Out Our Way: Scout's dance

When the Pharisees complained that Jesus welcomed sinful people to sit at table with them, He reminded them that the physician came to heal the sick not the healthy.   When they complained Jesus' disciples did not wear long faces and fast for long periods of time as they did, He reminded them that nobody fasts, frowns, or walks around in gloom at the wedding feast – for the joy of the bride and groom are honored with the joy of the wedding guests.

- Mark 2:15-20

Out our way, I often tie up my dog, Scout, on the front porch when I have to go to work or on some errand.  When I come home, Scout literally "dances" for joy. He sticks out his front paws and starts prancing, crossing left over right and then right over left while wagging his whole body in delight. That is a pretty good illustration of joy.  Not very dignified, I suppose, but what a delight to see and what a gift to know I am loved that much!

Somehow the disciples of Jesus caught that same joy in their lives as they drew closer to Jesus and became more and more aware of the love of God. It seems God is not all that big on dignity and reserve either, when it comes to joyful love.

You may remember that parable Jesus told them of the Prodigal Son" (Luke 15: 11- 32). For me, the best part is where Jesus describes the excitement of the father when he sees his son coming home. He hitches up his long robes and throws all dignity to the wind as he runs to embrace his wayward but now repentant son. THIS is joy unabashed and freely given. Jesus said that is the joy God feels when a sinner repents and comes home. Of course, some folks don't care for the idea of a joyful, loving God.

Many of the Pharisees, ancient and modern, like their version of God to be joyless. They don't want God to laugh or smile, but to be grim, judgmental and eager to punish those who didn't toe the line. They would prefer to see sinners punished rather than saved - and the idea of "sinners in the hand of an angry God" is delightful. Their version of "joy"  is self-righteous vindication in which they watch the errant brother or sister "catch it!" They delight in the image of God's wrath falling on everybody else. No wonder they didn't much care for Jesus or His teaching that even the worst sinner is still precious in God's sight and still worth making the effort to save.

The "law" is like a speed limit sign - it is there to protect us from our own stupidity. Taking a hair-pin curve on a narrow, steep and icy pass  at 100 miles an hour may sound daring and "cool," but it will also get you injured – or worse. The speed limits are not arbitrary but are set for good reason. People get tickets for ignoring them - not because some cop was just looking to fill his or her quota - but because the speed limit is there for OUR benefit. 

The image of the undignified father, racing to embrace his stupid son who has survived his foolishness, wised up, and now might actually live and prosper, is the image of God embracing the sinner. It was because the father loved his son and his son knew it, that the son had the courage and the ability to wake up and come back.

But Jesus talked of "the prodigal father" – the God who hates sin, not because it hurts Him, but because it destroys us! Remember, the word "sin," at its root, refers to going in the wrong direction, like  trying to drive from Montana to California by driving east. And "repentance" in the original languages, simply means to turn around!

We enter the Kingdom of God as little children, but we serve it as mature adults. God wants us to grow up and partner with Him in transforming the world.  

The long-faced Pharisees, then and now, who want God to judge but not love, know nothing of joy. For they know nothing of God.

The sinner who knows he or she is a sinner (on the wrong road) and is willing to do something about it (begin to turn around) will find the Father waiting with arms wide open. Scout on the front porch dancing his joy at my return is a daily reminder of the joy in heaven when one sinner wakes up, comes to his or her senses, and turns around toward home.

(John Bruington, Scout and Goliath can be reached at [email protected]. Copies of this and other "Out Our Way" columns as well as Bruin Town Tales and sermons are also available at havrepres.org.)