Date: June 18, 2023

Scripture: Genesis 18:9-15; Hebrews 11:8-12

Scripture Reader: Dan Ward

Sermon Title: “Embracing Our Prodigal Parents”

Preacher: Rev. Dr. Bob Jon

You can also listen on Podcast from iTunes and Spotify. Search for “Podcasting from Rev. Bob Jon.”

In the beginning part of the 2023 movie Being Flynn, a mother and her twelve old son, Nick, are sitting in the car, looking at the bus stop. The narrator says, “All my life, my father has been manifest as an absent … not a presence, a name without a body.” The mother looks tired and says, “If he does not show up this time, I’m going to kill him.” Her son Nick says, “Can we get ice cream if he does not show up?” A silver city bus finally arrives and someone steps down. As the bus moves, the mother and son learn forward to see if it is Nick’s father. The mother says, “No, that’s not him. What kind of ice cream do you want?” Nick says disappointedly, “Chocolate.” They drive away. 

Today is Father’s Day. For many of us, it is a day we celebrate all the love, sacrifice, and wisdom our fathers shared with us. However, for some of us, it is not a day we look forward to. Maybe it is a day that reminds us of the painful absence of our fathers, just like Nick’s father. For some of us, it is a day that reminds us of the irresponsibility of our fathers. Fathers who walked out on their families. Fathers who wrestled with addictions to alcohol or drugs. Maybe some of us are still traumatized by our fathers who were abusive, whether verbally or physically. I am sharing these examples because they are the real people I met through my ministry in the past. 

And I look at myself and invite you to look at yourself. As I look at my boys, who are turning 10 and 5 this summer, I just cannot believe how I have become a father to two boys. I give thanks to God for what a blessing they have been in my life. At the same time, I regret that I did not behave the way I should have. There are times I wish I were more patient with them. And times when I wish I did not say some harsh words. How about you? Are you a perfect father or mother yourself? Regardless of what kind of father or mother we had, I believe that there is some wisdom we gain from the Book of Genesis, as we face our human weaknesses, and how God redeems us despite our shortcomings. 

In our reading from Genesis, the Bible tells us that the Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. He looked up and saw three men standing. So, he invited them to come and rest. “My lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant. Let me bring some water, wash your feet, and please rest yourselves by the tree.” Abraham shared wonderful hospitality with these three men by asking his wife Sarah to make a cake, and as for himself, he ran to the herd and took a calf, and gave it to his servant. After the wonderful meal from Abraham and Sarah, these three men blessed them and said that Sarah would bear a child, to which Sarah laughed. 

Did you catch the phrase here? Upon the words of blessings and promises, Sarah did not believe in them and gave thanks to God. Instead, she laughed. Well, it is not just Sarah who laughed. In the previous chapter 17, God made a promise to him and said, “I will bless her and also give you a son by her.” Upon hearing this, Abraham fell on his face and laughed, saying, “Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Can Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” Both Abraham and Sarah did not believe in the promise of God and instead laughed. I wonder if they laughed not necessarily because they found the words of God ridiculous or impossible, but because of their wounds and pain. 

In addition to failing to trust in the words of God, here is what I find about the human side of Abraham and Sarah. When Abraham was 75 years old, God called him to leave his family in Haran and go to the land God would show. When Abraham entered Egypt, he told Sarah that if he told the people in Egypt that Sarah was his wife, they would kill him because she was beautiful in appearance. So he asked her to say that she was his sister. Well, Pharaoh saw Sarah and took her to his house. And he gave Abraham sheep, oxen, donkeys, slaves, and camels. Later, God afflicted Pharaoh and his house with plague because of Sarah. When Pharaoh realized that Sarah was Abraham’s wife, he ordered them to leave. Abraham became rich with many possessions because of his wife. And this happened not just once, but later in chapter 20 in the city of Gerar. 

How about Sarah? As she could not have a child with Abraham, she gave to Abraham her Egyptian slave whose name was Hagar. After Abraham went in with Hagar, she became pregnant, and the Bible says that she looked at Sarah with contempt. Driven by jealousy and anger, Sarah dealt with Hagar harshly, forcing her to run away from her. As you know, Hagar came back and gave birth to her son Ishmael. After Sarah also gave birth to her son Isaac, Sarah again became jealous, wondering if Ishmael would take any inheritance away from her son, Isaac. So, she again pleads with Abraham, “Cast out this woman and her son away.” So, the next day Abraham took bread and a skin of water and put it on the shoulder of Hagar and sent them away in the wilderness. 

