Broadway
Sermon
Turning Points
Sermons For Lent And Easter
Many of our large cities across America have a street which is called ''Broadway.'' Broadway in New York is the center of the theater district; Broadway in San Francisco is the center of the tenderloin; and Philadelphia has its ''Broad Street'' in center city. But I wonder how many people realize where that term, ''Broadway,'' came from? Many might be very surprised that it came originally from the lips of Jesus Christ.
For it was Jesus who put ''Broadway'' in contrast to the narrow roads that were familiar to the travelers of his day when he said, ''Wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leads to destruction.'' Now there are many modern roads that lead to destruction. Our automobiles kill more people every year than there were soldiers killed by bombs, booby traps, and bullets in the entire Viet Nam War! Someone once asked, ''What part of a car causes the most accidents?'' He got a true answer: ''Why, it's the nut that holds the wheel.''
But Jesus was not talking about modern highways. He was talking about the road of life on which all of us are traveling.
The Season of Lent is a good time to take stock of what road we are taking -- of whether it is that narrow road that Jesus says leads to life, or the broad way that leads to destruction.
To help us ponder our spiritual journey, let's turn for a few moments to one of the most beloved of Jesus' stories -- the story of the Loving Father and the Two Sons. Our temptation is to think we know this story so well, it can have no fresh meaning for our lives. But the wonder of this simple story is that it constantly reveals new truth about God's ability to transform our lives. So let's approach it with listening hearts as we meet people at the turning point. One way to understand this tale of father and sons is to think of it as a drama in three acts.
Act One -- Give My Regards To Ol' Broadway
Jesus begins his story with the younger of the two sons whose hunger is for the sights, sounds, and pleasures of Broadway and 42nd Street in New York. Here's a very modern person who is fed up with life at home. He's ready to 'do his own thing,'' so he asks for what is rightfully his, and sets off to break out of the old patterns in the big city. All he wants is to live his life to the full! We almost envy him!
The young man leaves home. He lives ''high on the hog''; he has his fill of the good life; and then the money runs out! He has no skills, no formal schooling completed, and he's in strange territory so his employment possibilities are nil. Finally, desperate for food, this good Jewish son takes a job feeding pigs! His story reminds me of the title of a popular book, I Wanted The Elevator But I Got The Shaft.1
However, life in the ''pits'' sometimes forces us to admit that we have been traveling on the wrong road. Sometimes it is only when the bottom falls out that we are ready for a turning point -- a time when the transforming grace of God can lead us into life instead of death.
Act Two -- Down On The Farm
This is the story of the older son; and when we talk about which road we choose in life, it is this older son who is perhaps even more our contemporary. At first glance, this is the good son who never gave his parents a bad time. This is the boy who did not choose the bright lights of Broadway and 42nd Street, but rather the narrow road of service to God and dedication to family.
Look at him: he stays home, he finishes school, he works hard on the family farm, he goes to church, and he's a loyal son. And he is, in many minds, legitimately furious when his no good kid brother returns home from his dissolute life and, instead of a bawling out, he gets a welcome fit for a king! There's more than a twinge of sympathy in our hearts as we hear him say to his father, ''Look, I never once disobeyed you; yet you have never given me a goat that I might have a feast with my friends.''
But take a closer look at this older brother. There's a meanness and jealousy and a total lack of compassion in this so-called ''good'' young man's heart! To be sure he has never left home, not even without the American Express Card! But his heart is like a piece of ice. His ''Broadway'' may not be the bright lights of self-seeking pleasure, but he travels a road that is just as far from the Living God as his dissolute brother!
How easy it is for us who live in comparative abundance to feel superior to the rest of the world. How easy it is to look at the homeless man in the doorway, or the prostitute on the street corner soliciting, and say smugly to ourselves, ''They are only getting what they deserve.'' How easy it is to judge people in the midst of divorce, or people with AIDS, or people born in another land, with a mean and jealous spirit. This older brother who sits with us in church on Sunday mornings with his inner jealousy, his lack of compassion, and his self-righteous spirit is just as much in need of the transforming grace and power of Jesus Christ as his brother who travels ''Broadway'' in the far country!
