​Luke 24:1-12 The Resurrection of Jesus

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. 

While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, ‘Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.’
 
Then they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. 

​But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.

     Garbage. Hooey. Nonsense. Hogwash. Gibberish. Malarkey. That’s what the first people to hear testimony of the Resurrection thought: Baloney. Those women are telling an idle tale. I am not totally surprised that the men disciples wouldn’t believe women disciples about what they saw. I have been a woman for a long time now and am fully aware of how our testimonies even about our own bodies are often dismissed. Did you know that it can take seven and half years to get diagnosed with endometriosis? That’s from the moment a person tells their doctor about what has likely been chronic pain since they were a teenager to the time when they finally are diagnosed appropriately. Cisgender women can share the truth, with evidence! And, it can take a long time for people to listen to them.

     I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to call, as Katherine Shaner does in her commentary, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women who went to Jesus’ tomb the first preachers in our tradition. The core work of the Christian preacher is to speak of Resurrection, and that is what these women did! They went to their friends and told them about the tomb that no longer held Christ and the two men in dazzling white, and they reminded them that Jesus said that the Son of Man would rise again on the third day. The eleven men, their friends, called their words “an idle tale,” which is apparently a polite translation of the original Greek, which calls their story garbage. As Craig Coester says in his commentary, the disciples knew that the dead nearly always stayed dead. Any story that stated otherwise was nonsense.

     The last several days had been difficult on so many levels. The disciples had watched as Jesus, betrayed by Judas, was arrested. They waited as he was questioned by the Sanhedrin and Pilate and Herod. Then, as they watched a ways off in the distance from their friend, they saw Romans kill him. There was one man from the Sanhedrin, Joseph of Arimathea. He made sure Jesus’ body was wrapped in linen and placed in a tomb, a small measure of grace on a mournful day. He assured that Jesus’ remains would have a measure of respect in burial. And, then, the women disciples would make sure that his body was tended to, a job that Katherine Shaner points out usually fell to the women. In doing the thing expected of them, they would be empowered to do the unexpected.

     What is it about Peter that lets him believe that checking out the tomb is worth it after the women testify? You might remember that Peter’s behavior after Jesus’ arrest was quite suspect. Jesus knew that Peter would betray him. But, Jesus also seemed to know that Peter would try to do better, too. Cheryl Lindsay, in her commentary, wonders if that’s why Peter is more willing to listen to the women than the other men are. She says, “...[f]or Peter, this revelation must have reached him like answered prayer offering him an opportunity for personal redemption and restoration.” Peter, who had never believed that he would betray Jesus, knew something impossible was happening. Maybe this impossible thing would be redemption rather than betrayal. When he got to the tomb and saw that all that is left is Jesus' burial clothes, Luke tells us that he is amazed. 

     The preaching professor Anna Carter Florence once said that is story of the Resurrection from Luke might be here to show us that just because our hopeful testimony is incredible, it doesn’t mean that people will believe us when we share it. This is a wild and radical story, and she thinks if you’re preaching it in a way people don’t hear as an idle tale, you might be taming Jesus too much. We need to preach about new life in a way that will amaze even Peter, the one who really messed up when he needed to be brave. It is a wild and impossible resurrection that will help him return to the mission that Christ called him to in the first place.

     Cheryl Lindsay speaks about the resurrection as a transition point in Jesus’ story. She says, “Resurrection is both ending and beginning.” She points out that Jesus does not appear at the tomb in Luke. He will appear to two of the disciples who are walking to Emmaus, but, he’s not at the tomb. There it is just angelic messengers and devoted disciples: Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women, and eventually Peter. Lindsay argues that this shows us that the author of Luke understands the Resurrection to be the point where the followers of Jesus shift into leadership of the earliest Jesus movement. They are the ones who will carry his message forward. We know that they have grown into the Spirit-led power that Jesus gave them when new people hear them testify and choose to become part of the ministry.

     Peter becomes the test case for the power of sharing a good word about the resurrection. He is the first to hear and become curious. He is the first to consider that this radical tale of new life is worth exploring. When he runs to the tomb, he runs back to his commitment to Christ. The women pick up the mantle first. Then, Peter. Eventually, we, too, follow them to witness for ourselves what resurrection might look like.