And later, Abraham was commanded by God to sacrifice his only son, Isaac. And early in the morning, he brought her son to the mountain in the land of Moriah and almost killed him until the angel of God stopped him. And the Bible does not say that Abraham actually talked about this with Sarah at any point. Talk about a dysfunctional family caused by vulnerability, lack of trust, lack of communication, fear, jealousy, and harshness. And we wonder why God chose people like Abraham and Sarah to be the ancestors of faith, the ancestors of God’s people. Is that because they are perfect, honorable, and blameless? Or is it because, despite their weaknesses, God is the One who is perfect? 

If the Bible is full of people who are perfect in their characteristics and their behaviors, how can we say that the Bible is for us and we are part of God’s redemptive story in this world when we know that we ourselves are not perfect? Several years ago, I got a call from my parishioner, Sam. Sam was a single father who usually came to the church on Sundays with her 10-year-old daughter. “Pastor Bob, have you read the newspaper today?” When I told him no, he asked me to read the paper and call him back. As I went online local newspaper, I learned he had been arrested a few days ago for possessing 8 one-pound, marijuana, which was valued at almost $10,000, along with $5,000 in cash in his truck. 

You know. To be honest, I was quite shocked to see someone from my church and his mugshot in the local newspaper. As I called him back, Sam said, “Do you think people at the church would welcome my daughter?” He was not even worried about him coming back to the church, but concerned if his daughter would be treated differently. That was Sam. Not that what he did was justifiable. But I knew his world was centered around his daughter. His daughter was everything to him. I told him not to worry. I would welcome him back to the church too. I did not say this to him, but if the church tells people that they are not good enough, we might have to say the same thing to people in the Bible. 

And that is how God welcomes us and remembers us. God welcomes us, dies for us, and saves us not because we are perfect, blameless, and honorable. But quite the contrary, we are quite fragile beings who often exhibit our worst behaviors and speak the worst words at the worst moments of our lives. But the good news is that despite our shortcomings, despite our failures, God calls us righteous and faithful because of the righteousness of Christ. Here is what Paul says in Hebrews 11. “By faith, even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise,” Paul calls Abraham and Sarah the faithful. 

As we celebrate Father’s Day, again, it is a wonderful day for many of us to give thanks to God for all the love, support, and sacrifice from our fathers. Again, it could be a day of difficulties and challenges for some of us who do not have a positive relationship with our fathers or mothers. And we remember the fifth commandment God gave to Moses in Exodus. “Honor your father and mother” (20:12) God does not say that we honor our parents because they are perfect and honorable. Instead, God says that it is the will of God for you that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. In other words, to have abundant life in this world, it is important to be freed from resentment, anger, or hatred so that the love of God might fill our hearts for the redemption of others.  

In Forgiving Our Fathers and Mothers, the author Leslie Fields shares a story about Jimmy and his father. Jimmy’s father acted as generous and loving outside of his family. But he was a harsh and unhappy man, often beating him and his siblings. Years later, Jimmy brought his fiancée, Joy, to a family dinner and shared the news of their engagement. Jimmy’s father sat in the corner silently and angrily because his son did not even consult with him. So, he refused to attend the wedding, even telling his wife not to go. For two years, Jimmy’s father kept a stubborn silence whenever he came to visit his mother. And Jimmy refused to address a man who would not acknowledge him. 

Jimmy hated his father because he was a prodigal father to him. But at the same time, he learned to show him that there is another way to live as his wife Joy showed it to him. Jimmy and his wife Joy decided to be generous with them, as God was generous with them. Things started being different for them. They started talking, embracing one another. Although Jimmy’s father never asked him to forgive him or returned the words, “I love you, Dad,” Jimmy and his wife attended him, especially after his stroke and until he died. The author Leslie Fields comments, “Even when our parents don’t feel worthy of our honor and respect, God is worthy of our honor and respect. And God’s tied the two together: Godself as the sovereign Creator God, and our parents as our divinely chosen human creators. So when we honor our parents, we honor God.”^[1]

Dearly beloved, I do not know where you come from in your relationship with your father or mother. Maybe some of us had such loving and wonderful parents, and some of us didn’t. But God knows your hearts. Your pain, your tears, your wounds, and also your love for your family, your sacrifice. And we also come together and make this new family in God, not bound by blood, but bound by the radical love of God for us. That we call one another our brother and sister in Christ, and our mother and father who have passed down their faith and love to us. May God bless us all on this day. 

Amen.

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^[1] Leslie Fields, Forgiving Our Fathers and Mothers (Nashville: W Publishing, 2014), 118.