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St. Andrew's Church
An Anglican Church • Grimsby, Ontario, Canada
Preached by
Stuart Pike
Rector
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Lent 4 - The Prodigal
St. Andrew's, Grimsby
Luke 15: 1-3, 22-32
18 March 2007
When I first met Joseph in the hospital in Gaspé, I thought that he probably wouldn't live out the week. He was so incredibly thin. He looked to be an old man, though he later told me that he was in his forties. He was an old bachelor from down the coast: a woodsman. He was on the hospital list as an Anglican, which is how I came to know about him. The word, "haggard" doesn't begin to describe how badly he looked though it points in the general direction. His breathing was quick and shallow. He had deep worry lines in his grey face and his big hands were thick with calluses, the fingers of his right hand stained heavily through years of cigarette smoking. Conversation wasn't Joseph's strong suit. He didn't share anything about his condition, but I finished my visit with prayer and he told me he was glad that I had visited.
When I saw him a few days later it seemed that the ice had been broken and he started to tell me his story. He had never married, but had lived his whole life with his father until his father died the previous year. His mother left them when he was a teenager because of his father's drinking. It wasn't long before Joseph was drinking the same way as his father. He said that for the last twenty years of his life he usually drank at least a couple of litres of hard liquor every day. He kept a bottle of vodka under his bed in case he woke up in the night and every morning he would take a swig from it before his feet hit the floor. Just like his father.
I saw him usually once every week when I went in to visit at the hospital. The doctors told him that he probably wouldn't live long - perhaps six months. His liver was shot, so were his lungs. He said that this was the same way that his father died last year. He was full of regrets. He regretted that he never met girl and got married. No woman would go near him. He regretted that he didn't have children. He regretted that he never went anywhere in his life.
At one of my visits he asked me how he could possibly be forgiven by God for destroying his life. He wanted to know what to say to God when he was being judged.
At the next visit I brought him the story of the Prodigal son which is today's Gospel lesson. I marked it out in a copy of the Bible and left it there for him. We discussed the story the next time I visited.
The story of the prodigal was one which really spoke to Joseph. It gave him the hope that he needed that God could even forgive him, and would accept him home.
The story is one which can speak to everyone, not just those who are feeling as desperate as Joseph was feeling. Once again, it is the story of a journey.
The youngest son seems impatient to live his life. Perhaps he doesn't think that there will be enough time for him to do everything which he wants to do. He wants life to go faster. In order to get what he wants he asks for his share of his inheritance from his father. In his desire for independence he is effectively wishing his father dead. His father grants his son's wish and he takes the money and travels far from his family.
I think I know what that feels like somewhat. At times in my life I have lived far away from my family. I remember at one time I lived on Canada's West coast, my brother lived on the East coast, my sister lived in Toronto and my parents lived in Colorado. We were the exploded family! I know that there are some in the Church who have families like that. Is that what it feels like to be a prodigal?
Actually the physical distance which the young son put between himself and his family is simply symbolic of the distance which he has put between himself and the values of his family. The young son leaves their way of life as well as their home. He takes what the father gives to him and squanders it - wastes it. The son truly abandoned his father and turned his back on him emotionally and spiritually. He broke relationship not only in terms of physical distance, but in denying their relationship. He disowned his father and with this denied all the values which had been instilled in him. He denied himself - the way that he was formed - he was living a lie in his very being.
But, Jesus did not primarily tell this story to teach us how to live as good members of our earthly families. The story is about relationship between human beings and God. We are not prodigals in our relationship to our folks, but yes, we human beings are certainly the prodigal sons and daughters in the spiritual distance that we have put between us and God.
The History of the relationship between human beings and their God - our history - is one of our moving further and further away. We asked God for our independence, we asked for our share of the inheritance, and God freely gave us this world which he created and in which we live. And we prodigals have squandered it. We have all but destroyed God's creation, and we recklessly move on in our corruption of our earthly inheritance.
But, you know, the best thing I like about this story is a simple turn of phrase. It happens just at the point where the prodigal son is living in misery and he suddenly changes his life and turns back to his father. This is the phrase that is used:
"But when he came to himself..."
He had denied his very self for all this time that he squandered his inheritance. But he came back to himself and returned to ask forgiveness. The truth and the values and the relationship which he had denied for all this time were still in there - he just had to come back to his true self.
I believe this is the case with us human beings as well. There is still within each of us, no matter how deeply buried and denied, the spirit of the Creator. However we spend our lives, what we all need to do is come back to our true selves and to recognize the hunger that is within us for a relationship with our God.
And what is God's reaction as we come back to ourselves and return to him asking forgiveness? Just like the Father in the story, our Creator Father rejoices over each one of us as we return. Forgiveness is instantaneous, and celebration and rejoicing follows. This is the extent to which our God loves us.
Towards the very end of his life, Joseph came to believe in a God who could even forgive him, despite all the waste of his life. Even though we both knew his time on earth was limited, his death came much sooner than I had expected. I went in to the hospital one week for a visit and was told by the nurse that he had died a couple of days before. I was surprised, but I felt that Joseph was ready to return home.
To anyone who feels that it is too late for them, or that they have been too far from God for too long: remember the story of the Prodigal; remember how expansive is God's love and how eagerly he welcomes us home.
Lent is a time for each one of us to come back to ourselves. To return to the utmost truth of our being, and to return to our Father. Amen.
