“Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming to hear him. But the Pharisees and the experts in the law were complaining, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”  Then Jesus  said, “A man had two sons. The  younger of them said to his   father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate that will belong  to me.’ So he divided his assets between them. After a few days, the younger son gathered together all he had and left on a journey to a distant country, and there he squandered his wealth with a wild lifestyle. Then  after he had spent everything, a severe famine took place in that country, and he began to be in need.  So he went and worked for one of the citizens of that country, who  sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He  was longing to eat  the carob pods  the pigs were eating, but   no one gave him anything. But when he came to his senses he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have food enough to spare, but here I am dying from hunger! I will get up and go to my father and say to him, “Father, I have sinned  against heaven  and against you.  am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired workers.”’  So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way from home his father saw him, and his heart went out to him;  he ran and hugged his son and kissed him.  Then his son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his slaves,  ‘Hurry! Bring the best robe, and put it on him! Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet! Bring  the fattened calf  and kill it! Let us eat  and celebrate,  because this son of mine was dead, and is alive again – he was lost and is found!’   So  they began to celebrate.

“Now his older son was in the field. As  he came and approached the house, he heard music   and dancing.  So   he called one of the slaves  and asked what was happening.  The slave replied,  ‘Your brother has returned, and your father has killed the fattened calf   because he got his son   back safe and sound.’But the older son  became angry  and refused   to go in. His father came out and appealed to him, but he answered  his father, ‘Look! These many years I have worked like a slave  for you, and I never disobeyed your commands. Yet  you never gave me even a goat   so that I could celebrate with my friends!  But when this son of yours   came back, who has devoured  your assets with prostitutes,   you killed the fattened calf for him!’  Then   the father  said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and everything that belongs to me is yours.  It was appropriate  to celebrate and be glad, for your brother   was dead, and is alive; he was lost and is found.’"

   Psalm 32
Luke 15: 1-3 & 11-32.

How many times have we read or heard this story?  It seems like hundreds, doesn’t it?  When we were small children, it was probably told to us in a Sunday school class.  And then as we got older, it may have been part of a weekend retreat in high school.  And certainly pastors have preached on it time and time again.  Like anything that becomes too familiar, we sometimes assume we totally understand everything about it.  However my experience with the Bible is that this literature is different.  Somehow as people grow in the faith, as they become more mature spiritually, something happens.  These people read the Bible, the same passage they have read before, and often find something different there.  Something that they have never seen before; something that surprises them and brings them new understanding about God and themselves.

    Our Tuesday night Lenten Dinners have explored a variety of the Spiritual Disciplines including Meditation, Dreams & Journaling, and Lectio Divina (or Prayerful reading of the Bible).  (A short commercial—this Tuesday it is on Food and Fasting…see you at 6:00 p.m. J ) 

    Lectio Divina is a way of reading scripture that was once standard and now is somewhat unique from what is normally done.  Reading aloud, reading three times for different meanings. . .The Bible has something different to say to us every time we pick it up, for we are different every time we pick up a Bible.

    So today I invite you to look at this parable of the prodigal son a little differently.  Let’s begin.
    The parable is one of three that Jesus uses to respond to a nasty murmur from the Pharisees and Scribes:  “This man, Jesus, welcomes sinners and he eats with them!”  An accusation that Jesus cannot be holy, cannot be from God since he embraces sinners.  And so Jesus shares these three parables:  The Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, and the Lost Son (or the parable of the prodigal son).  Truth be known this is not a story so much about the son, but a story about the father; it’s a parable of the Loving Father.  Keep that in mind as we move forward this morning.
    Put yourself in the role of that father, or a today in the role of the mother.  The parent who has a rebellious child.  And maybe it would help if we brought this story up to date for us. 

    There once was a teenager by the name of Kathy who lived in Newport News, Virginia.  She was a smart girl, but she always was in verbal arguments with her mother and father.  There were always battles going on in the household.  One day Kathy came home with a nose ring.  The parents were furious and an argument began.  Kathy stayed out all night without so much as a phone call to tell them where she was.  And her friends were not exactly her parent’s choice for her.

    As things happen, one night Kathy and her parents got into a big fight; and Kathy yelled at the top of her lungs, “I Hate You.”  She continued screaming as she ran to her bedroom and slammed the door.  Later that night, after her parents were asleep, she acted on a plan that had been forming in her mind for quite some time.  She got up, dressed, packed a bag and went into the study.  There she took out her parent’s wallets, took all the cash, the credit cards and the checkbook.  And then she headed for the bus station to catch us bus to Richmond.  Once there she goes to the bank and forges her mother’s signature, withdrawing Almost $15,000 that they were saving for Kathy’s college education.  Kathy figured it was hers anyway and took a cab to the airport.  There she paid cash and bought a ticket to Los Angeles, California.

    Arriving in Los Angeles, Kathy soon began enjoying the good life – new friends, nice place to live, lots of liquor and drugs.  She slept all day, didn’t go to school, and partied all night.  No one hassled her because of her nose ring, or the other body modifications she had.  No one set limits for her at all. 

