness of ourselves and of our SIN. And that mercy ALSO bears FRUIT when WE can FORGIVE people AS we have BEEN forgiven, and WELCOME them AS we have BEEN welcomed. SO, let US be a people of FORGIVENESS, ACCEPTING it, AND extending it, as we continually strive to follow the EXAMPLE of the compassionate and loving FATHER in the PARABLE of the Prodigal Son. THANKS be to God for the GIFT of FORGIVENESS. Amen.
(With thanks to my colleague, Rev. Charles Hoffacker.)