03-27-2022 To An Audience of Outcasts

Thomas J Parlette
“To an audience of outcasts”
Luke 15: 1-3, 11b-32
3/27/22

            Did you know that today is a special day? Well, it is. Today, March 27th, is officially National Joe Day. I’m not kidding. I don’t know who decides these things, like National Goof-Off Day (March 22nd) or National Waffle Day (March 25th), but March 27th is designated as National Joe Day. It’s a day for celebrating anyone with the name Joe. I guess I’ll jump on board with this since my middle name is Joe!
            Years ago, there was a national survey measuring how well people liked their names, and about 21% of people said they disliked their names enough to consider changing them. So if you are part of that 21%, maybe today is the day to start going by the name Joe.
            Speaking of making changes, our bible passage for today, the well-known and beloved Parable of the Prodigal Son, is the story of a young man who wanted to make some major changes in his life. He didn’t want to change his name, exactly, but he did want to get away from his family and his hometown and make a new life for himself in a faraway place. Even if that meant hurting the people he loved the most. Even if that meant burning bridges and losing his way. Even if that meant ending up in a place he never imagined he’d be.
            Consider the story of 49-year-old Erwin Kreuz from Germany. In 1977, Erwin spent his life savings for a special trip to the magical city of San Francisco, California. The flight had a short layover in Bangor, Maine, before reaching its final destination. While on the layover, a flight attendant casually wished Mr. Kruez a good time in San Francisco. She was unaware that that he didn’t speak much English. All he heard was “San Francisco” – and assumed he had reached his vacation spot. So he got off the plane in Bangor, Maine – and began touring the town.
            He wandered the streets of Bangor for three days before he discovered his mistake. But a local family took him in, and his story made it into the local paper. And soon, the whole town rallied around this lost foreigner. The locals threw Kreuz a 50th birthday party. The Penobscot Indian Nation named him an honorary member. A local songwriter wrote a folk song about him. The Bangor government even gave him a small patch of land in northern Maine. The Governor himself even stopped by to visit him.
            Within a week, Time magazine published an article about Erwin Kreuz, and the Today Show did a segment on the lost foreigner who received a hearty welcome in an unexpected place. Not to be out done, the San Francisco Chronicle covered the story and paid for Kruez to come to San Francisco, where he rode a cable car, met the mayor and attended a rodeo – where he received a standing ovation.
            One year after his whirlwind trip to the U.S., Erwin Kruez returned to Bangor, Maine, for a visit with the folks who had so generously welcomed him to their town. And according to the local property assessor, he continued to pay property taxes on the plot of he had been given in Maine – even though he never came back to see it.(1)
            It’s nice when a story about being lost has a happy ending – so many don’t end well. But sometimes a trip to a faraway place takes us away from our sense of self, our sense of security, our source of strength. Sometimes a trip to faraway place ends in brokenness or loss or regret.
            A University professor in Australia recruited 657 adults between the ages of 20 and 80 and asked them to discuss the 10 biggest decisions they had made in their life so far. It’s interesting to think about that, isn’t it?
            The professor and the study subjects then sorted and ranked the decisions according to how often certain decisions were mentioned, how significant the decisions were in the course of each person’s life, and the emotions connected to the decisions. The professor reports, “The most enduring regrets in life result from decisions that move you further from the ideal person that you want to be.”(2) That makes sense I think.
            It’s important to point out before we get too deep into the passage that we have all made decisions that have moved us further from the ideal person we’d like to be. We’ve all made decisions that have moved us further from what God intends us to be, as well. You could look at that as a definition of sin – moving away from what God intends. So today’s story is good news for us all.
            There is a lot to be said about this story. You could approach it from the Father’s viewpoint – or the older brother – or even examine why the mother is never named at all. But the primary story revolves around the younger son who rebels against his family. He asks for his share of the family inheritance so he can go off to a distant country and start a new life. The end result was he squandered his fortune and ended up broke and alone in a foreign land. When a severe famine spread throughout the whole country, the young man became desperate and hired himself out to a pig farmer just to keep from starving. Feeding pigs was rock-bottom, the most shameful job a young Jewish man could have.
            The son in Jesus story had rejected his father, lost his inheritance and brought shame on his whole family.
            This is one of Jesus most famous stories. But Jesus’ stories are never just about the story. They all are told to reveal something about God. And every story is told for a particular audience. Notice who is in the audience when Jesus tells this story.
            Our story begins with the words, “Now the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
            Not long after, Jesus tells this story of the prodigal son. Jesus told this particular story for this particular audience. We sometimes overlook that little detail – Jesus is telling this story to an audience of outcasts. The big takeaway from this story – God welcomes you. You are important to God. You may be seen as sinners and outcasts, but God welcomes you home. God accepts you.
