The Fourth Sunday of Lent – March 14, 2010
Luke 15:1 – 3; 11 – 32
Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them."
Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them.
"Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
"When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.' So he got up and went to his father.
"But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
"The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'
"But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate.
"Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 'Your brother has come,' he replied, 'and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.'
"The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, 'Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!'
“'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’"
This passage repeats today, eight days after being the daily passage for Saturday of the Second Week of Lent. The passage is lengthy and complex, however, and allows for multiple interpretations.
Previously, I dealt with the younger son in the story. I said that his journey is one paradigm for the spiritual life. He was hungry for something deeper and more meaningful in life, so he gathered resources from his home, including his inheritance, his experiences, and all his background as a son and brother. Then he went away searching, spending his resources on those things that he felt might bring him the depth of life for which he was seeking.
In his seeking two things happened: First, he could not find a life that satisfied him, and second, he spent his resources down to zero. In the previous meditation, I suggested that this was the point at which he was ready to experience life. He “came to himself,” which is another way of saying that when all the exterior resources ran dry, he found within himself a connection to what was real and most meaningful in life, and only then was he ready to return home.
So I suggest that the spiritual life is necessarily about leaving and spending, until we see what does not satisfy and begin to recognize what does satisfy. That is the younger son’s story.
The elder brother has another story. He has never asked for anything. He has never explored. He has never left the familiar. He has never been to the edge of his existence.
He stayed “on the farm” and “in the field.” He never left. He never sought. He never followed his hungers.
I assume that, as a human being, he had a yearning for meaning and purpose and the deepest things in life; however, he never acted upon them. He stayed where it was safe. For him, there was never a leaving and never a spending. There was only the day-in, day-out rut of trying to find life in that which could not give life.
Maybe you know from experience the modern proverb that says insanity is doing the same thing over and over, while expecting to get a different result. If this is true, the elder brother was insane.
In the vocabulary of the spiritual life, the most abundant life is found in spending ourselves – resources, experiences, “inheritances” – not in accumulating and hoarding them.
You might think of it this way: Spirituality is about subtraction, letting go, and surrender. We may think addition is preferable, adding more experiences, knowledge, and morality to our lives and thereby accumulating a stockpile of goodness. Spiritual wisdom says, however, that we are most ready to receive authentic and abundant life when we are spent down to zero, when we have lost all that we trusted in.
Only at the end of all we have trusted do we find God. Not only do we find God, but we also find our own resilient soul fearlessly clinging to God for life.
Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them."
Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them.
"Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
"When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.' So he got up and went to his father.
"But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
"The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'
"But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate.
"Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 'Your brother has come,' he replied, 'and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.'
"The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, 'Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!'
“'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’"
This passage repeats today, eight days after being the daily passage for Saturday of the Second Week of Lent. The passage is lengthy and complex, however, and allows for multiple interpretations.
Previously, I dealt with the younger son in the story. I said that his journey is one paradigm for the spiritual life. He was hungry for something deeper and more meaningful in life, so he gathered resources from his home, including his inheritance, his experiences, and all his background as a son and brother. Then he went away searching, spending his resources on those things that he felt might bring him the depth of life for which he was seeking.
In his seeking two things happened: First, he could not find a life that satisfied him, and second, he spent his resources down to zero. In the previous meditation, I suggested that this was the point at which he was ready to experience life. He “came to himself,” which is another way of saying that when all the exterior resources ran dry, he found within himself a connection to what was real and most meaningful in life, and only then was he ready to return home.
So I suggest that the spiritual life is necessarily about leaving and spending, until we see what does not satisfy and begin to recognize what does satisfy. That is the younger son’s story.
The elder brother has another story. He has never asked for anything. He has never explored. He has never left the familiar. He has never been to the edge of his existence.
He stayed “on the farm” and “in the field.” He never left. He never sought. He never followed his hungers.
I assume that, as a human being, he had a yearning for meaning and purpose and the deepest things in life; however, he never acted upon them. He stayed where it was safe. For him, there was never a leaving and never a spending. There was only the day-in, day-out rut of trying to find life in that which could not give life.
Maybe you know from experience the modern proverb that says insanity is doing the same thing over and over, while expecting to get a different result. If this is true, the elder brother was insane.
In the vocabulary of the spiritual life, the most abundant life is found in spending ourselves – resources, experiences, “inheritances” – not in accumulating and hoarding them.
You might think of it this way: Spirituality is about subtraction, letting go, and surrender. We may think addition is preferable, adding more experiences, knowledge, and morality to our lives and thereby accumulating a stockpile of goodness. Spiritual wisdom says, however, that we are most ready to receive authentic and abundant life when we are spent down to zero, when we have lost all that we trusted in.
Only at the end of all we have trusted do we find God. Not only do we find God, but we also find our own resilient soul fearlessly clinging to God for life.
Comments
Post a Comment