"I Love You Anyway"

Sermon 03.14.10
“I Love You Anyway”
The parable of the prodigal son, found only in the gospel of Luke, is so rich a passage that it is almost difficult to find one element in it to preach about in a twelve minute sermon. Much of our fascination with this parable lies in its ability to resonate with everyone, with a story line that reads like a soap opera. There are multiple life experiences to be examined: adolescent rebellion, family estrangement, the appeal of greener grass, the consequences of foolish living, the dynamics of brotherly love, the joy of reunion and the power of forgiveness. It’s got all the Oprah stuff. But we would be here all afternoon if I decided to work through the entire passage in depth to make up for all those snow sermons that you missed. But my guess is that doing so would create a mutiny in the pews or we’d have to order in lunch, so I have chosen to base my sermon on how our lives are affected by the life, death and the unconditional grace of parental love. Please pray with me now.

Gracious God, give us the courage to face up to our failings. Give us the strength to know when we are breaking your heart through our sins. Give us the audacity to approach your throne of grace. Help us to remember the depth of your love. And may the truth of your word be found in the hearing and proclamation of the good news of the gospel message.

If we were retelling this story in modern language, we would say that a man had two sons, one who was a loser, a louse, a rat and the other who was a responsible, decent hard-working young man. The younger son is rude, takes money from his father when it isn’t his right and spends it in the next town on drugs, liquor, lottery tickets and fast women. The older son remains at home, respects his dad and helps with the household chores. He’s not the trouble-maker. He probably goes to church, too.

The younger son runs out of money, and realizes that he’s hit rock bottom. He decides to come home, and beg for a place to stay, even if he has to crash on his father’s front porch. He knows that he’s disgraced himself and is ready to make amends and suck it up.

The father celebrates the son’s return rather than beat him up. There’s a big party, with lots of food, and even new clothes. The festivities are so outrageous that Big Bob’s Beef Smokehouse is hired to cater it. The elder brother gets wind of the celebration, isn’t thrilled with the situation and has it out with the father about the fairness of it all, and says you didn’t give me the time of day, much less a backyard BBQ. The father tells the brother that he loves both children. It doesn’t have a neat ending, with lots of man-hugs and a big thumbs up from Dr. Phil. Life is still complicated. But the father in essence says to the two children, “I love you anyway.”

Now there is one verse in this text that really spoke to the parent’s heart in me and I hope that you will see its significance in the passage. When the younger son asks for his inheritance in verse 12, the response is that the father “divided his property between them.” This is the translation that we have in the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible. But surprisingly, the word that is translated as “property” is actually the word bios in the Greek, from which we get our word biology. Bios means life. He divided his life between them. And part of his life went out the door when his son traveled to a distant country. While the son was lost in a world of dissolute living, a part of the father also died.

Many of the losses in our lives are traumatic. When a loved one dies, people often say that something of themselves has also gone into the grave, and that life isn’t worth living without a partner. Less dramatic losses – the loss of health, the loss of a job, the loss of a friendship are small deaths along the way. I’m sure that each and every one of you has been touched by a loss that has sapped your inner strength, tested your faith, and taken a piece of life from you.

The younger son also dies, figuratively speaking. After the inheritance is gone, he is reduced to working in a swine pen, a task that was forbidden by his Jewish religion, and which added to his estrangement. He was lost to his family and his faith until he came to himself. What a beautiful phrase – came to himself. The younger son had to face himself in a pig sty of his own making before he could begin to live again.

We do not know much about the elder son’s situation while the younger son was away. Perhaps he also felt the loss, but in a different way. He might have had to take over the younger son’s chores or had to console his father. Maybe he was missing the camaraderie of having a sibling around.

Unfortunately, he becomes the party-pooper in the story, the one who seemingly spoils the ending. Instead of being the perfect child, he becomes the whiner who stubbornly refuses to celebrate the return of his brother. It is the joy in him that dies, as well as the sense of belonging to the family. He is now the lost child, looking on at a party that he chooses not to attend. Surely, he broke his father’s heart just as much as the younger son. He wasn’t chastised or punished for not coming in. His father said, “I love you anyway”, even if you don’t want to participate in the homecoming ceremony.

Some of us identify with the younger son. We’ve done things we are ashamed of and had to face our sins and failures. We’ve been down and out, have tasted misery, lost hope and tried to return home. We have run out of time and money and finally have come to ourselves, even at the last minute. And sometimes we lose ourselves and end up in the mud of the pig pen time and again.

Some of us identity with the elder son. We’ve lived a good life, made a decent living, raised up a God-fearing family, done community work and been proud of our accomplishments. We’ve pulled ourselves up by our bootstraps, darn it, and made our own way, a way that we are proud of. We’re indignantly virtuous about what’s right and wrong, and as satisfied as a pig in the mud with our manner of life

Most likely, many of us fall somewhere in between the boys. We are made mistakes along the way, but most of the time we have come to ourselves in order to make it right. And it is God who is the model parent for us. No matter what we do, we are still God’s children and God is ready to take us back to life through grace, sheer grace.

When the father in the story sees the younger son in the distance, he runs out to meet him, without even hearing the boy’s confession or remorse. It is enough to see him on the road home. It is enough to know that he is in the right direction. The model of unconditional parental love requires no condemnation and no restitution. It is the grace of the father that restores him to life.

To the elder son, the father also offer grace – “all that I have is yours. My love for you has not changed even if you are upset at your brother’s homecoming. I love you even as you are spiteful and mean-spirited. I love you even as you refuse to share in the joy of the homecoming. You’ve not addressed me as father and you don’t even acknowledge your brother, but you are still in the family. Parental love means that you are still my son, in all your stubbornness and nasty attitude.”

“I love you anyway. I love you anyway” – what a powerful statement to God’s forgiveness and mercy!

The father’s love, God’s love remains the same for us. God is the waiting father, the model of parental love. God is the father that watches out the door for the return of his younger boy, and the father who leaves the party in search of the older son. God has never stopped being a parent to us, even when God’s heart is broken by our sins. “I love you no matter what you’ve done”, God says. “I love you anyway”.

For each son, and for all of us, God offers life through grace alone and with grace comes the gift of life. We never cease being the beloved children of God, despite all of the actions that we do to distance ourselves from the Almighty. We can get lost a gazillion times and still come home. We can stay home and sulk and refuse to join in the celebration. We are not punished but welcomed back, at any time and in any place. Even when we are dead in sin, the gift of life is still waiting for us. The father gives us all that he has including his own life, his bios, in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

“I love you anyway.” As we continue on our Lenten journey, consider the significance of these words, and remember that the unconditional love of our father will not let us go, despite what we have already done and no matter what we plan to do. As we make our way to the cross, let us come to ourselves and recognize the grace that is available to us as children of God. May we receive the gift of life, rather than loss, as we return home. May we remember that grace gives us more than we could ever imagine and much more than we deserve. Amen.