Waste Management

Luke 15: 1-32 (Below is an excerpt from the whole Gospel for Sunday) 
 ‘Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. He replied, “Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.” Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. But he answered his father, “Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!” Then the father said to him, “Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.” ’

This gospel emphasizes the supremely generous nature of our God who welcomes the lost and brings them out of the cold darkness into the warm light of home.  But what does this scripture have to say to the vast majority who have remained committed to the faith and have never even considered tossing it aside for the emptiness of living solely for the gratification of self?

I'm inviting you to relate to the feelings of the elder brother but I would be very surprised if any of my readers are guilty of deep feelings of huge resentment toward those who have chosen to return to the church or toward those adults who are received into the Church at Easter. It's not the feelings of the older son toward the younger son that need examination. It's the attitude of the older son toward his father that is problematic. 

The word prodigal means "recklessly spending resources; wastefully extravagant" and when we hear the word, it naturally brings to mind the younger son but could not the older son have been prodigal as well?

That's not how he has traditionally been defined in the context of this parable but when I read that Gospel and hear his resentment and observe his reaction to his Father's joyful generosity, I have to conclude that this older son was also prodigal and that he, too, had a problem with being wasteful and cavalier with the resources he had available to him. His waste was different than his younger brother's obvious and measurable waste. It was more subtle and harder to identify because it was disguised within surface obedience to the rules and conformity to expected behavior. Did the elder son stay at home and work hard because he loved his Father, had a close father/son relationship and enjoyed spending time with his Father or was it because he was afraid not to or because had his sights on his own future inheritance? Had he left the present moment behind and begun living for more than he had?

What did he waste? What were the resources he squandered away? He wasted a chance to appreciate extravagant love. He squandered away the opportunity for close relationship. He threw away the wisdom that comes from being close to, listening to and learning from someone who only desired his happiness. He misused time that could have been spent discovering the joy that can easily be found in sharing a simple meal or singing a psalm together. It was all there for him in the present moment but he wasted those moments. Even when he was terribly upset with his father, he did not seek his father out to discuss it with him. Instead, he asked the servants what was going on. His father actually came to him to find out why he was upset. Even at that point the son did not realize that he was so loved by his father that his father went out of his way to seek him out. All the older son could see was the injustice of so much love being lavished on his younger brother. 

It's easy to look at that older brother and dislike him but, as it is with most hearts that are wounded, there is more to the wound than what we can see on the surface. It would be easy to point a finger and in pointing that finger, we would completely miss a poignant lesson of what happens when we take for granted or stop being mindful of all that is already ours.

The older brother is all of us who have ever lapsed, without meaning to, into doing all the right things, having all the right perspectives and praying all the right prayers but forgetting that there is more to the spiritual life than just right actions. The full spiritual life is a right heart dwelling in the right place.  It is a Kingdom mystery that as God’s people we are on our way home while at the same time we already are home. We are a pilgrim people who travel best when we stay still and dwell in God. Not just near him. In him.

When was the last time you simply gave thanks for what is? I mean outside of those times when God answered a prayer in the way you hoped he would. How often do you bring yourself back to the present moment to just be with him, even for 15 seconds? That’s hard to do sometimes, especially when the present moment is chaotic, hurtful or dry and unappealing – we’d far rather live in the past, dwelling on what life seemingly stripped us of, or in the future with all the images of the way we think things should be. The present moment can seem so empty of God and of our inheritance. Yet that is where God is. God completely surrounds us, upholds us and is in every breath we take. God is totally there but we are not at home. Our bodies are there but our hearts and spirits are somewhere else.

We are prodigal without ever leaving home.

There’s an old adage that says, “Familiarity breeds contempt.” Many good people would be offended if someone suggested they have contempt for God and his blessings but for ten minutes just try staying in the present moment where God dwells. If one is not used to being there, it is so easy to immediately get frustrated in that present moment. If peace, answers, joy or some sort of sense of God’s presence doesn’t make itself known very soon, our whole desire is to leave and go somewhere else that is more appealing, even if it’s just somewhere in our heads. If we really respected and honored God in the present moment we wouldn’t throw up our hands and head off into the past or future. There is a certain amount of contempt in our refusal to stay in the moment. We are saying to God that we prefer to go where our senses are titillated, even in negative ways, than stay wherever he is. Just like the younger brother.   

We are prodigal without ever leaving home.

If we spend all our inner time guiltily chastising ourselves for our own perceived failures we are being seriously wasteful of something extremely precious: the rich, lavish forgiveness and love of God which is always ours and always available. If we get all wrapped up in judgment over the failures of others we are not only wasting forgiveness, we are being contemptuous of it.

We are prodigal without ever leaving home.

If we’ve ever reviewed all the things we’ve done for the Lord – all the people we’ve helped, all the ministries we’ve participated in, all the prayers we’ve prayed, all the money we’ve given, all the times we denied ourselves  – and have held that list up to the Lord as a reason for him to fulfill our desires and answer our prayers, we are brushing aside all that we have already been given and labeling it ‘not enough’. We are telling God that only the fatted calf will prove that he loves us, forgetting that he gave us the slaughtered lamb.  

We are prodigal without ever leaving home.

The parable of the prodigal son can be a very comforting one when we see how generous God is with his gracious love but it can also be a very uncomfortable one if we realize that as older brothers and sisters we all have the capacity to put God on trial and find him lacking. Even if you’ve never overtly rejected God and would never even consider doing so, perhaps it’s time to rediscover and fully appreciate what has already been lavished upon you and to humbly ask forgiveness for being a stay-at-home prodigal. God will shout, laugh, run to you and welcome you with open arms.

We might be prodigal but our God is prodigious.