Twenty Fourth Sunday September 16, 2007

Wisdom 9:13-18 Psalm: 90 Philemon 9-17 Luke 14 : 25-33

When he saw the son, The Father ran out to meet him

Last week, we had Paul writing to his friend Philemon asking him to pardon his runaway slave Onesimus. Paul is respectful, pleading and very personal. We find Moses with the same qualities this morning. Moses is very upfront and personal; nevertheless Moses is not presumptuous, he is respectful and pleading.

The first reading is longer than the Gospel, however, if we unfold all the narratives to which Moses refers, we could have a service just as long as the Easter Vigil. Moses starts off with

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, then:

the Land promised as an eternal inheritance. then :

the call of Moses himself

the Exodus and the care in the desert.

the sin: the adoration of the golden calf

If we were to concentrate only on the Sin and the Pardon in our first reading and again in the Story of the Prodigal Son in the Gospel, we would fall far short of the mark. Our readings invite us to a higher place, a higher level. They introduce us to a God who cares, a God whose love s manifested in providing for an indigent, needy, helpless, and yes: a sinful people who need forgiveness and healing.

Come and take a look at a God who does not get angry when we adore a golden calf: our wealth, our prestige, our brand new car, our latest electronic gadget.

Come and take a look at a God who will walk with us in our exodus as we journey through a world which gets more and more violent each day.

Come and take a look at a God who made us stewards of creation, but we have become ecologically irresponsible.

Come and take a look at a God who says “your brother’s blood cries out to me” - when Prime Ministers and Presidents recklessly spend billions in arms while people are hungry and in need of health care and education.

We are truly Sinners and in need of Pardon. Paul lays it on the line: “I am a sinner.” Martyr John Bradford (1510-1555) would enshrine it in the famous phrase: “there but for the Grace of God, go I” as he saw a criminal being taken for execution. Another famous man, John Newton (1725-1805) who gave us the hymn Amazing Grace would say the same: “Amazing Grace how sweet that sound, that saved a wretch like me.”

However, Pardon is only a step on a flight of stairs that invite us to come and take a closer look at God. We do not go there with pride or presumption, but only on an invitation, which God continues to give to us freely. If we only had the story of the Prodigal Son, without the Parable of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin,

We could easily stay at the level of forgiveness.

We could easily fall into the trap of thinking of the “initiative” of the Prodigal Son who said I will arise and go to my father.

However, with the story of the Lost Sheep and Lost Coin, we see a God who takes the initiative and goes out in search first of the Sheep and then at the coin. We realise that the Pivotal point of the Parable is not the Son who said I will arise and go to my Father, but rather the Father who each day scans the horizon awaiting for the return of the son. This is by no means to underestimate the repentance of the son and his decision to turn away from his life of sin and alienation. However, God who, created us, saved us, and invited us to the Heavenly Banquet without any cooperation from us, will not save us without our cooperation.

As we reflect on this parable which is acknowledged in the annals of literature as the Best Short Story ever written: we can easily fall into the error of both the sons.

The Younger Son thought that he had lost the love of the Father by his riotous living and his sin of breaking away from his Father.

The Elder Son thought he had gained his Father’s love by working like a slave and never disobeying a command.

Both were mistaken. The Father’s love was always there, it is given freely and nothing you and I can do, nothing either of the sons did could gain it or loose it. The love of God is relentless. God, the Hound of Heaven follows us with love down the arches of the years; down the labyrinthine ways. God follows us with unhurrying chase, and unperturbéd pace.

So many of us think that

when we give up a life of sin

when we give up our addictions

when we have got into a habit of prayer

when we are more charitable

when we are kinder and more compassionate

then we can approach God. Like the Prodigal then, we can say, “I will arise and go to my Father.”

If that is the case then we do not need a redeemer, we do not need a saviour. As we say in the Easter Vigil: O Happy fault, o necessary sin of Adam that won for us so great a Redeemer. Our readings today invite us to look at a God who is perfectly content and self sufficient, - yet will come out to become a part of our lives and our loves and our fears and our failings. And this love and Life is seen through the refracted and broken lives of those around us who care, who give us time and patience, who put a comforting hand around our shoulders when things are falling apart.

Come and see the Goodness of our God.