4 Lent March 6, 2016
Joshua 5:9-12 Ps.32
2 Cor. 5:17-21 Luke 15:11-32
Lectionary Link
The identity of the Pauline church consisted of a large group of people who might called "people who were formerly known as sinners."
In former days, sinners, or bad archers who were missing their targets of how they were supposed to be, were not so much bad archers; they simply were not allowed into the archery range. Sin is from an archery term for "missing the mark."
In former day, sinners were person who were designated as such under the classification Purity Code of a smaller group of elite ritually observant Jewish persons.
In the time of Jesus, sinners were persons declared as defiled or impure under the definitions of the Purity Code by the ritually observant few. This meant that many who were "ethnically" Jews, were still sinners because they were not ritually observant Jews in the ways in which the Purity authorities defined purity. Ethnic Jews who maintained close contact with Gentile because of business like tax collectors and the like were not able to maintain ritual purity and so they did not have official religious status as it was defined by the religious authorities in various religious parties within Judaism during the time of Jesus.
Jesus, in the Gospel polemics, is presented as one who is criticized by religious leaders for eating with "sinners." He thus was defiling himself because of his close contact with ritually non-observant "sinners."
When we read the parable of the Prodigal Son in the Gospel of Luke, we read it in its primary naivete "as if" it was eyewitness events from the actual life of Jesus.
In such a primary naive reading, the "prodigal son" would represent mainly the ritually non-observant ethnic Jews who did not have religious status among the religious leaders who had the keys to the Purity Code to define who was "in" or "out" in terms of their suitability. And when religious leaders purport to speak for God, it implies that God is like a ritually observant Jewish religious leader limiting the Divine company but to the ritually observant.
Jesus, found this to be a "misrepresentation of God." In the parable of the Prodigal Son, God is represented by a loving father who is generously permissive with the freedom allowed to an impetuous and unwise child. The father is even generous to a fault, "the fatal fault of genuine freedom," which allows God's children to trash their generous inheritance of this life and earth. The father is generous because he allows the freedom to sin and the freedom to return from sin and repent. And ironically, the rebellious son seems to be celebrated for his return and his repentance because his knowledge of both good and evil has given him an enhanced appreciation for what is good about God's goodness.
Meanwhile, the "loyal" son experiences the sin of his own soul. He does not leave the home in dissolute living; he journeys into the impurity of jealous despising of those who are not good as he is good. And in his jealousy, he becomes wasteful of his father inheritance of generous love and forgiveness. He becomes woefully lost in his own kind of sin. The loving father also offers him reconciliation but he in his bitterness is not ready to accept it because he is lost in comparing his relative goodness with his younger siblings relative badness.
The parable of the Prodigal Son reveals to us that we can turn our goodness into sin if we make ourselves the standard of a kind of goodness that will not let other people get better. The sin of unforgiveness is great indeed not just for who is not forgiven, but for the state of the soul of one who can't forgive.
The older brother was paralyzed because he could not realize that he could become better by participating in the offer of forgiveness and reconciliation which was modeled and offered by his loving father.
How was this Gospel parable read in the post-Pauline churches? Anachronistically, of course since the post-Pauline churches consisted mostly of "people formerly known as sinners or Gentiles." The Risen Christ was hanging out with lots of sinner Gentiles. The Risen Christ was eating and hosting Eucharist for lots of sinner Gentiles. The post-Pauline churches consisted of lots of pork eaters who had been written into the salvation history lineage by St. Peter and Paul.
Paul and Peter and others entered a polemic with synagogue communities because not everyone could welcome the ritually non-observant into their notions of God's favor and blessing. And herein lies the polemical basis of the New Testament.
For us today, we need to live beyond the old polemics which no longer pertain. We are no longer in active disagreement with synagogue gatherers. We have come to accept the different missions of Judaism and Christianity in our world.
So how do we appropriate the parable of the Prodigal Son in our lives today? The universal theme is the love and forgiveness of God which cannot be limited to the small company of any person or group. If one claims to speak about the love and forgiveness and compassion of God but does not practice it with everyone, then one is guilty of misrepresenting God.
And that is the message for us. Let us not misrepresent the love and forgiveness of God by reducing God to but our tribal affinities. Let us confess the real fact that no one of us is omni-relevant to everyone and so let us be generous as we seek to support anyone who is trying to promote God as the loving and forgiving one, who honors the complete freedom to fail, but also the more winsome freedom to over-come our failures in the success of repentance.
This is the God that Jesus came to model, to represent and to be. And he gave us the more aptly named, Parable of the Loving, Freedom Giving, and Forgiving Parent, to teach us about the true nature of God. Amen.
