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Easter Sunday - Luke 15
Sermons from Commons Church. Intellectually honest. Spiritually passionate. Jesus at the centre. Since 2014.
When you are at your worst, sometimes the first thing is to remember who you really are. Welcome to the commons cast. We're glad to have you here. We hope you find something meaningful in our teaching this week. Head to commons.church for more information.
Speaker 1:Welcome to resurrection Sunday, because this is it. The moment where we stare directly into the center of the Christian story, where followers of the way of Jesus recognize the hinge point of history, where everything changed, where there was a before and an after, and where we now stand in the long line of those who have been shaped by the life, death, and resurrection of the Christ. For he is risen. He is risen indeed. Not too bad.
Speaker 1:You remembered a little bit. Let's try one more time. For he is risen. He is risen. Amen.
Speaker 1:Now, today is a day of celebration. We have come through the season of preparation in Lent. We have journeyed with Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, and we have sunk into the depth and the grief of Good Friday. But today, we stand in resurrection as light and love and life return to the world around us, and this is a day to celebrate. Because even when shadows remain, we now get to trust that in the end, love wins.
Speaker 1:And the beautiful thing is that resurrection comes to us in a thousand different ways. And so this year, we have taken to engaging the Easter story through the lens of parable. This beautiful idea that its story as the major form in which the kingdom of God comes to us. That Jesus is more interested in helping us to think theologically than he is in handing us theological thoughts. And that in itself is remarkable, or at least it should be, because it means that Jesus imagined a church that would continue the work of noticing God all around us all the time.
Speaker 1:And that's really what parables are meant to help us do, To become aware of all the ways that the divine surrounds us always. And so we have one more parable to explore during this holy season. But first, let's pray and then we'll dive in. Father of all life, son of all grace, spirit our mother who upholds and sustains and offers all peace. God of such great surprise as to put a catch in our breath and wings in our heart, We praise you for this joy too great for words, for this new world unleashed in us and now us in it.
Speaker 1:For today, there are no more dead ends. We have journeyed with you toward this moment, and now we have arrived at resurrection. Life and goodness and truth alive and breathing in the world. Would you remind us today that resurrection is happening all around us. As life returns with the spring, as hope is renewed within us, as you continue to repair your world piece by beloved peace.
Speaker 1:Breathe new breath into dusty lungs this morning. Pump fresh blood into tired hearts. Bring new vision to eyes that have become too dull to see your beauty that surrounds us always. All so that we might celebrate resurrection wherever it finds us this morning. In the strong name of the Christ who died and who rose to new life, we pray.
Speaker 1:Amen. Okay. It is Easter Sunday, and today we have trilogies coming back to ourselves, what we already know, and all kinds of good. But we have been looking at the parables in Lent, and yet there is one famous parable that we have saved until today, and that is a story often known as the parable of the prodigal son. And we wanted to end with this parable in part because I think it's a beautiful image for us to focus on at Easter, but also because in many ways, this parable serves as a sort of culmination for Jesus.
Speaker 1:If you remember, we started Lent with the parable of the lost sheep some six weeks ago. A story we found at the start of Luke 15 where Jesus compares God to a terrible shepherd who leaves 99 sheep alone in a field to go and find one that has wandered off. And the image here, I think, is meant to be absurd. Jesus asks, wouldn't any of you do the same? And of course, the answer is no.
Speaker 1:Of course, we wouldn't do that. I mean, who in their right mind would risk their entire investment to find one wayward sheep? It's silly, but God is good like that. And somehow, the cost benefit analysis doesn't even enter God's mind. Jesus says God simply drops everything to chase us down.
Speaker 1:And it's this beautiful response to Jesus' critics who are upset about who he spends his time with and who he chooses to invest himself in. But that actually wasn't the end of the story. Because from there, Jesus jumps right into another parable about a woman looking for a lost coin. She sweeps the house searching for it, and when she finds it, she calls her friends and they celebrate with her. And then Jesus says, I tell you, just like this, there will be rejoicing in the presence of angels over one soul welcomed home.
