|
The
Rev. Robert Corin Morris
March 18, 2007 - Fourth Sunday in Lent
A Tale
of Two Brothers and the Gospel Call to Adulthood
Summary of a Sermon
preached by The Rev. Robert Corin Morris at Calvary Episcopal Church,
Summit, NJ on the Third Sunday in Lent, March 18, 2007
Let’s be clear from the outset—both these boys have a problem.
The one who draws our attention is the flamboyant one, the
younger. “He squandered his property in dissolute living” He
squandered his substance in riotous living. A movie in the 1950s
imagined vividly how he might have done this, with Lana Turner playing
the alluring temptress of lures him into shady living.
Jesus doesn’t tell us much, but it’s easy to imagine he’s
charming, more than a bit self-centered, quite impulsive, and not so
aware of consequences. His request for the inheritance is hugely rude:
“I just can’t wait till you’re dead.” But he probably doesn’t mean it
that way. Just thinking about himself. Manifestly, he doesn’t have
effective impulse control. His problem is a self-indulgent
irresponsibility.
The other boy, the elder brother, is at the opposite end of
the spectrum. He’s obeyed the rules, done what Dad told him, and, in a
telling phrase, isn’t entirely happy: “all these years I’ve been
working like a slave for you.” You can hear the bitterness clearly.
Sounds very much like some over-responsible elder children!
One of the angles to view this parable is as a conflict
between elder and younger siblings. I don’t want to stereotype. We’re
only talking about tendencies, so if the shoe doesn’t fit, don’t wear
it. But there are some general tendencies.
The eldest are sometimes given more responsibility in helping
parents. This boy is the elder, and elders tend toward adoption of the
parents’ values, raised under higher expectation and more careful
monitoring than later kids whereas younger kids are often given more
space and even more freedom. The parents are less anxious, more relaxed,
and they’ve been through it once.
Tension between elders and youngers can begin early: “Mama,
Billy’s doing something bad!” From the standpoint of obedient elder
kids, the younger often get away with murder. I can testify to this: I’m
an eldest child, and I can tell you my sister had a later curfew in high
school than I did!
The differences show up in unusual places. One historian
records that during the French Assembly, in the first days of the French
Revolution, that the more conservative revolutionaries tended to be
eldest sons. The extreme radicals were almost all younger brothers (See
Frank Solloway, Born to Rebel: Birth Order, Family Dynamics and
Creative Lives).
Religiously, there is William James’s famous distinction
between the “once-born,” who tend to find keeping the rules reasonably
easy, and tend to have a easier, less tempestuous relationship with God,
and the “twice-born” who have trouble with impulse-control, sometimes
become great sinners, and then have a dramatic conversion
experience—just like this “prodigal” younger brother. I can tell you
from experience that Evangelical and Fundamentalist Christians tend to
understand and love the younger brother’s dramatic story of sin and
redemption, whereas mainstream Protestants are often secretly annoyed or
resentful of him. How dare that irresponsible young kid blow it all and
then come back to mooch off the father! And how dare the father let him!
Sounds like me and my sister, in more ways than I care to detail for
you.
Mainstream Protestants are usually “once-born,” and the
Evangelical/Fundamentalists tend to be “twice-born.” It would be
interesting to know whether there’s an elder/younger correlation in
church membership. I don’t know, but I’d guess there might be a parallel
here.
The elder brother’s problem, as it emerges, is what can only
be called a “martyr complex.” You know the type. You may be the type.
He’s over-responsible, much too perfectionist, probably, and ,like
people who "work like a slave” to meet others expectations, resentful of
the uncooperative, irresponsible kids of the world.
Let’s be clear: Jesus is calling both these boys to
responsibility. And let’s also be clear — elder brothers and sisters,
listen up! — that the younger brother does not get off “scott-free.”
First of all, he’s blown his inheritance. It’s all gone. Doesn’t have a
dime to his name. He’s not going to get any more, you can be sure,
because the rest of is the older brother’s share. Not only that, all his
fond dreams of striking it rich through gambling, or find love in
“riotous living” have come a cropper. He has hit bottom. He has “come to
himself” and is ready to begin a new, more sober life. Don’t imagine he
gets to sleep in over the next week, drink beer and watch TV. He’s going
to go to work on the estate, not as a hired servant, but as a son. He’ll
probably be paid wages to save money to get started again. He’s paying
appropriately for his mistake, but he has been forgiven, welcomed
back, and will be loved as he tries to get his life together. He will
have to continue to learn how to be self-responsible.
