SERMON NOTES REFLECTION QUESTIONS: This week, when you see people around you, when you watch the news, when you feel jealousy creeping in the back door of your heart, I want you to stop and pray. “Jesus, how do you see them? Jesus, help me to see them as you see me.” Where is jealousy getting in the way of joy for you? Where is jealousy getting in the way of community? Two things that help counter jealousy are gratitude and forgiveness. If you are struggling with jealousy, try praying prayers of gratitude, reflecting on what God has given you. Or try praying about forgiveness if there is someone you need to forgive. LUKE 15 – Prodigal Son Notes 1. Inheritance Rules Ancient Jewish inheritance would have divided the inheritance with the first-born son getting a double portion. The younger son would have received 1/3 of his father’s property, while the older son would receive 2/3’s. (See Deuteronomy 21:15-17) 2. “A man had two sons” By starting the parable this way, Jesus immediately brings to mind ancient stories. Cain and Abel (Genesis 4), Ishmael and Isaac (Abraham’s sons, Genesis 12-17), and Jacob and Esau (Isaac’s sons, Genesis 25-33f) 3. Theology of the Cross Grace and Compassion are essential components of following Jesus. The parable of the prodigal son highlights a common distortion of Christianity in American today. Some distorted religious systems that masquerade as Christianity today (such as prosperity Gospel or religious nationalism) are wholly rooted in a theology of glory. Power, wealth, worldly authority are valued and mis-identified as signs of God’s blessing and favor, justifying the rejection, ignoring of those who are lost and suffering around us. This parable is a powerful critique of that thinking. Even IF the son had acted poorly, irresponsibly, and wrongly, the father’s love for him never faded. The father’s compassion for this lost son who was hungry, desperate, and alone was more powerful than any guilt or shame. The brother’s lack of compassion is stunning. How much more are we called to have compassion for the suffering of our fellow human beings whose suffering is no fault of their own? Johann Hari – “Lost Connections” Here are a few very interesting science examples from Hari’s book, “Lost Connections” about what happens in our brains when we are lonely and isolated. So John teamed with anthropologists who had been studying the Hutterites14 for years, to figure out how lonely the Hutterites are. There’s one neat way to test it. Anywhere in the world where people describe being lonely, they will also—throughout their sleep—experience more of something called “micro-awakenings.” These are small moments you won’t recall when you wake up, but in which you rise a little from your slumber. All other social animals do the same thing when they’re isolated too. The best theory is that you don’t feel safe going to sleep when you’re lonely, because early humans literally weren’t safe if they were sleeping apart from the tribe. You know nobody’s got your back—so your brain won’t let you go into full sleep mode. Measuring these “micro-awakenings” is a good way of measuring loneliness. So John’s team wired up the Hutterites, to see how many of them they experienced each night. It turned out they had barely any.15 “What we found was that the community showed the lowest level of loneliness that I’d seen anywhere in the world,” John explained to me. “It really stunned me.” Hari, Johann. Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression – and the Unexpected Solutions (p. 95). (Function). Kindle Edition. As John was proving how this effect plays out in humans, other scientists were investigating it in other animals. For example, Professor Martha McClintock separated out lab rats. Some were raised in a cage, alone. Others were raised in groups. The isolated rats developed eighty-four times the number of breast cancer tumors as the rats who had a community. (pp. 98-99). When he put lonely people into brain-scanning machines, he noticed something. They would spot potential threats within 150 milliseconds, while it took socially connected people twice as long, 300 milliseconds, to notice the same threat. What was happening? Protracted loneliness causes you to shut down socially, and to be more suspicious of any social contact, he found. You become hypervigilant. You start to be more likely to take offense where none was intended, and to be afraid of strangers. You start to be afraid of the very thing you need most. John calls this a “snowball” effect, as disconnection spirals into more disconnection. Lonely people are scanning for threats because they unconsciously know that nobody is looking out for them, (p. 99).