Act Three -- The Gospel Of The U-turn
The spiritual journey like any other journey in life needs places where we can make a U-turn and move in the opposite direction. The Bible is really the story of women and men much like ourselves who need to find those turning points. It's about people who have broken their marriage vows. It's about people who have betrayed a good friend. It's about people who have an unkind or critical spirit. It's about people who refuse to forgive old wrongs. It's about people who have not lived at their moral best. It's about people who suddenly discover that they are traveling in the wrong direction. They need to stop where they are, repent of their sin, and by the incredible grace and mercy of God, move out in a whole new direction.
A pastor friend of mine once described a U-turn like that in the life of a young woman in the church he served in California. Back in the 1960s she left home to join a hippie community in San Francisco. Her frantic parents made many trips to that city looking for their daughter, but she was lost in hippieland, protected by her new friends. Almost a whole year later, my friend was in San Francisco on church business. He was walking on the street when he heard a voice hesitantly calling his name.
He stopped and turned around. In spite of the clothes and the hairdo, and her disheveled appearance, he recognized the missing young woman from his congregation in Long Beach. She ran up asking if he had a few moments to talk. They sat down over Cokes as she poured out the sorry tale of the mess she had made of her life. ''It's incredible seeing you today,'' she said. ''I've been thinking all week about something you said in a sermon just before I left home.'' She continued, ''It was all about some boy in a faraway place, and you said that it was there that he came to himself. Do you really think that kind of thing still happens? Do you think I could ever go home? Would my folks ever take me back like that boy's father did?''
Murmuring a silent prayer, my pastor friend suggested, ''Let's make a phone call right now and find out.'' In a few
moments, he reached the young woman's father, and tears of joy and relief began to flow on both ends of that connection. When she hung up, the amazed young woman said, ''They want me to come home! They really do! I can't believe it, but they are willing to have me back.''
My friend tried to get the young woman to take a few minutes and he would help her purchase some new clothes. But all she wanted was the next train home! With thanksgiving in his heart for God's amazing grace, my friend saw her on her way.
What a U-turn! But it is not unlike the transformation that took place after Peter denied his Lord, or a woman named Mary gave up prostitution, or a tax collector named Zacchaeus stopped cheating everyone in his community. Ours is a gospel about ''turning points'' in people's lives. It's about the transforming power of Jesus Christ that can turn our lives around 180 degrees. The love made real in Jesus Christ still proclaims that no person is beyond hope, and no human situation beyond redemption.
In your spiritual life, what road do you travel? Is it the ''broadway'' that leads to destruction, or is it the way of Jesus Christ that leads to life abundant?
1. I Wanted The Elevator, But I Got The Shaft, Joe G. Emerson, Dimensions For Living, Nashville, Tennessee, 1993.
Discussion Questions
Luke 15:11-32
1. When you think of the younger son in this story, what comes to mind?
a. A mixed-up kid
b. The Forgiving Love
c. He's a ''know-it-all''
d. His ''poor'' brother
e. The gray hair he gave his father
f. Myself
2. Do you think that the father was wise to give his son his inheritance when he knew he would probably blow it all on foolish living?
3. If the father had a pretty good idea where his son had gone, should he not have gone after him? Why or why not?
4. If I had been the younger son, I would have (circle one):
a. Come home immediately
b. Been so ashamed of myself that I would never come home
c. Called home first to see what my father said
d. Tried to make up the lost money
e. Tried to straighten out first, then go home
f. Never left home in the first place
g. Done exactly what the younger son did
5. If I had been the father in this story when my younger son returned, I would have:
a. Refused to accept him back
b. Accepted him back on the condition that he shape up
c. Accepted him back without condition, but no ''fatted calf'' for him
d. Done what the father in this story did
6. If I had been the older brother, I would have:
a. Helped prepare the party
b. Told my father, ''You're a fool!''
