The season of Lent is essential in Christian tradition, and is made up of the forty days (not including Sundays) that lead up to Easter Sunday. This Lent, we focus on the Gospel of Luke, and are guided by the book Luke: Jesus and the Outsiders, Outcasts, and Outlaws by Rev. Adam Hamilton.
This Sunday we will read a familiar story by Jesus traditionally called “The Prodigal Son.” This is one of a few parables in the Gospel of Luke that celebrates the finding of something (or someone) who was lost. Jesus also tells a story about a lost coin that was found and a shepherd who left a flock to find one missing sheep. Like all of Jesus’ parables this one may be read in many different ways, and we can identify with each of the characters in many different ways. Here is the text:
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 (CEB)
15 All the tax collectors and sinners were gathering around Jesus to listen to him. 2 The Pharisees and legal experts were grumbling, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
3 Jesus told them this parable:
11 Jesus said, “A certain man had two sons. 12 The younger son said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the inheritance.’ Then the father divided his estate between them. 13 Soon afterward, the younger son gathered everything together and took a trip to a land far away. There, he wasted his wealth through extravagant living.
14 “When he had used up his resources, a severe food shortage arose in that country and he began to be in need. 15 He hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to eat his fill from what the pigs ate, but no one gave him anything. 17 When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have more than enough food, but I’m starving to death! 18 I will get up and go to my father, and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I no longer deserve to be called your son. Take me on as one of your hired hands.” ’ 20 So he got up and went to his father.
“While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with compassion. His father ran to him, hugged him, and kissed him. 21 Then his son said, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son.’ 22 But the father said to his servants, ‘Quickly, bring out the best robe and put it on him! Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet! 23 Fetch the fattened calf and slaughter it. We must celebrate with feasting 24 because this son of mine was dead and has come back to life! He was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate.
25 “Now his older son was in the field. Coming in from the field, he approached the house and heard music and dancing. 26 He called one of the servants and asked what was going on. 27 The servant replied, ‘Your brother has arrived, and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he received his son back safe and sound.’ 28 Then the older son was furious and didn’t want to enter in, but his father came out and begged him. 29 He answered his father, ‘Look, I’ve served you all these years, and I never disobeyed your instruction. Yet you’ve never given me as much as a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours returned, after gobbling up your estate on prostitutes, you slaughtered the fattened calf for him.’ 31 Then his father said, ‘Son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad because this brother of yours was dead and is alive. He was lost and is found.’”
Consider these questions:
1. We often read this story through the lens of a binary – involving two things. We ask questions in “twos”. We ask if the younger son was good or bad. We ask if the father should have accepted or rejected his younger son. We ask if we are the younger son OR the older son. But, just like our Trinitarian God, this story consists of three people/identities. How would the story change if we didn’t have to choose from a list of twos?
2. What is lost in this story, and what needs to be found? Can you identify multiple items or people who need to be found in this narrative?
3. Consider the older son as a person who wants to be recognized and seen for who he is. Was he the son who needed to be found by his father? Was he the outsider who needed a place at the banquet table? How is the oldest son like our LGBT+ siblings, most notably our transgender siblings, who are afraid and hurt, and who are asking the church to recognize them?
4. Now consider the older son as the Church struggling with issues of systemic justice and collective redemption. What do we lose if God celebrates the return of our siblings? What do we lose as a “flock” if God brings a lost sheep back into the fold? What do we lose by looking for the lost coin?