By The Rev. Bernard W. Poppe, RectorPaul wrote to the Corinthians “...We entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” It’s a heartfelt plea from someone who cared very much for them. He told them, “We have been given a ministry of reconciliation.”
Ah, but there’s a catch. Before we can embark on this wonderful ministry of reconciliation, we must first be reconciled ourselves. That was the Corinthians’ problem. They were so convinced of their own sacred status that they had fallen into a less than perfect lifestyle of proving themselves holier than the next member of their community. They were exclusionary, judgmental, elitist, and mean to one another. Paul, needless to say, was disappointed in them and wrote this letter to correct their behaviors.
Each of these readings refer to some who reached for something better and run into problems because either they weren’t ready or didn’t know what they were getting into.
In the lesson from Joshua, the Israelites had finally gotten into the Promised Land after wandering in the desert for forty years. By that point Moses has died and Joshua had taken his place in leadership. The painful memories of slavery in Egypt could recede as well as the long period of searching. Their new life was about to begin. The promised land they had worked so hard to enter was theirs. Or was it?
It seems the Promised Land was not delivered empty. It was a country that had been inhabited for many generations by people who were not convinced by Hebrew stories of God making a promise to a man they didn’t know who was long dead. The land that had been promised to the Israelites was inhabited by the Canaanites, and they had no intention of leaving. Some kind of accommodation needed to be made, some kind of peace and reconciliation between two peoples who inherited the land.
The Prodigal Son as we know it, is that famous parable of a young mans’ dreams of the good life and his impatient acts to get it. He blundered his way through reckless waste in the hope of finding his own promised land. He lost everything and hit bottom. The realization of his own foolishness sobered him up and he returned to his father’s house to face the consequences.
In each of these stories, as different as they are, there is the theme of reconciliation uniting them. The people of Israel had dreamed about the Promised land for such a long time that it became romanticized as the land flowing with milk and honey. Everything would be wonderful, very much a utopia. The younger son of the parable also hoped for a utopia. A young man with a windfall of new money sees the world as his oyster. Each were in for a rude awakening.
When we put the story from Joshua and the Gospel lesson side by side, the two peoples of Israel and Canaan could be compared with the two sons. The Canaanites stayed in the land while the Israelites left the land so long before for a better life, which they enjoyed for a while. That is, several generations before it all went bad and they became slaves in Egypt. Beaten down they came back home. The Canaanites, like the older brother in the parable were not happy about their return. As far as they were concerned all the land was theirs. They didn’t want to hear about any promise made to a hundred year old man a few hundred years ago, by a god they didn’t recognize. The tensions between the two groups festered for many years without being fully resolved. There was no parent to mediate as there is in the Gospel lesson.
One of the ways we can read Bible stories is to put ourselves in the place of one or more of the characters. In the parable of the Prodigal Son, who do you identify with, given some of the issues in your life? The younger son who wanted to get away from the world he knew and stretch his legs to find his promised land? The older son who remains responsible and stays at the work and then resents the return of the younger son? The parent who mediates the factions? Or the fatted calf who feels like an innocent bystander caught up in a family drama that’s not going to end well for him no matter who celebrates?
Reconciliation isn’t easy. Reconciliation with ourselves, reconciliation with others and reconciliation with God. I’ve always liked the phrase in the parable that says of the younger son in the pit of his remorse: when he came to himself... There was in him a moment of awakening when he realized his mistakes and wanted to turn around. He was fully spent in the pursuits of false dreams and the consequences of his actions reach a point of such pain that he could no longer stand it. He had to admit first to himself what he did that was wrong and then admit it to the person he wronged, in this case his father. When “he came to himself” he found the integrity in his spirit that had left him for a while during his misadventure. But he found it and tried to make things right again. He grew up. He was reconciled to himself first and then worked on being reconciled with his father. By the end of the story he found peace and a reconciliation he never thought possible. Oddly, the older brother has not shared in the reconciliation, with himself, his brother or his father. He remains judgmental, angry and separated from the festivities. Until he realizes these defects in himself, until he’s reconciled to himself, he can’t be reconciled with anyone else. In this sense, he too is a prodigal son who has left and we hope returned, though the parable doesn’t say one way or the other.
In the stories of Lent, we’re given different lenses to look at ourselves and our relationships. Where have we made mistakes that we need to admit and be reconciled with ourselves? Where do we have the work to do of being reconciled with those we have harmed? Where have we stood in judgment of those trying to make amends, feeling self righteous or angry? I sometimes wonder if the older son was really envious of his younger brother for being more daring than he and risking big, even if it did blow up in his face? Regardless, there are times when we’ve all stood in those shoes as well. Even the older brother needed to “come to himself” and admit his wrongs to be reconciled with himself, in order to be reconciled to his family.
The gospel lesson begins with the tax collectors and sinners (other translations read prostitutes) listening to Jesus; while the Pharisees observed this grumbling in judgment. These groups also like the younger and older sons were in need of reconciliation with themselves and each other. The father was delighted at the return of the younger son and all was clearly forgiven. God takes pleasure in reconciliation, not punishment. People get caught up in wanting punishment. In this parable Jesus sets up a paradigm of radical forgiveness in a way that people, through the eyes of the older brother think is unjust. Yet how wonderful it is to know that’s how God is.
Think about this parable in the days ahead and consider the brothers and how you relate to them. Or as Paul says, “God...has given us a ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them...so we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” Amen.
©2010 St. George's Episcopal Church, Maplewood, NJ
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