There was a man who had two sons. The older one said to his father, “Father, give me a staff, a
cloak, some sandals and a small purse; I want to visit our family up north” The father set these
things aside. The older son gathered himself and traveled north, while the younger son stayed
behind to manage the father’s house.
After some time, word reached the older son that his father would be throwing himself a birthday banquet. Homesickness welled up in the son and he set out for home.
While the older son was still a long way off, the overflow of sound from the house ran out to meet him. But once he approached the house, the relief and joy of homecoming drained out of him.
He saw the long dining table crowded with bills and coin. The feast food was pushed to the side, the drinks left un-poured. Friends of the younger brother swarmed about, shouting to one another across the table, bartering and haggling for their food stuffs and homemades. Some, it’s true, had travelled a good distance to attend the party, and were anxious to acquire a gift for their host; the locals had foreseen the need and had arrived with their own carts full of goods. While some guests braved the chaos and found their way to the table, others stood at the edges, awkward, confused, and overwhelmed. Still others joined the frenzy of buy and sell.
All the while the younger son was lost in the crowd.
Worst of all, the elder son could see no sign of his father—until, that is, he spied a lone shadowed figure, sitting unnoticed in the corner of the room.
Somewhere inside the older son felt something snap.
Nate Wall is a prairie boy transplanted to downtown Toronto, where he studies the Old Testament at Wycliffe College. This sermon was preached at Wine Before Breakfast, an early morning eucharist service hosted by the CRC Campus Ministry on the UofT campus. If you're ever in town, come on by.
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