Lent 4, Year C

March 18, 2007

The Rev. Dena Cleaver-Bartholomew

In 1970 the Chairmen of the Board released a hit single entitled Give Me Just a Little More Time. Its lyrics featured a repentant man hoping for another chance, singing the pleading words “Give me just a little more time, and our love will surely grow….”

Not only do these words capture a common experience in romantic relationships, they also give voice to a recurrent dynamic in the relationship between us and God. As the Bible tells us “The LORD is slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression….” (Num 14: 18) We humans, however, are highly variable in our response to God’s love. Some of us reject God outright; some try to ignore or minimize God; some embrace the love of God wholeheartedly and unreservedly. Most of us are, to put it kindly, a work in progress: hence the need for “a little more time.”

In the Hebrew Bible reading from Joshua we hear the conclusion of a very long saga. The LORD said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt.” That day was the day that the Israelites entered the Promised Land. After God called Moses to lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt in the Exodus and gave them the Law at Mt. Sinai, entering into covenant relationship with them and declaring that they would be given the land promised to their ancestor Abraham, they were brought to the edge of the Promised Land. At that point they had been redeemed from slavery and were poised to occupy the land as God’s Chosen People. So they elected to send spies into the land to reconnoiter. The spies brought back a dreadful assessment of the people who lived there. The residents were strong, powerful enemies. There was no way the Israelites could prevail against them. Only Joshua and Caleb encouraged the people to trust in God and go ahead into the land. The people chose to believe the spies rather than God. They needed a little more time. God’s response? They would wait one year for every day the spies had spent in the land, so forty days became the forty years the Israelites wandered in the wilderness. Now they had plenty of time. It is in today’s reading that the people were ready to trust that they could live into God’s promise and enter the land.

When I was in Divinity School, one of our professors taught us about the concept of the theological spiral. It made sense to me immediately. The idea is that we are faced with the same or similar questions again and again in theology. The reason we are able to approach them differently is because instead of simply circling around to face the same question, we have moved three dimensionally, as in a spiral, to confront the same question from a different place. The theological spiral validates the reality that for some situations, we really do need “a little more time” in order to have another response. Given some time we could literally be in a different place.

In today’s Gospel Jesus is getting a clear sense of where people are in terms of their ability to respond to him. The text tells us that “all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him.” This statement sounds like good news, for the overt conductors of bad behavior were taking steps in the right direction. There was potential for change if they entered into relationship with Jesus, if they truly listened and responded to his teaching. Perhaps they just needed a little more time. Can you imagine how exciting it would be to have drug dealers, gang members, prostitutes, and organized crime families coming to listen and possibly be changed by the teaching of Jesus? Now imagine them all showing up here to do it. Oh…no wonder the Pharisees and scribes were uncomfortable. What would visitors think of St. Paul’s if they came for worship and those were the people sitting in the pew next to them? So the Pharisees and scribes grumbled and said, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Jesus then tells them three stories to help them see the situation from a different place.

The first story is about a sheep that is lost and a man who seeks the sheep until it is found, rejoicing and calling others to celebrate with him. The second story is about a coin that is lost and a woman who searches for the coin until it is found, rejoicing and inviting others to celebrate with her. The third story is about a son that is lost. Let’s see if we can detect a pattern.

In this story there is a man who has two sons. The younger son essentially wishes his father dead, asking for the money he would get as his inheritance. He leaves home and spends his money carelessly until the piggy bank is empty. He then ends up among the real pigs, definitely a low point for a Jewish man. “And no one gave him anything.” His isolation and need are tangible. Then he has a moment of realization concerning his relationship with his father. He “came to himself” and saw his life from a very different place. He repents, literally turning back toward his father, ready to trust and be in relationship. Now if you think that the man with the lost sheep and the woman with the lost coin went overboard when what they had lost was found, they have nothing on the father. He abandons all dignity, running to his son, kissing him, hearing his confession and restoring him to full relationship. The son realizes the depth of their estrangement, saying “I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” The father, however, is focused not on worthiness, but on love. “…Let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!”

Not everyone is ready to celebrate. The older son discovers this unexpected turn of events and is angry. He feels used and unappreciated, resentful that his good behavior seems to have gone unrecognized while his brother’s bad behavior appears to have no consequences. His words betray his hurt. His father has never demonstrated this extravagant love for him.

Just as the younger son had to come to a different place to understand the love that was possible between him and his father, the older son is struggling with believing that he is loved. The younger son can rejoice in the compassion and mercy that the father has shown him, knowing that it is completely undeserved. The older son is wrestling with failing to see appreciation he has worked hard to earn. Fortunately the father affirms his love for both sons. “Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.” This son is invited to realize that love does not have to be earned, that it is a gift he needs to receive. Until he realizes that he is loved, the older brother is just as lost as his younger brother was. The older brother stands on the threshold: of the celebration, of love accepted, of reconciliation with both his father and his brother. Will he accept the love offered by his father? Will he celebrate and reconcile with his brother? We don’t know.

We too stand on thresholds. What would it take for us to trust in God and move forward? We might know the stories of God and how God has saved God’s people. But how do we know that God’s saving power is true for us? God is seeking, searching, waiting. The invitation is open.