The Prodigal Wagyu Calf

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So he told them this parable:

Then Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.’ So he divided his property between them. A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.”’ 

So he set off and went to his father. 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. Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate. 

“Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. He replied, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.’ Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. But he answered his father, ‘Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet 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 has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!’ Then the father said to him, ‘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.’”

There are three normal ways to serve up this parable and one way that’s, well, my way.  The first way is to serve it up with the young son as the entree.  The young kid gets his inheritance even before his dad’s dead.  Tosses his family, culture, religion, and country out the window of his brand new jacked up, loud exhaust, gas guzzling, pickup truck and zooms off to wreck his life.  He’s lost!  Not like “GPS isn’t working” lost, but for all practical purposes he’s pretty much “dead” lost.  No one will have him, talk to him, or even give him pig food.  Even in the pig pen though, he’s not quite done scheming, and he decides to try to manipulate dad one more time and convince him to let him come back as a farm hand.  But dad won’t have it!  Dad runs out, gives him a huge hug, and throws a party. 

The second way to serve this up is with the older son as the entree.  The older son gets bent that his brother’s been out doing who knows what and now he’s welcomed back without any consequences!  NOT FAIR!  He pouts, stamps his feet, and completely refuses to go to any party that welcomes “THAT” kind of person!  Sadly for him, that’s the only party, but never the less, he chooses to pout instead of enjoying the veal roast.  

The last normal way to serve this parable up is with the dad as the entree.  Dad, wanting real relationships with his kids, more than anything else, gives them the freedom to do what they want; one wants to work his fingers to the bone in the family radish business.  The other wants to do whatever sorts of things you’d like to imagine him doing.  But when push comes to shove, dad ONLY cares about one thing… staying in relationship with them both!  Dad loves them both.  He loves the younger one, even when he’s off to Israel’s equivalent of Vegas.  He loves the older one, even when he spends all his time at the Acme Family Radish Plant.  

The older son sees his brother’s trip to Vegas as WAY worse than his own obsessive-compulsive-radish-disorder could EVER be but dad only has love for them both.  In the end, the younger son is transformed by the power of dad’s grace, forgiveness, unconditional love, and acceptance while the older son refuses to be transformed and storms off to eat radish flavored ramen for dinner instead of enjoying the veal roast. 

Those are the three normal ways to serve up this parable but I’d like to serve you the actual entree as the entree… the calf.  First off, this wasn’t just ANY calf… this was a FATTED calf which means it was only fed the very best food.  It could have been raised with a more economical feed, but this calf wasn’t about economy… this calf was about extravagance!  It was the bovine manifestation of the father’s love!  And that love was better than USDA prime and even better than $380 a pound, Wagyu beef!  This calf was raised to be the star of the party… and not just any party either… this calf was raised to be the star of the heavenly party!  The feast of rich food with well aged wines strained clear!  The heavenly banquet… the BIG ETERNAL party.

 

So why did the dad serve up this level of extravagance?  Because the only thing this dad loves more than a party was having his children at his party!  He wasn’t taking out his righteous anger on the calf in place of his wayward son or sons as some have surmised.  The dad was simply doing everything possible under the sun to make this party so fabulous that neither son could possibly resist coming in and sitting down with him at his table!  He served them this calf in yet one more way to try and show both sons how much they really meant to him.  

We, like both sons, often have a very hard time believing God would want us at God's party just as we are.  We mistakenly believe either that we’ve not been good enough to deserve it, or haven’t worked hard enough to earn it.  But this insanely expensive calf is meant to remind us all, that the party is neither something we can ever deserve or earn.  It is a party that can only be given.  This calf… this extravagant entree... is meant by the father to be the “no way they could ever refuse” over the top invitation to that party… so extravagant, the Father prays, that the sons will put all of their guilt and pride away and just come and share a not-to-be-missed meal with their dad.   

That’s how much God loves us; so much that God will run down the street and hug our necks no matter how long we’ve been gone, no matter what we did while we were away.  That is how much God loves us; so much that God will come outside of the party and shamelessly ask us over and over and over if we're ready yet to come into the party.  That’s how much God loves us.  So much so that God lavishes us with unbelievable gift upon unbelievable gift!

Our God loves a party and the one thing our God loves more than a party is having you and me and all of God’s children at that party!  Whether it’s a shameless run, an expensive ring, undignified pleading, or a fatted calf… There is nothing that God won’t do to invite, entice, cajole, and even look like a fool, to get us Kids to come into God’s party.  You’ve been invited to God’s party.  The door is wide open and dinner is served!  So set down your shame, let go of our guilt, stop thinking you need to earn it, and just walk in the wide open door just as you are!  THAT more than anything else is what God wants.  Amen.

