“Eating at God’s Family Table”

Luke 15:11-32

The meal was chaotic.

We had the uncle cooking the hot dogs,

The grandson’s girl friend was cooking the macaroni

and cheese and there was a big debate about

whether to use craft or velveta (we did both)

The college student who knew nothing about cooking

was preparing the chef salad.

The nine year old was fixing the drinks.

The grandfather was sitting at the dining room table

Waiting for something to eat (he didn’t especially

like either hotdogs or macaroni and cheese,

either type.)

And the mom comes in just as the meal is finished and

Her kitchen is a mess- it was great!!!

And it was my family last week

When Josh and his girl friend and I

Went up to visit for a couple days.

There is something about eating together as family

that signifies a restoration of the family-

whether the family has been separated by distance,

or grief and conflict or work or illness.

It is a way that we come together

And restore the family.

So it was in Jesus’day as well.

When the prodigal returned home the father said:

“And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate;

for this son of mine was dead and is alive again;

he was lost and is found!

And they began to celebrate.”

The story we call the prodigal son is really misnamed.

It is really the story of the Loving father,

And it is a description of how God wants us to be

In relationship to God and to our brothers and

sisters in the faith.

When Jesus calls God Abba, Father he is not making a point about the gender of God, any more that we were trying

To make the point that Velveta or Kraft mac and cheese

Was better.

In fact this parable is part of a series of parables that

Image God in some very controversial ways.

God as a Shepherd seems normal to us

But to the Pharisaic mind the shepherd

As unclean and ungodly.

The shepherd would have been

One of the sinner that

Jesus ate with.

And God as a diligent housewife is an image that

Is seldom used even today and yet if we accept

The Good Shepherd and Loving Father as

Images for God in the other parables

Instead, when Jesus calls God “Abba, Father”

he is making a point that the people of God are like family,

preparing a meal together,

gathering around the family table

and sharing our lives as God’s children.

When Jesus calls God “Abba, Father”

He is not imaging God as the ultimate punisher

“Wait till your father gets home.”

There was plenty in Hebrew and village law

That would have justified the father in

This parable giving the son a sound

Beating when he returned.

But this story images God as a father in a different way

Than Middle Easter fathers or even western fathers

ever would have behaved.

Ken Bailey, a Middle Eastern scholar

raises the point that in Middle Eastern culture,

for a son to demand the father’s inheritance

was to wish the father were dead.

That meant that when the son returned

that not only the father but the whole village

would have given him a sound beating

when he walked through the village.

The fact that the father ran to meet the son in front

Of the whole village meant that he was taking

The son’s shame into himself and standing

In solidarity with the very son

Who had wished him dead.

That’s what Jesus means when he calls God “Abba, Father”

When Jesus calls God “Abba, Father”

He does not mean that the family of God is this

Exclusive club of people, who all look the same,

And act the same and have the same pedigree,

And accent and ethnicity.

In fact the story of the prodigal son is told in response

to the question from the scribes and the Pharisees:

“This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

When the youngest son requests his father’s inheritance

And leaves his father’s house he was as a stranger to him.

And yet when he returned the father welcomed

This stranger, this sinner, this prodigal

Into his house and kills that fatted calf

And celebrates by sharing a meal.

He didn’t just send the disgraced son to the kitchen

To fill his belly but instead he ate with him

So that he would be fully restored.

It is like the response Abraham Lincoln gave to the question

“How do you intend to treat the rebellious Southerners”.

“I will treat them as if they had never been away.”

And when Jesus calls God “Abba, Father” he is not

Saying that God favors one child more than another.

In this story, the Father has two sons and both

Are special to him. He loves both.

He runs to welcome the younger son home,

But he also goes outside from the party

To plead with the elder son to come in

And share the family celebration.

When the younger son gets his inheritance the text says:

“He divided his property between them (both sons).”

He desires to eat a meal with both.

He desires his children to be reconciled to him

And to each other.

So when Jesus calls God “Abba, Father” he is saying a lot

About the nature of the God who loves in freedom,

Free from any norm or cultural expectation;

About the God whose grace is so large that it offends us;

About God who is so faithful that even when we

Do everything in our power to alienate God,

God comes running into the village to stand with us

And even leaves his own party

To entreat us to join the celebration.

When Jesus calls God “Abba, Father”

He is inviting us to share at the family table of God

That is not boundaried but open to all

Who receive that invitation to share

In the meal that he has provided.

And there are lots of places we eat at God’s family table.

I got a chance to eat at God’s family table this Friday

With the children in our congregation who are just

Learning about communion. We baked bread,

Played games, sang songs and shared

In the meal Christ prepared.

We are getting a chance to eat at God’s family table today

As we gather around the communion table.

Jesus is playing the proper roll of “elder son”

Hosting the gathering of God’s family and as

We come to this table we like the prodigal and

the elder son in the story are reconciled

to God, the father and to our

brothers and sisters in Christ.

We are cooking out at the Contemporary worship service today

And that too will be an opportunity to eat at God’s family table.

Whenever we share a meal- C.A.R.P., Tuesday Lunch,

Wednesday night suppers, Thursday Men’s prayer

Breakfast, Friday suppers at the Lord’s Diner-

We are eating at God’s family table.

The only thing we have to do is come inside,

Accept the invitation God personally offers,

And eat with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

It might be chaotic sometimes but

That’s what Jesus means

when he calls God “Abba, Father”.

Amen