Lectionary Link
The identity of the Pauline church consisted of a large group of people who might called "people who were formerly known as sinners."
In former days, sinners, or bad archers who were missing their targets of how they were supposed to be, were not so much bad archers; they simply were not allowed into the archery range. Sin is from an archery term for "missing the mark."
In former day, sinners were person who were designated as such under the classification Purity Code of a smaller group of elite ritually observant Jewish persons.
In the time of Jesus, sinners were persons declared as defiled or impure under the definitions of the Purity Code by the ritually observant few. This meant that many who were "ethnically" Jews, were still sinners because they were not ritually observant Jews in the ways in which the Purity authorities defined purity. Ethnic Jews who maintained close contact with Gentile because of business like tax collectors and the like were not able to maintain ritual purity and so they did not have official religious status as it was defined by the religious authorities in various religious parties within Judaism during the time of Jesus.
Jesus, in the Gospel polemics, is presented as one who is criticized by religious leaders for eating with "sinners." He thus was defiling himself because of his close contact with ritually non-observant "sinners."
When we read the parable of the Prodigal Son in the Gospel of Luke, we read it in its primary naivete "as if" it was eyewitness events from the actual life of Jesus.
In such a primary naive reading, the "prodigal son" would represent mainly the ritually non-observant ethnic Jews who did not have religious status among the religious leaders who had the keys to the Purity Code to define who was "in" or "out" in terms of their suitability. And when religious leaders purport to speak for God, it implies that God is like a ritually observant Jewish religious leader limiting the Divine company but to the ritually observant.
Jesus, found this to be a "misrepresentation of God." In the parable of the Prodigal Son, God is represented by a loving father who is generously permissive with the freedom allowed to an impetuous and unwise child. The father is even generous to a fault, "the fatal fault of genuine freedom," which allows God's children to trash their generous inheritance of this life and earth. The father is generous because he allows the freedom to sin and the freedom to return from sin and repent. And ironically, the rebellious son seems to be celebrated for his return and his repentance because his knowledge of both good and evil has given him an enhanced appreciation for what is good about God's goodness.
Meanwhile, the "loyal" son experiences the sin of his own soul. He does not leave the home in dissolute living; he journeys into the impurity of jealous despising of those who are not good as he is good. And in his jealousy, he becomes wasteful of his father inheritance of generous love and forgiveness. He becomes woefully lost in his own kind of sin. The loving father also offers him reconciliation but he in his bitterness is not ready to accept it because he is lost in comparing his relative goodness with his younger siblings relative badness.
The parable of the Prodigal Son reveals to us that we can turn our goodness into sin if we make ourselves the standard of a kind of goodness that will not let other people get better. The sin of unforgiveness is great indeed not just for who is not forgiven, but for the state of the soul of one who can't forgive.
The older brother was paralyzed because he could not realize that he could become better by participating in the offer of forgiveness and reconciliation which was modeled and offered by his loving father.
How was this Gospel parable read in the post-Pauline churches? Anachronistically, of course since the post-Pauline churches consisted mostly of "people formerly known as sinners or Gentiles." The Risen Christ was hanging out with lots of sinner Gentiles. The Risen Christ was eating and hosting Eucharist for lots of sinner Gentiles. The post-Pauline churches consisted of lots of pork eaters who had been written into the salvation history lineage by St. Peter and Paul.
Paul and Peter and others entered a polemic with synagogue communities because not everyone could welcome the ritually non-observant into their notions of God's favor and blessing. And herein lies the polemical basis of the New Testament.
For us today, we need to live beyond the old polemics which no longer pertain. We are no longer in active disagreement with synagogue gatherers. We have come to accept the different missions of Judaism and Christianity in our world.
So how do we appropriate the parable of the Prodigal Son in our lives today? The universal theme is the love and forgiveness of God which cannot be limited to the small company of any person or group. If one claims to speak about the love and forgiveness and compassion of God but does not practice it with everyone, then one is guilty of misrepresenting God.
And that is the message for us. Let us not misrepresent the love and forgiveness of God by reducing God to but our tribal affinities. Let us confess the real fact that no one of us is omni-relevant to everyone and so let us be generous as we seek to support anyone who is trying to promote God as the loving and forgiving one, who honors the complete freedom to fail, but also the more winsome freedom to over-come our failures in the success of repentance.
This is the God that Jesus came to model, to represent and to be. And he gave us the more aptly named, Parable of the Loving, Freedom Giving, and Forgiving Parent, to teach us about the true nature of God. Amen.
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