Speaker 1:That's quite a pair of images there. God as a poor widow desperate to find a single coin. And then God surprising the angels by jumping up and dancing in front of them. And in our house, we have a lot of family dance parties in the kitchen fairly regularly. And unless God is a much better dancer than I am, then I bet that God looks at least a little foolish here, and maybe that's the point.
Speaker 1:God isn't concerned with our evaluations of what's worth it, and the divine certainly is not concerned with looking respectable. God is absurdly gracious and ridiculously joyful. And if those aren't phrases that you tend to associate with the divine, then perhaps you should. Karl Barth once said that laughter is the closest thing to the grace of God. And I think Jesus might back him up on that one if we're taking these parables seriously.
Speaker 1:But we got a lost sheep and a lost coin, and now Jesus really locks in on where he really wants to go. And that's a lost son. Because you see the prodigal son is actually the climax of a trilogy. And here you thought George Lucas invented that for Star Wars, but no, a long time ago in a land far far away, Jesus built his stories in three. And that means that we need to look at the parable of the prodigal son not only for how it builds on the themes of the lost sheep and lost coin, but maybe even more importantly, for how it flips the script and moves us in a new direction.
Speaker 1:So Luke at chapter 15 starting in verse 11 says that Jesus continued. There was a man who had two sons. Then the younger one said to his father, father, give me my share of the estate, and he divided his property among them. Now, there is a lot of subtext buried in here already, but I think we get the premise. Son goes to his father and says, I want my inheritance.
Speaker 1:I know you're alive. I don't care. I want what is coming to me eventually. And I think it's fair to assume that this is probably a hurtful request. I have a son who is five right now.
Speaker 1:All of you know him. He's pretty hilarious and amazing, and I think he thinks he's a bit of a celebrity around here because I keep telling stories about him. At this point, when he does something that he thinks is funny, he will often amend it with dad. You should tell that one to the people. They'll laugh.
Speaker 1:I mean, come on. Anyway, my son is adopted though, and I know there will come a day when he is a teen and we are not seeing eye to eye, and he will turn to me and say, you can't tell me what to do. You're not my real dad. And I know in that moment he'll mean it, but not in his heart. And I also know I will still cry.
Speaker 1:And that's perhaps the closest I can get to imagining what this father feels like in this moment here. His son has said to him, the most important thing to me about you is your wealth, and I want it. And so the father gives it to him. Not long after that, the younger son got together all that he had, and he set off for a distant country, and there squandered his wealth on wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine that swept through the land, and he began to be in need.
Speaker 1:So he went and he hired some elf out to a citizen of that country who sent him to the fields to feed the pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods the pigs were eating, but no one would give him anything. And then Jesus says that when he came to his senses and I love this little moment in the story here because what it actually says in the Greek text of Luke is when he came to himself. And the idea here is that he finally remembers who he really is. So he snaps out of this false self that he's been living out of, and in some sense, he becomes himself again in this moment.
Speaker 1:And that in itself is just this really profound idea from Jesus that's just buried in the story waiting to be discovered. That when you are at your worst, sometimes the first thing is to remember who you really are. And this is such a core idea for me. It's one that I see woven all through Jesus' teachings, but this is actually the idea that seeing yourself as God sees you, as you really are. Coming back to your true self, you might say, this is what really will change everything about you.
Speaker 1:Because here's the secret of the universe. You are never your worst choice. You are always your next choice. And so when this kid comes to himself and he remembers who he is, he says to himself, well, how many of my father's hired servants have food to spare? And here I am starving to death.
Speaker 1:So I'll set out and I'll go back to my father, and I'll say to my father, father, I have sinned against you and against heaven. I am no longer worthy even to be called your son. But make me like one of your hired servants. That will be enough. And so we got up and he went to his father.
Speaker 1:And again, I love this point in the story because even though this kid really doesn't understand just how deep his father's love is for him in this moment, he still knows enough to trust that he won't be turned away when he returns. But, of course, before he can even get to the house, the father sees him off in the distance, and he hikes up his skirt, and he starts running toward him. And this is an image that might not be as dramatic as some preachers like to make it out to be, but it certainly does show that this father is less concerned with ancient protocol than perhaps expected. When the son gets to him, the kid tries to pull out this rehearsed line that he has about not being worthy as a son and maybe just asking for a job. But even before he can spit it out, the father says, nonsense.
