Fourth Sunday in Lent March 29-30, 2025
“One More Step” Luke 15:1-3, 11-32
Rev. John R. Larson Ascension Lutheran Church Littleton, Colorado
Non-verbal communication can be as strong, or maybe even stronger, than the words that are spoken. I especially can pick up on non-verbal communication at funerals. At times the people who come to a funeral don’t want to be there. At least, they don’t want to listen to a pastor preach about Jesus. Eyes never look up. Arms are crossed. They are checking their phones or making sure their watch hasn’t stopped working. The best word that they hear is the “Amen” – at least they know they get out of prison soon.
When I read the account of “The Prodigal Son”, also known as “The Waiting Father”, I see a whole story told by the position of the feet. What step are they taking? Where is the step taking them? What do they convey by their feet? If you take a look at our lives it is where our feet go, or don’t go, that speak loudly.
The younger son, the wayward, the prodigal, had anxious feet. He wasn’t one to stick around or stay put. His feet were on the go. And the sooner he could get away from his father, the better. “Father, give me my share of the estate.” What? His father wasn’t dead. There was no inheritance to be collected. But this boy demanded it. You see, his feet wanted to take him to a bunch of booze and as many wild women as he could find. His father gave him what he wanted – his freedom and his inheritance. He now had some money and life was going to be much better than working on that farm. In this parable of constant motion we read of this, “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living.” (Luke 15:13) His feet went the wrong way and took him to some dark places.
His first step wasn’t very good. You’ve been there. I’ve been there. We know that we don’t do things for the only time, but for the first time. But there were consequences to those steps. He ran out of money. He ran out of friends. It is amazing that those two things seem to go together. A famine hit. And now he had to work. He found a job working among smelly pigs. And get this, “He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating.” (Luke 15:16) He had to look at his feet and say, “You have fallen a long way!!”
But his second step was better. The paragraph begins with the words of change and repentance – “He came to his senses.” That is an odd phrase, isn’t it? What does that mean, “Coming to your senses.” Is that when someone slaps you on the side of the head and says, “Get with it!” “What are you doing?” “What were you thinking?”
Coming to his senses had everything to do with his feet. Where would he go? This is where his next step went, “I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.” (Luke 15:18-19)
His feet went the right way. Home. He was filled with sorrow over where he had been and what he had done. But some people’s feet keep on running. Evading. They find the mud they are in only gets deeper. You’ve been there. I’ve been there. There is only one more step that anyone can take, and it is to return home, returning to the Father.
In this parable of amazing movement, I love the feet of the father the best. “But while he (the son) was a still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.” (Luke 15:20) The father’s feet ached for a long time since his beloved son had decided to leave home and have nothing to do with him. I picture the father going to the boundary of his property daily and hoping that maybe that would be the day when he would see his son once again. But for so many days his feet meandered home without any good result. But that day was different. “He ran to his son.” His feet had a happy dance. I bet those feet jumped 10 feet high. Maybe someone has done that for you. Maybe you have done that for another. That step of welcoming, forgiving and receiving is the best step.
All the way back home the father was planning what those feet were going to do next. His feet took him to the servants. “We are going to celebrate!! Quick bring my son a robe – get him some clean clothes. A ring. Some sandals. Tonight we are having filet mignon and prime rib.” Now everyone’s feet were busy. The lost is found and the dead is alive.
And it all began with one step. I’m not saying that the step was easy. No, it wasn’t. Never is. Repentance – “coming to your senses” is resisted. No one wants to say that they screwed up and are to blame. But he did. He took that step. And the father had been pained. How could the one he loved walk away and be immoral? Would he cut him off from the family? Forget him and move on? No. He took a step and received him.
But this parable isn’t a story just about one son but about two. The older son, the responsible one, wasn’t so happy about the feet of his brother coming back or the feet of his father doing the dance of joy. The feet of the older brother were stuck. They wouldn’t move. He heard from the servants about his brother returning. They told him, “Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.” (Luke 15:27)
His reaction? He is struck in mud. Or, maybe, in bitterness and hatred. “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him…” (Luke 15:28-29) Once again the father takes the first step. He comes to him and encourages him to come to the party. But that older brother won’t budge. “I didn’t run away. I didn’t waste your money on wild women and bad booze. I have been here all the time and you wouldn’t even throw me a pizza party!! No, he’s not my brother anymore.”
You’ve been there? Me, too. It is a bad place to be. We want nothing to do with a member of our own family or our dearest friend or a neighbor or a classmate. They hurt us and that is the last step. We cut them off. We are immovable. One step towards them? No. Any step we take is going to be a step away from them.
Do you know why Jesus told this parable about two brothers and one father? It has to do with the first verses in Luke 15. “Now the tax collectors and ‘sinners’ were all gathering around to hear him. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, ‘This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.’” (Verses 1-2) Eating a meal with another was a way of telling the world who you associate with. Jesus was taking His bread and dipping it in the bowl of stew with people who drank too much, who were dishonest, who shared their bodies with others too freely. In that dinner setting the younger brother, the prodigal, and the older brother, the one who kept all the rules, were all together. And Jesus was with both of them. And He told a story about folks who took important steps in life. The story doesn’t have an end. I don’t know if the older brother ever moved from his anger. Did he ever take a step toward his wayward brother? Did he ever come into a good relationship with his father again? Would they ever have a meal together with feet dancing and the greatest of non-verbal communications – the smile of joy and tears of happiness, again?
Today is a day when a meal, a feast of salvation, will be offered. Many different people will be here. There will be lots of sinners who want to take a big step toward repentance, knowing that they have a God who takes a big step of grace toward them. God invites you to receive the body and blood of Christ here. In this meal the lost are found and the dead are alive once again. Amen!!
