A TALE OF TWO LOST SONS

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

All the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to Jesus. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

So Jesus 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.’”

A TALE OF TWO CHURCHES, 2022

“All the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to Jesus. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So Jesus told them this parable…”

In other words, in addition to Luke, we have the Pharisees to thank for this extraordinary glimpse into the Kingdom of God that Jesus is bringing into the world. Thank you, Pharisees! I take back all those critical things I’ve ever said about you. Well, maybe not all.

Because to mention the Pharisees is to send up a giant flare—here come the bad guys. And certainly their eagerness to eliminate Jesus plus Jesus’ bold warnings—Woe to you, Pharisees, hypocrites that you are!—have combined to make the Christian tradition regard the Pharisees as religion at its worst.

This is all well-known stuff, but we must also keep in mind this is not how they were seen by their contemporaries. Their fellow Jews by and large admired their goal, viz. to purify Israel and prepare for the Kingdom of God’s coming. How? By zealously, thoroughly, meticulously observing the law. They were the lawyers for whom the study of the law was equal to worship in the Temple. Those who didn’t share their pious zeal for the law they regarded as nominal Jews, in name only, hardly better than Gentile sinners.  

Yet if there’s anyone in this parable who is simply lost–present tense, estranged from the heart of God, it’s the elder son, though he has never left home, never missed a day’s work on the family farm. The elder son sees the Father’s gracious welcome of his prodigal little brother as a great injustice, indeed even a personal disrespect to himself.  “All the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to Jesus. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, ‘This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.’”  This is what the Pharisees found unacceptable.

A review of the elder brother’s case against his Father shows the following progression.