Speaker 1:Bring the best robe, put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring a fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and he's alive again.
Speaker 1:He was lost and is now found. And so they began to celebrate him. And even if we're unfamiliar with Christianity, this is a story we know because it's beautiful, and it's everywhere. Right? A child who remembers himself, who musters the courage to return home knowing his father is gracious, and yet who is still completely caught off guard by just how big grace can be.
Speaker 1:I love this conviction Jesus has that no matter how good you think God is, the experience of welcome is always better than you imagined. But here's the thing. This is only the setup. In fact, everything we've read so far, lost sheep, lost coin, lost son, all of this is just preamble. Because one of the things you need to keep in mind every time you encounter a parable of Jesus is that there is a story that exists on the surface, and then there is a twist ending.
Speaker 1:And here, I wanna suggest that a father who welcomes back a wayward son while beautiful is not really a twist. In fact, if we've been listening to Jesus from the start of the chapter, Jesus who has already told us that God is absurdly gracious and ridiculously joyful, then I might even suggest that at this point, this father is entirely expected. That means that the twist is still coming. You see, if we go back to the start of chapter 15, there we read that the tax collectors and the sinners, they were all gathering around to hear Jesus, but the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, they muttered, this man welcomes sinners and eats with them. And so Jesus told them these parables.
Speaker 1:Is like the worst shepherd you can imagine. One who leaves a flock to find a single stray and maybe we grumble but we've got to admit that Jesus seems to know the God we at least want to know. Right? God is like a woman with a lost coin, a woman who diligently searches the house, who finds it even though it does nothing to be found. I mean, let's be honest, a lost sheep, it might call out, but a coin?
Speaker 1:I mean, that's just you hiding between the cushions, refusing to come out, and still somehow God tracks you down. And even better, here is the image of a God who needs so little to be happy and yet gets up and dances for everyone to see. I mean, I imagine this is all thumbs and feet and misplaced movement motivated by nothing but sheer exuberance. This is divine humiliation at its best. And if you weren't sold on the sheep, he's probably winning you over now.
Speaker 1:Right? I mean, who's gonna argue with this one? Of course, God loves. Of course, God dances. All of creation, the universe itself sings of divine celebration.
Speaker 1:Deep breaths and black holes are full of sacred joy. I mean, just look at that photo MIT published this week. Right? And then there's a lost son. And look, I know that sometimes we have an image of God as stoic and dispassionate.
Speaker 1:God is righteous and just in all of these terms that apply a certain detachment. But as soon as Jesus speaks about a parent, I mean, sense of impartiality should go out the window for us. Let's be honest. Wouldn't you respond the way this father does to your child? Wouldn't you at least hope that you would?
Speaker 1:If your image of God is not at least as gracious and forgiving and welcoming as you are, then there's a problem there. But maybe that's the point. Because Jesus has now gotten us on side. He's won us over with these stories. Even his critics are nodding their heads in agreement at the image of God that Jesus has painted for them because this is the God that they desperately want to believe into.
Speaker 1:That's where the story gets real. Because you see, everything we've read so far, all of this chapter, all of Lent, in fact, all of this is just to get you nodding along, all so that Jesus can say, meanwhile. The older son was in the field. And when he came near to the house, he heard music and dancing, so he called to one of the servants and he asked him, what is going on? Your brother has come home, he replied.
Speaker 1:Your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound, but the older brother became angry and refused to go into the party. So the father went out and pleaded with him. Notice here, the father goes to meet the younger son before he can even get home. The father goes to meet the older son before he can walk away. You are never too lost for God, but remember this, you are never too religious either.
Speaker 1:The son answered back, look, all these years, I've been slaving away for you. I've never disobeyed your orders, yet you never gave me even a young goat so that I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours and you can't even call him his brother anymore. When this son of yours comes home, the son who has squandered your property with prostitutes, you kill the fattened calf for him. My son, the father said, you are always with me.
Speaker 1:Everything I have is yours, but today, we had to celebrate and be glad. This brother of yours and notice the father flips it back on him here. This brother of yours was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is now found. And it's here.
