Facing One Another

The Fourth Sunday in Lent
March 9-10, 2013
Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

“Facing the Cross: Facing One Another”

I have a mirror here, and as we all know mirrors show us what we truly look like, for better or for worse. In today’s Gospel lesson, what is often called the Parable of the Prodigal Son, a different sort of mirror is held up before us. The parables which Jesus told, including the one today, are really mirrors. In hearing them, in listening to them, we are to see ourselves in them. Until we can say, “Hey, that’s me in that parable!”, the teaching of Jesus in the parable has not had its full effect. Jesus told the parables in order to actively engage us in what the kingdom of God is and what it means for our lives. As the mirror of Jesus’ teaching in this Parable of the Prodigal Son is held up before us, Jesus calls us not only to face one another, but also to face ourselves – what is going on inside us that blocks out and holds back the redeeming work of Jesus in our lives. Our Lenten sermon series, “Facing the Cross,” continues today. As we face the cross during these Lenten days, we also face certain areas in our lives which are not always in alignment with the cross of Christ. We come to terms with these areas through the cross of Christ, who came to give his life on the cross for us so that we might one day see him face-to-face. Today as we face the cross of Jesus, we also face one another, and that is the theme for this message, “Facing One Another.” May the Lord’s rich and abundant blessing rest upon the preaching, the hearing, and the living of his Word for Jesus’ sake.

We often refer to this parable here in Luke 15 as the Parable of the Prodigal Son, but that’s really a misnomer. The focus of this parable is really not upon the younger prodigal son any more than it is on the older obedient son. The focus is on the father who reaches out to both of his sons, and both are lost – one lost very obviously and openly, and the other lost internally and privately. Luke 15 is a trilogy on being lost and then being found, and here Jesus tells three back-to-back parables: the lost sheep (Luke 15:3-7), the lost coin (Luke 15:8-10), and the lost sons (Luke 15:11-32). Note the plural here – sons. The focus of this parable is on the searching love of the father who faces both of his sons who are lost, seeking to draw them back to himself as well as to one another. With this in mind, the parable really out to be renamed the Parable of the Forgiving Father.

So, if we hold up the mirror of this parable to our own lives today, what do we see? Do we see ourselves reflected in the younger prodigal son who wanted to break out of the narrow confines of home and family, who wanted to see far-off places, who wanted to have it all and live life in the fast lane, and in so doing blew his inheritance? Do we see ourselves in the older obedient son who stayed at home and did the right thing, but is really not at peace and harbors deep resentment, who feels that he is taken for granted and not appreciated, even by his own father? Do we see ourselves in the father who loves both his sons deeply in a way that neither of them can grasp or understand, and seeks to bring his warring sons back together? Do we see a family divided and in conflict, maybe like our own? How do we face one another when there is so much pain and hurt between us? How do we get to the root of the deep divisions within our lives that keep us apart? How do we move beyond all of this in order to face one another, not to settle the score and exact that pound of flesh we feel is owed to us, but to let go of that anger and speak the truth in love to one another (Ephesians 4:15)?

That mirror is an S.O.S. signal because it Shows Our Sin, but there’s another way to think of that S.O.S. signal here. It also Shows Our Savior. Because facing one another is difficult, God himself provides the way and we hear of this in today’s Epistle lesson. Paul writes: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:17-21). Jesus himself is the One who has taken upon himself our sin – the sin of wild and wasteful living that has caused great pain and suffering to those around us, as well as the sin of deep-seated anger and resentment that freezes out love. All of this and much more Jesus has willingly taken upon himself, and has given his life upon the cross to take that burden from us. Because of what Jesus has done for us we are truly a new creation in Christ. If we’re going to give up something for Lent, then let us give up our grudges and resentments, our anger and bitterness, toward one another. All of the old baggage is swept away, and by God’s grace we are now ambassadors for Christ, appealing to fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, parents and children: Be reconciled to God and to one another, “forgiving one another just as God in Christ has forgiven you” (Ephesians 4:32).

The image before us is one which hangs in my study here at church, entitled “The Return of the Prodigal Son.” The artist is Rembrandt, and it is one of his final paintings, done before his death in 1669. It now hangs in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia. It is an enormous painting, eight feet high by six feet wide, and in many ways is a self-portrait by Rembrandt, who had lived as a prodigal son earlier in his life, and at the end of his life, was returning home. Though each one of us may see ourselves as the younger prodigal son or the older obedient but angry son, God calls us all to become the father – the one who, in forgiving love and compassion, reaches out to those who are alienated and estranged from one another. Many ask, but how does Jesus’ parable end? Does the older brother come into the feast for his younger brother? Are they reunited with one another? What happens? The truth is that the Lord Jesus leaves this parable open-ended so that it may be lived out in your life and in mine. How this ends is up to each one of us.

The saving truth in all of this is that the Father’s love does not depend on an appropriate completion of the story. That love is dependent on itself, not on us. And so let us receive anew and rejoice again in the Father’s love that comes to us in our Savior, Jesus, through whom we really can face one another in the power and peace that He gives us. Amen.