Prodigal Son Sermon Series - Wake Up!

THREE PRODIGALS 3                               "Luke 15:13-19"                                         David Eck

3/30/11

WAKE UP 

A few days later the younger son gathered all he had

---And traveled to a distant country, and there

---He squandered his property in dissolute living.

When he had spent everything,

---A severe famine took place throughout that country,

---And he began to be in need.

So he went and hired himself out

---To one of the citizens of that country,

---Who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs.

He would gladly have filled himself

---With the pods that the pigs were eating;

---And no one gave him anything.

But when he came to himself he said,

---"How many of my father's hired hands

---Have bread enough and to spare,

---But here I am dying of hunger!

I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him,

---"Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you;

---I am no longer worthy to be called your son;

---Treat me like one of your hired hands."'

---So he set off and went to his father. [NRSV]

----------

I.  The younger son, who told his father "You're dead to me,"

---Probably thought he knew everything.

---It's like a seminarian who ventures out

---Into his or her first parish.

---They are full of knowledge and self-confidence,

---Until life catches them by surprise

---And they realize they're in over their heads.

It's like a young adult

---Who moves out of their parent's house for the first time.

---They think they can do just fine on their own,

---Thank you very much.

Then they discover their parents were a lot smarter

---Than they thought they were.

---And so they find themselves calling home on a regular basis

---For encouragement and advice.

It's like the young couple with stable jobs, a big house,

---Two kids, and their life planned out perfectly.

---Then an unexpected illness comes along,

---Or the termination of a job.

---Suddenly, their world looks quite different

---And their priorities need to shift dramatically.

II. The younger son, who told his father "You're dead to me."

---Probably thought he knew everything.

---But before we judge him too harshly

---Let us recall a time in our lives

---When we thought we knew everything as well.

Let us recall a time in our lives when we, too,

---Were filled with knowledge and self-confidence.

When we thought we had everything figured out

---And failed to listen to the advice of our elders.

When we focused on our own needs, wants and desires

---Without considering how our actions impacted those around us.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we are the younger son,

---Whether we care to admit it or not.

And if we think long and hard enough,

---We can recall a time in our lives

---When our actions were just as brazen and reckless

---As the younger son in the parable.

III. Last week the younger son asked his father

---To give him the share of the inheritance

---That would be his when his father died.  Ouch!

He essentially told his father "You're dead to me."

---For whatever reason, the father honored his son's

---Hurtful and spiteful request.

This week, Luke tells us that

---"A few days later the younger son gathered all he had

---And traveled to a distant country, and there

---He squandered his property in dissolute living.

---When he had spent everything,

---A severe famine took place throughout that country,

---And he began to be in need."

This was a young man who didn't have a plan for his future.

---He lived life to the fullest moment by moment.

---He was the Lindsay Lohan or Charlie Sheen of his generation,

---Sucking the marrow from the bones of life

---Until he choked on them.

It's not a pretty story.

---We've seen it happen time and time again.

---It may have happened to us.

---It may have happened to someone we love.

In it's most destructive form,

---It can end in alcoholism, addiction, disease and even death.

It it's lesser form, it can be a decision we made in life

---That we later regretted;

---A decision that set a series of events into motion

---We couldn't stop from happening;

---A decision that we wish we had the opportunity to do over again

---But we know that's just not possible.

IV. The younger son, who told his father "You're dead to me,"

---Thought he knew everything.

---Therefore he ventured boldly into the world

---And "squandered his property in dissolute living."

The King James Version of this text is absolutely marvelous.

---It says he "wasted his substance with riotous living." 

If we need to unpack this phrase a little bit more

---The Greek tells us that he "frittered away" and "spent recklessly"

---His "property" and "possessions"

---On "excess, debauched, decadent and self-indulgent living."

---In other worlds, he lived life to the fullest

---And a whole lot more!

Later in our gospel lesson, the older brother

---Imagines the details, saying his brother,

---Devoured their father's property with prostitutes.

---However, there is no indication that this was the case.

Jesus leaves the details open-ended,

---Which is pure genius on his part.

---It invites the audience to imagine what the younger son did.

---Hopefully they would fill in some of the details

---Based upon their own lives or the life of someone they loved.

The intent is for us to identify with the younger son

---At some point in the story.

---We may not have partied excessively,

---"Wasting our substance with riotous living."

But we have all ventured out into the world

---Filled with too much self-confidence and knowledge

---And found ourselves knee-deep in the muck of life.

