Let’s talk a little Jungian dream analysis, what do you say? Yeah? Who had a dream last night? Let’s analyze it. Ready? I’m not an expert. I dabble a bit. One of the ways to approach Jungian dream analysis – and it’s all theory. That’s one of the nice things about theories. “This is my theory.” But one of the theories regarding Jungian dream analysis is the dreams that we have, all of the characters are different aspects of us. You can have a dream with three or four characters, and a Jungian dream analyst would start asking questions, questions about the different characters in the dream, and hopefully a meaningful discussion would follow regarding what you think this character is saying, what you think this character represents, that sort of thing. This is a wonderful way to approach this story, this wonderful parable.

Most people in my world, in the clergy world, know that there are two parables that are most notable. The parable of the prodigal son, and what’s the outcome? Anybody? The parable of the Good Samaritan. These are the two Mount Rushmore of parables, if you will. A really effective way, because I’ve tried it and I’m encouraging you to try it, a really effective way to study the parable of God’s son – take this home, study it, read it, and say to yourself, “There are aspects of the Father that are me,” that part of you that is forgiving, that part of you that wants to be welcoming to those who have fallen. Another aspect of the analysis is, by the way, how are you in treating yourself that way? You all put your hand up when I asked you if anybody knows what it feels like to – I didn’t say, I didn’t utilize that key theological term, “screwed up.” We all know, you put your hand up, we all know. Well, how are you in forgiving yourself? How are you in welcoming yourself back home? This is a good question. Another aspect of our spiritual experiences, we can relate to the prodigal son, the one who goes off and makes mistakes, finds him or herself alone. And then lastly, everyone, I’m postulating that every one of us knows how to be envious. Every one of us knows how to feel rejection. Every one of us knows how to feel taken for granted, the elder son. You know what Mark Twain called the elder son? Mark Twain said he was a good man in the worst sense of the word. Lost and found.

Maybe during Lent, maybe during our Lenten journeys, this passage of Scripture can help us find the most important thing of all. That’s right. The most important thing of all. That living Christ within each of us. This is what this parable says is home. It doesn’t say those words, but that’s what it’s saying. The most important thing of all. How many of you know – and some of you must know this – how many of you know we have a lost-and-found in this church building? Anybody know where it is? Yeah, a few of you know where it is. I didn’t check this morning, I forgot. It’s always been there. There’s a box outside the church office, the door inside the church office, when you turn to your right there’s a lost-and-found. Can I make a public confession to you? They teach us in preaching class at seminary that if you feel like you might be losing your audience halfway through, say, “Is it OK if I make a public confession?” This is a way to get people’s attention back. I confess to you that in my first church, I was there nine years, Riverside Presbyterian Church, suburban Chicago, we had a lost-and-found, and it was located very close to my office. For six months I walked by the lost-and-found. It was a nice wooden box, and inside this box was a very neatly folded three-season jacket. You know, spring, summer, fall. It was khaki color. For six months I walked by that jacket. My public confession to you is one day I literally went like this, you know, like a B movie. I was in the church hallway and went (looks suspiciously to the left and right) (laughter). There was nobody there. I tried that jacket on. It fit perfectly. I wore it for 25 years, (laughter) until it finally wore out. Lost and found.

My son was lost. My daughter was lost. And then she was found. And then he was found. Maybe during Lent, we can actually feel this and experience this. As I shared with the children, there’s so much going on in this parable, and the good news for you and the good news for me, I’m going to finish up and I’m going to encourage you to read this thing outside of this sanctuary and study it and think about when you’ve been the loving, accepting parent figure in your relationships, and think about those times when you needed to come back home, and think about those times when you were jealous or envious and what to do with that.

There are two other things that I really want you to take away, and one of them is this phrase – “when he came to himself.” Now I’m going to approach heresy. As one of my mentors said, “Groat, whenever you get close to heresy, pay attention because you’re probably on to something good.” I just lifted up the reality that every scholar agrees this is one of the two Mount Rushmore parables. Right there in the middle of it, when the prodigal son has completely and utterly failed, please notice it. Here comes the heresy. You ready? Here it comes. Please notice what it doesn’t say. When he’s there in the pink sky, this Jewish boy, and he’s lost everything, it does not say he comes to God. Is it a good thing to come to God? Of course it is. And it does not say he comes to Christ. Is that a good thing? Of course it is. See the danger here? What does it say? It says “καὶ ἐλθὼν εἰς ἑαυτὸν ἔφη,” in the Koine Greek. It says, of all things, “when he comes to himself.” He comes to himself. The only way, according to the parable of the prodigal son, the only way to Christ is through ourselves. Through our humanity. Through our imperfection. And if you are a deigned Presbyterian, through your sin. The apostle Paul said, “My power is made perfect” – in what? In weakness. This is when we come to ourselves. So come see me this week and tell me stories and say, “Pastor Jay, you’re right. That time I really screwed up, that’s when I came to myself, and I discovered the Christ within.”

And then the last thing, and this is so incredibly important and for so many centuries we’ve missed it, it says that when the prodigal son – and I wrote an article about this once so I’m going to lean on my article. It was published in a Presbyterian thing years ago. It was a modern-day analogy of the prodigal son. In my story the prodigal son is riding a bus. He’s riding a bus back home. And as he does in the parable, he’s riding a bus and he’s practicing his speech to his father. That’s what he does in this. Did you catch that? He’s practicing his speech – “Father, I’ve sinned against heaven before you. I’m no longer worthy to be … let’s see, what should I say here? I can say I’m no longer worthy to be called your son. I’ve got the speech down.” And the bus pulls into town. And the prodigal son gets off the bus. He’s nervous and he’s scared – “I wonder if I’m going to be taken back.” Now his father, as it turns out, was an avid tennis player. The prodigal son gets off the bus and starts walking down the street to his home. There’s a tennis court near their house and his father’s out playing tennis and his father’s getting ready to serve. Right? I’m not a tennis player, but… He’s getting ready to serve and he’s getting ready to throw that ball up and he looks down the street and what does he see? He sees his son, and he drops his racquet, and he drops his tennis ball. The parable tells us that he starts to run, and the prodigal son freezes. “What’s he thinking?” The father almost knocks him over, and the son starts to do his speech. He’s prepared his speech, and he starts to do his speech, and the father cuts him off and says, “Stop it. It doesn’t matter. You were lost, and now you’re found. I’ve been saving this bottle of Dom Perignon that I bought 25 years ago for $50, now it’s worth about $150. I’ve been waiting for just the right moment, and today we’re going to open it.” Lost and found. Take a look down there in that box just outside the church office. Take a look down there this morning after church. You just might find yourself. Amen? Amen.