     One thing it probably won’t look like is an easy path. As Lindsay notes in her commentary, the new leaders of the Jesus movement will find plenty of obstacles in their path, especially from powerful people who are challenged by early Christian commitments to share money in a common purse, care for the marginalized, and build relationship across ethnic and class differences. Jesus’ followers themselves will be tempted by the power that comes with allegiance to the state, too often abandoning care for the marginalized in exchange for power to coerce people into following our demands. It is wise for us to return to the testimony of the first preachers, the women who were not believed, and remember just how wild this faith calls us to be. May we be willing to speak to the power of Renewed Life, even when our audience refuses to listen. And, when we hear a word of shocking resurrection, may we have the curiosity of Peter that allows us to find our way back to the mission where Christ calls us. Let us not miss our second chance to love as bravely as Christ did.

Each new hour holds new chances
For a new beginning.
Do not be wedded forever
To fear, yoked eternally
To brutishness.
The horizon leans forward,
Offering you space to place new steps of change.
Here, on the pulse of this fine day
You may have the courage
To look up and out and upon me, the
Rock, the River, the Tree, your country.
No less to Midas than the mendicant.
No less to you now than the mastodon then.
Here, on the pulse of this new day
You may have the grace to look up and out
And into your sister’s eyes, and into
Your brother’s face, your country
And say simply
Very simply
With hope--
Good morning.
— Maya Angelou, “On the Pulse of Morning” excerpt https://poets.org/poem/pulse-morning

Resources consulted while writing this sermon:
An article about endometriosis: https://www.forbes.com/sites/alicebroster/2020/08/27/why-it-takes-so-long-to-be-diagnosed-with-endometriosis-according-to-a-expert/
Katherine Shaner: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/narrative-lectionary/resurrection-3/commentary-on-luke-241-12-11
Craig R. Koester: http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=558
Cheryl Lindsay: https://www.ucc.org/sermon-seeds/sermon-seeds-at-early-dawn/
Anna Carter Florence

• http://www.workingpreacher.org/craft.aspx?post=2249
• http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=4016

​

​Luke 19:28–40 Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem

After he had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, saying, ‘Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, “Why are you untying it?” just say this: “The Lord needs it.” 

So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, ‘Why are you untying the colt?’ They said, ‘The Lord needs it.’ Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road.
 
As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, saying, ‘Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!’

Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, order your disciples to stop.’ He answered, ‘I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.’

     It’s been clear that Jerusalem was going to be important from all the way back in the temptations in the wilderness. In today’s story, Jesus finally arrives in a makeshift parade with a borrowed donkey. There’s even talk of shouting rocks. This story is much like some ancient prophecies while also being very different than what people expected. Because of that, it will teach us something important about how Jesus will be a Messiah.

     Jesus going into the city on a donkey happens in all of the Gospels. But they tell the story differently. In Luke, there are no palms. The people simply lay down their cloaks. Also, nobody yells hosanna (even though we’re gonna yell Hosanna in worship). In Luke, the people gathered aren’t just random people, they are Jesus’ closest disciples who knew him the best. Also, there’s only one donkey in Luke. There are two donkeys in Matthew. This version still takes place during Passover, like the others. The city would have been tense with all the preparations for the festival and with increased military presence.

     Who here has heard of Passover before? Scholars remind us that Passover was a commemoration of God's liberation of the Jewish people from Egyptian rule. Jewish people continue to celebrate Passover. In fact, they started celebrations last night. In the time that Jesus was alive and teaching, the scholar Michael Joseph Brown reminds us that Jewish people were living under a different terrible ruling empire. So, liberation from bad rulers would have been on their minds. The bad rulers knew it, too. So, they’d send extra soldiers to the city to try to scare people who might be thinking about revolution. Leaders like Pontius Pilate might even enter into the city in a parade, riding a big warhorse, surrounded by their soldiers, trying to look scary enough to keep people in line.

     In some ways, Jesus’ little parade will be about showing his power, too. But, it’s not power like a soldier is powerful. In Luke, Jesus’ entry into the city looks just like a prophecy about the Messiah from Zechariah 9:9: “Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion, shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt the foal of a donkey.” Even though Jesus is on a donkey, which aren’t fancy at all, he’s supposed to remind us of that king from Zechariah. This is who is supposed to lead their people, not the Roman guy on the fancy horse.

