Monday Morning Sermon: Life Isn't Fair

This Sunday's gospel was the famous Parable of the Prodigal Son from Luke, Chapter 15.  We'll print it at the end of this post if you care to read it.  I think most are familiar with it.

A father has two sons.  The eldest serves him in everything.  The younger is rebellious, insulting his father, taking dad's money and leaving home.  He spends it all in dissolute living and returns home a pauper. Instead of chastising him the father rushes out to greet him, embraces him, puts a ring and a robe on him, and throws a huge party.  The elder son is upset, for he has stayed faithful and yet it seems his father is happier over the lost, rebellious son returning than the faithful son who stayed.  The father assures his first son that he loves him and that all that belongs to the father belongs to him.  But that doesn't stop dad from rejoicing over the son who was lost and now is found, who was dead but has come back to life.

It's worth noting that this story sprang from a question posed by the Pharisees and teachers of the Law.  They were upset that Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners...people who weren't as good and pure as they.  These esteemed and upright members of the community were the elder son in the story.  They couldn't understand why Jesus was partying with the rebellious people.

We can all empathize with that feeling.  It's no fun when you feel like you have followed the rules and somebody else hasn't yet that other person gets rewarded.  It angers the inner fourth-grader in all of us.  (Kids that age are usually hyper-concerned with rules and following them.)  If we were standing there watching Jesus pay attention to people besides us we'd probably be saying, "What about meeeeee???" too.  "I went to church services!  I gave to your ministries!  I went to Bible Study!  Why are you going to their house to dinner and not mine?"

Jesus turns to the Pharisees and says the same thing the father says to his eldest son in the story.  "I love ya, kid, but life's not fair."

We've all been told this at one time or another.  When our sister gets a more expensive Christmas present than we do, when another kids gets chosen for a special honor at school we feel we've earned, when somebody else gets the bigger piece of birthday cake an adult comes along and tells us, "Life's not fair."  What they really mean is, "Hush!"  It's a dismissive statement.

Not so when Jesus says it.  "Life's not fair" is an expansive statement when it comes from him.  To us it means, "You didn't get something good and someone else did.  There wasn't enough for everybody."  From him it means, "You get something good and so does someone else.  There's more than enough for all!"

Life's not fair.  We don't get what we deserve.  This is a good thing.  Since we're mistaken, blind, lost sinners--just like the younger son in the story--we actually deserve condemnation and death.  We're not fit to stand before a perfect and holy God, let alone live with him in heaven.  Instead of passing that sentence upon us, Jesus brings us grace and life.  We don't get what we deserve, we get something better!

This is supposed to be the pattern for our lives and for our church.  When we become like the Pharisees, denying God's grace to people because we don't feel they measure up, we lose the very thing that makes our faith distinctive.  The whole world will tell you that you only get what you earn (except when you don't, and then "life's not fair").  Only faith tells you that your destiny is more.  When we attempt to be "fair" by worldly standards--favoring some over others based on how long they've been with us, how smart they seem, what good people they are--we abandon the central message of the faith we're claiming to uphold.

Life's not fair!  It's so much MORE than fair.  And thank goodness for that!  Spreading this message to the world--showing it through word and action--should be our purpose every day as we follow Christ.

--Pastor Dave (pastordave@geneseelutheranparish.org)