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Formation · Devotion

Sabotage and Ministry

Scripture
Luke 15:11-32

When Anxiety Disrupts Faithful Work

Natural Responses

In the parable often referred to as the Prodigal Son, the older son responds to his brother’s return by standing outside the celebration, resisting the joy his father has begun, and in doing so, disrupting the moment meant to restore the family. All of the older son’s reactions appear to be very natural.

The Shared Word Translation Luke 15:11–32

The Parable of the Prodigals’ Father

11Then Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the property that belongs to me.’ So he divided his livelihood between them.

13Not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in disordered living. 14When he had spent everything, a severe famine came upon that country, and he began to be in need.

15So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into the fields to feed pigs. 16He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, and no one gave him anything.

17But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have bread in abundance, and here I am perishing with hunger! 18I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; 19I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired workers.”’

20So he got up and went to his father. While he was still far off, his father saw him and was moved with compassion; he ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

22But the father said to his servants, ‘Quickly, bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. 23And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; 24for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’ And they began to celebrate.

25Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26He called one of the servants and asked what these things meant.

27He said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ 28Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him.

29But he answered his father, ‘Listen! For all these years I have been serving you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends. 30But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’

31Then the father said to him, ‘Child, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.’”

By ‘natural,’ we do not mean healthy or faithful—we mean predictable under anxiety, anger, fear, etc. In doing so, the older son is sabotaging the restorative action of his father.

We often treat sabotage as a moral failure. This parable invites us to consider whether it might instead be a response to anxiety.

  • Why are the older son’s reactions natural?
  • When we see or experience sabotage in the church, how do we typically view, understand, and frame it? Why are these responses, in the church, deeply understandable under anxiety? 

Modeling God’s Mercy

In the parable, the response to the older son is, “Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.”

  • If we were the father in the parable, what would a natural, instinctive response to the older son look like—before reflection, prayer, or trust? How does the father’s response disrupt that instinct?
  • What assurance and care is given to the older son, who sabotaged the party?
  • The parable ends without resolution, as if to ask the listener where they will step into the story. If you were the older son—feeling as he feels and acting as he acts—how might you respond to the assurance the father offers at the end of the parable?

Living Jesus’ Parable

Long before we had language for family systems theory, this parable already showed what later thinkers would name. Drawing on family systems theory, particularly Edwin Friedman’s work (see chapter 14), we can say: sabotage is not what evil people do—in systems under stress, sabotage is far more often driven by anxiety than by malice.

  • Based on this parable, and your pastoral, elder, and/or leadership training, what are three ways to respond to sabotage that do not escalate anxiety or take responsibility for another person’s work?
  • In a similar manner, what practices reduce anxiety in a system before it expresses itself as sabotage?

TSW is an ongoing translation project within Church Commons.

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