March 30, Lent 4c (Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32)

The preacher’s challenge with the remarkable parable of the prodigal son—certainly one of the greatest stories ever told—is deciding where to focus. So many options! Does one start with the red flag of its opening line: “There was a man who had two sons”? If so, we are subtly reminded that this is an old, old story. It is also a problematic one, for from the beginning of scripture Genesis is rife with sibling rivalry and the countercultural preference of the younger over the elder. Think of Abel and Cain, Jacob and Esau, Joseph and his brothers.

Or might one shift gears and note how Luke frames all three parables in chapter 15 by placing them within the dynamic of Jesus’ early ministry? Imagine his audience made up of “tax collectors and sinners” on the one hand and religious leaders on the other. How can he eat with the former and bear the constant reproach of the latter? More to the point, will these folk ever sit down together?

Or does the preacher offer an analysis of each of the parable’s brothers that will speak to the inevitable sibling conflicts known firsthand within the congregation? Surely in almost every family there will be the beloved “bad” child who is welcomed home after their latest major mess, as well as those others (no doubt better represented in church on Sunday) who always obey the rules and resent never being thanked adequately for their dependable virtue.