    I read something a while ago from a teacher named Elisabeth Johnson. In a commentary about this text, she pointed out that the people gathered, in this case, the disciples of Jesus who knew him well, shouted, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!” This is almost a direct quote from Psalm 118, but with one important change. The Psalm says, “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.” The disciples, or the author of Luke, added “king.” The people who are celebrating Jesus’ entry into the city are making in clear that they understand him to be more than just a teacher. They believe he will stand up as an alternative to the cruel power of the Roman Emperor.

     It matters that the people at the parade in Luke are actually a small group of his disciples. Kathryn Matthews, in her commentary on this text, points out that these are the people who know him best and have been following him for the longest. They cheer for him because they have been healed by his love, have seen his miracles, and heard his wise teaching. There will be a time later in the story when people turn on Jesus. That is not these people at the parade. At this very moment, they get something right: They celebrate Jesus as Jesus has been telling them that God celebrates them. They celebrate Jesus' entry into Jerusalem because they know his peace is so very different than the so-called peace of the empire.

     Remember a couple weeks ago, when some Pharisees try to warn Jesus that Herod was going to come after him? I think they are trying to warn him again in this story. They tell him to get his disciples to quieten down. It seems reasonable to think that they are once again trying to save him, this time from Pilate. Remember, you would be in danger if Rome thought you were trying to get people to rebel against them. Pilate might get mad if he hears people call Jesus “king.” Elizabeth John notes in her commentary, the Pharisees knew their scripture well. They would have understood all the ways that Jesus’ entry into the city was like the entry of a king in Zechariah and that the Psalm had been changed to make it celebrating a king. Pilate, if he thought any one Jewish person could get people to rebel, might end up targeting all the people. Powerful people could come after them. In a few days, powerful people... The Sanhedrin, Herod, and Pilate... will all come after Jesus.

     Jesus knew, though, that the people needed to celebrate and tell the truth about what they were seeing. That's what he meant when he said if that the people were silent, “even the stones would shout out.” The celebration must happen, even if it leads to unwanted attention. Teresa Lockhart Stricklen notes that in the book of Habbakkuk, in chapter 2, verse 10-11, it says that the stones will cry out demanding justice from the divine when wicked people have shamed themselves by being cruel to many people. Jesus, who loved the poor and outcast and knew that God does, too, must have remembered this text. He must have been clear that all of creation, even the rocks, know of Holy Love that is the foundation of divine justice and true peace. When you see something so good, you have to say something about it! Even if you’re a rock!

     A lot of big and sometimes scary things will happen in the next parts of the story. Jesus will share that he is sad for his people. He’ll also drive manipulative people from the temple. He will be betrayed and sent to trial. If you look closely, all of these bad things and more are on the horizon. It is good, then, for there to be celebration to bolster him as he enters the city. It is good that he is surrounded by people who knew him and were confident in his mission. May we never forget that love and celebration are vital to the mission that Christ has given us. May we forever be like the rocks who cannot help but shout about God’s love and justice. Hard times are just around the corner. The joy we cultivate together will help us get through it.

Resources consulted while writing this sermon:
Elizabeth Johnson: http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=4022
Michael Joseph Brown: https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2801
Karoline Lewis: http://www.workingpreacher.org/craft.aspx?post=5311
Teresa Lockhart Stricklen, "Sixth Sunday in Lent (Liturgy of the Palms)," Preaching God's Transforming Justice: A Lectionary Commentary, Year C Featuring 22 New Holy Days for Justice, Dale P. Andres, Dawn Ottoni-Wilhelm, and Ronald J. Allen, editors (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2012).
​Kathryn Matthews: http://www.ucc.org/worship_samuel_sermon_seeds_march_20_2016
​

​John 12:1–8 Mary Anoints Jesus

Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, ‘Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?’ (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) Jesus said, ‘Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.’

 few days ago, I learned that Mass General Brigham in Boston is laying off six full-time chaplains. Most have already been laid off. One, who trains student clergy in the Mass General part of the system, will be laid in August when the current class of students finishes their program. This kind of program, called Clinical Pastoral Education, is a part of the training that many religious leaders receive before they can be ordained. That program is being closed completely. The program in the Brigham side of the system has been reduced from two trainers down to one. What this means is that the whole system is not only losing the six full-time professional chaplains, they are losing chaplain interns and residents as well.

