Isaiah 58:1-4
58 “Shout it aloud, do not hold back.
Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Declare to my people their rebellion
and to the descendants of Jacob their sins.
2 For day after day they seek me out;
they seem eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that does what is right
and has not forsaken the commands of its God.
They ask me for just decisions
and seem eager for God to come near them.
3 ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say,
‘and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
and you have not noticed?’
“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
and exploit all your workers.
4 Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
and expect your voice to be heard on high.
Luke 15:11-32 (Good News Translation)
11 Jesus went on to say, “There was once a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to him, ‘Father, give me my share of the property now.’ So the man divided his property between his two sons. 13 After a few days the younger son sold his part of the property and left home with the money. He went to a country far away, where he wasted his money in reckless living. 14 He spent everything he had. Then a severe famine spread over that country, and he was left without a thing. 15 So he went to work for one of the citizens of that country, who sent him out to his farm to take care of the pigs. 16 He wished he could fill himself with the bean pods the pigs ate, but no one gave him anything to eat. 17 At last he came to his senses and said, ‘All my father's hired workers have more than they can eat, and here I am about to starve! 18 I will get up and go to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against God and against you. 19 I am no longer fit to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired workers.”’ 20 So he got up and started back to his father.
“He was still a long way from home when his father saw him; his heart was filled with pity, and he ran, threw his arms around his son, and kissed him. 21 ‘Father,’ the son said, ‘I have sinned against God and against you. I am no longer fit to be called your son.’ 22 But the father called to his servants. ‘Hurry!’ he said. ‘Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and shoes on his feet. 23 Then go and get the prize calf and kill it, and let us celebrate with a feast! 24 For this son of mine was dead, but now he is alive; he was lost, but now he has been found.’ And so the feasting began.
25 “In the meantime the older son was out in the field. On his way back, when he came close to the house, he heard the music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him, ‘What's going on?’ 27 ‘Your brother has come back home,’ the servant answered, ‘and your father has killed the prize calf, because he got him back safe and sound.’ 28 The older brother was so angry that he would not go into the house; so his father came out and begged him to come in. 29 But he spoke back to his father, ‘Look, all these years I have worked for you like a slave, and I have never disobeyed your orders. What have you given me? Not even a goat for me to have a feast with my friends! 30 But this son of yours wasted all your property on prostitutes, and when he comes back home, you kill the prize calf for him!’ 31 ‘My son,’ the father answered, ‘you are always here with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be happy, because your brother was dead, but now he is alive; he was lost, but now he has been found.’”
58 “Shout it aloud, do not hold back.
Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Declare to my people their rebellion
and to the descendants of Jacob their sins.
2 For day after day they seek me out;
they seem eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that does what is right
and has not forsaken the commands of its God.
They ask me for just decisions
and seem eager for God to come near them.
3 ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say,
‘and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
and you have not noticed?’
“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
and exploit all your workers.
4 Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
and expect your voice to be heard on high.
Luke 15:11-32 (Good News Translation)
11 Jesus went on to say, “There was once a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to him, ‘Father, give me my share of the property now.’ So the man divided his property between his two sons. 13 After a few days the younger son sold his part of the property and left home with the money. He went to a country far away, where he wasted his money in reckless living. 14 He spent everything he had. Then a severe famine spread over that country, and he was left without a thing. 15 So he went to work for one of the citizens of that country, who sent him out to his farm to take care of the pigs. 16 He wished he could fill himself with the bean pods the pigs ate, but no one gave him anything to eat. 17 At last he came to his senses and said, ‘All my father's hired workers have more than they can eat, and here I am about to starve! 18 I will get up and go to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against God and against you. 19 I am no longer fit to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired workers.”’ 20 So he got up and started back to his father.
“He was still a long way from home when his father saw him; his heart was filled with pity, and he ran, threw his arms around his son, and kissed him. 21 ‘Father,’ the son said, ‘I have sinned against God and against you. I am no longer fit to be called your son.’ 22 But the father called to his servants. ‘Hurry!’ he said. ‘Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and shoes on his feet. 23 Then go and get the prize calf and kill it, and let us celebrate with a feast! 24 For this son of mine was dead, but now he is alive; he was lost, but now he has been found.’ And so the feasting began.
