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Sermon Date:	March 18, 2007
Sermon Text:	Luke 15:1-3, 11-32
Church Calendar:	4th Sunday in Lent
Delivered By:	Rev. Brian Roberts

"What Do You Expect from God's Love?"

An ancient Asian legend tells the story of a man who had a wild and impetuous son. The boy became involved with the ruffians of the village who persuaded him to join them in a robbery of his own father's treasury house. After the robbery was over, his friends fled with the stolen treasure and left him to face the guilt of the crime alone. The young man was desperate. He was deserted by his friends, and he had betrayed the trust of his father.

But his greatest crime was that he had brought public dishonor on the family name. And, in a culture where ancestors are worshiped and family integrity is a sacred trust, this was the worst wrong of all. Broken and deeply repentant, he went to his father and begged forgiveness. Graciously, it was granted. The father called all of the members of the family together to celebrate the reconciliation and return of his son.

When all had enjoyed the banquet to the fullest, the father stood and lifted his cup of rice wine for a toast. But, as the son drank deeply the contents of his cup, he grabbed his throat and fell lifeless across the table. The son had been poisoned.

The father, with ceremonial dignity nodded to the guests. Each in turn graciously and politely bowed to the father as they silently left the banquet hall. The father's honor had been restored. The family integrity and honor were reestablished. The unfortunate incident was closed. All was now put right.

So, what do you think? From a worldly point of view, is this a more real rendition of the Prodigal Son? Do you agree that all was now put right?

The son's terrible offenses were punished. The honor of the family name was restored by the father's elimination of the offender. Justice had been done.

So, what's wrong with that? This is certainly a SAD story - no doubt. But things had to be put right, didn't they? None of the guest challenged the father's actions. He behaved in the expected way.

He behaved the same way that the two sons in our Gospel story expected THEIR father to behave. The younger and older sons in the in the Gospel story both expected resentment and punishment from their father.

According to a press dispatch this past January from a French agency, relatives are still challenging the will of Luis Carlos Camara, of Portugal, who died in 2001. In his will were instructions leaving his entire estate (including two residences) to be divided among 70 people he had randomly selected from the Lisbon phone book. He also left explicit instructions that his relatives would get NOTHING.
(Agence France-Presse, 1-13-07)

This is the kind of attitude and response that the two sons are expecting from their father.

The younger son, the Prodigal, believes that his only chance for survival is to become a servant and attempt to repay what he has lost. He expects anger and punishment from his father. But perhaps if he can stay out of his father’s way, and serve adequately and not cause any trouble – then, just perhaps he could begin to earn back a little respect from his father.

The older son, on the other hand, expects his father not to fall for any of that. He expects his father to come down hard and swiftly upon this worthless brother of his. The older son believes that he’s more of a son than his brother could ever hope to be, because he’s the one who has been working hard in the fields all these years.

HE should have more respect. HE should have more honor. HE should be favored because HE has earned the right.

Back on Feb. 10, at the luxurious Lebua hotel in Bangkok, organizers brought in six master chefs from around the world to prepare the most exquisite dinner they could imagine. This dinner was for 40 specially invited international gourmets, who dropped in to dine for $25,000 a person.

Among the fare: Perigord truffles, tartare of Kobe beef with imperial Beluga caviar and Belon oysters, creme brulee of foie gras and 10 of the best wines of the 20th century, including 1961 Chateau Palmer.
(CNN-AP, 2-10-07)

Now, that's the kind of thing the older son figured he deserved. After all his years of loyalty, and hard work, and sacrifice, and obedience, where was his reward?

Both responses from the older and younger sons make sense to our sin-stained ears. The younger son should expect trouble from his father. The older son should expect more reward.

But both attitudes have a serious flaw. It is this: Both attitudes insult the father's love.

Both these sons believe that their father's love depends on what they do. Both believe that their obedience is the most important thing.

The younger son is saying, "My father's love is conditional. He cannot love me as a son because I have sinned. Therefore, he will only help me if I earn it." The older son is saying, "My father's love is conditional. He should love me more because I have earned it more."

The sons come at the same insult from opposite directions, but both terribly under value the love of the father. They believe their father's love to be limited and conditional.