But if the younger needs to learn a lesson in responsibility,
the elder needs to learn to be more compassionate toward the
impulse-control challenged and, in fact, more compassionate toward
himself. He’s angry at his brother, his dad, and, truth be told,
himself. He’s never accepted the great gifts the father has given him,
claimed neither his own strengths or the father’s favor. He’s still
behaving like a plaintive child.
As noted, there’s a plaintive, self-deprived plaint behind.
“I’ve slaved for you for years and you’ve never given me so much as a
young goat to celebrate with my friends.” This is sad, because this
older boy is the heir of the estate — everything, lock, stock and
barrel: “All that I have is yours,” the Father says. This young man
could have asked, and received, any number of goats—or taken one for
himself. But he’s too busy working for the favor of a father who long
since showed his favor by trusting the boy completely. What greater
favor can a father give? You can hear the appreciation in his voice:
“Son, you are always with me.”
Both boys share a common problem: neither of them has
grown up. The younger is a perpetual adolescent. The elder is still
a “good kid.” He’s never claimed his own power and privileges. Neither
of them has come into their rightful inheritance as grown ups. The
younger son is called to responsibility: to learn how to manage his
life, curb his impulses, order his desires, and become a cooperative
partner with other people.
The elder son is called to a different kind of
responsibility: to wean himself from his dependence on the father’s
praise and favor and learn how to enjoy his own powers and abilities,
which will make him less jealous of the father’s love turning elsewhere
for a while.
Jesus is telling this parable to challenge both the Pharisees
and the sinners he is welcoming. We usually hear it only as a criticism
of the Pharisees, the righteous, rule-keeping elders. But the truth of
Jesus’ ministry is that, while not everyone is called to the same kind
repentance everyone is called to change. Jesus’ love welcomes all, good
kids and bad kids alike, includes them in his circle. All may come in,
but none may remain unchanged.
All
may come in, but none may remain unchanged.
Jesus
is calling for the people in both camps—rule-keeping Pharisees and
rule-breaking sinners—to grow up. The challenge to moral and spiritual
adulthood is at the heart of Jesus message, not child-like dependency.
Yes, Jesus, on one occasion—one time, mind you—said of
children that “of such is the kingdom of heaven.” Yes he told us in one
saying — one saying, mind you — that we must become “as little children”
to enter under the rule of God. He’s talking about the unfeigned
affection of the children for the parent, and the tendency of children
to trust in the parent’s love and goodness.
One saying about children—but dozens about growing up:
parables about investing your money wisely, sayings about counting the
cost before beginning a project, demands to become aware of inner
motivations and curb impulsive behavior, calls to discipline and growth.
That’s because he’s looking for partners, colleagues in his work, not
trying to keep us dependent and weak.
Jesus was trying to train a cadre of people to do what he
does: to live with respect and compassion with others, to forgive from
the heart and seek to make amends for our mistakes to be active in
seeking to do good to others, to be a healing presence, to work for a
just society, and learn how to be partners with God’s purposes for the
earth, even in the face of resistance, opposition, and evil.
But he keeps running into the immaturities of even his own
disciples, their jockeying for status and favor, their “slowness of
heart” to accept what he says, and the hostility between the eldest and
the youngest, as in this parable.
If we think the way of righteousness is about winning God’s
favor we commit the mistake of the elder brother. If we think the
Father’s love will always bail us out of our difficulties we commit the
mistake of the younger brother.
This parent wants both his children to participate in his
bounty and take up the tasks of the family as adults. And he knows he
needs both of them—the rule-keeping elders and the experimental younger.
And he needs them to be looking at how they can cooperate in the task,
not wasting their energy in hostile looks at each other, or priding
themselves that they’re not like the other.
And he wants the same from all of us.
©
copyright 2007,
Robert Morris
Back to Sermons
|
