Today we begin a new sermon series entitled resurrections stories, looking for times in scripture in which people have been changed, but also hearing stories of resurrection from within our own congregation when possible, and so I thought it perhaps appropriate to begin with a story of resurrection of the son who was died but is now alive. The Parable of the Prodigal Son is one of the most famous parables that Jesus told, and is one, like the Good Samaritan, that has even crossed over into the secular world as people talk about prodigal sons, or daughters. But the first thing we might look at is whether that is even an appropriate title as it seems to make the story about the younger son, rather than also being about the father or the older brother, whose side of the story we left out in our reading this morning. Not something we are going to answer today, but I invite you to think about that and what changing the title might mean as we interpret this story. But, what we do need to know is the context of what is happening when Jesus tells this parable. At the beginning of chapter 15, we are told “Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to [Jesus]. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, ‘This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” (15:1-2) so that tells us about whom Jesus is focusing on, and who the parables that follow are told to and about. And then begins with the parables of the lost coin and the lost sheep, where the owners go out and seek to find the lost item and then celebrate for having recovered the one who was lost but is now found, and Jesus says so too is it for those in heaven who rejoice at the one who repents.
And then he begins the parable of the prodigal son, and we know something is wrong right from the start because of the demand made by the younger son, which is to receive his part of his inheritance. What he is basically saying to his father with this request is “I wish you were dead.” It’s clear that this request is not only unusual, but also disrespectful. In fact, a literal translation is of the father’s response is that he divided his life between them. This is the first of many broken relationships that are represented in this story. But for whatever reason, the father gives into his son’s demands, and the son takes what he receives, cashes it all in and then goes off to another land, a gentile land as it turns out, and squanders his money in dissolute living. It’s not clear what this means here, and perhaps it’s intentionally vague. Later, we will hear from the older brother who objects to his father treating his brother so well, that he has squandered the money on prostitutes, although its not clear how the brother would know this information. But the Greek word used here for dissolute living, is used three other times in the New Testament. One time it is related to drunkenness, the second is to rebelliousness and the third is to debauchery, which is a great word because it sounds dirty but you’re not really sure what’s going on. But whatever it is the son is doing, it’s not good, and he wastes all his money at it, and then a famine strikes the land, which only makes his situation worse. To try and survive, the son then finds himself having to work with pigs, which, according to Jewish laws, is an abomination in the eyes of God, although for some reason when Christians talk about abominations this one is left off the list. He is so hungry that he finds himself wanting to eat what the pigs are eating, and unlike his request to his father, no one will give him any assistance, but it reminds us that in dissolute living, we end up doing things that we never imagined we would do.
According to Psychology Today, an addiction “is a condition in which a person engages in use of a substance or in a behavior for which the rewarding effects provide a compelling incentive to repeatedly pursue the behavior despite detrimental consequences.” They also note that these things “intensely activate brain pathways of reward and reinforcement.” In fact, in studies of mice who have had implants placed into their brains to trigger these reward centers, they will keep seeking the reward and will actually ignore food and water, killing themselves, in order to keep getting their hit. Now when we talk about addiction we normally talk about alcohol or drug addictions, we know that it can be much broader than that. You can be addicted to gambling, or shopping or eating or exercising or work or social media or watching baseball. Remembering that the addiction is about doing a behavior that is detrimental to your life, but which we keep doing because of the rewards we get by doing it compel us to keep doing it regardless of the consequences, which is why outsiders saying “just stop” doesn’t really work. So, I would like to have us hear from two people who agreed to share their stories of addiction….
What I think is one of the most important parts of this parable, although easily overlooked is that we are told that the son comes to himself. That is he has hit rock bottom, and he is then ready to make a change, and that is what happens before he says that he is going to go to his father and say to him that he is no longer worthy to be called his son, that he has sinned against heaven and against his father, and that he should be treated simply as a hired hand. Now, if you have been around addicts, you know that there are times in which they will say things in order to get what they want so they can simply feed their addiction. Or perhaps they might say, “I’m never going to do that again, and this time, I mean it.” It’s really hard to judge the sincerity of those statements, which is one of the problems of addiction, because you cannot control them and make them get better. They have to want it themselves, they have to come to themselves as the son does, as others do….
Nothing the father does is going to change the son, he has to make that change himself, and there is one key piece of information that is lacking in this story that is found in the two parables that come before this, and that is that the owners of the lost sheep and the coin go out and search for them, but here the father doesn’t do that. He is not out looking for his son, or trying to find out what he is doing, instead he’s at home, waiting for him to return. While it could be argued that the father enables the son’s behavior by giving into his initial demands of receiving his inheritance, that seems to be the extent of the enabling behavior that takes place, which is often what families struggle with the most. They love the person dealing with the addiction, and therefore have a hard time saying no.
The father is willing to welcome the son home and to love him, but he does not enable him. As hard as it probably is because of his love, he has to let the son deal with his own issues, to come to himself, before he can come home. And notice that the son does apologize for what he had done. He admits where he had gone wrong, that he had sinned against his father, that is he had broken relationship. And one of the things about addiction is that it breaks relationships. Sometimes they can be healed and sometimes they can’t, but the work has to be done by the person who broke the relationship, the addict, and as part of 12-step programs that will be something they have to work on. Now, the father in this parable is God, and so we know that God’s love is much bigger and greater than we can imagine, and our love is not as perfect. You can love someone and not be in relationship with them. You can forgive them and not be reconciled, because sometimes the breach in trust, the depth of the hurts are just too much to overcome, so if that’s where you are it’s where you are, but be open to new opportunities and new realities, to be open to resurrection…
These are resurrection stories, of people who have been in the midst of addiction and have come out the other side, and what I didn’t really get to do was to talk about their faith journey as well, but knowing that God loved them made a difference in their overcoming their addictions and prayer played a significant role in recovery for both of them. But as we think of resurrections, its not just about those who are found, but about those who are currently lost. ½ of all Americans have a friend or family member dealing with addiction issues, and so I also wanted them to give some advice for families… Additionally, according to the surgeon general, 1 in 7 people over the age of 12 are dealing with addiction, and so simple statistics also say that there is probably at least one person coming this morning who is currently in addiction, and so this message is for you….
Yesterday the church hosted a party for someone who was celebrating 40 years clean, so always know that hope is available, that resurrection is possible, that you are worthy, and that God loves you and is calling you to come home. I pray that it will be so my brothers and sisters. Amen.
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