Luke 15:11-32
11 Then Jesus said, ‘There was a man who had two sons. 12 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. 13 A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and travelled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. 14 When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. 15 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. 16 He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. 17 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! 18 I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.’” 20 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. 21 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.”
22 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. 23 And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; 24 for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!” And they began to celebrate. 25 ‘Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. 27 He replied, “Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.” 28 Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. 29 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. 30 But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!” 31 Then the father said to him, “Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 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.”’
As we look at this parable, which we actually haven't looked at in quite some time, I want to remind us of the framework. This parable does not stand alone by itself. It's actually the third of three parables--the second of which we looked at last week, the Parable of the Lost Sheep, when Jesus leaves the 99 to go after the one. The larger context is that these three parables are Jesus’ attempt to actually help the scribes and Pharisees understand that they are the ones that are lost. They're lost, because they're judging Jesus, who is breaking bread with sinners which is in direct response to the Shema in Deuteronomy: “Love the Lord God with all your heart and mind and strength and love your neighbors as yourself.”
When I look back on my sermon from the last time I preached it (over six years ago), as it often happens when I read what I wrote and preached, I was not at all inspired. And I had no idea even what I was thinking at the time. And I didn't even value what the biblical scholars had to say about this passage. But I do absolutely remember that someone that Sunday came to me after worship and said, “I appreciated your sermon, but what about the older brother? He always gets a bad rap. I was the good one in the family. It was my brother, my sister that was the naughty one. I was the good one. How come we never talk about the good brother?” I didn't have an answer at the time, so I want to explore that today.
There's a movie that's called a crime comedy, which seems like an oxymoron, called “First Sunday”, starring Ice Cube, Tracy Morgan and Chi McBride. I see some of you know this movie! It's a great movie. In it, there are glimpses, and even parallels, to The Prodigal Son. Ice Cube and Tracy Morgan are low-level criminals and they get in trouble for a botched robbery of stolen wheelchairs. And, therefore, they need to find thirty thousand dollars to pay back their dangerous loan sharks. They hatch a plan to get money. Where is the best place to steal money? The church, because we know all churches are loaded (kidding). The problem is is that the pastor, the choir and the deacons, which includes the pastor's beautiful daughter, are actually still in the church when they come to rob the church. And, over time, “Durrell” and “LeeJohn” who are the two robbers, make more and more mistakes and they botch up this robbery as well.
As the plot develops, we see the underbelly of both of these “prodigal sons.” The first clue is Durrell, the older one, is trying to hold church up with a gun. He has taken away all their cell phones yet one is still ringing... his. It's his own nine-year-old son who's at home saying, “Dad, I don't know how to fix my Game Boy.” So Durrell steps away from holding all the hostages to give his son advice and instructions about how to get his Game Boy up and running again. We begin to see he's both bad and good. LeeJohn, the younger (and most definitely the dumber of the two), gets worn down simply by the generosity and the compassion shown to him by the parishioners when he's left alone with a gun he doesn't know how to use, to keep the members and the pastor under control.
In a deeply poignant scene when LeeJohn is holding the Deacons, the choir and the pastor hostage in the basement fellowship hall, his resolve starts to melt especially as the temperatures rise, because the air conditioning is broken. One of the deacons who’s also the pastor’s secretary, sees LeeJohn's humanity and fear as she breaks out a feast of leftovers for the hostages, while the pastor remains duct-taped in a chair. (Don't even think about duct taping me to my chair! There’s no way to duct tape this bench!) ‘Sister Doris’ sweetly invites LeeJohn to join in the food. As he is eating, she tells LeeJohn that today is her (deceased) husband's birthday. And as Sister Doris sweetly speaks about him and begins to weep, she gently asks LeeJohn when his birthday is. LeeJohn says, “I don't know. I was raised in foster homes. I don't even know who my real father is. It could be Lee. It could be John. That's why they call me LeeJohn.”
Sister Doris decides she's going to make today LeeJohn's birthday. She tenderly begins to sing Happy Birthday in the most beautiful, gospely tone and sings to the very end: “Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear LeeJohn. Happy birthday to you” as the tears stream down both of their cheeks, she takes off the cross that's around her neck (that was her husband's) and she places it on LeeJohn. The deacons, the choir and everyone watching this realize there's a transformation taking place. LeeJohn “comes to himself”, just like The Prodigal Son and realizes he no longer wants to partner with Durrell or steal the church's money. The pastor, the deacons and the choir members witnessed this and they start to rejoice, because they know there's a way, perhaps, to end this standoff.
But… there is one deacon who's “above the rest”. He's beautifully dressed. He's not like the rest of the people. He thinks he is better than the rest and has a secret plan for the church. He calls LeeJohn and Durell “miscreants, losers, robbers, who deserve to be arrested, who deserve to go to prison”. He has not one ounce of compassion and mercy. And as the plot unfolds, he, too, has a hidden agenda, including self-preservation. There, my friends, is the older brother--jealous of what others have, but clueless to his own faults and how much God loves him.
I'm not going to tell you the rest of the plot. And by God's grace, it's actually on BET at 2:30 this afternoon if you'd like to watch the movie again. But here's my question, there’s nothing wrong with wanting justice for people who have done bad things to us and to others. We've worked hard for our money, for our lives, for our comfort. We want to do everything to protect them and our family. But I wonder… in our drive to protect what we think we have; we lost our way and are hypercritical of those who are still lost. All we can see in them is the crime, the dark heart, their faithlessness. We judge them immediately. It could BE our sibling, a cousin, a neighbor, a co-worker, someone in a store.
Two or three months ago I was at Morristown Hospital visiting somebody And as I was going into the elevator, this young man was coming out of the elevator. And he had on a golf shirt--a Morristown Hospital golf shirt--and it said “Nutrition Department. And he was eating a bag of potato chips!!! I smiled to myself. Nutrition, huh?? But then I thought, “Wait a second. He's human. He doesn’t have to eat apples and free-range chicken all the time! He can have a little potato chip every once in a while.” How many of us would have judged the same way, let alone give up our cherished cross from our grandmother, from our church, from a child or a friend to someone who is lost and broken?
Some of us clearly see ourselves, honestly, as the prodigal son and need to come home, but we're afraid to unburden all of our sinful stuff to the Lord. Some of us clearly see ourselves as the older brother. That we deserve more, because we've worked for it and we've been compliant and thoughtful and giving and gracious. Blah blah blah… Very few of us have the courage to come to ourselves and ask for forgiveness and then also receive the grace.
My friends, the scribes and Pharisees are not ‘them’. They're us. We don't want to be blind to Jesus’ ministry for the other. We want to be aware of Jesus’ ministry first to us; so that when the time comes, we can sing Happy Birthday, give someone else our cross and give them the hope that we already have in Jesus Christ. May it be so. Amen.