25 “In the meantime the older son was out in the field. On his way back, when he came close to the house, he heard the music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him, ‘What's going on?’ 27 ‘Your brother has come back home,’ the servant answered, ‘and your father has killed the prize calf, because he got him back safe and sound.’ 28 The older brother was so angry that he would not go into the house; so his father came out and begged him to come in. 29 But he spoke back to his father, ‘Look, all these years I have worked for you like a slave, and I have never disobeyed your orders. What have you given me? Not even a goat for me to have a feast with my friends! 30 But this son of yours wasted all your property on prostitutes, and when he comes back home, you kill the prize calf for him!’ 31 ‘My son,’ the father answered, ‘you are always here with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be happy, because your brother was dead, but now he is alive; he was lost, but now he has been found.’”
Reflection
What do you think of when you hear the word Lent. Is it a time of penitence, a time of reflection, a time of giving up something, a when you add more prayer into your life?
The traditional images are fasting, prayer and renewal. A time when we are supposed to focus on who we are in the world around us. A time when we re-evaluate where God is in our lives. A time when we re-orient our lives to God.
Scripture spends a lot of time telling us about God, we get glimpses of a God who is vengeful, who punishes his people, who is judgmental and demanding. We, also, learn that God is like a mother taking care of her chicks, that God loves his people however far they stray, that God rejoices with his people and hears their cries for justice and freedom, and we learn that Jesus calls this Lord God Almighty: Abba.
Jesus tells us that we can have a relationship with God because he has a relationship with God. This God is a God who is with people in times of trouble, peril and sorrow. This is a loving God who cares and is with us, even when we don’t know it.
So one of the stories that Jesus tells is you guessed it “ The Prodigal Son” A story about sons and a father, about children and parents.
Now the father is pretty important in this story and so are the children especially to the parent. – so when one comes and asks for funding for this or that venture or adventure, the father said sure; silently wishing and hoping that this child of theirs is going to do well, as they wander in the world trying to find their particular place, their own niche where they will flourish.
So when the son comes back trudging up the driveway ready to throw himself on the ground at the fathers feet, knowing he has failed, begging for forgiveness and humble enough to ask for a field workers job on the farm. What do you do? What would you do?
Your foolish, daring, challenging child has done her best to live up to the image of the good life, and it has left her destitute, in tears with a newborn baby. And she calls ready to leave an abusive relationship. What do you do? What would you do?
Such an easy question when you put it that way: you get in the car and drive and pick up her and the baby and welcome them home. And then you rearrange your life and your home to accommodate them – and get a divorce lawyer for her. And you help your daughter and her baby get on their feet and try again. Hoping and praying that they will do well, and find their place in the world, find their own niche where they will flourish.
In other words: you love them. You just love them. And that is exactly how God works. This loving God of love just loves – us. And surprise! God has no problem loving us.
How many times have we read in scripture about all the trials and tribulations that God has gone through with his people Israel – they adopted foreign customs, worshipped foreign idols, they complained and gave up on Yahweh but Yahweh never gave up on them.
In fact, those Israelites were probably a lot like us in more ways than we care to acknowledge. You can see in the Isaiah passage, well – it’s talking about all those things we associate with this Lenten season; praying and fasting, it’s talking about going through all the motions of doing the right things at the right time. And Jesus echoes the same sentiments as Isaiah when he preaches on prayer and fasting. In Matthew 6 Jesus says this about prayer:
“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing
in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you,
they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room,
close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father,
who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray,
do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because
of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need
before you ask him.
God doesn’t care if you pray the right way, with the right words, - Isaiah and Jesus tell us that God wants us praying with our hearts. God doesn’t want anyone fasting because it’s the obligation of a Jew or a Christian based on a calendar day, God wants us to use the fasting as a way to get closer to God and only to get closer to God. It’s the same with penitence. God doesn’t want us to dredge up every sin, every omission, every impure, unjust thought as if the catalogue and its length is a testimony to our righteousness in finding every sin of omission or commission. God wants us recognize what we have done or not done and learn from it and move on.
So when you imagine the scene of the father on the road welcoming his son home and the son is asking, no begging, his father to take him on as a farm hand. It’s not because of the way the father is greeting his son because he’s shouting “bring some clothes and some shoes and kill the fatted calf”. But because of the way the son sees himself: “I have taken my inheritance and squandered it, I have done things I am ashamed of, I have befriended people who cared nothing for me, I have wasted my life and I have nothing to show for it, and still I beg you to take me in and give me food and shelter and I will work like one of your hired hands – I am so sure that I have disappointed you and you cannot love me but will want to punish me because that is what I deserve. I deserve only to be a worker and not be treated as the son I once was.”