---This is exactly what happened to the younger son.

V.  Luke tells us that "when he had spent everything,

---A severe famine took place throughout that country,

---And he began to be in need.

So he went and hired himself out

---To one of the citizens of that country,

---Who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs.

He would gladly have filled himself

---With the pods that the pigs were eating;

---And no one gave him anything."

This young man hit rock bottom.

---One scholar I read this past week

---Said the following about his employment status:

---"To a Jew no fate could be more degrading

---Than to feed pigs for a Gentile master."

In other words, he was in a minimum wage, thankless job.

---Where no health care or retirement plan

---Were his job benefits.

It's the kind of job too many Americans work today

---Who are clocking in 40 plus hours a week and yet are underemployed,

---Unable to provide for themselves or their families.

This is why I love Jim Janknegt's image of the prodigal son story

---That was in our bulletins last Wednesday night

---And is available on the church's web site.

It portrays the younger son as an employee at McDonald's

---With the Golden Arches above his head

---And an overflowing trash can at his feet.

It may be our contemporary version of feeding slop to pigs.

---I think the artist meant it to be thought-provoking,

---An indictment on our wasteful American culture.

VI.  The younger son who told his father "You're dead to me"

---Lived recklessly and foolishly until he hit rock bottom.

---Then Luke give us one of the most marvelous phrases in the parable...

---"But when he came to himself"

In other word, he woke up.

---The light bulb went off in his head.

---He found himself living with the consequences of his actions

---And now he was ready to make a different choice.

Hopefully, all of us can identify with the younger son

---At this point in the parable.

---Our story may not have been as dramatic as his

---But, surely, if we've lived at all,

---We've made mistakes that led us to a place

---We never intended to go.

We've found ourselves knee-deep in the muck of life

---And finally woke up.

---We made the decision to pick ourselves up,

---Wash the mud off of our lives,

---And walk a different path.

Luke tells us the younger son said

---"How many of my father's hired hands

---Have bread enough and to spare,

---But here I am dying of hunger!

I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him,

---'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you;

---I am no longer worthy to be called your son;

---Treat me like one of your hired hands.'

---So he set off and went to his father."

Brothers and sisters in Christ,

---We've all been there.

---We know this part of the story.

Lutherans believe we are simultaneously saint and sinner.

---We "waste our substance with riotous living" all the time,

---In big ways and in small ways.

However, we also believe in the grace that welcomes us home.

---We believe in a loving Father who watches us wallow in the mud,

---And longs for us to wake up to the love that has been there all along.

But that is next week's story.

---Let's use this week to ponder the rebellion of the younger son

---And how his story is our story.

Let us use this parable as a wake-up call

---To the many ways we live foolishly and recklessly,

---Turning our backs on God,

---Thinking we know what's best for us.

AMEN

Just Let Go

"God is not found in the soul by adding anything but by subtracting." --Meister Eckhart

I came across this quote the other day and went "WOW!" In the midst of the busy flurry of activity that is Lent, it was definitely something I needed to hear. Two sermons and a Bible Study a week plus regular church work and my part-time chaplaincy job are leaving little room for silence an contemplation in my life. When this goes on for too long I definitely feel the difference. [Thank God Easter is only a few more weeks away!]

So, Meister Eckhart graciously reminded me that it's important to take a breath every once in a while. If you're involved in a faith community of any kind, you know how easy it is to fill your schedule with worthwhile ministry opportunities and planning meetings. It's very rewarding to work on behalf of God but we also need to remember that it is even more important to spend time with God. This is the way we recharge our spiritual batteries and gain invaluable wisdom and insight for the journey.

How is your week going? Are you a bit frazzled? Perhaps, like me, you need to do a little subtracting so that God has room to take up residence in your life.

Sunday Sermon - Woman at the Well

3 LENT A                                                  John 4:5-42                                                David Eck

3/27/11

Jesus said...THOSE WHO DRINK OF THE WATER THAT I GIVE THEM

---WILL NEVER BE THIRSTY.

---THE WATER THAT I WILL GIVE 

---WILL BECOME IN THEM A SPRING OF WATER 

---GUSHING UP TO ETERNAL LIFE

What are we thirsty for?

---I'm not talking about a craving for a chocolate milkshake

---Or a cool glass of lemonade on a hot summer day.

I'm talking about a deep down kind of thirst

---That resides in the depths of our souls.

What are we thirsty for?

---The Psalmist cries out 

---"As a deer longs for flowing streams,

---So my soul longs for you, O God.

