The Grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ, The Love of God, and The Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you All. Amen.

Luke 15:1-3,11-32; 1 “Now all the tax collectors and the sinners were coming near Him to listen to Him. 2 Both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, ‘This man receives sinners and eats with them.’. . . And He said, ‘A certain man had two sons; 12 and the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me.’ And he divided his wealth between them. 13 And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country, and there he squandered his estate with loose living. 14 Now when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country, and he began to be in need. 15 And he went and attached himself to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. 16 And he was longing to fill his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating, and no one was giving anything to him. 17 But when he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger! 18 I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight; 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men.”’ 20 And he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him, and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him, and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet; 23 and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and be merry; 24 for this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found.’ And they began to be merry. 25 ‘Now his older son was in the field, and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 And he summoned one of the servants and began inquiring what these things might be. 27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ 28 But he became angry, and was not willing to go in; and his father came out and began entreating him. 29 But he answered and said to his father, ‘Look! For so many years I have been serving you, and I have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a kid, that I might be merry with my friends; 30 but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with harlots, you killed the fattened calf for him.’ 31 And he said to him, ‘My child, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 But we had to be merry and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.’”

“You Can’t Go Home Again” is a novel that was written by Thomas Wolfe and published posthumously in 1940. The novel tells the story of George Webber, a young author, who writes a book that makes frequent references to his home town of Libya Hill. In the story Webber’s book was a national success, but the residents of the town took offense at Webber’s distorted depiction of them and sent the author hate mail and death threats.
“But why (writes Wolfe) had he always felt so strongly the magnetic pull of home, why had he thought so much about it and remembered it with such blazing accuracy, if it did not matter, and if this little town, and the immortal hills around it, was not the only home he had on earth? He did not know. All that he knew was that the years flow by like water, and that one day men come home again.”
Thomas Wolfe’s “You Can’t Go Home Again” left us with some a bit of conventional wisdom. You really can’t go home again. Life moves on. Circumstances change. People change, at the least around the edges. We all get older. Loyalties shift. Outside influences come to bear. Likes and dislikes change. Traditions and customs change or are forsaken. While some things stay the same, other things change with each trip home. The home you once left isn’t the home to which you return. That’s the moral of Thomas Wofle’s novel, “You Can’t God Home Again.”
The story of the prodigal son is a story of coming home. “A certain man had two sons; and the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me.’ And he divided his wealth between them. And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country, and there he squandered his estate with loose living.” (Luke 15:11-13)
You know the details. Things went terribly wrong. Some of those bad things happened because the young man made rebellious, stupid, and sinful choices (he had spent everything on loose living). Others things went badly because that’s often how the world works (a severe famine).
The young man sought freedom from the environment, love, traditions, and way of life provided by his father. But freedom without sound judgment turns out to be a little more than a path to indentured servitude. The prodigal son learned that quickly. He “squandered” his inheritance in service to his passions.
Things got so bad that he had to go to work on someone’s pig farm. His job was to slop the pigs, which for a Jew was about a bad as it could get. “And he was longing to fill his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating, and no one was giving anything to him.” (Luke 15:16)
In that moment he came to his senses the parable tells us and he began to wonder if he could go back home. Home was looking pretty good. He remembered that even the servants in his father’s house had enough bread to eat.
Now there is an interesting Greek construction here. Our translation said “he came to his senses.” A more literal translation is that the young man was “coming to himself.” This more literal construction leaves us wondering if the young man was truly repentant in this moment or was he more self-centered than that. Was he devising a plan and rehearsing it to manipulate his father?
Most preachers think that he was truly sorry for what he had done and that he wanted forgiveness from his father more than he wanted decent food. But the Greek isn’t that clear on this point. The issue isn’t cleared up by the next verse either. The younger son reasons to himself, “ I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight; 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men.”’ (15:8)
This could rightly be understood that the young man scheming his way back into his father’s good graces. He rehearses the plan in his mind. “Treat me as one of your hired servants.” In other words, “I’ll work for you if you’ll just feed me a give me a place to live.