Counting the student chaplains with the professional chaplains, this is a lot more than 6 front-line patient and staff support positions being cut. And, that doesn’t even take into account the staff from other departments that have been laid off, like the director of domestic violence programs at Brigham and Women’s. That person is gone, too. I’ve watched similar patterns to this happen across lots of healthcare systems during my professional life. When money is tight, even when they are doing their jobs well and provided the standard of care in their discipline, spiritual care staff is often among the first staff to be cut. When crisis is looming, attention to matters of the Spirit can go by the wayside.

This story came to mind while I was reading today’s scripture because I think you can make the argument that what Mary is doing for Jesus is spiritual care. And, at least one person in the story thought it to be unnecessary and wasteful in the moment. This was the day before Jesus would finally enter Jerusalem for the last time in his earthly life. People are already talking about ways to get rid of Jesus, some even planning his demise. I can’t image that the tension would have escaped the disciples. It certainly didn’t Jesus.

A version of this story is shared in Mark, Matthew, and John. Emerson Powery, in his commentary on this text, points out that John is the only one who describes the woman anointing Jesus as being Mary, one of Jesus’ close friends (not Mary his mom). This is Mary, the sister of Lazarus who Jesus raised from the dead just a few chapters earlier in John, and Mary, devoted disciple who sat at Jesus’ feet to learn in Luke. Mary and Lazarus’ sister Martha is present, too, and her actions are described as “serving.” The Greek word for the verb “serve” is the root-word for our modern word “deacon.” It would be fair, I think, to consider Martha an early deacon. The siblings’ household was a deeply faithful one, likely celebrating Jesus’ miraculous return of their brother.

Lindsey Jodrey, in their commentary on this text, notes that anointings like the ones described in today’s reading usually happened for two reasons: coronations and burials. We who know the rest of this story might understand this moment to be a bit of both. Brave and devoted Mary is preparing Jesus for whatever comes next. The perfume she’s using nard, or spikenard, is expensive, especially in the amount she uses... she spent a year’s worth of a day laborer’s salary. And, the anointing itself was quite a production, with her using her own hair as a towel. It is not small thing to offer love and care so publicly and so lavishly.

In his commentary on this text, Eliseo Pérez-Álvarez also points out that, with coronations in particular, powerful men usually did the anointings. Mary was from the countryside, a common woman with an uncommon faith who had saved enough money to offer vital care to a friend who was in a precarious spot. Gail R. O’Day, in her commentary on John in the Women’s Bible Commentary, compares Mary’s actions to the men’s actions that follow.   In washing Jesus’ feet, she foretells of Jesus’ own action of washing his disciples’ feet as an act of service and invitation to mission. Jesus will also tell his followers, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” This anointing is a sign of the power of Mary’s love and a model of how to love without limit. And, finally, after his death, the men who will anoint his body will do so in secret because they are afraid to announce their faith. Mary anoints Jesus in the daylight, for all to see. O’Day argued in her commentary that Mary, here, is the model disciple. I’m inclined to agree.

So, what do we do about Judas? Is he making a valid point about the money? Couldn’t they have used the money for other things, like helping the poor, which is one of the lynchpins of Jesus’ ministry. The author of John seems to think we should disregard Judas because Judas was not making this point in good faith. Generally, disregarding critiques that aren’t made in good faith is a pretty good idea. Interestingly, Jesus does respond. He defends Mary’s actions. Maybe Jesus knew he needed some care that day. Also, this is John. Jesus loves signs that make greater points about his identity in John. Mary anointing him as though for a coronation or for a burial is a pretty complex sign of what is to come. Either way, she needed to do this, and Jesus needed it done.

The last line of the reading, though, can be tricky. Some use to justify cutting aid to the poor or ignoring impoverished people altogether. Lindsey Jodrey points out in their commentary that sentence could just as easily be translated from the Greek as “have the poor with you always” or “Keep the poor with you always.” If that is a better translation, then Jesus is saying “it’s not either love the poor or love me... it is love the poor AND love me.”  I think it’s an interesting point, though I’m not sure that makes more sense in context than the translation we heard read today.

Jodrey also notes that Jesus could be offering a paraphrase of Deuteronomy 15:11: “there will never cease to be some in need on the earth…. I therefore command you, ‘Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land.’” Pérez-Álvarez’ references that Deuteronomy passage in his commentary, too. Whether or not Jesus was referencing Deuteronomy, I think it would be a poor reading of the Gospel as a whole to read this one line as a dismissal of care for the poor. Instead, I’m inclined to read with Pérez-Álvarez: this is a kind of farewell. This is Jesus making sure his friends know that he may not be with them much longer. He is recognizing the confrontation that is on the horizon and accepting the care that will help him face it. He’s accepting help offered him in a hard time. I hope it lifted his Spirit.