Speaker 1:In the end, as Jesus repeats the line from the sheep and the coin and now the sun that everything falls together. Because this was never actually about God. It was always about us. You see, for Jesus, God has always been searching out wayward cheap. And the divine has always understood the profound value of a single coin because for Jesus, it's self evident that God has always been watching from a distance, anxiously awaiting the moment that we might let God wrap sacred arms around us again.
Speaker 1:And the truth is, somewhere inside every single one of us, we already know that. If that's the hope that's woven into the fabric of the universe, it lives in every cell of our being. All of us know in our bones that God is good. So that's not the secret. That's just Jesus reminding us of what we already know somewhere inside.
Speaker 1:You know, the secret to this parable is about all the ways that you and I try to keep all of that goodness for ourselves. Remember the context here? It is the religious figureheads and the thought leaders and the paragons of social order who grumble about who gets invited to the table. And Jesus says, guys, God is good. Right?
Speaker 1:Like, mean, really, really good. Right? Like, I mean, whatever you think is good and then better than that, that kind of good, that's God. Right? And they're like, sure, I guess.
Speaker 1:So Jesus says, then why would you ever think that that kind of goodness could ever be contained by religion? You see, for Jesus, the best person that you know could never do enough to exhaust God's goodness, and the worst person you could possibly imagine could never do enough to stop it. And that's what Easter is all about, That we can attempt to contain God. We can try to put protocols around God. We can do our worst to God.
Speaker 1:We could kill God and bury God, but still God would be good. And this is why I love the image of the prodigal son as an image for Easter because Easter is where we, like the older son, try to say no to God. And we say, this time you've gone too far. You've been too gracious. You made the party too big.
Speaker 1:You've welcomed too many to the table. But here, we do even more than just turn our back on God and refuse to come to the table. No. We actively oppose God. And we turn on Jesus.
Speaker 1:We scapegoat Jesus. We blame Jesus for everything we think is wrong with the world. We turn all of our violence and hatred for the outsider on the one who says there is no more outsider. And still, we can't stop the goodness of God. Because resurrection is what reminds us that God is always better than we thought.
Speaker 1:See, this parable is real because our sins are real. And the way we exclude each other is real, and the way we draw lines, and we push people aside is real. The way we murder and use violence in God's world is real because pain is real and tombs are real, but they're not the most real thing. And so Jesus tells a story about an older brother who struggles to see the most real thing right in front of him. Because he knows that one day when we come face to face with our worst moments, we might struggle to see the same thing, resurrection, right in front of us.
Speaker 1:But God is good like that. And Easter is about the fact that you can miss resurrection and you can refuse resurrection. You can deny resurrection for as long as you need to, but when you need it. Resurrection will still be right in front of you where it's always been offering you a seat at God's table. And the truth is you already know that somewhere deep inside.
Speaker 1:Because every parable, every breath, every spring, every cell, every emotion, every story, every sunrise, every moment of grace, no matter how small, speaks to the most real thing in the universe. That God is in the business of resurrection. And that even before you know it, you have already been brought back to life. May you notice the resurrection that surrounds you this morning. May you welcome this invitation to drop the barriers you protect yourself with.
Speaker 1:May you sink into the goodness that sustains all things all the time, and may you take your rightful place at the party God is throwing for the world that God is bringing back to life. Because as Shannon said earlier in the video, none of us are ever left on our own because God is good like that. Let's pray. Gracious God of resurrection who brings life back to the world. Might we begin to see life and love and light returning all around us all the time.
Speaker 1:And maybe we haven't noticed it yet in the resurrection of your son. We're not sure about religion, but God, we know that your resurrection is with us always. As the spring returns, as relationships are mended, as we recognize that our failures don't end us. And then, God, as we get a glimpse of that moment, a glimpse of life returning somewhere, may we then notice life return to your son on Easter Sunday. The fullness of your example, light and love and life returning to the world as you begin to repair all things around us.
Speaker 1:God, wherever it is that we need resurrection today. For our imagination of what comes next, for a relationship that's been frayed, for a commitment to see the mystery and the beauty of the cross. May your spirit speak new life into us this morning. And may we experience life in new ways as we go. In the strong name of the risen Christ we pray.
Speaker 1:Amen.