“Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
“The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!”
“ ‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”
Some time ago, a young man I had known when I was leading student ministries at FBCG joined the ministry staff at my brother’s church in Ohio. Shortly after that he got engaged and invited me to share in part of his wedding ceremony – which also was going to take place at my brother’s church, with my brother officiating. The wedding was going to be the very first wedding conducted after the construction of a brand new “fellowship hall” at my brother’s church. The bride and groom planned to have their reception in the beautiful new facility. As part of his gift to his daughter, the father of the bride built a beautiful, hand crafted, parquet dance floor that he hoped would be used at the reception. It was an unusual gift for several reasons – one of them being that my brother’s church had never hosted a wedding reception with dancing before! After a good bit of discussion, the leaders of my brother’s church decided that Christians should be able to celebrate at a wedding and agreed to allow the dance floor to be installed – so long as the dancing would be “ballroom-type” dancing.
The day of the wedding came – and it was a beautiful ceremony. The bride was radiant, the groom handsome, and everyone sense the blessing of God on this marriage. When time came for the reception, the guests filled the new fellowship hall – complete with the hand-carved dance floor. The MC announced that the first dance would be the bride and her father; and the father of the bride spun his daughter gracefully on the dance floor in a classic waltz. Then the groom stepped in for the second dance – another nice waltz. But when time came for the rest of the wedding party and the guests to join in the celebration – the music changed. Instead of a classic waltz-number – the disco classic from KC and the Sunshine Band blasted from the speakers: “Shake, shake, shake; shake, shake, shake; shake your booty!” Young people ran to the dance floor while the older generation gasped with shock and surprise! I can’t express adequately in words how funny the scene was! Fearing that he would be immediately excommunicated from the church, the groom ran up to my brother and apologized. “Pastor Joe, I didn’t know he was going to play that – I promise!” Well, the end of the story is that the music was toned down a bit – but the dancing and celebration continued!
In Jesus’ story, the father throws a kind of “homecoming party” for his younger son. He orders his servants to kill the calf that has been fattened in preparation for some special banquet. There is music and dancing – and the older brother is both shocked and angered. In his self-righteousness he judges his brother as being unworthy of such a reception; in his pride he feels he deserves more than he is getting; and in his resentment, he is unable to experience joy and therefore unable to celebrate his brother’s homecoming as well as his father’s love. He is joy-impaired!
Sometimes it seems that the longer people are Christians – the more time we spend in church and “church activities” – the more “joy-impaired” we become! We can start to take God’s grace and forgiveness for granted. We can start to forget the miracle of spiritual new birth. We can forget to celebrate! In this story – and in the stories that immediately precede it in Luke 15 – Jesus presents God as a God who loves to celebrate! He celebrates each an every sinner who repents; each and every one of his children who comes home as if he or she were the only one. And he wants us to learn to celebrate as well!
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2 comments:
God loves to celebrate! (us!) :)
I know I am actually a little of both brothers, more so the older. My younger brothers have all 'used' my parents money for their own good. We were raised to believe that if we do good we will be rewarded. But yet these younger brothers got to do what they want and then they still get more stuff even when our mom doesn't have any to give. I know I am taking God's grace and Love like I earned it and not because he gives it so freely, but its hard to change after 50 some years. I am working on it and these past few weeks of the sermons and this blog have helped, but I still have q ways to go.
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