For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.

The parables of Jesus, as with good fictional stories that get told, give us some unforgettable role models.

Now the good thing about fictional role models is that they will never disappoint us, as opposed to living, breathing role models. Charles Barkley is famous for saying that he should not be a role model, and then, of course, proved it through the less then stellar influence that he and Michael Jordan had on ex-role model and current punch line to many jokes: Tiger Woods. And the world of sports is full of those examples: Ben Rothlisberger and Kobe Bryant and almost everyone the Jets have added to their roster lately. But, on the other hand you have people Derek Jeter and David Wright and anyone named Manning.

But the fictional role models are steady and consistent and we are often characters we encounter: Tom Swift, Frank and Joe Hardy, and Chip Hilton influenced my childhood every bit as much as Willie Mays, Alex Webster and Pete Dawkins, and my more recent years have been as touched by Albus Dumbledore as they have by Jimmy Buffett . . . of course, he’s sort of a fictional mythical character anyway . . . but my point is that in these parables we encounter two fictional characters who remind us of people we have known, who remind us of ourselves at one time or another.

There is the Prodigal and – well let’s make this interactive – what’s the word Prodigal mean? Right, wasteful.

We have all been prodigals at one point or another, perhaps not as drastically but I don’t think I’ve ever known anyone who didn’t, in one way or another, waste that which God gives: time, love, friendship, joy, faith and the particular set of skills and talents that God gives, uniquely, to each individual.

And when we are prodigal with a little, when we waste a little, soon we are wasting a lot. How many times, in recent years do we read about public officials who are caught in corruption that just grew on them, because they wasted their integrity, they wasted who they were.

That was the sin of the Prodigal, he wasted who he was, until that day when he was feeding the pigs and jealous of how well they were eating, that day when Jesus says “he came to himself”.

There is that moment of clarity and it often comes when we are at our lowest point, we come to ourselves.

That’s what Jeremiah was saying to the exiles in Babylonia, they would be there 70 years, children would be born there, married there and some of them would die there, but that was not where Jeremiah wanted them looking and thinking and planning.

Always, he was saying, remember that God has a plan for you as a people, a plan for good, a future of hope, a place where you belong.

That’s what the prodigal realized that day, that’s what I want you to be able to realize today and every day, and not just them, not just them.

Every single person in this room, wherever you are in your life journey, God has a plan for you as a part of the broader plan for his people and his world, a plan for good, a future of hope, a place where you belong.

Whatever you may be exiled from, whether it is your family, your career, your neighbors, your dreams, your faith, whatever version of feeding pigs you are going through, whatever you have allowed yourself to sink to, come to yourself, remember who you are, who you have been and open the door to who God created you to be.

For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. And then there is the other role model, the other story of self-discovery, the Samaritan.

In that parable the religious community and the education community both failed to come to the aid of the beaten man. Haven’t we all been guilty of that?

Oh, we do a lot, as a Church and as individuals we do a lot to care for the needy, but still there are those times when we are in a hurry to get somewhere and we look the other way, times when we know we should stop and help someone, but we don’t.

          And along comes the Samaritan.

          He had no reason to stop.

          He was not a Jew, in fact the Jews despised his people.

          He was about as popular as an illegal immigrant in Arizona, and he would have been treated about as well.

          He had no reason to stop, except one.

          The one that the priest and the teacher had lost of: it was the right thing to do.

The Samaritan didn’t have to “come to himself” he was himself and he wasn’t going to let the bigotry of others, the hatred of others, dictate who he was and what he did.

It was the right thing to do and we don’t know when he learned that but I’ll bet it was a long time before that day, and on that day he was his best self, the self he had been created to be.

And that is also my hope, my prayer for you and all of you, that on your best days you will remember who you are and that, like the Samaritan, you will do what you can, where you can, for the people you encounter who are in need.

He was an unexpected hero that day.

He didn’t know, when he woke up that morning, that he would have this moment of opportunity, this moment when he encountered the need of another. But when it came he was ready, because that was who he was.

And that, said Christ, is who we all supposed to be, the person who is ready to do what we can, when we can, where we can. There is so much in the world that we can’t control. The Samaritan couldn’t do anything about the robbers who attacked the man in the first place, we can’t do anything about the selfishness and greed that have left so many of our neighbors lying on the side of the road who have been beaten down over the last few years. But we can help them heal, we can care for them and carry them until they are stronger, not only can we but we must if we are going to call ourselves Christians.

And if we don’t, who will?

If we don’t not only do they continue to suffer, but we never discover the plans and the hope that God has for us. You see, God loves the Prodigals, those who, in Kris Kristofferson’s words, are “choosing every wrong direction in the lonely way back home.” We’ve been that, until we come to ourselves.

And God loves the Samaritans, those who see the right thing and do it, as best they can. And we’ve been that at times, when we have remembered the times when we needed some help and we got it and now we can give it.

And God loves us, in our worst and best moments.

God loves us, not because of what we do or what we fail to do, no God loves us because God created us and we have a part to play in God’s great plans for his world and for our lives and for each others lives.

We may not see it right now, but it is there, waiting for us.

And how do we find it.

Well let me leave you all – and the seven of you in particular – with this story, this poem, as a gift for today and for every day when you are trying to find God’s plan for your life.

          Two frogs fell into a deep bowl of cream.

          One was a hopeful soul;

          But the other took the gloomy view.

          “I shall drown,” he cried, “and so will you.”

          So with a last despairing cry,

          He closed his eyes and said, “Goodbye.”

          But the other frog with a merry grin,

          Said, “I can’t get out, but I won’t give in!

          I’ll swim around until my strength is spent,

          For having tried, I’ll die content.”

          Bravely he swam until it would seem

          His struggles began to churn the cream.

          On top of the butter at last he stopped

          And out of the bowl he happily hopped.

          What is the moral?  It’s easily found.

          If you can’t get out, keep swimming around!

Keep churning, keep praying, keep swimming, keep serving and don’t ever quit and don’t give in to self-pity and pessimism and you will find the plans that God has for you, plans for your welfare, plans for your future.

For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.