This sermon was preached at Glenwood and Canoe Ridge Lutheran Churches, Decorah, Iowa on March 31, 2019. It’s based on 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 and Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32. If you’d prefer to listen to it, find it at https://soundcloud.com/stacey-nalean-carlson.
2 Corinthians 5:16-21
16From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. 17So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! 18All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; 19that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. 20So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
1Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to [Jesus.] 2And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
3So he told them this parable: 11b“There was a man who had two sons. 12The 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. 13A 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. 14When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. 15So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. 16He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. 17But 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! 18I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; 19I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.” ’ 20So 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. 21Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22But 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. 23And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; 24for 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. 26He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. 27He replied, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.’ 28Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. 29But 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. 30But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!’ 31Then the father said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32But 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.’ ”
Let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found! The parable could have ended right there: a found son, a compassionate father, a celebratory feast. The end.
Except it’s not the end, because Jesus tells this parable in direct response to grumbling by the Pharisees and the scribes. This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them. Not for the first time, these elder sons of the world—the ones who properly observed the law, never flagrantly disobeying God’s command—are appalled at Jesus’ apparent disregard for what is right. He’s claiming the Spirit has anointed him. He’s claiming that in him scripture is being fulfilled. He’s forgiving sins left and right (when no one can forgive but God alone). And now he’s attracting, and welcoming, the wrong kind of people.
Who is this Jesus? And who are they, if the God for whom Jesus claims to speak actually does rejoice in the presence of sinners?
The second half of Jesus’ parable, with his description of the elder son, holds a mirror to the grumbling faces of the Pharisees and the scribes. One scholar describes it as an appeal to men who were offended at the gospel. To them Jesus says: ‘Behold the greatness of God’s love for his lost children, and contrast it with your own joyless, loveless, thankless and self-righteous lives. Cease then from your loveless ways, and be merciful. The spiritually dead are rising to new life, the lost are returning home, rejoice with them.’ 1
The grumbling Pharisees and scribes are the elder brother, complaining outside the party, put out, annoyed, resentful and angry. They question God’s celebration of sinners who’ve returned home. They want a party, recognition, praise. They can’t see that they’re already held in the arms of God. They can’t see that they’ve already been given everything.
When Jesus does end his parable, he ends it unresolved. Does the elder son join the party? Does he join his father in welcoming his brother home? Does he stay out in the yard complaining? Does he go back to work in the field, grumbling under his breath? Does he become the lost one? Or is he found by grace?
Does he keep on regarding his brother from a human point of view or is he able to become a minister of reconciliation, seeing his brother as God’s new creation?
We are ambassadors for Christ. We are called to step in from our cold complaining and join the party. We are called to see our siblings in Christ as God sees them. And it’s probably easier if we’re able to see how we ourselves have been lost along the way and how God has welcomed us home with compassion.
The Spirit has anointed Jesus. In him scripture is being fulfilled. Through Jesus’ fellowship with sinners, God’s abiding love and endless mercy are made real in the lives of all who are lost, desperate for hope and healing. At the table with all who yearn for new life, Jesus demonstrates that God’s love for sinners knows no bounds.
For our sake, Paul writes, God made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Christ we (younger ones and elder ones alike) might become the righteousness of God. The Son of our prodigal God spends his life on sinners—joins us in every famine of body, mind, or spirit, every time of need and loss, every moment of fear and uncertainty.
Jesus takes all that he’s been given by his Father and spends it on those who have no capacity to repay. He doesn’t hold on to his inheritance, his power, his position, his place at God’s right hand. Jesus empties himself in solidarity with those who stand empty themselves—gutted by problems of our own making and by struggles no one can avoid.
God’s Son, brother to us all, dies so that we might live.
Even in this season of Lent, every Sunday is a little Easter—a celebration of God’s victory over sin and death. We rejoice, because this brother of ours—Jesus Christ—was dead and has come to life. In his death, we die to sin. And in his living, we live—a new creation, forgiven, freed, entrusted with God’s message of reconciliation.
Let the grumbling cease. Let the rejoicing begin. We bear amazing grace in this community gathered and sent by our prodigal God.2 Amen.
1 The Parables of Jesus by Joachim Jeremias, p. 131.
2 This language was borrowed from Mike Blair’s beautiful hymn, Prodigal God, set to the tune of Amazing Grace.