    Back in Newport News, her mother and father were frantic.  Mom had to get a job to help pay off the credit card debts that Kathy had run up.  The police were notified, but Kathy had disappeared, and her parents feared the worse.

    Back on the streets of LA, $15,000 doesn’t go too far, and the credit cards had been canceled.  Kathy was soon addicted to crack-cocaine and she moved in with another group of women.  At the suggestion of a girl friend, Kathy becomes a prostitute. 

    One day while Kathy is working the streets, she sees a poster on a telephone pole.  It says, “Have you seen this girl?”  Below the photo of her, at least how she used to look is her parents phone number asking anyone with information on this girl to call.  Kathy rips the poster down and folds it up, putting it in her pocket.

    Months pass, then years, and Kathy has been careless one time too many.  At first she thinks she simply has the flu.  But as the illness persists, she visits the free clinic, only to discover she has contacted HIV.  Kathy has AIDS.  Now her pimp won’t even let her work at being a prostitute anymore.

    As Kathy sits alone on the streets of Los Angeles, she reaches in her pocket and takes out the poster she ripped down years before.  She thinks back to what her life had been, life as a typical teenager, a schoolgirl in Virginia.  “God, why did I leave?” she says to herself.  Even the family cat lives better than I do.  She’s sobbing now, and knows that more than anything she wants to go home.

    Three straight phone calls, three connections with the answering machine.  Kathy hangs up without leaving a message the first two times; but the third time she hesitates, then says, “Mom, dad, it’s me, Kathy.  I was wondering about maybe coming home.  I’ll pay you rent.  It’s just until I can get back on my feet.  I’m catching a bus to Newport News and I’ll be at the station around midnight on Tuesday.  If you’re not there, well I guess I’ll just get another bus to New York.

    The next day on the bus, Kathy thinks about her call.  It has been almost 10 years since she left home; and in that time her parents have never heard a word from her.  How are they going to react when they discover I’m a junkie with AIDS, she wonders?  If they do show up, what on earth am I going to say?

    At ten after midnight, the Greyhound Bus pulls into the station.  She hears the airbrakes as it comes to a stop.  She thinks, “This is it.  Oh Well, get ready for nothing.”  And she steps off the bus.

    She looks to her right and sees an empty platform, but before she can look back to her left, she hears someone call her name.  Her head whips around and there’s her mom and dad….and her aunts and uncles and cousins and grandmother.  They’re holding a banner that reads, “Welcome home,” and everyone is wearing goofy party hats and throwing streamers and popping party poppers. 

    Her mom and dad are running towards her, tears streaming down their faces, arms held wide.  Kathy can’t move.  Her parent’s grab her with such force it almost knocks her over.

    “Dad. .”

    But that is as far as she gets before her father says, “Hush child.  Forget the apologies; all we care about is that you are home.  I just want to hold you!  Come on, everyone is waiting; we’ve got a big party organized at home.

    How would you have reacted to Kathy’s phone message?
What would you have done?  Met the bus or not?
If you met the bus, what would you have said?

    These are not rhetorical questions, as they go to the heart of the message for us today.  And there is more to this parable of the Loving Parent.
The parent does not wait for the child to say anything…but rather the father in the Biblical story runs to greet his son.  According to Jewish customs, this was a humiliating act for the father…to run.

The parent embraces the child before the child has a chance to say anything.
And then the parent treats the son as an heir of the family, not a second-class citizen.

•  The robe stands for honor
•  The ring, a signet ring, stands for authority, like giving the son the family power of attorney
•  The shoes were for children of the family not slaves.

    Here in Virginia, one quickly learns about the ‘civil unrest’ that the northerners call the ‘civil war.’  During this time, President Lincoln was asked how he was going to treat the rebellious southerners when they had finally been defeated and had returned to the Union of the United States.  The person asking the question expected Lincoln to say he would exact a dire vengeance from these people.  But instead, President Lincoln said, “I will treat them as if they had never been away.”  Now that is the kind of love that this parable is talking about today.  Absolute Acceptance with no strings attached.
    What does Absolute Acceptance mean when we deal with people?  Think of the following groups of people and how you deal with them:

Alcoholics
Drug addicts
People who divorce
People who lose their jobs
Poor people
People on welfare
Gay & Lesbians
Older folk
Younger folk
Prisoners
Spouses or significant others
Family or friends
Even a church member or leader

God, through Jesus Christ, has shown us how the Creator treats those who have run away, or those with whom we disagree.  God treats them, just like the Loving Father treated the Prodigal Son --  with Absolute Acceptance.

    Lastly in this story, this parable of the Loving Father, is about a Parent that acts FIRST, before the child can act.  And in fact, that is true of our relationship with God.  God loves us first, and this Lenten season, God is waiting for you and me to repent for things we have done wrong, to turn back, and to work at becoming all that God knows we can be.
    The choice is yours, and mine.  God is waiting….for each of us.  and claim new life in his name.  

Amen