Fourth Sunday in Lent

Fourth Sunday in Lent, Year C

Church of the Atonement

The Rev’d Charles Everson

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

March 30, 2025

The parable of the Prodigal Son is the last in a trio where Jesus depicts God seeking out the lost—the first being the lost sheep, the second the lost coin. But Jesus tells these stories not to tax collectors and sinners, but to the religious elite scandalized by his mercy. Here, a younger son squanders everything, hits rock bottom, and chooses to return home. Before he utters a word, his father runs to embrace him. Despite the son's shame, the father’s response is extravagant love and full restoration. It’s a story not of deserved reward, but of grace—of being found, welcomed, and celebrated.

Most of the time, when I read this parable, I identify more with the elder brother.  I was the eldest son, and growing up, I was a rather prudish Southern Baptist teenager who judged his parents for having even the slightest sip of alcohol.  My younger sister, a year-and-a-half younger than me, felt a bit freer to go off the reservation.  For example, I went to church multiple times a week, while my sister had a slightly different approach to church: she once had my mother drop her and a friend off at the all-night church lock-in, only to have some boys pick them up before the doors were locked.  I worked in the school office as a side job for a couple of years in high school, and handled the attendance records.  Let’s just say that my sister couldn’t really skip class without getting caught.  I remember one rather tense fight between the two of us in which she yelled at me with a snarl, “Why do you have to be so good?”

Decades later, I’m still more prone to identify with the elder brother.  I’ve often looked upon those who live an outwardly disobedient life with a strange curiosity…but if I admit it, a think I might envy them.  Like the elder brother, when God’s grace is lavishly bestowed on someone who has committed all the sins I wish I had the courage to commit but don’t, I often respond with resentment.  It’s not fair!  For I try to do all the right things, and check all the boxes, and stay out of trouble.  The elder brother in this story represents the Pharisees and scribes, and Jesus’s message to them was, “God is not fair.”  God simply doesn’t dole out his grace according to our good and bad actions, he goes after the one who is lost in order to find them.  He doesn’t reward us for our good deeds and punish us for our sins, he chose to bear the punishment for our sinful deeds himself on the Cross. 

So how does the Father respond to the elder brother’s resentment?  By inviting him to the feast to celebrate the redemption of his brother.

The truth of the matter is that both sons were lost.  Biblical editors typically call this the Parable of the Prodigal Son, but it’s more accurate to call it the Parable of the Lost Sons.  The elder son, full of resentment, didn’t realize that he too was lost.  He hadn’t gotten to a point in his life when he admitted to himself and to the community, “I can’t do this on my own.  No matter how hard I try, I won’t be able to earn my Father’s favor.  I’m not worthy to be called my Father’s son.”  Instead, he saw his Father as an accountant.[1]  “All these years I’ve 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.”  Like the Pharisees and scribes didn’t understand Jesus, the elder brother didn’t really understand his Father at all.  In some ways, the elder son might have been even more lost than his younger brother was.

Friends, God is not an accountant.  God is not a task master who treats all of us like slaves.  God is not fair!  No matter the extent of our sin, no matter the amount of shame we’ve accumulated, God is a loving Father who longs to dole out his grace on us before we even have time to think about changing our perspective and coming home.

Whether you identify with the younger or older son, God is inviting you and me today to a great feast.  We aren’t killing the fatted calf today to celebrate someone else’s redemption.  Across time and space, at this altar, we are joining in the once-and-for-all sacrifice of the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the whole world.   But before we do, we would do well to echo the words of the younger son when he said, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.”  For it is only when we recognize who we are and who God is that we can begin to perceive God’s unconditional love for us.  In the end, it’s not about who wandered or who stayed. And that’s the scandal of grace: the feast is not earned, it’s given, and it’s already set for those with the humility to come.  Amen.

[1] Same Old Song podcast, Mockingbird ministries.  https://www.mbird.com/podcasts/