Sermon: March 30, 2025
Reading Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 – The Prodigal Son
Jesus leaves the end of the parable open; the story is unfinished. Has the younger son learned his lesson, and will he follow the example of his father’s loving ways, or does he revert to his old rebellious ways? Does the older son come to understand his father’s love and compassion and join in the celebration? Jesus invites us to choose how the story ends as we are drawn into the parable by the spiritual and emotional experiences of the characters. We are invited to identify with them and how they relate to our experiences and guide us in how we finish our stories.
Maybe we’re a bit like the younger son who rebels against the father. Perhaps we are like the older brother who is resentful and disapproves of the younger brother and refuses to welcome him home.
Or maybe, just maybe, the focus of Jesus telling this parable is not only for us to realize that we have a little of both sons within us but also for us to strive to demonstrate the extravagant love the father showed, God’s prodigal love.
It is a love that is unconditionally forgiving and patient rather than angry or judgmental, a love that offers full and complete mercy and grace. It is a love that is so extravagant and abundantly given that when any child of God strays or makes a mistake, it doesn’t condemn or punish but welcomes their return with open arms.
God cares for saints and sinners alike because all of God’s children are both saints and sinners at the same time. The extravagance of God’s prodigal love is offered to all of humanity, not because of anything we’ve done but because that is God’s nature — it’s who God is. And when one person repents and returns to God’s loving ways, all the company of heaven celebrates.
We are called to be like our heavenly Father and share his love radically and extravagantly with all his children. Without passing judgment as the Pharisees did with the tax collectors and sinners, determining who is worthy and unworthy, who is acceptable and unacceptable, casting aside those we don’t like or agree with; that only breaks the heart of our heavenly father.
Sadly, much of our society encourages division and judgment. As disciples of Christ, our hearts should be broken by the things that breaks the heart of God. And our hearts should be filled with joy by the things that bring joy to our heavenly Father. We need to see the world through God’s eyes, not absorbed with our own interests or the priorities determined by society or so-called leaders.
We are God’s ambassadors to a world that is lost, and we do so by embodying the extravagance and lavishness of God’s prodigal love, inviting and welcoming all of God’s children home.
