Lent 3: God Loves a Party, Too!
Scripture: Luke 15: The Parable of the Lost Sheep, Coin and Child
Then the son said to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” But the father said to his slaves, “Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 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.
God Loves a Party!
This is perhaps everyone's most favorite of Parables, the lost Son returning to his father. Five Stars. Worthy of stained glass, mosaic and canvas by a master painter. I even had a poster in my dorm room, I was so popular. Of course the lost son isn’t the only thing found. It's a trilogy of lost things (think tinkerbell but more rustic). First a coin, then a sheep and finally a son all of them found and then celebrated with a Party!
A Lost Coin Party
A woman searches her home for a coin. We can imagine pulling everything out of the cupboards and drawers, searching the sofa and cleaning every nook. Maybe you have been her, searching the house and knowing it must be there somewhere. And at last she recovers her coin and she invites everyone to a party. The size of the coin and the value of her collection, is enough that her searching isn’t done in anxiety that the family needs it to put dinner on the table. The search for the coin is with purpose and restoration.
A Lost Sheep Party
Then there is the lost sheep. Gospels in the cannon and even some beyond share the story of the shepherd who leaves his flock of 99 to search for the one. The parable echoes Israel's history of good shepherds making good leaders. Shepherds past and present tell us that the distressed and bleating sheep will be so filled with stress hormones that she will have to be carried back to her flock and no one, absolutely no one is mad at the sheep for being a sheep. No one wants to punish the sheep or tell the sheep it should feel bad about being a sheep. Instead of sheep shaming and expecting an apology: the shepherd throws a party. A huge party that is certainly more costly than the loss of one sheep. Because there is nothing that a sheep or any of us needs to do to prove our worth, despite the toxic theology that would tell us otherwise. Jesus gives us a parable about the nature of God’s love that searches, seeks our wellbeing. 300 years after Jesus’ death Augustine's notion of original sin emerges, 500 years after his death the church debates the doctrine of original sin at the Council of Orange.
A Prodigal Father Party
And last but not least, the trilogy of parables culminates with the prodigal son. Perhaps we identify with that child or are fortunate enough to know what it is like to come home for a feast. Jesus shares the story of the younger brother, who wants to take off to see the world or maybe is just tired of living at home, for a reason we are left to imagine this child asks for his inheritance and leaves town. Famine creeps in and he finds himself feeding animals his people do not even deem worthy of eating. Because we aren’t much for ancient humor, the fact that a Jewish boy envies the food he feeds some pigs is meant to be funny or at least memorable. So the younger son returns home, practicing his apology speech all the way. But his father sees him against the horizon. I imagine he kept his eyes peeled since the day his child walked off into the distance. He does not wait, he does not demand penance or apology. This father runs and anytime someone runs in the Bible it’s a big deal, he can’t wait one more moment and he wraps his arms around his child. He restores him to the community, with robes, rings and killing the fatted cafe (ancient speak for this party is a big one).
This child brought shame on his family by leaving in the way he did, it is more than a bad choice or a speech about disappointments to re-direct. The strong sense of shame and honor looms so large, it's really the father who is the problem at this point. He loves so recklessly. He invites his child back, not as a mercy or consolation prize, no demands that they keep the whole thing quiet or he has to live in the guest house. The father loves and he breaks all the norms of the Ancient world in general and perhaps Rome in particular. The story Jesus tells reminded folks past and present that we are woven through with love and we are searched for, longed for and so loved there is going to be a party.
It is beautiful, everything is perfect, until the older brother shows up, feeling slighted and holding a grudge. He has been keeping a list, checking it twice and doing all the right stuff like it will make him worthy. His father sees him and invites him to lay it aside, remember he is loved and come to celebrate.
Jesus loves a party
Jesus loves these images, these metaphors, these examples of food and abundance. The invitations to parties- big parties worthy of killing a fatted calf (sorry vegetarians, it's really short hand for this celebration is really important). Jesus fashions himself again and again in the image of Lady Wisdom who famously sets the table with bread and wine who invites folks to her feast. Her presence and clarity echo through the Proverbs and the Psalms, which Jesus often quotes. His work echoes the prophets, particularly Isaiah, where God just happens to set the most beautiful table and sends the invitations wide.
God sets a beautiful table in the section scholars call “the mini apocalypse of Isaiah,” and perhaps you’re thinking, “Reverend Debra, the word apocalypse makes me really nervous.” Maybe you have wondered why people choose dates for the world’s end with such certainty they will buy special pet insurance or billboards to warn us all of the impending doom. Maybe someone has tried to save you from this burning hellscape with a pamphlet and a prayer. Maybe you have been stunned by the wild images in the Book of Revelation, or worse yet, Kirk Cameron in the very 1990’s Left Behind movies. Beyond a world where planes fall from the sky because their pilots are newly raptured, perhaps you, like me, wonder why this always seems to be relevant.
It’s true there is apocalyptic literature in our biblical narrative. And it is true that often, it’s giving violence much more than it’s giving abundance (at least that’s the part we hear the most about).
No matter which apocalyptic voice you are listening to, there is a key factor to remember that these stories were shared by and for people who have reached a point of near devastation. They’re simultaneously hopeful and hopeless. They have lost hope that human organization and reorganization can make right the level of pain, suffering, and injustice experienced, and so they dream of Divine Intervention to such a scale all the old is swept away in favor of the new.
