March 26, 1995	Courage to Come Home	Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

When I was in high school I had a teacher who claimed that she didn't believe in God. In fact, I believe that she was actually very angry with God because she had been taught as a child that God was wrathful, angry, and punishing towards those who might have done the slightest thing wrong. I remember her explaining how if she ever hurt herself her mother would tell her, while she stood there crying, that God was punishing her for being bad. Her mother would say, "Remember how you sassed me the other day? Well, now God has punished you, you naughty little girl!"

And certainly, you can understand why this person, now grown up, would not want to believe in a God like that; a God who you were supposed to fear if you ever did something wrong, or if you failed to do something right. Of course, she would turn her back upon such an angry, hateful God. And I think most other persons would, as well.

But, the fact of the matter is that we don't fully understand what it really means to fear God. For when we think of the English word "fear" we think of other things like "dread," and "worry," and "horror." When we think of "fear" we think of Halloween and Jason and Freddie and Nightmares. When we think of fear we think of something hideous, terrible and awful. And, so, of course, you can understand why folks get confused when the Bible talks about how good it is to fear God and idealizes those who are "God fearing" people.

But, to the people who comprised the early Church "fearing" God meant something altogether different than what we think. For them, "fearing" God meant to be in awe of a loving and caring God. For them, God wasn't "awful." Rather, God was "awesome." And there is a big difference.

In our Gospel lesson for this morning, we come face to face with the kind of love God has for us. The parable of the Prodigal Son starts out with the Pharisees and the scribes criticizing Jesus for eating with tax collectors and sinners. In fact, Jesus tells the parable of the Lost Sheep and the parable of the Prodigal Son as a response to the criticism the Scribes and Pharisees were giving to him.

We know the story of the Prodigal Son so well. But how good it is for us to be reminded again and again about the unconditional love that God has for us. Let's take a look, once again.

As we remember, there are actually two sons, the younger son and the older son. And it is the younger son who goes to his father and asks for his share of the inheritance so he can go away and live the kind of life he chooses to live. What is interesting here is that the boys' father gives this younger son what he asks for. And, of course, the younger son then goes off and lives foolishly and irresponsibly, squandering everything he had been given.

In a very real sense, our relationship with God, the Heavenly Father, is very much like this, as well. How many times have we chosen to go our own way, even to go against what we knew was right, just to prove that we could do it? And the amazing thing is that God has granted us the freedom.

Of course, common sense may strongly suggest that a wise father wouldn't have given his son his share of the inheritance to waste in the first place. But, the point here is that God isn't like the "common sensical", "father-knows-best", father that we usually idealize. Rather, God is much more generous. God is much more giving. If we want our freedom, God will give it.

But, there is something interesting about freedom. If we use our freedom outside of the sphere of God's influence, how quickly we get into trouble! The prodigal son went and wasted everything his father had given to him and found himself hungry, alone, and sitting in the midst of filth. And it wasn't because his father had forced such a fate upon him. In fact, the prodigal son had done quite well in getting himself into the trouble he was in. He couldn't blame his father. All he had to blame was himself.

But, how often do we find ourselves blaming our heavenly Father for the things that go wrong in our lives? A loving friend dies and we have to think that God did it for some good reason. We lose our job and we have to think that God caused it to happen so that we might be open to an even better opportunity. Or, on the other hand, we get into a car crash and figure that it was caused by God who was trying to tell us something.

But, that is not what the Parable of the Prodigal Son tells us. The younger son got into trouble, not because his father sent down trouble upon him, but simply because he had been given the freedom to either be responsible or to get into trouble.

And God gives us this freedom, as well. And when we look at things this way we become much more responsible people which is what I believe is what God wants us to be.

There have been more times than I would like to count when I have had to visit families after a fatal traffic accident or some similar tragedy where God got the blame for the accident. I remember one accident that took place in the home of an elderly couple out in Strawberry Point, Iowa where I was the pastor for six years. The old wife, in her 80's, was coming up the basement stairs when her foot slipped, causing her to fall backwards and hit her head on the concrete floor. She was killed instantly. And I remember her son saying over and over again: "It was the will of God." And I remember how uncomfortable his words made me feel. For in saying this he was implying that God is the author of evil. Either that, or he was implying that the death of his mother was good. What so often happens is that we tend to blame God for things that go wrong that we or someone else might have been able to prevent. Or, oftentimes we have a great deal of difficulty simply admitting that in spite of God's love and power, the powers of chaos are still at work, bringing disorder to God's creation.

But, let's get back to the story of the Prodigal Son. We're told that the younger son, sitting in the midst of filth, thought about how life had been when he was still with his father. And he wondered if his father might take him back into the household as a slave. And, so, in spite of all the things that had gone wrong in his life, in spite of the bad decisions he had made, in spite of his back luck, he worked up the courage to go back home to his father. And we are told that "while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him."

What a surprise this must have been to that younger son! And what a surprise it was to the rest of the household, as well. For if this father had been like most other fathers, he would have been angry with his son. Learning that his son had squan- dered the inheritance, this father would have been expected to send him away in disgrace. But this father didn't do that. Instead, he did the unexpected. He did what God would do. He ran to meet him and put his arms around him and kissed him. He brought his son home and gave him new clothes to wear, and killed the fatted calf and held a feast.

And Jesus told this story to the Scribes and Pharisees and he tells this story to us to remind us of what kind of a God we have, as well. Things go wrong in our life. Sometimes it is because we rebel against God. Sometimes it is because of the rebellion of others. And sometimes things go wrong simply because the powers of evil are still at work in our midst. But in our pain, and in our hurt, how good it is to go to back home to our Heavenly Father whose love is as comforting and yet is as vulnerable as hen's wings to a baby chick. How good it is when we can work up the courage to go back home to such a loving Father. When the storms of life are raging, how good it is to know that there is a place of quiet rest, near to the heart of God; a place where sin cannot molest, near to the heart of God. O Jesus, blest Redeemer, sent from the heart of God, hold us who wait before thee near to the heart of God.

May God grant us the courage to go back home to such a God as this. Amen.

Amen.