A Free Ice Cream Life in a No Free Lunch World

Isaiah 55:1-9

Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; listen, so that you may live. I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. See, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. See, you shall call nations that you do not know, and nations that do not know you shall run to you, because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you.

Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thoughts; let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Rupert Grint, who played Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter films, famously bought something unusual with his Harry Potter money.  An Ice Cream Truck!  He keeps it completely stocked all the time!  He says, “I'll drive around the local villages and if I see some kids looking like they're in need of ice creams, I'll pull over and dish them out for free. They'll say, 'Ain't you Ron Weasley?' And I'll say, 'It's strange, I get asked that a lot'. 

THAT is what God was doing in the first lesson for today!  In the voice of a crazy ice cream vendor, God is saying, “HEY!  Want some ice cream?  Come to the truck!  Don’t have any money?  Come anyway, and enjoy!  Come and get a Mr. Whippy, a 99, or a Mini Milk!  Buy without money!  Everything’s free!  

God was saying this to the people of Israel while they were in exile in Babylon.  Empires never say, “Come and get a Mr. Whippy for free!”  Empires only say, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch.”  Empires say, “Work harder, work longer, work for less.”  Empires raise prices in times of fear to move money from the shallowest of pockets into the deepest ones.  That’s how Empire’s work and Empires work people to death.  

But death is not what God intends for us.  God calls out for us to have life and an abundant life at that!  Listen, God says.  Remember the deal I had with David.  You have that exact same deal!  I am your God.  You are my people!  And as you start living into my way of living, the way you live will grab peoples’ attention.  People will see you living your lives with Grace, Love, and Compassion… taking care of the last, the lost, and the least…  caring for one another from the bottom up… making sure everyone has enough food, shelter, community, purpose, dignity, love and when people see you living that way in the world, they will come running!  They’ll say, “Give me some of what they’re having!”

Isaiah also reminded them not to wait until were safely back home to start living that way.  Start right where you are! Even under the nose of the Empire!  God was calling them, and is calling us, to live a “Free Ice Cream Truck” sort of life, smack dab in the middle of a “No Free Lunch” world.  But how were they supposed to do that?  How are WE supposed to do that?

Isaiah recommends that we “seek God while he’s here to be found”.  In other words, look around and find where God is at work, even in the middle of that “No Free Lunch” world and put your efforts there!  You got a front yard?  How about some rainbow chairs?  You got the Appalachian Trail going through your town?  Set up a place to take care of hikers!  Isaiah says do what you can, from right where you are, even if right where you are is still in the shadow of an Empire!  Every time we choose to be generous instead of selfish...forgiving instead of vengeful... loving right into the face of hatred, we are following God into that new way of living right under the Empire’s nose. 

On Monday Nelda McGraw emailed me.  She’s one of our members who now lives up at Kimball Farms.  Her Son-in-Law had been trying to help get a colleague’s family get out of Ukraine and she was looking for connections anyone might have in any of the bordering countries.  It took emails, calls, incredible… unbelievable connections, secure messaging apps, and lots of last minute changes to the plan along the way, but on Tuesday, Natalia, her mother, daughter, and niece left Ukraine and made it safely to Romania.  They are now on their way to Budapest where a temporary place to live has been arranged.  THAT is an extreme example of living a Free Ice Cream Truck Life, right under the nose of an Empire, even as the Empire rages all around.  Living that new way relied on a community working together.  It took people putting together their gifts and connections.  It took a very trusting sort of generosity of time and money and most of all it took a belief in the power of LOVE that drove a determination, not just to live a Free Ice Cream Truck life for themselves, but to not be satisfied until God had pulled Natalia and her family free from the bombs and rockets and the evil terrorism of an Empire and closer to abundant life.  

Do you see now how that story and those people, living that crazy Ice Cream Vendor’s way of living, working right under the nose of that Empire, drew you in?  THAT is EXACTLY what God is up to in this passage and in the world.  That is God’s desire!  Not to just have some, but to have ALL people pulled into that new life!  And not just in dramatic ways far away, but in every day ways right here too.  You see, whenever and wherever we try this new kind of life… in ways either big or small, God LAVISHES us with an abundance of grace to change the world from Empire to God’s Kingdom. 

 

Neither the Israelites then, nor our world now is living as God created us to live, and the hard reality is that Empires do not go quietly into that good night.  But even in the shadows of Empire, we can begin living a new way… God’s way.  As we are generous with our time and our money and our love, we are living differently… we are living God’s way.  When we set up our Corners of Kindness, people turn around and look at us with their heads tilted to one side in wonder, and in those moments they are pulled, maybe in ways we’ll never fully see, out of Empire living and toward the Free Ice Cream Truck living we call the Kingdom of God. That’s what Isaiah was calling the people into in his day.  That is our calling in our day as well.  Amen.