c. Been happy to see my brother
d. Refused to attend the party
e. Been the life of the party
f. Packed my things and left home
7. The thing that really speaks to me in this story is:
a. The picture of God's forgiveness -- love has no strings
b. The picture of joy and celebration when someone makes a U-turn in life
c. The picture of someone who is ''lost'' even though they never left home
8. Where is the turning point that is needed in my spiritual life?
For it was Jesus who put ''Broadway'' in contrast to the narrow roads that were familiar to the travelers of his day when he said, ''Wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leads to destruction.'' Now there are many modern roads that lead to destruction. Our automobiles kill more people every year than there were soldiers killed by bombs, booby traps, and bullets in the entire Viet Nam War! Someone once asked, ''What part of a car causes the most accidents?'' He got a true answer: ''Why, it's the nut that holds the wheel.''
But Jesus was not talking about modern highways. He was talking about the road of life on which all of us are traveling.
The Season of Lent is a good time to take stock of what road we are taking -- of whether it is that narrow road that Jesus says leads to life, or the broad way that leads to destruction.
To help us ponder our spiritual journey, let's turn for a few moments to one of the most beloved of Jesus' stories -- the story of the Loving Father and the Two Sons. Our temptation is to think we know this story so well, it can have no fresh meaning for our lives. But the wonder of this simple story is that it constantly reveals new truth about God's ability to transform our lives. So let's approach it with listening hearts as we meet people at the turning point. One way to understand this tale of father and sons is to think of it as a drama in three acts.
Act One -- Give My Regards To Ol' Broadway
Jesus begins his story with the younger of the two sons whose hunger is for the sights, sounds, and pleasures of Broadway and 42nd Street in New York. Here's a very modern person who is fed up with life at home. He's ready to 'do his own thing,'' so he asks for what is rightfully his, and sets off to break out of the old patterns in the big city. All he wants is to live his life to the full! We almost envy him!
The young man leaves home. He lives ''high on the hog''; he has his fill of the good life; and then the money runs out! He has no skills, no formal schooling completed, and he's in strange territory so his employment possibilities are nil. Finally, desperate for food, this good Jewish son takes a job feeding pigs! His story reminds me of the title of a popular book, I Wanted The Elevator But I Got The Shaft.1
However, life in the ''pits'' sometimes forces us to admit that we have been traveling on the wrong road. Sometimes it is only when the bottom falls out that we are ready for a turning point -- a time when the transforming grace of God can lead us into life instead of death.
Act Two -- Down On The Farm
This is the story of the older son; and when we talk about which road we choose in life, it is this older son who is perhaps even more our contemporary. At first glance, this is the good son who never gave his parents a bad time. This is the boy who did not choose the bright lights of Broadway and 42nd Street, but rather the narrow road of service to God and dedication to family.
Look at him: he stays home, he finishes school, he works hard on the family farm, he goes to church, and he's a loyal son. And he is, in many minds, legitimately furious when his no good kid brother returns home from his dissolute life and, instead of a bawling out, he gets a welcome fit for a king! There's more than a twinge of sympathy in our hearts as we hear him say to his father, ''Look, I never once disobeyed you; yet you have never given me a goat that I might have a feast with my friends.''
But take a closer look at this older brother. There's a meanness and jealousy and a total lack of compassion in this so-called ''good'' young man's heart! To be sure he has never left home, not even without the American Express Card! But his heart is like a piece of ice. His ''Broadway'' may not be the bright lights of self-seeking pleasure, but he travels a road that is just as far from the Living God as his dissolute brother!
How easy it is for us who live in comparative abundance to feel superior to the rest of the world. How easy it is to look at the homeless man in the doorway, or the prostitute on the street corner soliciting, and say smugly to ourselves, ''They are only getting what they deserve.'' How easy it is to judge people in the midst of divorce, or people with AIDS, or people born in another land, with a mean and jealous spirit. This older brother who sits with us in church on Sunday mornings with his inner jealousy, his lack of compassion, and his self-righteous spirit is just as much in need of the transforming grace and power of Jesus Christ as his brother who travels ''Broadway'' in the far country!