The thing we modern Americans forget is that not every apocalypse comes with four horsemen or metaphors of violence. In fact, the mini apocalypse of Isaiah is about a table: a big, divine, abundant table.
The Mini Apocalypse and the Big Party
Isaiah 25: 6-8
On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare
a feast of rich food for all peoples,
a banquet of aged wine—
the best of meats and the finest of wines.
On this mountain he will destroy
the shroud that enfolds all peoples,
the sheet that covers all nations;
he will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears
from all faces;
he will remove his people’s disgrace
from all the earth.
The Lord has spoken.
Jesus would have known this story, and perhaps it’s a part of what inspired the way he practiced his faith. In the mini apocalypse of Isaiah, God sets a table and She invites everyone from near and far with all their differences and traditions and nationalities and cultures; they’re all invited to a holy and sacred hill. The people don’t have to change who they are. They don’t have to profess a certain faith. They don’t have to decide to participate in Judaism; the God that Isaiah celebrates invites everyone in all of their differences to a common table, and they maintain their differences while sharing a passion for peace and justice. That’s what sets apart this table, and once everybody is seated at the table, God brings out a feast. He offers rich, tasty, extravagant food. It is a meal of abundance and there is no sad dish, no lesser spot at the table, or any inferior wine. Because at this divine feast, God doesn’t offer anything inferior because there’s no one at the table who’s inferior to anyone else. And then just as the feast is set and folks are about to partake in the most beautiful and extravagant meal they have ever witnessed, God does something extraordinary in this story: They swallow up death. That final space of grief and sadness that penetrates every life and existence, God swallows it up and wipes away tears from every single face. She is tender and extraordinary.
What we Worship we Become.
So the truth about everything in the Bible, whether it’s a parable about a prodigal father or lost sheep, or a story of God making all things new, you and I have a choice about how we engage. There are stories of vengeance and violence. You can find and choose the storming, warrior God, or you can choose the table-setting, tear-drying God. Jesus inherited these stories, made his choice, and rejected violent domination. He practiced a faith that worked to make earth as it is in heaven, not subject to the whims of violent men.
In March 2026, numerous military members registered complaints with the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (a non-profit to support whistleblowers). One Non Commissioned Officer (NCO) wrote, “This morning our commander opened up the combat readiness status briefing by urging us to not be ‘afraid’ as to what is happening with our combat operations in Iran right now. He said that President Trump has been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth. He had a big grin on his face when he said all of this which made his message seem even more crazy.” https://newrepublic.com/post/207270/military-leaders-iran-war-donald-trump-jesus-armageddon
(https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/03/us-israel-iran-war-christian-rhetoric)
This wasn’t the only complaint. Our leaders seem giddy about the violence our nation can deploy and willingly wrap it in Christian symbols. Recent military and ICE recruitment videos have blended scripture and Christian imagery with acts of state violence and famous movie clips of domination and destruction. The line between church and state has always required effort to maintain, but this moment is particularly dangerous. Not only to our nation but to all of us seeking to live the way Jesus taught.
Armageddon?
I find the use of Armageddon so curious. I will never forget my Old Testament Professor, Dr. Neilson gave context to this strange cultural word; that I mostly knew through fringe religious voices and the 1998 film Armageddon where Bruice Willis has to save the world from an asteroid the size of Texas. The word Armageddon, has nothing to do with a bunch of oil drillers learning to be astronauts at warp speed. It comes from an actual battle on an actual hill or mountain side, Megiddo. This strip of land has an ancient history. But this language comes particularly from a great grief endured by the Hebrew people, when a good man, King Josiah (2 Kings 23:29), died in battle facing off with the more powerful Egyptian army. For Israel, this loss was a low point, a deep grief of near hopelessness for their sovereignty and their safety. And somehow that word, synonymous with profound loss and despair is drawn through the ages from Hebrew, to Greek and then into Latin then English until finally Bruice Willis saves the world.
But Armageddon actually means something. When a good king’s death is referenced in Revelation 16:16, I don’t think it was an affirmation for violent men to succeed at raining bombs, fire, hate and harm.
We are Invited.
Jesus lives the stories of a divine love setting the table and tells the story’s of a prodigal God who throws a party after finding us because you and I are worthy. These end time narratives often play into rule keeping and list making about who will be saved, who is worthy and who will be raptured out of hell fire. This theology relies on fear, spreads shame like wild fire and keeps us standing outside of the gates of love looking in on a beautiful feast.
God loves a party and sets the table! God is the love that is woven through our very being and weaves us together, looks towards the horizon to see us coming and nudges us into the feast. A Divine Love so powerful it will not adhere to the empire or participate in the status quo. It is a love that will not be quiet, anxious or afraid and it is not far away. It is a love that cannot be possessed, that cannot be limited, that is boundless, prone to rebellious behavior and uncontrolled joy in the face of despair, struggle, scarcity, and want.
So here we are looking in at a party, maybe like that older brother who feels like they did everything right. Maybe we have been keeping score, following the rules and meeting every social obligation. Maybe we can only imagine justice through violence and order through control. Maybe that is why Jesus kept telling us stories of parties and feast and beautiful tables; nudging us to enter. So here we are at the edge of a party being invited. May we have the courage to join in the feast.
May we join the party. Amen