Lent 4C’25 The Parable of the Estranged Sons & the Loving Father
30 March 2025
II Cor.5.16-21; Lk.15.1-3,11b-32
St. Luke’s Episcopal Church
North Little Rock, Arkansas
The Rev. Carey Stone <+>
But 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. Amen. – from Luke 15
The Episcopal Church is a bible church, in fact, if you attended church every week for three years you will have heard practically the entire bible read out loud. Also, our prayer book is full of holy scripture. What is it about the bible that at times can go in one ear and out the other and other times leap off the page! That happened to me one Sunday. I had heard the story of “the prodigal son” read in church countless times, I could tell it from memory. But on that particular Sunday, I heard the following words for what felt like the very first time: He told them a parable, “There was a man who had two sons…” Two sons, so rather than the “prodigal son,” it could be properly named “the Parable of the Two Sons” one was prodigal, and as we will see, the other one was resentful. Since my life had not been one of rebellion and prodigal adventures, I tended to tune out on the Sundays that this scripture was read and preached on. But on this particular Sunday I learned not only about the younger son who left home I learned about the elder son who stayed home. I never knew the elder son and brother would have so much to teach me personally.
The younger son was sick of his constrictive rule bound life on the farm, and sick of the feeling that he was under his dad’s thumb, and in the shadow of his older brother. The only way for him to be himself, he thought was to lose himself in carnal pleasures. He learned a difficult lesson, and wound up feeding pigs, not the most desirable position to be in for a kosher keeping Jewish person. He had spent all that he had been given and now was licking his lips for the slop the pigs were eating.
Under extreme distress and hunger, the parable says, “he came to himself” that is, he had a moment of clarity where he saw just how wrong he had been about his father, and life on the farm, and discovered that his fantasies led him to a dead end. He humbled himself and says that he’s not worthy to be called his father’s son, and that he would now be willing to live as one of the hired hands (at least they had three hots and a cot in the bunk house). He repents that his makes an about face and starts for home while rehearsing his impassioned apology to his father. Meanwhile back at the ranch, the elder son/brother continues to follow his father’s every instruction to the letter. He surmises that his younger brother is doing what he had always done, being irresponsible one while he remained the responsible one. He was the one working hard while savoring the satisfaction of feeling superior to his brother who just didn’t have the gifts that he alone had. No doubt one day his father would be giving him a big reward and an even bigger inheritance after his dad dies. Meanwhile the loving father continued to tend to his tasks on the farm and on a daily basis he would walk out to the edge of the road and look in the direction of his younger son’s departure some months ago – and hoping that his prayers would be answered and that he would see him coming back toward home. Alas, days, weeks, and months passed with no son returning. Meanwhile, the son was continuing to rehearse his ‘eating crow speech’, hoping to grovel well enough and low enough for the father to give him a place in the bunkhouse.
The father sees him in the distance and takes off running! When he gets to him and before the son even has a chance to open his mouth to speak, the father throws his arms around him and begins to shower him with kisses. The son tries to speak the speech of repentance that he had rehearsed and the father is beside himself and apparently is not even listening, his mind has already raced ahead to the party and asks his servant to run fetch the best robe, the golden signet ring, and a brand-new pair of sandals. “Quick, cook and slice the brisket, we’re going to have the party of all parties, ‘this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’
Now enters the elder son – the elder brother from the field who has heard the commotion and the music that is playing and comes up to the farmhouse. He asks a slave what all the fuss was about, and he tells him, “Your brother is back all safe and sound, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he’s got his boy back!” Now the parable is about to teach us something. Rather than becoming ecstatic like the father, the elder brother becomes angry. And refused to join the party. When the father heard this, he comes out to plead with his older son to join in, and to this the elder son says: “Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came back, who had devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!” The dismayed father replies, “Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life, he was lost and has been found!”
What the parable reveals to us is that both sons were lost, one got lost in rebellion, and the other got lost in the rules. Both of them in their hearts were estranged from their father. The prodigal chose open rebellion while the elder chose hidden resentment – frozen hostility. Neither were experiencing the abundant love of their father. Both had gotten their dad all wrong. The prodigal figured his dad would throw the book at him in a vengeful rage and perhaps not even have a place for him anymore. The older brother’s anger finally comes to the surface in an eruption towards a dad he sees as extremely unfair and playing favorites.
So, what is the big truth? Whichever way our estrangement manifests, through open rebellion, or hidden resentment it’s still the opposite of loving connection
In which brother do we see ourselves the most? One or the other or perhaps a little of them both. Whichever way we relate God’s heart longs for us to know the Divine embrace of God’s Love – and Love is bigger than anything in its way.
The following poem by U2’s Bono sums it up:
I know the rage in you is strong
Write a world where we can belong
To each other and sing it like no other
Let your song be sung
If you listen you can hear the silence say
When you think you’re done
You’ve just begun
Love is bigger
Love is bigger
Love is bigger than anything in its way.1
1 Love Is Bigger Than Anything In Its Way, U2 is Paul Hewson, Adam Clayton, Larry Mullen, Dave Evans