Whichever it was true repentance or a plan to manipulation his father, “he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him, and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him, and kissed him.” Whichever it was, the father has but one response, compassion and love. He is overjoyed that his son is returning.
You may have noticed that the Gospel lesson began at Luke 15:1-3, then jumped to verses 11-32. The assigned reading skipped over the previous parables of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin and deals only with the “Lost Son.” But at the end of the two previous parables Jesus said (v. 10), “In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
All three parables teach us something essential about the nature of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Namely, that our God is not like the gods manufactured in the minds of sinful human beings. Our God is truly gracious and loving. He is God and needs nothing from us. We have nothing to offer Him. He loves and forgives us and there is nothing more pleasing to Him than to have His children live in and return to His household. He desires that all people repent and come home to His true church.
The disposition of the father in the parable is a mirror image of the disposition of God our heavenly Father. This is also the disposition that is to be manifested in the ministry of the church and indeed it is to some extent.
One of our former members, whose name I will not use here, stopped coming to church several years ago. Once several years back I did reply to a request to come to the family’s aid in a moment of crisis, but I haven’t seen him or the rest of the family now for ears. But in the first 5 years of their his absence, I would bump into him a few times.
One day he told me of a conversation he had with a friend who asked him if he attended a church. He told his friend that he use to, but they had fallen out of the habit. He said he knew he should go back to church, but habits are hard to break and he was too embarrassed at this point given all the years. His friend replied, “That’s the point. It’s the church. The pastor has to welcome you back if you show up.”
This former member had become the prodical son and his friend reminded him that like the father, the pastor and the church “had to welcome him back,” would likely do so with joy, and urged him to get back home to his church. I did the same. Obviously it hasn’t happened.
Pray this week for this man and his family come home again. Pray for all our former members who have wandered away from the church. And if God arranges an opportunity for you see and speak to one of our former members, invite them to come home. Let them know the angels will rejoice.
Conventional wisdom says you can’t go home again. It’s not the same. But God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit not only teach us that we can come home, but that such a home coming is better than before.
“While he was still a long way off, his father saw him, and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him, and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet; and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found.’ And they began to be merry. ” (15:20-24)
The father He ran to him! He ran to receive him and make him an heir again of a gracious inheritance. The father treated His son as royalty. Everything his son had done was forgiven and forgotten. The father, you see didn’t and doesn’t change. He is always the loving and caring and compassionate father to His children. He always received His children through the atoning work of His Jesus Christ. God the Son died to make us His brothers and sisters, so God the Father welcomes us back even though we sin daily and much because of, for the sake of the work His Son did to make us brothers and sisters of Christ and sons and daughters of God the Father.
Now the brother was a bit miffed. “He said to his father, ‘Look! For so many years I have been serving you, and I have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a kid, that I might be merry with my friends; but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with harlots, you killed the fattened calf for him.’ And [the father] said to him, ‘My child, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to be merry and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.’” (15:29-32)
Even when other members of the household of faith, the church aren’t all that happy that a wayward member has returned, God the Father is and directs the pastor and the fellow members to welcome home and celebrate the lost one who has returned.
Both sons enjoyed and benefitted from loving and forgiving nature of their father, not on the basis of who they were and how they behaved. But solely on the basis of who God the Father is and what Christ did for us and our salvation.
The Parable of the Prodigal (Lost) Son teaches us that a wayward child of God can go back home and that he/she will find that nothing has changed with the Father. “There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” (Luke 15:7)
In this respect, the Season of Lent brings more joy to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, as well as the angel and archangels, than does the Season of Easter. Lent is about repentance. It is to be about sinners coming to a full and deeper knowledge of their sin. During Lent we come as individuals and as the church confessing, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called Your son, Your daughter.” But the Father says to us, “here is my best robe. It is the robe of Christ My Son’s righteousness. He wraps us in this righteous Robe and brings us to the Easter celebration saying, “Let us eat and be merry; for these sons and daughters of Mine were dead, and has come to life again; they were lost and have been found.
Welcome home, you His prodical children.

AMEN.
May the peace that surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

Home Again

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