The Fall into Grace

The return of the prodigal son
(By Pompeo Batoni 1773)

The Fall into Grace

Sept. 12, 2010, 24th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Exodus 32:7-11, 13-14 I Timothy 1:12-17 Luke 15:1-24

Alleluia, alleluia.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke.
Glory to you, Lord.

A lost sheep

Tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to Jesus, but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So He told them this parable: What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the lost one until he finds it? And when he does find it, he sets it on his shoulders with great jubilation, and upon his arrival home, he calls together his friends and neighbors and says to them, “Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.” I tell you, in just the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance.

A lost coin

Or what woman having ten coins and losing one would not light a lamp and sweep the house, searching carefully until she finds it? And when she does find it, she calls together her friends and neighbors and says to them, “Rejoice with me because I have found the coin that I lost.” In just the same way, I tell you, there will be rejoicing among the angels of God over one sinner who repents.

A lost son

Then Jesus told them another parable: A man had two sons, and the younger son said to his father, “Father, give me the share of your estate that should come to me.” So the father divided the property between them. After a few days, the younger son collected all his belongings and took off for a distant country where he squandered his inheritance on parties and prostitutes. When he had freely spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he found himself in dire need. So he hired himself out to one of the local citizens who sent him to his farm to tend the swine. He longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed, but nobody gave him any. Coming to his senses he thought about his father’s many hired hands who had more than enough to eat while he was starving. He said to himself, “I shall arise and return to the house of my father. And I shall say to him, `Father, I have sinned against heaven and you. I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers.’” So he decided to return to his father’s house.

While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and overcome with joy, ran out to meet, embrace and kiss him. The son immediately protested, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son.” But the father ordered his servants, “Quickly bring the finest robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Take the fattened calf and slaughter it. Then let us celebrate with a feast because this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found.” Then the celebration began.

The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

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Introduction
Jesus’ two most eloquent parables

Jesus’ two most eloquent parables are the Parable of the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son. Both are found only in evangelist Luke. (Lk 10:25-37 & 15:1-24) Because of those two immortal parables, some rank Luke first among the four evangelists. What Jesus said of the two greatest commandments can be said of these two parables: "On these two depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” (Mt 22:40)

Before & After 9/11

Yesterday, September 11, was the 9th anniversary of that horrific event when Islamic extremists drove two 747s into the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan, bringing down the famous Twin Towers and three thousand innocent human beings. We shall never forget 9/11. In fact, time is now dated as Before and After 9/11. In this age when the world has become a global village, Jews, Christians and Muslims are now neighbors to each others, and in this After 9/11 Era, it is necessary that the three of us get to know each other better. It’s particularly necessary at this very moment when a heated debate rages about whether a mosque (an Islamic house of prayer) should be built near ground zero in Lower Manhattan.

Judaism & Islam: religions of law

Of the three great monotheistic religions, Judaism and Islam are much closer to each other than they are to Christianity. Both are religions of laws. That is to say, both insist that their adherents observe a corpus of specific religious laws. Both stress a connection between observance of that corpus of laws and God’s good pleasure regarding the observant faithful.

Two centuries before Christ, Moses gave the Israelites the Law, which wasn’t a law (in the singular), but was a yoke of 613 major laws plus a whole constellation of minor rules and regulations. The gospels constantly allude to that mountainous heap of laws and minutiae. (Mt 12:1-8, 9-14; 23: 1-8, 23; Mk 7: 3-4; Lk 13:10-17) Six centuries after Christ, the Jew embracing the yoke of the Law was matched by the Muslim embracing the yoke of Shari’ah: that’s the entire corpus of commandments and prohibitions in Islamic religious law, covering crime, politics, economics, as well as personal matters such as sexuality, hygiene, diet, prayer, and fasting.

Christianity: an anti-law religion

On the other hand, Christianity (when it is true to its original inspiration) is an anti-law religion. That is to say, Christianity does not look favorably upon nor is it comfortable with religious laws. In Galatians Paul writes, “Christ has freed us from the curse of the Law [with its 613 plus laws].” (Gal 3: 13) In the same letter he writes, "Christ has come to set us free from circumcision and the Law[with its 613 plus laws]. So don't ever take that yoke upon yourself again." (Gal 5: 1) That attitude which doesn’t feel comfortable with religious laws, and even sees them as a curse, is called antinomianism.