In this story the father hasn’t changed, in all that he says and does, he continues to declare his love for son, but the way the son sees himself and his relationship to his father has changed.
Instead of seeing himself as his father’s beloved son, the prodigal sees himself as one who is only worthy of being the hired help in this household. Instead of seeing his father as someone who loves without condition, he sees his father as someone who gives his children what they deserve, as a reaction to their behaviour.
So, if we understand the character of the father as God, we can see how easily God, the loving parent has changed into God, the task master, God, the judge, God, the one who gives you what you deserve and punishes you when you get it wrong and rewards you when you get it right. In fact, both sons exhibit this same understanding just the other son thinks he should be rewarded for his good behaviour, (so we cannot be faulted too much if sometimes we follow the Israelites and think God will reward us for praying and fasting keeping the holy days holy and punish us if we don’t). But the story of the Prodigal Son is clear; the father professes his love for both his sons: the son who stayed and the one who left and returned, the one who did everything right and the one who got it wrong. It doesn’t matter!
There is nothing the sons could have done to make their father love them more nor was there anything that could make him love them less. He just loved them.
It’s the same with God, God loves us just as we are. Not because of anything just because we are. Lent is not about changing God’s mind about us. Lent, it seems to me is more about reflecting on who we are, seeing ourselves more clearly, seeing ourselves for who we are and acknowledging, and accepting that we are forgiven.
And it is that forgiveness that changes us. God’s grace ensures that we are forgiven even before confess. So the confession is more for our own sakes, our own enlightenment about ourselves than it is for God. Our response to God’s love, God’s grace is what counts. Hopefully, our response is to want to be closer to God, to deepen our relationship with God, to be able to accept and embrace the love so freely given without resorting to the self righteousness of the Isaiah and Jesus caution against.
And the cross on our foreheads at the beginning of Lent? Just the outward sign of our contrition and a reminder of our human frailty – and a celebration of the certainty of our forgiveness.
So when we read the father runs to greet his son coming up the road calling out ordered for clothes and shoes and for the roasting of the fattest calf fattest calf because the return of his child calls for celebration.
That’s God coming up the road. That’s us returning home, and it’s time to celebrate because this Lenten season it is God who welcomes you, embraces you and loves you.
May it be so. Amen
What do you think of when you hear the word Lent. Is it a time of penitence, a time of reflection, a time of giving up something, a when you add more prayer into your life?
The traditional images are fasting, prayer and renewal. A time when we are supposed to focus on who we are in the world around us. A time when we re-evaluate where God is in our lives. A time when we re-orient our lives to God.
Scripture spends a lot of time telling us about God, we get glimpses of a God who is vengeful, who punishes his people, who is judgmental and demanding. We, also, learn that God is like a mother taking care of her chicks, that God loves his people however far they stray, that God rejoices with his people and hears their cries for justice and freedom, and we learn that Jesus calls this Lord God Almighty: Abba.
Jesus tells us that we can have a relationship with God because he has a relationship with God. This God is a God who is with people in times of trouble, peril and sorrow. This is a loving God who cares and is with us, even when we don’t know it.
So one of the stories that Jesus tells is you guessed it “ The Prodigal Son” A story about sons and a father, about children and parents.
Now the father is pretty important in this story and so are the children especially to the parent. – so when one comes and asks for funding for this or that venture or adventure, the father said sure; silently wishing and hoping that this child of theirs is going to do well, as they wander in the world trying to find their particular place, their own niche where they will flourish.
So when the son comes back trudging up the driveway ready to throw himself on the ground at the fathers feet, knowing he has failed, begging for forgiveness and humble enough to ask for a field workers job on the farm. What do you do? What would you do?
Your foolish, daring, challenging child has done her best to live up to the image of the good life, and it has left her destitute, in tears with a newborn baby. And she calls ready to leave an abusive relationship. What do you do? What would you do?
Such an easy question when you put it that way: you get in the car and drive and pick up her and the baby and welcome them home. And then you rearrange your life and your home to accommodate them – and get a divorce lawyer for her. And you help your daughter and her baby get on their feet and try again. Hoping and praying that they will do well, and find their place in the world, find their own niche where they will flourish.
