Rembrandt: Return
of the Prodigal Son
SHORT STORIES
The title of my homily for this Fourth Sunday of Lent, [C] is, “Short Stories.”
When was the last time you read a good short story?
Do you read short stories?
I like to have a paperback copy of short stories by my
bed - to read at night - before going to sleep. Right now I have one called, “The Hill
Bachelors.” That’s the title of the last
short story in a book of short stories by the Irish writer William Trever.
I’ve gone through the short stories of John
Cheever, Flannery O’Connor, Raymond Carver, George Saunders, Colm Toiban and others. I haven’t gotten to
Alice Munro, the Canadian short story writer yet - but plan to….
How about you? Have you read any good short stories
lately?
CHAPTER 15 -
GOSPEL OF LUKE
I bring this up because today’s gospel presents one of
the greatest short stories ever told: the parable of the Prodigal Son. In fact, in the 15th chapter of
Luke we have three short stories by Jesus.
Moreover we have the reason why Jesus told these 3
stories - all of which have the same plot - but with various nuances. The
Pharisees - the religious righteous ones - and the scribes, the educated ones who could read and write - were complaining about Jesus hanging around with
tax collectors and sinners. Terrible! Tch, tch, tch.... Terrible.... That's us.
So Jesus told them three stories which appear here in Chapter 15 of Luke:
the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, and the Lost Son.
Today we heard the 3rd story - the longest of
the 3 short stories here in the middle of the gospel of Luke.
PHILIP YANCEY
Philip Yancey retells this Prodigal Son story in one of
his books - but it’s about a lost daughter. I’ve read it a bunch of times - but
have listened to it on CD a dozen times. I cry every time - probably because we
have a lost niece for over 30 years now - and I’ve have been hoping forever
that she come back to the family.
Philip Yancey’s story is entitled, “The Lovesick
Father.” It’s in his book, What’s So Amazing About Grace?
The story begins like this, “A young girl grows up on a cherry
orchard just above Traverse City, Michigan. Her parents, a bit old-fashioned,
tend to overreact to her nose ring, the music she listens to, and the length of
her skirts. They ground her a few times, and she seethes inside. ‘I hate you!’
she screams at her father when he knocks on the door of her room after an
argument and that night she acts on a plan she has mentally rehearsed scores of
time. She runs away.”
You know the story…. You just heard it.
Philip Yancey’s version doesn’t have an older brother or
sister - who won’t forgive - but he ends up zeroing in on the powerful story of
a forgiving and loving father - filled with unconditional love.
SHORT STORY
WRITING - SHORT STORY READING
All of you would be writers, think short story writing -
besides short story reading.
If you want to write short stories, short story writers
tell you that you need to have a conflict - a tension - some opposition. A good
short story gets the reader to say, “Oh yeah, that’s me. That’s my story.”
So it has to ring true.
It’s not a sermon. It’s not preachy. It has to have a plausible plot.
Characters have to be quite different from each other. It’s not a novel - so it
can’t have too many plots. In fact one seems best. Novels are a different
kettle of fish. So write about opposite type people dealing with issues and ideas
or outlooks that seem them collide.
I like to make a whole sermon a story at times. I’ve done
that probably 50 times. And I’ve written another 100 or more short stories in
my life - some of which are published.
If you want to write - and if you don’t have enough time
- write short stories.
OR START WITH 6
WORD SHORT STORY
A creative - tricky - imaginative - idea is to write a 6
word short story.
I’m sure you heard that Ernest Hemingway is famous for
his bet that he could write a 6 word short story. Supposedly he won the bet. Others say this story
Hemingway isn’t true and in fact there were earlier similar stories. His short story was, "For sale: baby shoes, never worn."
If you do crossword puzzles or Sudokus, why not try your
hand at 6 word short stories? Here’s a
bunch that I like. Some seem closer to a story than others. I picked ones that
are stoppers - most of which say a lot more than any sermon I preached. They
teach me that short is better - story is better.
Dinner for two, widower and memories.
Borders meant nothing. The
birds migrated.
Wasted day. Wasted life. Dessert, please. - Steven
Meretzky
Google was invented. He
stopped thinking.
They quarreled, the child
started crying!
Dear God, please take me instead.
“I’m significant” screamed
the dust speck.
She read her obituary. And
smiled.
No
one is listening. Except Siri.
“Alcohol brought us together, and apart.”
...and then they never talked thereafter...
CONCLUSION
The title of my homily is, “Short Stories.”
I pushed reading and writing them.
I said that Jesus in today’s gospel told the story of a father
having two sons - two very different sons - and how each of us can play any of
these 3 characters or roles in our life. We can be the one who messes up. We
can be like the father - the one who
forgives and knows what God the Father is like. And sometimes we can be the
righteous one. We just don’t like the message of Jesus when it comes to
forgiving 70 times 7 times. We don’t like the pope and his message of mercy -
forgiveness - compassion - understanding and acceptance of those who really
mess up their lives.
A parable is from the Greek word PARABOLA - remember them in
math. They are like a boomerang - tossed out and they hit us sideways.
And today’s gospel, can we put it in 6 words?
·
Father, two sons,
avoiding being home.
·
“Dad, maybe he should have left?”
·
Second son: “What did I do wrong?”
Ooops that last one is 7 words. Please forgive me.
