There is that old story about a pastor who preaches the same sermon several weeks in a row. When he’s confronted about his apparent lack of creativity by his congregation, he replies “Given your behavior, it seems obvious that you haven’t gotten the message yet.”
A mite judgmental there, but that old story does highlight a simple truth about rhetoric. Repetition drives home a point. Keep repeating and people will start to listen.
So, I once again find myself ranting against the word “deserve,” since I think the parable of the Prodigal Son is precisely the text Jesus uses to damn that moralistic approach to life. And given that I’m preaching this text on Good Friday, you’ll likely hear some of these points again when I post that sermon in the weeks to come.
We all know the story. Younger son comes up to dad. “Drop dead, Dad, and give me what I deserve as your heir.” Dad, despite his better judgment, does just that. Son goes off to a faraway land and “all manner of pleasures and diversions were indulged.” Things go south pretty quickly after that and the son soon finds himself starving while tending to the pigs on some farm, a long way from the party scene he’d once enjoyed.
Here’s the thing. If this was a story about what people deserve, this is where the story would end. What goes around has come around. The son’s mistreatment of his father has come back to bite him and he’s received justice for his cruelty to his family. Jesus would stop talking and the moral lesson would be painfully clear. Your sin will be your undoing, so don’t sin. Don’t be like this son.
But that’s not the story Jesus tells. It keeps going. The son conjures up a plan to return to his father and beg to be a slave in the household where he grew up. To his credit, the son recognizes the enormity of his error and knows he deserves nothing, but yet hopes for a small pittance of grace from dear old Dad.
But a small pittance is not what he receives. When his father spots him, Dad runs out and scoops him up in a massive bear hug and showers him with tears and kisses. You can almost hear Dad blubbering about how overjoyed he is that his son has come home. Immediately, a great celebration is thrown together. The son is restored to his usual place in the household. All is forgiven.
The son receives far more than he could ever hope or dream. He deserves nothing, yet receives everything.
And that is grace. That is God’s approach to humanity. That’s how he sees us. Yes, we are fallen. Yes, we are sinful. Yes, we are broken. All those things are true and make us deserving of nothing. And yet, we receive everything. God’s love trumps all else; what we’ve done and what we are do not matter. Just all that the son has done wrong in the story does not matter to the father who loves him.
And yet, all too often we are the older brother in the story, who rejects his younger sibling out of hand. To him, all that his kid brother has done DOES matter. He doesn't deserve forgiveness. And he's right, the younger brother does not. But deserve has nothing to do with it. Grace does. His father pleads with him to see things has he does. Don’t you get it? Nothing else matters except our love for one another. NOTHING matters except love and the grace and forgiveness that follow from that love.
How often does God plead with us to see our brothers and sisters the way he sees them? How often does he call us to love our neighbor, to forgive our enemies, and to discard this blasphemy of deserving? Are we listening?
Grace is all that matters. Period.
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