St. Patrick: Intimacy with God

The Fourth Sunday In Lent

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

The Seeking Love of God

“He ran and put his arms around him and kissed him.”

So, as you all know, I usually like to begin these sermons with a kind of story or anecdote from my life. Something to grab your attention. Something to kind of give you a foretaste of the message that is to come. As I reflected on today's Gospel lesson and I desperately tried to dredge up some brilliant and enlightening moment from my life that could be connected in some wonderful way to Jesus' words for us today, I have to tell you that I was suddenly filled with great shock and horror as I found myself realizing..............that I've told you all of my stories! Not really. Actually, I'm pretty sure that I have about 2 or 3 lifetimes worth of stories.

In all seriousness though, as I reflected on the many stories I have shared with you all throughout these 5 years of ministry here at Ascension, the many pieces of me that I have laid before you, I did have a meaningful realization. As I worked my way through all of those moments, I realized that really, in a way, all of my stories, all of my God moments, all of my God sightings, as our VBS would call them, all of those instances in my life where I have seen or felt or known God's presence, actually pointed me to one main learning or message. Whether it be in my long call story, my abrupt coming to terms with the fact that my whole past life fell in line with and supported that moment, or in the odd way I was dragged kicking and screaming to my interview here at Ascension only to find that this was indeed without a doubt the place. Whether it be seeing Jesus walk in the slums of Bolivia among the lost, the addicted, the children, or hesitantly walking into situations of darkness, suffering and death, only to find some of the deepest moments of God's light and love there. For me, it is quite obvious that one of the overarching or core messages of my life and my walk with God, is that truly, truly we are children of a loving God who ceaselessly pursues us.

We are children of a God filled with a risky love. We are followers of a Savior who sacrifices all, lays it all out there, for us. In other words, we are believers in a God who actively seeks us out. That's what I see in this morning's Gospel.

You see, this whole prodigal son thing, this story that we know so well, just never fails to be interesting. In part, I think that is because so much of this story is probably most likely missed by us, but it is also because there are several learnings we could take from this parable. I mean, we get that this son insulted his father and left, but we probably don't understand that to request one's inheritance prematurely was in essence to wish death on one's parent, resulting in being completely disowned and sometimes even stoned to death. We know that the younger son then lived in some pretty rough situations, but we often miss the fact that for him to go and work by feeding swine was to basically become a reject, a nobody, a gentile. It was the height of humiliation because, for a Jewish person, it meant to become unclean, even eating the food that only the animals ate. Yet, even after all of that, after wishing death on his father, after falling to the utmost low extreme, after hitting rock bottom, he comes back, and much to the absolute shock and disgust of Jesus' audience I'm sure, he is welcomed. He is celebrated.

So, what are really to take from that? What is Jesus really trying to get across to those listening to Him then and to us today in the telling of this parable? On the one hand, this younger son is quite an incredible example of repentance. He has done something so extreme, so unimaginable, so completely unforgivable, and yet he turns his back on his separation, on his sin, and is indeed forgiven. In a way he becomes an example for all us of our eternal hope in the access to our own forgiveness that our individual repentance brings, no matter what.

On the other hand, the oldest brother's reaction, of anger, of disbelief, of hurt, also seems to be an example for us. This parable does not seem fair to the oldest brother, who has done everything right, nor does it seem fair to us most likely, but it reminds us that our actions are not what make us deserving of God's Grace and Mercy. It reminds us that no matter what we do, we cannot earn the precious Love of God, because we already have it, so does that person who we think is somehow less than or beneath us. It reminds each of us that we are all undeserving. It reminds us that, regardless of the barriers and the markers of status that we place between ourselves, in God's eyes, we are all the same. Beloved, but lost children.

Yet, as worthy as those lessons are, it wasn't until I paid attention to the context of this parable, to the other two parables that proceed it, that I truly heard what God was placing on my heart this week, and perhaps what Jesus is saying to us as a community this morning. God seeks each of us out. Our God pursues US. As we see this morning, Jesus' telling of the prodigal son is in response to the Pharisees' grumbling about His eating with sinners. As a result, Jesus not only tells the parable of the prodigal son, but also the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin as well.

In essence, these three parables, in response to the thought that walking with the rejected was somehow a bad thing, together actually point us to the same truly amazing idea. Regardless of how distant we are, regardless of how broken we are, regardless of how lost we are, Jesus leaves all else, drops all else, risks all else, in order to bring us back into His arms. Just as the shepherd risked all for the one lost sheep, just as the woman ceaselessly searched for the one lost coin, just as the father, even in rejection, lowered himself, humbled himself, disgraced himself, in order to run to and embrace his lost son, so too does Jesus for each of us. That is our Great News this morning. That is our take home today.

Our God seeks us out. A truly radical notion, and in Jesus' time even an insulting or blasphemous idea to hold about God. Yet, it is a core part of who we are. You see, as Christians we do not seek out the best teacher in order to learn or earn our way to salvation or enlightenment as in other faith traditions. That is not our tradition. Rather, just as Jesus did with His first disciples, calling to them from the shore, bringing them out of the darkness and chaos of the ocean waters into the light and order, our Salvation, our God, literally comes looking, through the incarnation, ceaselessly and tirelessly searching, through the Holy Spirit, regardless of how many times we reject Him, regardless of how unworthy, regardless of how unclean we are. When he finds us, just as with the older brother in the parable and just as the Pharisees with Jesus observed, all are invited to the glorious celebration! All are welcome at His table. So friends, it seems to me, that the only real question or concern for us today, given the fact that we truly have this incredibly radical, this extremely risky God constantly seeking us out, the only real question is: Are we listening? Are we listening to His voice? Do you hear Him? Do you hear Him when He calls to you? My Brothers and Sisters, Jesus Christ, our Salvation, our God, is ceaselessly seeking you out. Strive to see Him. Strive to see Him before you, this day. Strive to hear Him. Strive to hear Him within you, now. Amen.