2 sons or 1 father?

"Norma, what are you doing here?"  It was my birthday and my daughter had orchestrated a surprise celebration. All I knew about was the tickets for the Syracuse University basketball game, but then I learned that a good friend had agreed to join in the celebration and so we all poured into the car, drove through ridiculous weather to find a mutually agreeable place to eat before the game.  We were enjoying our Chinese food when the door to the tiny restaurant opened and in walked Norma who had just caught up with the group.  I was stunned.  She still laughs when she recalls the look on my face.   What an amazing surprise!  What fun!  What a celebration!

That's what I think of when I hear about the great party at the center of this story called the Parable of the Prodigal Son.  That's such a poor name for this complex, intricate story that many have renamed the Parable of the Two Sons.  Except I don't think it is a parable about the sons at all.  I think the author of Luke is trying desperately to teach us about the Father, with a capital F.  And a party.  A great party.

The 15th chapter of Luke provides us with 3 stories unique to Luke.  First we have a lost sheep 1 out of 100.  Then we have a lost coin 1 out of 10.  Then we have a lost son(s) - since this story isn't about only one son, but about two sons and a Father who looks crazy to many people.

In each of the stories, the object which is lost is highly valued by its owner.  The shepherd leaves 99 sheep behind to find the lost 1.  The woman turns her entire house upside down in order to find the lost coin.  In the end, a Father relinguishes dignity and entitlement and social customs in order to welcome back into the fold 2 sons who have wandered off (at least spiritually).

At the heart of this story is a great party, fatted calf and all, to celebrate the son who was lost and is now found, who was dead and is now alive.  It is hard to imagine why anyone wouldn't want to go to that party.....but of course there is.

So, before I tell the story, before I lay out the issues, before you get all wrapped up in the drama of it all, I want you to remember, at the center of this is a great and wonderful party celebrating life.  And family.  And hope.  This is the party the Father must, absolutely must, thrown because life has been restored.

It's a party the Father throws for each one of us when we look like death warmed over and instead find new breath.  Keep that in mind, because it is easy to forget.