---My soul thirsts for God,  for the living God.

---When shall I come and behold the face of God?

---My tears have been my food day and night,

---While people say to me continually,

---'Where is your God?'" [Ps 42:1-3]

Now, that's thirsty!

---It's the kind of thirst that's not easily filled.

It's the kind of thirst that longs for a "God experience."

It's the kind of thirst that is desperate to hear

---We are a beloved child of God,

---In spite of our mistakes,

---In spite of the wrong turns we have taken in life.

It's the kind of thirst that can only be quenched

---By the One who is all-encompassing love,

---Mercy, forgiveness and healing.

What are we thirsty for?

---This is the question our gospel lesson asks today.

---It takes place in the Samaritan city of Sychar.

It's the kind of place a good, upstanding rabbi

---Would not be caught dead in…but Jesus is there.

In verse 4 of the same chapter, John tells us

---That Jesus "HAD to go through Samaria"

---In order to return to Galilee 

---From the Judean countryside.

While this is geographically true,

---Since going through Samaria is the most direct route,

---It is not historically true.

The Israelites hated the Samaritans so much

---That some would even take a longer route home

---So that their sandals would not be contaminated

---With the dust of Samaria.

---This was especially true of rabbis.

Wow!  That's some deep-seated hatred and prejudice!

---Therefore, John is being a bit misleading here.

---Jesus didn't HAVE to go through Samaria.

---Jesus WANTED to go through Samaria,

---If only to encounter a Samaritan woman at a well

---Who was dying of thirst.

II.  But before we get to her story,

---There is another piece of biblical geography

---That sets the stage for everything that is to follow.

There is a twin set of mountains

---Which are on either side of the town of Sychar

---Where our gospel lesson takes place:

---Mt. Gerezim and Mt. Ebal.

If we do a Bible study of these two mountains,

---We will discover that in Deuteronomy 11:29

---Gerezim is called "The Mount of Blessing"

---Ebal is called "The Mount of Cursing."

Reason why I bring this up,

---Is that these two mountains symbolically describe

---Our journey from being thirsty to being satisfied.

All of us long to make the journey from Ebal to Gerezim,

---From the Mount of Cursing to the Mount of Blessing.

We all want to travel a healing path

---From darkness to light,

---From brokenness to being made whole,

---From dying of thirst to having our cups overflow.

This is the story of our gospel lesson

---And it is good news to us all.

---The same gift that was offered

---To the Samaritan woman at the well

---Is offered to us as well.

This story serves to remind us that Jesus

---Will cross any boundary or obstacle necessary

---In order that we might have our thirst quenched

---With living water.

III.  So let's enter into the story

---And see what good news it has to share.

We already know that Jesus is in Sychar,

---A place where any pious rabbi would not caught dead in.

---He is in the wrong city, in the wrong territory.

---Here, we also meets up with the wrong kind of person as well.

---There are several reason why this is the case.

First of all, she was a woman

---Which had certain disadvantages in first century society

---Where women were treated as property and not as persons.

Secondly, she was a Samaritan.

---In order to understand what a curse this is

---We need to understand a little bit of history.

After the Northern Kingdom of Israel,

---Was taken over by the Assyrians,

---Many of the Jews who lived there were deported to Assyria

---And foreigners were brought in to settle the land and keep peace.

---Intermarriage between these foreigners and the remaining Jews

---Resulted in a mixed race known as Samaritans.

Samaritans were treated as outcasts

---By the Jews who lived in the Southern Kingdom.

---They hated them and felt they betrayed their people and their nation

---By contaminating Judaism.

This hatred was so strong that the Samaritans

---Constructed an alternate center for worship

---On Mt. Gerezim (Mount of Blessing) 

---To parallel the Temple in Jerusalem.

The third strike against this woman was the fact

---That she was also a freight train wreck in the marriage department.

---Vs.17-18...five husbands...currently living with another man.

IV.  For all intents and purposes

---Jesus, as a rabbi, should have avoided this woman like the plague.

---He should have ran from her

---As fast as his legs could carry him.

But Jesus didn't do this.

---The remarkable thing about this story is that

---Jesus crossed several social, sexual and religious barriers

---In order to offer this woman living water.

---He risked his reputation as a rabbi

---In a way that cannot be overstated.

The first barrier is talking to a strange woman in a public place.

---In Jesus' day this was unthinkable,

---Especially between a pious rabbi and a woman.

