Lent 4C + Prodigal + 3.27.22

 

Melissa Campbell-Langdell

All Santos, Oxnard

(Joshua 5:9–12; Psalm 32; 2 Corinthians 5:16–21; St Luke 15:1–3, 11b–32)

 

'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.'

This is such a powerful and at times healing, at times troubling parable, depending in whom you identify with in this story. Are you the lost child who has walked ungodly paths and is now running home, hoping against to return to your parent’s embrace? Are you the older sibling, the one who has always been responsible, and who resents the swift acceptance of and rejoicing in someone who you perceive to have disrespected your parents and you? Not to mention not being called in for the feast, to add insult to injury- are you like that older brother, mad at the unfairness of the world? Or are you the desperate parent- the one who doesn’t care what that lost child has done, but only that they find their way back to you? A parent’s love sometimes needs boundaries but a parent always loves, forgives and tries to move forward when a child is ready to return.

Many famous people have written about this parable- it is one of the more well-known parts of the Christian scriptures. I heard a great statement about this by theologian Joy J. Moore this week, paraphrased, this passage shows that our Christian faith is “more interested in relationship than riches, more concerned with community than canceling and more willing to reconcile than to rebuke.”[1] Wow, this hit home. Thinking about today’s culture, I wonder how many people hold those values, even those who identify with the major religions of the world?
Do we really set aside material needs as less important than relationship? If you believe so, please observe a family trying to divide an inheritance. A very harmonious family or one with a very small estate is easily disposed of, but if a family has money, there are often squabbles. For those with humbler means, think about whether it genuinely irks you if a friend often relies on you to pay their way. Now, this doesn’t mean people should take advantage of other people. But sometimes we have to remember that relationships win out over riches.

How about community versus canceling? The younger brother could have easily been “cancelled” or ostracized from his family. He had acted as if his father were already dead by asking for his inheritance early-an action that is almost absurdly rude and disrespectful. He then wasted those resources and now he comes back, asking for more resources? Actually, he is willing to be humble and take whatever he can get, it is the parent who throws the party. But the point here is that our friend could easily have been left out in the cold.

Our current world is no stranger to “cancel culture.” A spoof on this showed up in an utterly ridiculous and adult-themed show I watch on Netflix, “Wynonna Earp.” Although it is very goofy, sometimes violent, and its theology is totally inconsistent, once in a while it has some interesting reflections on modern life. One example was the chicken-kicker theme. In this episode, it comes out that the woman who had run for sheriff and lost entered the victory party for the sheriff, drunk and sounding off, and, taking a chicken off of the table, kicked it like a soccer ball, all on camera. The locals all took to calling her “chicken-kicker” and she became worried about being seen in public. But at the end of the episode, to distract two people who are magically locked in a trivia battle (I’m telling you this show is crazy) when they need to go help someone else, she gives up all sense of dignity and shows the video, She states that even though she did that chicken-kicking, she is willing to run for sheriff again in the former sheriff’s absence.  The moral of the story is that we are not the worst thing we have ever done. And I think that is one of the messages of this story of the Prodigal Son, or the Generous Parent, or the Jealous Older Brother. We are not the worst thing we have done.

Cancel culture is tricky, because some of it comes from genuinely wanting to point out things that folks have done that are wrong and to publicly call them to account. Yet so often it turns toxic. Time and again, our culture would like to judge people based on all their past actions as if they didn’t grow and learn from mistakes like any other human being. Just look at the questions presented to Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson this week. Now, don’t get me wrong. Being a Supreme Court Justice is a huge job and our legislators should take seriously their selection of anyone on that court. However, listening to just part of the hours of questioning that she received, it struck me that as much as her accomplishments burnished her record, she could be at risk of being judged (forgive the pun) for decisions made years ago. And more than that, her decisions were being politicized when as a judge she expressed that she tried to remain neutral. When talking with her, one senator mentioned how the work of Brené Brown encouraged him to befriend and work with a law enforcement professional of whom he was initially unsure, simply because they seemed to be on the opposite sides of political issues. But they got to know each other, and that relationship changed his mind about some things. Connection over canceling.
So many things in our world have become divisive, and I do not mean to enter into partisanship as I know I might seem to by even mentioning these current events. But as I have been reading the long autobiography of George Washington by Chernow, and having read about the initial formation of the Supreme Court, I feel that our judicial branch is meant to be as politically neutral as possible. I think that we as a culture need to find some ways to honor certain roles in society as outside of politics so we can focus on relationships and truly building a country that can see across difference and serve all God’s people.
What would the world be like if we were all more willing to reconcile than to rebuke each other? The trolls would lose all their power by the sheer force of the reconciling love in their midst. What if social media was not a toxic swamp that stole peoples’ self esteems and body images, but instead affirmed others’ gifts and complex lives? Do I think that we also need to be able to call out things that are wrong? Absolutely. But what if we did so while acknowledging the complexity of the human experience and rather than cancelling people, invited them to somehow engage with others to do better?
I do not know the way forward but I do trust that the God who embraces all of us, who loves and forgives all of us, no matter what we’ve done, is our model in moving forward, and seeing how we can spread God’s love in our community and in the world, while calling people into their better selves. Amen.

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[1] From Working Preacher Sermon Brainwave Podcast for March 27, 2022: #835: Fourth Sunday in Lent – Mar. 27, 2022 - Working Preacher from Luther Seminary.