Act Three -- The Gospel Of The U-turn
The spiritual journey like any other journey in life needs places where we can make a U-turn and move in the opposite direction. The Bible is really the story of women and men much like ourselves who need to find those turning points. It's about people who have broken their marriage vows. It's about people who have betrayed a good friend. It's about people who have an unkind or critical spirit. It's about people who refuse to forgive old wrongs. It's about people who have not lived at their moral best. It's about people who suddenly discover that they are traveling in the wrong direction. They need to stop where they are, repent of their sin, and by the incredible grace and mercy of God, move out in a whole new direction.
A pastor friend of mine once described a U-turn like that in the life of a young woman in the church he served in California. Back in the 1960s she left home to join a hippie community in San Francisco. Her frantic parents made many trips to that city looking for their daughter, but she was lost in hippieland, protected by her new friends. Almost a whole year later, my friend was in San Francisco on church business. He was walking on the street when he heard a voice hesitantly calling his name.
He stopped and turned around. In spite of the clothes and the hairdo, and her disheveled appearance, he recognized the missing young woman from his congregation in Long Beach. She ran up asking if he had a few moments to talk. They sat down over Cokes as she poured out the sorry tale of the mess she had made of her life. ''It's incredible seeing you today,'' she said. ''I've been thinking all week about something you said in a sermon just before I left home.'' She continued, ''It was all about some boy in a faraway place, and you said that it was there that he came to himself. Do you really think that kind of thing still happens? Do you think I could ever go home? Would my folks ever take me back like that boy's father did?''
Murmuring a silent prayer, my pastor friend suggested, ''Let's make a phone call right now and find out.'' In a few
moments, he reached the young woman's father, and tears of joy and relief began to flow on both ends of that connection. When she hung up, the amazed young woman said, ''They want me to come home! They really do! I can't believe it, but they are willing to have me back.''
My friend tried to get the young woman to take a few minutes and he would help her purchase some new clothes. But all she wanted was the next train home! With thanksgiving in his heart for God's amazing grace, my friend saw her on her way.
What a U-turn! But it is not unlike the transformation that took place after Peter denied his Lord, or a woman named Mary gave up prostitution, or a tax collector named Zacchaeus stopped cheating everyone in his community. Ours is a gospel about ''turning points'' in people's lives. It's about the transforming power of Jesus Christ that can turn our lives around 180 degrees. The love made real in Jesus Christ still proclaims that no person is beyond hope, and no human situation beyond redemption.
In your spiritual life, what road do you travel? Is it the ''broadway'' that leads to destruction, or is it the way of Jesus Christ that leads to life abundant?
1. I Wanted The Elevator, But I Got The Shaft, Joe G. Emerson, Dimensions For Living, Nashville, Tennessee, 1993.
Discussion Questions
Luke 15:11-32
1. When you think of the younger son in this story, what comes to mind?
a. A mixed-up kid
b. The Forgiving Love
c. He's a ''know-it-all''
d. His ''poor'' brother
e. The gray hair he gave his father
f. Myself
2. Do you think that the father was wise to give his son his inheritance when he knew he would probably blow it all on foolish living?
3. If the father had a pretty good idea where his son had gone, should he not have gone after him? Why or why not?
4. If I had been the younger son, I would have (circle one):
a. Come home immediately
b. Been so ashamed of myself that I would never come home
c. Called home first to see what my father said
d. Tried to make up the lost money
e. Tried to straighten out first, then go home
f. Never left home in the first place
g. Done exactly what the younger son did
5. If I had been the father in this story when my younger son returned, I would have:
a. Refused to accept him back
b. Accepted him back on the condition that he shape up
c. Accepted him back without condition, but no ''fatted calf'' for him
d. Done what the father in this story did
6. If I had been the older brother, I would have:
a. Helped prepare the party
b. Told my father, ''You're a fool!''
c. Been happy to see my brother
d. Refused to attend the party
e. Been the life of the party
f. Packed my things and left home
7. The thing that really speaks to me in this story is:
a. The picture of God's forgiveness -- love has no strings
b. The picture of joy and celebration when someone makes a U-turn in life
c. The picture of someone who is ''lost'' even though they never left home
8. Where is the turning point that is needed in my spiritual life?