One 1st century Jewish source stated it this way

---"One does not speak with a woman on the street,

---Not even his own wife,

---And certainly not with another woman, on account of gossip."

The disciples remarked about Jesus' inappropriate behavior as well.

---Vs.27..."When his disciples came,

---They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman."

The second barrier Jesus crossed was associating with a Samaritan.

---Even the woman herself pointed out how odd this was in vs. 9

---"How is is that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?"

The third barrier Jesus crossed was a religious barrier.

---As I mentioned earlier, the Jews saw Samaritans as outcasts,

---People who had corrupted the Jewish religion and

---Even had the nerve to build their own Temple on Mt. Gerezim.

The fourth barrier Jesus crossed was the woman's questionable reputation.

---It's absolutely amazing that a rabbi would associate with her

---Because of her torrid past and her five failed marriages.

Therefore, Jesus crossed four different social, religious and sexual barriers

---In order to bring this woman living water.

---He helped her to make the journey

---From the Mount of Cursing to the Mount of Blessing.

The result of their encounter is that the woman's life was transformed.

---At first she didn't understand what Jesus is talking about.

---She got confused about his references to living water.

Then when Jesus mentioned her past

---She quickly changed the subject to the proper place of worship:

---The temple on Mt. Gerezim or the temple in Jerusalem.

However, Jesus was patient

---And she finally understood what he was offering.

---She exclaimed, "Sir, give me this water,

---So that I may never be thirsty

---Or have to keep coming here to draw water."

Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman

---Changed her life forever and set her on a path

---From The Mount of Cursing to The Mount of Blessing.

---In the end she, too, became a powerful witness to others

---On behalf of the gospel.

---Vs. 39…"Many Samaritans from that city believed in Jesus

---Because of the woman's testimony."

V.  Brothers and sisters in Christ

---If we hear what the Spirit is saying to God's people,

---Our gospel lesson contains both a blessing and a challenge.

The blessing is the good news that Jesus will do whatever it takes

---To make sure we receive the offer of living water.

Jesus risked everything to ensure that the Samaritan woman

---Felt like a person who was loved and valued by God.

---He didn't condemn her to wander the Mount of Cursing for all eternity.

---He offered her living water as well as the opportunity

---To make the journey from the Mount of Cursing to the Mount of Blessing.

---Jesus will do the same for us!

Don't let anyone tell you that God doesn't love you.

Don't let anyone tell you that you cannot be forgiven

---For bad choices you've made in life.

We are the Samaritan woman.

---Her story is our story.

---We are the ones who, at some point in our life,

---Have felt rejected and condemned by others.

They may have been family members, friends,

---Neighbors or, unfortunately, our brothers and sisters in Christ.

---But someone, somewhere made us feel less than equal.

---Someone looked upon us with disdain and contempt.

---Someone may have even told us that we were unworthy

---To receive the love and grace Jesus offers everyone.

The blessing of our gospel lesson is that

---Jesus offers all of us a spring of water

---Gushing up to eternal life.

---This water will quench whatever thirst we have

---And will satisfy all the longings of our souls.

There are no strings attached to this water.

---It is a free gift of grace.

---All we need to do is accept this gift

---And give thanks to the giver.

Therefore, if our souls feel thirsty today

---Let us not forget the living water Jesus offers us all.

---This is the blessing of our gospel lesson.

VI.  However, our gospel lesson also offer us a challenge.

---The challenge is to walk where Jesus walked.

---If we think this is an easy path

---We better pay closer attention to what Jesus did in our gospel lesson.

Jesus crossed four social, sexual and religious barriers

---In order to minister to the Samaritan woman.

Are we really willing to do the same?

This is what the Reconciling in Christ process is all about.

---It is a journey we will take together as a church

---Where we ask ourselves the question

---What does it really mean to be "United in Christ.  Welcoming All."?

Will we be willing to follow in Jesus' footsteps

---And go to some places we have not gone before

---In order that everyone in our community

---Will receive the invitation to drink living water?

Will we be willing to receive some flack from well-intentioned people

---Because we believe that Christ's love knows no bounds?

Will we, like Jesus. be willing to cross

---Racial, social, religious and sexual boundaries

---In order to share the love of Jesus

---With people who are dying of thirst?

---I hope so.  

Make no mistake about it.  This is not an easy calling,

---But I believe it is the work Christ has called his church to do.

---Let us all walk deeply this week with our gospel lesson

---That it may both bless and challenge us.

AMEN