            There is healing in acceptance. Jesus was known to notice people that others overlooked. He touched people that were thought to be untouchable. He had no walls of acceptability around him. And this openness caused the local religious leaders to view him with suspicion and contempt. Even today, we struggle to just accept and love people as they are. Even today, that kind of love is radical.
            In 1989, Mother Teresa visited Phoenix, Arizona, to open a homeless shelter. There was a huge celebration to welcome her, crowds packed the local Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum to hear her speak. She was also invited to do a radio interview on Phoenix’s largest radio station – KTAR.
            Before the interview, the radio host asked Mother Teresa if there was anything he could do to help her work. He was accustomed to lending his celebrity to various charities or making donations to good causes. But that’s not what Mother Teresa wanted from him. Instead, she said, “Yes, there is. Find someone no one else loves and love them.”(3)
            That’s how Jesus lived his life. He found people no one else loved, the people who had been told that God couldn’t love them – and he loved them. He made them the center of his attention. He made them the good guys in his stories. That’s the whole reason he was telling this story.
            Consider the story of a man named Ron Baptiste. Ron is a biker, who became a Christian during a short stint in prison. When he was released, he couldn’t find a church where he felt comfortable. So Baptiste started his own church – Covenant Confirmers Ministries, near Nashville, Tennessee. Covenant’s members include fellow bikers, former drug addicts, gang members and prostitutes as well as a local police sergeant.
            Tommy Hollingsworth, a Covenant member who also spent time in prison, says of his church, “You don’t have to clean up. You just get connected to God. Anybody is welcome here. Anybody.”(4)
            Just get connected to God. That was the point of every one of Jesus’ stories. That was the point of his whole life. That’s what led him to the cross – to connect us with God. First and foremost, this story tells us that we are welcomed.
            Jesus is telling his audience of outcasts that God is waiting for you. The son in this story is starving and desperate. So, he decides to head home and beg for mercy. He knew he had destroyed any chance of rejoining his family. He’d destroyed any chance for forgiveness. But he thought to himself, “I’ll confess my sin to my father, and I’ll ask him to take me on as a hired hand.”
            But as Jesus tells the story, while he was still a long way off, the father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
            This father who had been rejected and shamed by his son’s actions – was sitting by the window, waiting for his son to return. When he saw him, he was overjoyed. He couldn’t even wait for his son to get to the driveway. He didn’t wait for an apology or the carefully rehearsed request to take his son back. Nope – while he was still a long way off, the father ran to him, embraced him and kissed him.
            William Muehl tells a story about a 5-year-old boy who had made a ceramic dish as a Christmas gift for his parents. As his parents were picking him up from daycare, he was gathering up his stuff to go home, and his dish fell to the floor and shattered. The boy froze, then burst into tears. He had ruined his parents gift.
            His father put his arm around him and said – “It’s Ok, son, don’t cry.” But mom picked him and didn’t say a word. She let him cry, and cried a little herself. When the boy had composed himself, mom put him down and said, “Let’s pick up the pieces and see what we can make out of what is left.”(5)
            God is waiting to welcome us home. God is waiting to restore us. No matter how far you may have wandered off course, God saying through Jesus, “Let’s pick up the pieces and see what we can make out of what is left.”
            And this isn’t just a moment of restoration – it’s a moment of celebration! The story ends with gift – the best robe, a ring and some sandals. And then there’s a party – ring the fattened calf! “Let’s have a feast and celebrate. My son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and now is found.”
            There is a story about a teenage girl who rebelled against her family and became increasingly estranged from them. One night, she was arrested for drunk driving and her mother had to pick her up from the local jail. It was a long car ride home. The daughter could only imagine all the angry words her mother must be holding inside as she drove them home.
            The next day at breakfast, the mother slid a small box over to her daughter. “Go ahead – open it. It’s a gift for you.”
            The daughter opened the box – and inside was a rock.
            “Nice Mom – thanks, I’ll treasure it forever,” she said with sarcasm dripping from the corners of her mouth.
            “Good, I hope you do. Read the card.”
            The card read, “This rock is more than 200 million years old. That’s how long it will take before I give up on you.”(6)
            God is never going to give up on us. We are accepted. We are loved. You are welcomed and you are waited for. That was the message of Jesus’ life and the motivation for his death – to show us that God would give everything to save us, restore us and bring us home. In fact, God is just like the father in this story – running to meet us with open arms.
            May God be praised for that. Amen.

1.       Dynamic Preaching, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1, p58.
2.       Ibid… p59.
3.       Ibid… p60.
4.       Ibid… p60.
5.       Ibid… p60.
6.       Ibid… p61.