Yep, I Reckon So

Genesis 15:1-12,17-18

After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.”

But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “You have given me no offspring, and so a slave born in my house is to be my heir.” But the word of the Lord came to him, “This man shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir.” He brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.

Then he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess.” But he said, “O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?” He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” He brought him all these and cut them in two, laying each half over against the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a deep and terrifying darkness descended upon him.

When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates,

“After these things” the first lesson begins.  After what  things?  Well, after we meet Abram and Sarai for the first time and find out that Sarai can’t have children.  After, they go with Abram’s dad toward Canaan, but settled down along the way in Haran.  Still… no kids.  After, God told Abram to get up and go to a land that God would show him.  Still no kids.  After they got to Canaan, and God told Abram, “I’m going to give all this land to your children.”  Still no kids. 

After they went to Egypt because of a famine.  After Abram tried to pass off his wife as his sister because he thought Pharaoh would kill him, so Pharoah took her as his wife, but then found out she wasn’t Abrams sister and they got thrown out of Egypt. “After all those things…” today’s lesson begins and after all those things, still no land and after all those things no kids. 

After all those things… they have the promise of the land, but still no land.  After all those things they have the promise of children but still no children… STILL… after ALL THOSE THINGS… no kids.  So Abram is, I think understandably, thinking that after all those things, this promise is never gonna happen, so he says, “God.  Yo!  Eliezer is going to get my stuff and my stuff is going to Eliezer!  BECAUSE NO KIDS!”  He says it two ways!  He’s not messing around.  Then God replies, “You’ll have your own heir.  Look at the stars.  That’s how many.”  God answers Abram two ways.  God’s not messing around either.

 

So HOW, after “After All Those Things” with the promise still unfulfilled and Sarai still without a child and Abram without an heir… HOW can Abram POSSIBLY still believe?  Frankly, I don’t think he could!  Except for the fact that God “reckoned” to Abram the ability to believe!  Abram could not, by his own reason or strength, believe in this outlandish promise; but it was God’s Spirit that called, enlightened, and sanctified him and allowed him to keep the faith.  (And if that reminded you of Luther’s explanation of the third article of the Apostles Creed, you’d be right.  Abram was Lutheran, Sarai was Episcopalian.)  Abram could believe in that outlandish promise ONLY because along with the promise, God also gave him the gift of faith so that he could believe that promise!  

Some traditions want this to be a transaction.  Land and kid in exchange for belief.  But that misses the whole point of this story!  The whole point of this story is that ALL of it… the land, the child, the heir, the generations to come… ALL of it… is an unconditional gift from God… including… INCLUDING the ability to trust that these outlandish promises that go against all rationality and all of Abram’s personal experience... of ALL THOSE THINGS… will still come true!  If you need any more proof that this was a gift and not a transaction, just look at the next, strange, and mystical part of this story.  

God tells Abram to prepare the standard, high stakes, covenant set up.  In those days you didn’t go to the attorney’s office.  In those days people making a deal would cut animals in half and then walk through the pieces together, both saying in effect, if I break my part of this deal, may what happened to these animals happen to me!  So Abram set it all up and then fell into a deep and supernatural sleep.  In that mystical state, Abram saw smoke and fire, a.k.a. God, walk between the pieces and seal the deal.  But where was Abram?  If it was a quid pro quo transaction, BOTH parties would walk through!  But see, this is NOT a two-sided covenant with Abram trading faith for a promise.  THIS is a ONE-sided covenant where God gives an unconditional promise requiring nothing in return!  Abram was in a deep sleep when the deal went down!  This outlandish promise AND the ability to believe it is an unconditional, totally free gift from God for Abram, for Sarai, for their descendants… as many as the stars in the sky... and for us as well, who are God’s children, adopted into the family through Christ in Baptism. 

So what does all that mean for you and me today?  For today, I think this means that God has given us the ability to believe in God's outlandish promises like peace, even when time and experience tell us peace is never going to happen.  What it means is that God has given us the ability to live in hope, even when hope seems a foolish exercise in a world at torn apart.  What it means is that God has given us, as a complete and totally free gift, the ability to believe in the insane idea, that the power of self giving love can change the world even in the face of a World War III.  God has given us the outlandish and impossible promises of peace, hope, and love as well as the ability to believe that they ALL WILL COME TO BE even when all the evidence of the world around us says you'd be a fool to believe it.  So my fellow heirs of God’s outlandish promises, let us live like Abram and Sarai did.  Keep walking with the promise until the promise of Peace is fulfilled.  Keep living in the promise of hope, until the promise of hope is fulfilled. And keep spreading love, until the entire world is swallowed up in God’s promise of love.  It WILL happen, and we can believe it, because God has given us the ability to believe that with God, all impossible things are possible.  Amen. 