In other words: you love them. You just love them. And that is exactly how God works. This loving God of love just loves – us. And surprise! God has no problem loving us.
How many times have we read in scripture about all the trials and tribulations that God has gone through with his people Israel – they adopted foreign customs, worshipped foreign idols, they complained and gave up on Yahweh but Yahweh never gave up on them.
In fact, those Israelites were probably a lot like us in more ways than we care to acknowledge. You can see in the Isaiah passage, well – it’s talking about all those things we associate with this Lenten season; praying and fasting, it’s talking about going through all the motions of doing the right things at the right time. And Jesus echoes the same sentiments as Isaiah when he preaches on prayer and fasting. In Matthew 6 Jesus says this about prayer:
“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing
in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you,
they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room,
close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father,
who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray,
do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because
of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need
before you ask him.
God doesn’t care if you pray the right way, with the right words, - Isaiah and Jesus tell us that God wants us praying with our hearts. God doesn’t want anyone fasting because it’s the obligation of a Jew or a Christian based on a calendar day, God wants us to use the fasting as a way to get closer to God and only to get closer to God. It’s the same with penitence. God doesn’t want us to dredge up every sin, every omission, every impure, unjust thought as if the catalogue and its length is a testimony to our righteousness in finding every sin of omission or commission. God wants us recognize what we have done or not done and learn from it and move on.
So when you imagine the scene of the father on the road welcoming his son home and the son is asking, no begging, his father to take him on as a farm hand. It’s not because of the way the father is greeting his son because he’s shouting “bring some clothes and some shoes and kill the fatted calf”. But because of the way the son sees himself: “I have taken my inheritance and squandered it, I have done things I am ashamed of, I have befriended people who cared nothing for me, I have wasted my life and I have nothing to show for it, and still I beg you to take me in and give me food and shelter and I will work like one of your hired hands – I am so sure that I have disappointed you and you cannot love me but will want to punish me because that is what I deserve. I deserve only to be a worker and not be treated as the son I once was.”
In this story the father hasn’t changed, in all that he says and does, he continues to declare his love for son, but the way the son sees himself and his relationship to his father has changed.
Instead of seeing himself as his father’s beloved son, the prodigal sees himself as one who is only worthy of being the hired help in this household. Instead of seeing his father as someone who loves without condition, he sees his father as someone who gives his children what they deserve, as a reaction to their behaviour.
So, if we understand the character of the father as God, we can see how easily God, the loving parent has changed into God, the task master, God, the judge, God, the one who gives you what you deserve and punishes you when you get it wrong and rewards you when you get it right. In fact, both sons exhibit this same understanding just the other son thinks he should be rewarded for his good behaviour, (so we cannot be faulted too much if sometimes we follow the Israelites and think God will reward us for praying and fasting keeping the holy days holy and punish us if we don’t). But the story of the Prodigal Son is clear; the father professes his love for both his sons: the son who stayed and the one who left and returned, the one who did everything right and the one who got it wrong. It doesn’t matter!
There is nothing the sons could have done to make their father love them more nor was there anything that could make him love them less. He just loved them.
It’s the same with God, God loves us just as we are. Not because of anything just because we are. Lent is not about changing God’s mind about us. Lent, it seems to me is more about reflecting on who we are, seeing ourselves more clearly, seeing ourselves for who we are and acknowledging, and accepting that we are forgiven.
And it is that forgiveness that changes us. God’s grace ensures that we are forgiven even before confess. So the confession is more for our own sakes, our own enlightenment about ourselves than it is for God. Our response to God’s love, God’s grace is what counts. Hopefully, our response is to want to be closer to God, to deepen our relationship with God, to be able to accept and embrace the love so freely given without resorting to the self righteousness of the Isaiah and Jesus caution against.
And the cross on our foreheads at the beginning of Lent? Just the outward sign of our contrition and a reminder of our human frailty – and a celebration of the certainty of our forgiveness.
So when we read the father runs to greet his son coming up the road calling out ordered for clothes and shoes and for the roasting of the fattest calf fattest calf because the return of his child calls for celebration.
That’s God coming up the road. That’s us returning home, and it’s time to celebrate because this Lenten season it is God who welcomes you, embraces you and loves you.
May it be so. Amen
