Lent IV: “Laerte” – Ted Hackett
Today is the Fourth Sunday in Lent,
Since Lent has five Sundays then add Holy Week, and this is about half-way through the season of penitence.
Today has a number of names…Mid-Lent, Refreshment Sunday, Mothering Sunday and Laerte Sunday…
“Mothering Sunday” because Monastic Lenten austerity was given some relief and mothers would bring cakes to their monk sons. This developed into the custom of visiting the local Cathedral on this day…the cathedral clergy were “canons” under Monastic obedience.
The name ‘Laerte” comes from the first words of the old Roman Mass “Entrance Song”: “Laerte Ierusalem”… “Rejoice Jerusalem and gather ‘round all you who love her…”
And it led to the custom of “lightening up” the somber vestment colors of Lent…some parishes use Rose instead of purple today.
O.K….that’s the Liturgical Factoid lesson for today!
Let’s talk about the Gospel.
I have been conversing with the “Parable of the Prodigal Son” for around 50 years…
It was part of my Ph. D. Dissertation and I have been fascinated and confused by it ever since…
I am still trying to make sense out of the realism and insight of the story on one hand…
And the bizarre, jolting backbone of the thing on the other.
I still am not sure what to do with it!
Why?
Well, let’s go back to the story and see.
There is an elderly Palestinian who owns a family farm.
He has two sons…
The elder is responsible and hard-working.
The younger…his father’s favorite…
Not so much.
In those days, small farmers were coming under enormous pressure from what we would call Agri-Business…
Big, rich companies that bought up failing family farms and because they could hire lots of cheap labor, were making big money.
The law said that each child had a part of their family fortune when the father died.
If there were two boys, the elder got 2/3s and the younger 1/3.
After they were divided like this for a few generations the farm was so small that it usually went bankrupt and was sold.
So farmers tried to keep the farm intact
Maybe by keeping the boys close to home, sharing the farm.
O.K…..now, one day the younger son goes to his father and says: “Father…give me my share of the farm now.”
The father doesn’t have to do this…
He could say: “Wait till I die, maybe you will come to your senses.”
But he doesn’t…this is his Golden Child.
So the kid goes to the bank and sells his 1/3 of the farm.
To literally “seal the deal”, he gives the banker his family signet ring which proves he is a land-holder. It’s the ring he uses to stamp all business documents.
The banker makes him sign and seal a quit-claim deed so when the father dies the bank will get the land.
And he leaves…
With the money, and Without the ring.
He goes off to the city…and burns through the money pretty fast… Fancy clothes, good wine and fancy women…. cost!
Now he is penniless and homeless, what is he to do?
Well….he goes and gets the only job he can find…herding pigs!
A nice Jewish boy….living with pigs!!!
And to make it worse…eating pig-food!
So, in his hunger and shame, he says to himself: “Back home, everyone has a warm bed and food. Maybe my father will hire me on as a farm-hand.”
Now please note…this is not repentance.
There is no sign that he “gets” what he has done and the injury it is causing…no sense of his father’s pain. No sense of responsibility or guilt.
For centuries the Church has used this story in Lent to urge repentance but this is not repentance!
This is pure, selfish, self-interest.
So he hits the road back home…dirty and tattered…
And smelling of pigs!
Apparently his father has been spending a lot of time on the front porch looking up the road, waiting for this kid to come back, because he spies him at a great distance…and then…
With his burnoose flopping in the breeze in an undignified manner, this elderly Jew runs…he runs to meet his son!
And when he gets there, the son starts his well-rehearsed plea for a job and the father cuts him off.
He says to the amazed slave who has followed the father out: “Quickly, bring the best robe and put it on him…put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet! And get the fatted calf and we’ll have a feast! For this son of mine was dead and is alive, was lost and is found!”
Please note… “put a ring on his finger…”
Back then, Jews wore very little jewelry except for signet rings if they owned property. This means the kid owns property again.
And if the father is endowing him with property…
Where could it come from?
Of course….only from the elder brother’s share!
Oh….and where is the elder brother?
Naturally, he is out in the field…working.
He comes back to the house and in the yard he hears sounds of the feast…. he asks a slave what is going on…
The slave tells him the whole story…
And the guy is furious…
Not only is the kid getting a banquet without even saying he is sorry… But his father has given the kid his brother’s inheritance!
Who wouldn’t be furious?
He won’t go in and celebrate this unfair event…
The father comes out to plead…
The elder gives him an earful!
“All these years I have slaved faithfully and you have never thrown even a small feast for me. But this brat of yours, who has wasted the family property…him you treat like a king!”
The father wants to assure him…
“Son…You are always with me…and all that is mine is yours…but it is right we should do this because your brother was dead and has come to life.”
Did you hear that?
“All that is mine is yours”
What is that ring doing on his finger?
He sold his property…
If he has property it must have come from my inheritance…So what’s this “all I have is yours” stuff…You must be lying to one of us!
By every human standard…this is unfair…
By every way we can calculate…
this is actually impossible…
You can’t get three pieces of pie out of two pieces…
I don’t get it…
I do, I think, get part of it…
The father….who we naturally associate with God,
Gives the kid what he asks for…
He trusts him, even if at some level he knows he is irresponsible…
And then he leaves…
Leaves the love of the father…
The father grieves…
His son …of his body…
Seems not to love him
Has turned away from him…
And the Father grieves but cannot force him to return.
So the father waits…watching every day to see if his son will come home…
He waits and watches and yearns…
And when he sees the kid…
Dirty and smelling of Pigs…
He runs to greet him…
A love and joy all out of proportion!
One thing the parable is saying is “that is how God is”
Letting us go to do what we will…
But loving us and yearning for us while we sin,
While we turn away…
I have trouble getting my head around that kind of love…but I can sort of get it…and be in wonder and awe that God could so love and want even me!
But the other thing…
about the share of property…
Makes no sense…
I admit it kind of delights my heart…
It comes out wonderfully…
An ending worthy of Disney…
Everyone gets what they want
Including the selfish kid.
I wonder…
Could I be on to something..
Something strange and weird?
In the kingdom of God…
Everyone is accepted no matter their Sinfulness…their insensitivity…their selfishness…their sin?
That runs against my sense of justice…but then…I don’t make the rules.
Years ago, the great theologian Paul Tillich preached a sermon which finished:
“Now, know you are accepted…
If you know nothing else…know you are accepted.
Nothing more is asked of you…just know you are accepted.
Later, much may be asked of you…
But for now….just know that you are accepted.”
Words for Lent!