Psalm 32: 1-8; Luke 15: 1-3, 11b-32
by Rev. Carson Overstreet
Van Wyck Presbyterian Church
March 31, 2019
Fourth Sunday in Lent
Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
Happy are those to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
While I kept silence, my body wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.
Then I acknowledged my sin to you,
and I did not hide my iniquity;
I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord’,
and you forgave the guilt of my sin.
Therefore let all who are faithful
offer prayer to you;
at a time of distress, the rush of mighty waters
shall not reach them.
You are a hiding-place for me;
you preserve me from trouble;
you surround me with glad cries of deliverance.
I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go;
I will counsel you with my eye upon you. - Psalm 32: 1-8
Now 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 he told them this parable:
Then Jesus said, ‘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.” ’ - Luke 15: 1-3, 11b-32
I had the pleasure of volunteering at one of the elementary schools last Monday. The event was Career Day for the fifth-grade class. There were fifteen parent volunteers from a variety of professions. For a span of two hours, small groups of children rotated every seven minutes to hear about a new career: the education required, unique leadership skills, and the details about our typical day.
I shared that as a minister one of the most important leadership traits for me to have is compassion; that means whoever you are, wherever you come from, and whatever you are going through I care about you. Then I asked, “Why do you think it is important for a minister to have compassion?” And one child in every group said, “Because God cares about us.” My heart smiled.
No other story in the Bible illustrates God’s compassion more than Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son. Whenever this parable is read so many of us easily put ourselves in the shoes of one of the sons. Either we have become keenly aware of our failings and need of God’s forgiveness, or we stand in our uprightness, jealous of God’s grace when we have not felt God’s pat on the back for doing the right thing.
Today I want us to focus on the Compassionate Father, for he does what goes against the expectations of the first century reader.
The Father loves his sons equally. He divides the family inheritance equally between the sons at the youngest’s request; something no father figure would have done while he was living. The Father gives both sons the freedom to use the gift of inheritance as they wish.
The Father does not look upon his sons with disappointment, anger, or shame. The Father sees his sons through the lens of unconditional love that will never let either of them go.
From a long ways off, the Father sees the youngest coming home downcast with the disappointment of guilt and regret. And so the Father moves down the road to embrace his beloved. The Father embraces his youngest in compassion, reassures him of his belonging, clothes him in forgiveness, and celebrates newness of life.
The Father also sees his eldest son downcast in the disappointment of jealousy. And so the Father moves from the party and out into the field to embrace his beloved. The Father embraces his eldest with words of compassion, reassures him of his belonging, pleads with his son to be reconciled to him and his younger brother, and invites the eldest to celebrate newness of life as a family.
And yet it is striking to me that neither son is aware that the Father has been actively waiting for both of them. The Father actively waited for the youngest son’s return home. The Father also actively waited for the eldest son to notice he had been loved beyond measure all along.
The parable leads you and I to get wrapped up in the cultural tendency to compare the two sons and even to pit them against one another. But in all of this the Father does not compare or judge the two sons. He loves them with a radical love that is hard to conceive because the Father is God. God’s merciful compassion and unconditional love transcend all we know in the complexity of the human experience.
Priest, professor, and pastor Henri Nouwen was completely overtaken by Rembrandt’s painting. He went to great lengths to travel to the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia where the painting is displayed. Over the course of two days, Nouwen sat for nearly eight hours to study this artwork. The piece truly came to life as the hours past and the sunlight moved across the canvas, literally illuminating fresh insights.
Nouwen said, “The embrace of the father and son became stronger and deeper, and the bystanders (from right to left - the eldest son, the servant, and two women) participated more directly in the mysterious event of reconciliation, forgiveness and inner healing” [1].
“Every detail of the father’s figure – his facial expression, his posture, the colors of his dress, and most of all, the still gesture of his hands – speaks of the divine love for humanity that existed from the very beginning and ever will be… [The father’s hands] imply his eternal seeing, a seeing that reaches out to all humanity. It is seeing that understands the lostness of women and men of all times and places, that knows with immense compassion the suffering of those who have chosen to leave home, that cried oceans of tears as they got caught in anguish and agony. The heart of the father burns with an immense desire to bring his children home.”
“This includes the eldest son. Rembrandt places him at a distance, out from under the billowing cloak, at the edge of the circle of light. The elder son’s dilemma is to accept or reject that his father’s love is beyond comparisons; to dare to be loved as his father longs to love him or to insist on being loved as he feels he ought to be loved. The father simply wants to let [both sons] know that the love they have searched for in such distorted ways has been, is, and always will be there for them” [2].
The core of our humanity desires to know we are loved beyond measure and yet we search for a sense of love and belonging in such distorted ways. We quickly waste God’s gifts in search to fill the emptiness inside our souls. When we strive to do right by God and neighbor, the unfairness of life quickly leaves us lamenting when no one takes notice.
As we step ever closer to Easter Sunday, you and I are searching to know a love that will never let us go in the cross. And so I want you to consider this: whoever you are, wherever you have been, and whatever you are struggling with today our God is on the move to meet you where you are.
God in Jesus Christ has compassion for us when we are hurting physically, mentally, and spiritually; when we regret poor decisions; when we are lost to ourselves; when we are in need; when we are estranged from family either by consequences or by making the choice of cutting ourselves off from relationships; when we are blind to our own self-righteousness; and when we are offended by God’s generous mercy and grace [3].
May you and I encounter God’s unparalleled love this week as God moves down the road to meet us where we are.
The question is how will you and I allow ourselves to be embraced by God’s compassion?
And more than that, how will you actively participate in the light of God’s love and be changed by it?
In the name of God our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer. Amen.
Sources Referenced:
Biblical painting "The Return of the Prodigal Son," by Rembrandt, 1669.
[1] Henri J. M. Nouwen, “The Return of the Prodigal Son: Anniversary Edition” (New York: Convergent Books, 2016), p. 11.
[2] Nouwen, p. 107-108, 111, 117.
[3] Matthew 9:36; 14:14; 15:32; 18:27; 20:34; Mark 1:41; 6:34; 8:2; 9:22; Luke 7:13; 10:33; 15:20
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