As someone who is dealing with lay-offs in a different hospital system that are affecting my medical care, I hope the administrators of Mass General Brigham assure that their patients get the holistic spiritual care they need. In challenging times, like hospitalizations and scary diagnoses, spiritual care is an important tool for healing. Even Jesus needed his spirit tended to sometimes.  May we not forget the value to tending to the Spirit in the midst of a crisis. May we not fall into the trap of thinking we have to choose between loving Jesus and loving the people Jesus loved. The road into Jerusalem will be dangerous. Tending to our Spirit will prepare us for the road ahead.

Resources consulted while writing this sermon:
The article about the staff cuts: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/04/02/business/mass-general-brigham-layoffs-patients-chaplains-counselor-abuse-smoking-specialist/ 
Gail R. O'Day, "John," The Women's Bible Commentary (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1998)
Emerson Powery: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/fifth-sunday-in-lent-3/commentary-on-john-121-8-5
Lee H. Butler, "Fifth Sunday in Lent," Preaching God's Transforming Justice: A Lectionary Commentary, Year C Featuring 22 New Holy Days for Justice, Dale P. Andres, Dawn Ottoni-Wilhelm, and Ronald J. Allen, editors (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2012).
Lindsey Jodrey: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/fifth-sunday-in-lent-3/commentary-on-john-121-8-4 
​Eliseo Pérez-Álvarez: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/fifth-sunday-in-lent-3/commentary-on-john-121-8-3 

     Rev. Dr. Fred Craddock calls this story “The Parable of the Loving Father.” It’s most often called “The Parable of the Prodigal Son,” with an emphasis on the return of the foolish son.  In his commentary on Luke, Craddock points out that the story doesn’t start with the son. It starts with the father: “There was a man who had two sons.” I noticed when reading it to prepare this sermon that the father has the last words in the parable, too: “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.” This probably means we need to pay attention to what he does first. What he does is love fiercely and joyfully.

     Today’s reading is the third in a series of parables about joyful recovering of that which is lost. Jesus tells these parables to a crowd that has come to hear him teach. The beginning of chapter 15 tells us that tax collectors and sinners and Pharisees and scribes were all a part of the crowd. This means that people who were understood to on the opposite ends of righteousness and respectability scales were all listening to Jesus at the same time and in the same place, along with everyone else in-between. Jesus decided to tell all of them about the joys of recovery of the lost.

     A quick note about who the tax collectors and sinners were. The tax collectors were hated because they were understood to be collaborators with Rome against their own nation and also people who used their power to steal extra money for their own gain. As to the term “sinners,”   Craddock argues that sinners is a specific term for people who are known in the community to not be following Jewish religious laws. According to Craddock, these folks’ flouting of the law was so widely known that they would not be welcome in the synagogue. It is not surprising that the Pharisees and scribes, people understood to be respectable community leaders, would be suspicious of Jesus hanging around with these kinds of people. Part of me wonders who needed to hear the parables of joyful return more: the people who knew they were living outside of the covenant with God or the people who weren’t sure that there was a path of return for them.

     The first two parables are about a shepherd who sought out his one lost sheep and a woman who turned her house upside down to find an important coin. In both of those stories, the response of the seeker is to celebrate finding the lost. The third parable, today’s reading, has a party for the lost, too. In this story, there’s a father who loves his son who makes bad choices and there’s the son who realizes he made a mistake and wants to come home. There’s a third figure in the third parable: another son, a good son, a pharisee and scribe kind of son. And, his feelings about his brother’s return need to be addressed, too. What gift does their father give him?

     A very smart colleague of mine, the Rev. Dr. EC Heath, once preached a sermon on this scripture that is one of my favorite sermons about this story. In their sermon, Dr. Heath noted that so many times when they’ve heard this sermon preached, it’s not been a sermon about the prodigal who comes back but about the annoyed son who had stayed and been responsible. Dr. Heath wondered in their sermon if this response says more about the kind of churches that they have found themselves in than it does the actual scripture.

