When the lost come home by Cheri Holdridge (with an assist by Kurt Young)

Have you ever been really far away from home? I think about kids who go away for their first sleep over and get homesick, and think they are a million miles away. You get that phone call and have to go pick them up. Or maybe you were that kid who left home at age 17 or 19 and the circumstances were not so good. You wanted to be as far away as possible (like the kid in the video). Maybe things were bad at home. Or maybe you realized things were not as bad as you thought. Either way, you still had a sense of longing for something you had lost. 

Maybe you have traveled away from your family for work. Maybe you have been in the military and you have been stationed far away from home, in a war zone, not sure if you will ever get home safely again. That is far away from home. These are all examples of being physically away from our literal home.  That’s really far from home.  

Jesus told a story of a man whose son literally left home (Luke 15:1-32 (from The Message translation). The story of the prodigal son is probably one of the most familiar stories in Christian scripture. A father had two sons. One asked for his inheritance and left home; the other stayed behind and worked in the family business.  The one who left, went off to the city and blew all his cash on wild living.  He soon found himself working in a terrible job, feeding pigs.  He was hungry and miserable. When he found himself longing for the food the pigs were eating, he knew he had made a big mistake.  He had made a mess of his life. He knew his father would never take him back so he devised a plan. He would ask his father to give him a job as a hired hand.

Back home, his father thought of him every day, like any parent longs for a child who is missing. The father had no idea what had happened to the son. He loved the son.  When the son was approaching the house the father went out to greet him and threw his arms around him. He said, “Let’s have a party.” I thought this son might be dead but he is alive. The older son came in from work and asked what all the fuss was about. A servant said, “Your brother is back and your dad is throwing him a party.” The son got jealous and said to the father, “You never threw a party for me!”  The father said, “You have been here with me all the time. Everything I have is yours. I thought your brother was dead, but he is back. He was lost but now he is found.”  You see, when the lost come home, a parent rejoices!

Jesus told this story, because he was spending time with lots of sinners and people with bad reputations. He was spending time with imperfect people like us here at the Village. And the good religious people of the day were getting all bent out of shape. The Pharisees and the religious scholars came to him pointing their fingers at him and saying: “What kind of teacher are you? Hanging out with sinners and the lost?”         

Truth be told, Jesus didn’t really enjoy hanging with the religious folk. They were too full of themselves. He liked hanging with the people who knew what life was really about. He liked to be with the people we like to call “the least, the last and the lost.” 

So he told them this powerful story about the lost son: the son who ran away from home and blew his inheritance. Jesus was saying :”God is like this young man’s father: God is just waiting for us to come home when we mess up. But you, you religious folk, you are like that older brother. You just want to judge.” 

I guess Jesus did some judging. He made those religious folk squirm when it came to their self-righteousness. But he did not judge the younger brother who made some mistakes.

The brother ran away from home. He messed up. Let’s take a look at all the things he possibly did wrong:

·         He spent his money very unwisely. Pretty sure there isn’t a person in this room who has not done that a time or two. 

·         He most likely made some unhealthy life choices. Yup! We have all done that. 

·         I’m going to go out on a limb here and say he was self-centered in his actions. I doubt if he had much consideration for the good of his community. I’m thinking it was all about him and his fun not community service.  I’d say most of us have gone through a stage like that in our lives at one time or another, about me and having some fun.  Betting some of us have gone through this stage.

·          He was not a very good son. He certainly did not do too well with that commandment: “Honor your father and mother.” Failure to call your dad and let him know you are alive gives you a big old “F” on that one. 

This son gave us the name prodigal. He wrote the book on being the prodigal son. But look at what happened to him. When he realized he had messed up, and he went home ready to live as a servant, to have the worst job in his family’s business rather than as a son, his father said: “No way, you are my son, I forgive you. I love you. Let’s have a party.”  Can you imagine a teenager stealing the family car, wrecking it and Dad saying “I’m just glad you’re alright, let’s have a party”.  

Jesus said to the people. That is how God rejoices every time we come home to God. Every time we come to our senses and turn away from whatever we are doing that keeps us away from God and what God has in mind for us, and brings us back home – God forgives us just like that – and just wants to throw a big old party!

And God is not satisfied until we are ALL home! God wants all of us, not just the 99, but the lost one.  That’s why God loves a church like The Village – because we dare to include all people. And that’s why we keep doing it. And we have to keep reminding one another that we have all been the least, the last and the lost. You may not feel like that today, but maybe someone next to you may.  That’s why you need to be there for them today, and for you. 

Every week new people come into our doors. The new people have something in common with those of us who have been coming here for 4 weeks or four months or 4 years. And so we need to treat EVERYONE just like that father treated that son who returned. We need to welcome them home.  Every week needs to be like a party.

Some of us when we come here, are lonely and we are looking for connection. We need some people who will notice if we come back next week. We want someone who will ask us about the prayer concern that we wrote on a card last week, or someone who will be our friend on Facebook and notice when we say we had a really crummy day. We need to be the loving and encouraging presence of God for one another.

Some of us are coming here because we need to set our lives on a new course. We aren’t happy with our lives. Perhaps like that prodigal son we can clearly see the choice we made that set us on the wrong course. Or maybe it’s not so clear to us – we just feel like we’re on a treadmill and we have no joy and no hope. We come here because we have heard, somewhere, the promise, that God wants more for our lives. We come here seeking God’s guidance for our lives. We want the full life, that life of hope, that God promises for God’s people.

Finally, some of us come here because the world treats us as if we are the least. We are outcast. We are beaten down. Whether it is by economic poverty, because of race, sexual orientation, by age, because we are immigrants, we are disabled physically or with a mental illness, we feel marginalized. And We have heard the promise that in the church of Jesus Christ everyone is valued and yes, EVERYONE HAS A HOME.   And that’s why we come here, week after week.

And so here we are, Village people. We may have felt lost at one time or another, but not anymore. Now, we belong to God. We are home. 

How does it feel, when you have been away for awhile, and then arrive at home?  Safe, relieved, comfortable, yourself?  

I want you to take that image with you today. Imagine you are home with God. Just like the prodigal son who came home and was welcomed with open arms: You are home. You may have felt lost, but you are not lost anymore. You belong to God. Welcome home.