Why do we so regularly under value the love of God? Why do we so often call it into question? Why do we doubt the strength of God's love when things are not going well for us? Why do we demand more from God's love, when we feel we deserve better from God?

Well, here's the answer: Just like the misguided sons in the story, we think we have to earn the father's love, too.

We think, "No god in his right mind would come to this sin-covered earth, let alone MY sin-stained life, without expecting something in return."

David Slagle says, "Being from the South, I love ribs. I remember hearing about this particular restaurant that had amazing ribs, and a bunch of my friends and I drove fifty minutes to get there. The place was packed, and the food was great. It was "all you can eat rib night," and rib bones were piling up as fast as the line to get in.

"Eating ribs is messy business. Barbecue sauce gets on your face, fingers, and clothes; dirty napkins pile up next to half-eaten bowls of baked beans and cole slaw. When our crew had eaten all we could eat, we paid our tab and waddled out to the car.

"That's when I reached into my pocket for my keys and came up with nothing but lint. Starting to feel panicked, I looked through the window at the ignition. I was hoping that I had locked my keys in the car, because in the back of my mind a more disgusting possibility was taking shape.

"When I saw that the ignition was empty, I knew exactly where my keys were-the keys to my car, my house, and my office. Only seconds earlier, those precious keys had slid right off my tray and followed a half-eaten corn cob and several bones to the bottom of a trash can.

"I had thrown away my keys on all you can eat rib night. To make matters worse the trash can had been emptied into the dumpster.

"It was a long walk home, and my friends certainly weren't going to do my dirty work for me. So I dove in. I fished through bones, beans, barbecue, corn, cake, cole slaw, and a host of saliva-soaked napkins. A shiny layer of dumpster slime had coated my arms and legs before I finally grasped hold of those precious keys."
David Slagle, Decatur, Georgia

Well, it just so happens that our God left the pristine, sinless glory of heaven to search through the filth and rubbish of this fallen world for something precious to Him - you and me.

The boundless love of God sent Christ on a dumpster-diving mission that left Him coated with a layer of sin and the shiny slime of blood.

On the cross Jesus fished through the hatred, and selfishness, and rebellion, and evil, and wretchedness of this world and finally grasped hold of your precious soul.

And when He had plucked you and me and all humanity out of the filth of sin, He said, "It is finished."

"It is finished," means nothing owed, nothing expected. "It is finished," means Christ's love is free, without demands or strings attached.

"It is finished," means Christ love belongs to everyone, equally. No one is favored more or less by God's love, because we all come out of the same dumpster of sin.

Whenever we question God's love, whenever we imagine that God's love is conditional, whenever we attempt to earn God's love, we insult the cross of Christ.

Jesus says, "It is finished." But in our sinful distrust of God's love, we declare, "No, it's not." - because we struggle to believe that God's love is that free and complete.

But Christ says, "The one stable thing you have in this crazy life of yours, is my love and forgiveness. The one single thing that you can always count on, is my love. The one power of life that you can always stand on, is my love."

And the reason we can be so sure of Christ’s love and stand so confidently upon it, is because of Christ’s resurrection. By returning to life, Christ guaranteed that nothing can defeat His love or His forgiveness.

“When you sin against Me,” Jesus says, “you are still Mine and I do not love you any less.” And here is the reason, here is what Jesus is telling us in the parable today: “My love for you is based upon My death and resurrection, not your behavior.”

A mother tells the story about her first-grader came home from a scout meeting. The little girl proudly reported to her dad that she was now officially a “Brownie.” Feeling jealous and left out, her four-year-old brother rushed up to Dad and proudly announced he was a cupcake!
(Kayleen J. Reusser, Bluffton, Indiana. Christian Reader, “Kids of the Kingdom.”)

Now, that’s just what our sinful nature does – pride, jealousy, selfishness, bubble up and frequently gets the best of us. And often life’s events sweep us into troubling places.

However, the point of the Parable of the Prodigal Son, that Jesus tells us today, is that God’s love will always be greater than you can ever imagine, and it will never be conditional on your behavior.

The source of God’s love is not us. It is God. Now, you can count on that.

Amen.

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