Paul Walker, Luke 15:1-3
“All the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to Jesus. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, "This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them." That’s how the famous Prodigal Son parable is introduced, and in my humble opinion, that really says it all. Why would the people who feel shunned or shamed by organized religion flock to a rabbi? For that matter, why have you come here to this church today?
Since it’s Lent is time to reread Hamlet. Do make sure you are reading Hamlet or Macbeth or King Lear. Don’t be put off by the language. Read it next to a modern translation if you’d like. Shakespeare is not highbrow. Lots of it is bawdy, in fact. All of it is soul piercing.
As you remember, Hamlet’s father – the King of Denmark also named Hamlet is murdered by his brother Claudius, who then marries his brother’s wife – Hamlet’s mother. They marry less than a month after the murder. Hamlet is distraught, in deep mourning for his father. The scene I’m about to describe happens before the King’s ghost appears to Hamlet, telling him to revenge his murder. So, Hamlet doesn’t know yet how his father died. He just knows that he feels terrible – sad and lonely, depressed and despairing. To be or not to be, that is the question.
Hamlet is summoned into the presence of his uncle – now King -and his mother. They chastise him for his mopey demeanor. Basically, they tell him it is time to move on. Claudius says,” to persevere in obstinate condolement is a course Of impious stubbornness. ’Tis unmanly grief. It shows a will most incorrect to heaven. For what we know must be. (meaning death) Fie, ’tis a fault to heaven, A fault against the dead, a fault to nature, to reason most absurd, whose common theme Is death of fathers, and who still hath cried, From the first corpse till he that died today, “This must be so.” We pray you, throw to earth This unprevailing woe”
Hey Son, it’s time for you to buck up. Pull yourself together, man! You are embarrassing yourself. And you are embarrassing us – that’s the main thing. In the saying that Sam maligned in his sermon last week, “It is what it is.” Time for you to deal with it. Get yourself together right now.
What a terrible and cruel burden high anthropology is. I mean – high expectations of ourselves and others, glossing over or powering through the clamoring reality of our weaknesses and bound wills. When someone tells you to “be strong” or “dig deep”, the result of your digging is usually a bevy of unhelpful emotions: fear, self-preservation, and short-temperedness. How often do you feel like Hamlet? Not necessarily with grief, but in any circumstance when you just can’t rise to occasion. The truth is that we are all 3 days away from a nervous breakdown. And most of us are already on day 2.
How often do you say – or at least think – I just don’t know how much longer I can do this.? I don’t know how much longer I can deal with my child’s difficult behavior. I don’t know how much longer I can cope with my husband’s drinking. I don’t know how much longer I can bear this internal pain. Day 3 feels like a hair trigger away. But, maybe you are on the sunny side of the street right now and after hearing this you are wondering if you should find a cheerier church to attend. Maybe somewhere you can hear about disciplines to make you better, or 3 steps to a better walk with the Lord. Best of luck to you – and we’ll see you back here in 3 months.
That is true because “All the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to Jesus. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, "This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them." Even if you don’t come back here in 3 months, make sure you to directly to Jesus Christ. Why? I’m going to give it to you straight. “Only Christ gives life. Most of us are just trying to get by, desperately searching for glimmers of life wherever we can find them. But if life is to be found in Christ, then all other possible paths to life are empty, if not deadly.
Our work may be unbearably demanding, but God demands nothing. Our friends may abandon us when we fall off the rails, but God’s promise remains. While the world judges us all the time, in Christ, there is no condemnation.” (Todd Brewer – Mockingbird) No wonder the sinners and the tax collectors flocked to Him. And it’s no wonder why the story of the prodigal son welcomed home with a lamb feast touches our hearts so deeply. It is the reason we still flock to him today.
We were at dinner last week with friends we haven’t seen in over 25 years. Like everyone, they have experienced their fair share of the suffering life liberally doles out. My friend James told me an affecting story. He grew up going to church but really went off the rails while he was at Fort Bragg training to be a ranger. One Sunday morning, after a particularly reprobate Saturday night that lasted to the dawn, James found himself getting dressed and going to the early service at the local Episcopal church. He told me he reeked outside, and more painfully, inside.
Head throbbing, James eased himself into a back pew, not even sure he would be welcome. He became aware of the presence of a very prim and proper lady eyeing him. Must be a church lady, he thought, and I am offending her. As he closed his eyes to pray, he felt a hand on his back. When he looked up the lady was next to him, asking, “Are you James? I thought so. I’m friends with your mother. I’m so glad you are here.”
You see? That’s the heart of the gospel. No need to buck up or be what you are not. You are most welcome. We are told that Jesus welcomes sinners and eats with them. And the parable ends in a big feast, the sinner welcomed home and seated in a fine robe at the groaning board. Funny that our mutual friend served lamb for dinner that night. During a children’s sermon about the Prodigal Son, a minister asked the kids who was the one who was sad in the story – trying to get them to answer the older brother. One kid said, “I know! The fatted calf!” – which would have been a young lamb.
The kid was right. This really is the Parable of the Lamb Who Was Slain Before the Foundation of the World for the Sins of the World. The fatted calf gave his life so they could “celebrate.” Jesus drew then and still draws now, the likes of sinners like us. The likes of we who just sometimes cannot buck up. The likes of us who love the Lord because He gave His life so we could be wrapped in our Father’s arms, robed in the righteousness of Christ, and seated at a table laden with food and wine.
Amen.