Judaism and Islam rejoice mightily in obedient sons – in sons who faithfully and scrupulously observe Judaic or Islamic laws. Christianity, on the other hand, rejoices mightily in repentant sons - in sons who have been disobedient and gone astray, but who have turned themselves around, and have returned to their father’s house. On the one hand, a good Jew seeks guidance in observing the laws of Moses, and a good Muslim seeks guidance in observing the laws of Shari’ah. [1] On the other hand, a Christian seeks forgiveness for having gone astray, and he takes great consolation in the parable of the Prodigal Son.

Since both Judaism and Islam stress the virtue of obedience to God’s laws, we wonder whether these two great religions can countenance parables which offer consolation to sheep or sons who’ve gone astray? We wonder whether Judaism and Islam are forbidden by some unwritten law to internalize such parables and openly comfort each other with them?

The fall into grace

On the other hand, Christianity (that antinomian scoundrel) revels in a parable about a sheep or a coin which was lost, and which was festively celebrated when found. It revels in a parable about a prodigal son who went astray in a foreign land, and was festively welcomed back home, as he fell into the gracious arms of his father. The Parable of the Prodigal Son is a parable not about a man’s fall from grace, but about his fall into grace.

A spectacular ”fall from grace”

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel for Sunday, May 23, 2002 exploded with a story about a spectacular “fall from grace.” With a subtle bit of glee, the newspaper splashed its pages with a blow by blow description of a sex scandal involving a very famous prodigal son -- the Archbishop of Milwaukee, Rembert Weakland, OSB. In response to the explosive newspaper story, Anglican theologian William Coats injected some sanity into the rumble. He wrote an article which he himself characterized as ”a bit incendiary and even a bit anti-Roman Catholic.” The article in part reads,

I ran into The Rt. Rev. Rembert Weakland in Milwaukee shortly after he became the Roman Catholic bishop of that Archdiocese. He was a good, indeed, a saintly figure. He spent a good part of his first Christmas Day in Milwaukee at St. Benedict the Moor Catholic Church in central city where a daily meal is served the poor. He was a liberal churchman though hardly a radical. Still, he was a Vatican II figure which gave hope to all us Anglicans.

After the scandal had exploded with a vengeance, the Archbishop asked permission from the pope to retire. With uncharacteristic speed, the Vatican assented to his resignation. In the first public service at the Milwaukee Cathedral after the scandal broke, the faithful were `comforted’ (!) by a homily delivered by the celebrant Fr. Karl Last. He spoke of the Archbishop’s “fall from Grace.” That was really too much for me! There is a strain in Roman Catholic theology which sees us human beings as naturally good but who “fall from grace” when we commit certain sins. It’s all so much nonsense!

The Archbishop didn’t “fall from grace.” He didn’t fall from some “goodness” or from some pristine pure state. He started out where we all start out -- where the prodigal son started out -- he started out with a mixed bag of good and evil. He started out with the possibility of obedience or waywardness. In Romans, Paul writes, “There is none who is righteous. No not one. All have sinned and all have fallen short of the glory of God.” (Rom 3: 11,23)

Paul isn’t referring to a moment of sexual weakness which means disgrace. He isn’t referring to one sexual sin which somehow besmirches a “clean” record. That’s hogwash. The Archbishop and all of us besmirch our record every day. Some of our misdeeds might be less harmful than his or less public than his but misdeeds they are.

Coats concludes his piece by saying that if that kind of theology had prevailed in St. John Cathedral that day, the homilist would, indeed, have delivered a very different kind of homily. In fact, if that kind of theology had prevailed in the entire Catholic Church, there would, indeed, have been much less moaning and groaning and gnashing of teeth in the whole Archdiocese of Milwaukee. Coats’ parting shot at us is this:

The Roman Catholic Church certainly has a right to preach and practice whatever theology it wants to, but as the dominant religion in this country it often gives the impression that its view is the Christian point of view. As a son of the Reformation and as an Anglican I say, “No, it is not!”

Conclusion
Amazing grace

The prodigal son did not fall from grace. The wonderful good news is that he fell into grace. He fell into the arms of an amazingly gracious father. And that set a song singing sweetly in his soul:

“Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,

That saved a wretch like me.

I once was lost but now am found,

Was blind, but now I see.”

[1] Confer A comparison of Islam and Christianity, pp 56-60 Marshall Hudgson