     Those churches have been filled with responsible, stable people... people who try hard, and often succeed, in living up to the best values of their faith. They are Pharisees and scribes in the best possible sense... they are people invested in living lives that reflect their commitments to God and to their families. And, they’ve been trying hard for a long time. They feel like part of their call is to be responsible. And, when you try to be responsible, to not disappoint your family or you church or your God, when you’ve mostly tried to do the right thing, it can really hurt when someone who has not tried so hard gets celebrated or gets centered in a story. Jesus knew that. But, he also knew that his ministry is not just to the responsible and the upright. His ministry, and God’s love, is for the lost and the cast out.

     We know that different people hear different things in Jesus’ stories. I think the message for the respectable people who are grumbling about the presence of sinners is probably one about helping people find a way back. The respectable people of Jesus’ time, and our time, too, need to tend to our resentments and our suspicions if we’re really going to engage with Jesus’ ministry. If you are someone who has generally been understood to be right and righteous, it matters that you know Jesus makes space for those who have been called wrong.

     Dr. Craddock points out something in his commentary that is worth remembering. Notice that the father in this story crosses his threshold twice. Twice, he goes to a son and reiterates his love and care for that son. Most of the time, we just talk about the way he rushes forward and embraces his younger, desperate, and often foolish son, the son who has come home hoping for little more than the station of a slave. We talk, in wonder and befuddlement, about his great grace in welcoming this son home. Because this son was lost. In the same way that the shepherd celebrates finding the lost sheep and the woman the lost coin celebrates find it, the father must go to lost son and throw a party to welcome him home. But, he doesn’t stop there. He crosses again, to the second, to help him learn something about joy.

     The father doesn’t let him stay outside, fuming, while the party goes on without him. Just as the first part of the, the generous father leaves his home and goes to his child. He pleads for him to come inside. He takes the brunt of the responsible one’s anger, listening when he shares his frustration at how he had always worked, even comparing himself to a slave who never feels appreciated for his steadfastness. We don’t know if the father never really expressed gratitude or if the responsible son was super entitled. What we do know is that there is a rupture now, in this moment. And, the generous father wants to repair. He’s showing this son a way back, too.

     He goes to his son and says, “you are always with me,” a statement that says as much about the depth of their bond as it does about the elder son’s individual choice to stay, and then he says, “all that is mine is yours,” affirming that he will honor his responsibility to his eldest while also noting that what he has would be impossible without his son’s work. In this lovely bit of mending, the father tells his responsible son that he sees him and appreciates him. This moment isn’t just about the elder son. It’s about the elder and the younger. Their father can love them both.

     In her commentary on this text, Amanda Brobst-Renaud states, the father cannot imagine a celebration without both his sons. On a night that was about celebrating restoration, both the elder and the younger needed to be present. Celebration is not just for the ones who have never strayed. It is for the ones who have come home. This celebration could have never happened had the elder son not worked so hard to help his father flourish in the younger son’s absence. The celebration literally could not have happened without him. He should be there to enjoy it and reconnect with his brother. Because the elder son lost something when the younger left, too.

     The celebrations in all three parables seem extravagant, maybe even foolish, particularly the celebration in the third. Why have a party for a man who hasn’t proven that he’s going to change? Why would Jesus, who was living in a time of increasing tension, take time out to preach a good word to both the sinners and the righteous? I think especially in times when danger is ramping up and when powerful people benefit from keeping everyone else isolated from each other, Jesus knew that he needed to make time to teach about grace, restoration and celebration. Craddock points out that this parable continues to challenge listeners 2000 years later, in part, because we’ve been taught that “there must be losers if there are winners.” If the younger son is celebrated, it must mean that the elder has been forgotten.

     There’s been a quote going around for a while that says: “Equal rights for others does not mean fewer rights for you. It’s not pie.” That might be the fundamental message of this parable. Christ’s love for the sinners doesn’t mean less love for the scribes. It’s not pie. It is the task, then, of our current body of Christ to love so boldly as he did, not hoarding away our welcome and care for those whom it is easy to love. May we not hesitate to celebrate restoration. May we work to mend broken relationships. May we never forget that Christ has offered us a way back. May we welcome all manner of people to walk alongside us on it.

Resources:
​Amanda Renaud-Brobst: https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=3992
EC Heath: https://www.christiancentury.org/blogs/archive/2016-03/enough-about-other-brother?fbclid=IwAR1kwvrh_qNk3iQMHqxrCSf4rlmNQ3glnHpSajFeqrbMZzSyR6NMTAGgpqs
​Fred Craddock, Luke (Louisville, Westminster John Knox Press: 1990)