Devil's in the Details

Luke 4:1-13

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.’” Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, “To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’” Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’” Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.

Last week we saw how Jesus handled his own perverse and faithless generation.  He took time away.  He came to a complete stop.  Then, finally, when he did go back down the mountain to face the world again, he didn’t worry or loose sleep over the enormity of the world’s brokenness, but instead, found the one person right in front of him who had a need that his particular gifts could meet, and he met that kid’s needs.  That’s how Jesus did it.   

The question that Transfiguration story left us with was this:  “If Jesus handled his perverse and faithless generation that way, then why do we so often act as if the Jesus Way of handling the world’s problems, is just not good enough for us?  This week’s Gospel gives the answer:  Because unlike Jesus, the Devil has had a lot more success convincing all of us that when WE were filled with the Holy Spirit in OUR Baptisms, just like Jesus was in His, God didn’t really give US enough.  We get “Filled” with the Holy Spirit but we see only about a quarter tank.  

In each of those tests, the Devil said to Jesus, “Oh, man, it’s too bad God didn’t give you enough for this.  Didn’t fill you all the way up… and you’re his son.  Ouch!  But hey.  You’re in luck!  I can hook you up with all the details.  Food, power, life… it looks to me like you don’t have enough of any of those.  Don’t worry, I can fill those in for you where God, it seems, has let you down.”

 

You and I face these same temptations.  The devil trying to sell us, and everyone else on earth, the same line of BS that he tried to sell Jesus!  “Oh, wow, it’s a shame God didn’t give you enough security.  You’ll be needing more guns.  Don’t worry, I know a guy.  God didn’t give you enough wealth.  Ouch!  And you’re a child of God.  Don’t worry I’ll show you how to keep more and give less.  God didn’t give you enough power, liberty, health, safety, secure enough borders, or enough people around you that look like you and think like you… WOW!  Just look at all the things God DIDN’T give you!  Look at how vulnerable God has left you!  You should really have more!  You really DESERVE more!  Man is it lucky I came along!  Because, even though it’s clear that God left you short in the tank, if stick with me kid, I’ll fill you right up the rest of the way.”

Unfortunately that lie doesn’t come from a red guy with horns and a pitchfork.  That would make seeing it easy!  Nope, that lie comes in the form of everyday life.  Oh, it’s too bad God didn’t make you beautiful enough, or you pits fresh enough, or your love life strong enough, or your car classy enough or your home safe enough or your borders secure enough or your power sure enough.  We all fall for it!  I’m furious that Putin fell for the lie and the devil gets a war as commission from that sale!  But I’m equally mad at myself when the Devil gets me every…single…time with SAME stupid lie that goes like this, “Oh, it’s a shame God didn’t give you enough to take GOOD care of your family.”  That one I go for hook, line and sinker!  How many times have I stared at the ceiling thinking, “You know, it has looked that way an awful lot of times over the years.  Maybe, maybe this guy really does a point.”  

You say, well, that’s not the same as invading a country!  And while the consequences from falling for the lie may be different, the lie that Putin fell for… that he didn’t have enough… is the exact same lie that I fall for over and over again.  We all have our own spot… the button we can’t stand to have pushed… the lie that in one way or another says that God has not given us EVERYTHING we need.  Only Jesus has ever faced that sales pitch flawlessly.

So what are we to do?  One thing would be to use Lent as the Spring Training season it was meant to be.  A time, originally only for people who were candidates for Baptism, but now for us all where we practice living as Jesus lived.  We practice those things in small ways, over and over in this season so we can get in shape and learn in that practice, that we really can trust that God has most certainly given us, not JUST enough, but evem MORE than we could ask or imagine! 

So practice fasting and caring for others.  Practice giving from the abundance we’ve been given.  Practice gathering together in community, showing up even when your “showing up muscles” are sore.  Practice praying with each other and listening deeply to one another.  And with every round of practice in these small ways, you will be better able to embrace the truth of God’s ENOUGH in the big ways. 

And remember, Lenten Spring Training isn’t supposed to break you.  It's supposed to build you up in simple, small, steps taken one at a time.  A little act of caring. A small try at giving, one Sunday in a row of church.  If those go well, then do some more.  One step at a time... supporting one another through the season and I promise you'll get better at this.  So welcome to Spring Training and may this season of Lent grow in you the trust, that in your Baptism, just as in Jesus’ Baptism, you really have been given enough.  Amen.