4th Sunday of Lent (C)
Joshua 5:9, 10-12; 2 Cor 5:17-21; Lk 15:1-3,
11-32
After reading the Parable of the Prodigal Son, the old catechist asked
the kids: “At the end of the story who is it that ended up in a miserable
state, the younger or the older brother?” A boy stood up and answered: “Neither
one. It’s the fattened cow!”
The gospel provides a background of the
“Parable of the Prodigal Son”. The scribes and the Pharisees were grumbling
when they saw Jesus associating with sinners and outcasts. For them, it was
anomalous for a Rabbi to teach religious truths and at the same time mingle
with bad elements of society. The Lord narrated the parable in order to show
the scribes and the Pharisees that their idea of God was quite problematic. He
wanted to teach them that God is not a wrathful Judge whose only concern is to
find fault and condemn sinners; rather, God is a merciful Father who forgives
repentant sinners and wills the salvation of all. In order to appreciate the
point of Jesus, let us try to know the three main characters of the parable and
understand what these personalities tell us about our moral life today.
First, there is the younger son. Apparently, he
is unhappy in the home of his father. Without waiting for his father to die, he
asks for his share of the family estate, something considered offensive and
dishonorable in Mediterranean culture. He is like telling his father “For me,
you are good as dead.” Bible experts explain that perhaps the younger son is
disgruntled with the fact that in their society it is the eldest son who enjoys
greater privileges. The younger son considers it clever to take his share ahead
of time, go abroad and live away from his home and family. He thinks that with
his inherited money he could live his life unrestricted and enjoys it to the
maximum. However, he realizes that there is an end to all his waywardness. His
reckless lifestyle drains his fortune. When he turns moneyless, he also becomes
friendless. For survival purposes, he applies to work and ends up feeding pigs,
the greatest indignity possible for a Jew. This merely shows the depths of
degradation in which the prodigal son finds himself. Coming to his senses, he
remembers the beautiful home he left behind and decides to go back to his
father in order to beg for mercy.
The younger son represents every sinner. The
sinner tarnishes his special status as God’s child and jeopardizes his right as
heir of the kingdom. The sinner is discontented with his relationship with God and
looks for happiness in worldly things. Sin
basically is a conscious decision to depart from the love of the Heavenly
Father and to find idols in created things.
Sin promises a life of pleasure, excitement and satisfaction, but the
sinner would later realize that all he gets by sinning is misery,
meaninglessness and shame. The good news is
that no matter how deeply the sinner sinks into sin, there always is a small
voice urging him to come back to his Father’s house where genuine freedom and
happiness can be found.
Second,
there is the loving father. He has all the
power to say “No” to the untimely and insolent demand of his son, but he gives
in (surely, with a heavy heart). The father loves his son and wishes to keep
him happy and safe in his house, but he chooses not to force his love. He knows
that love to be genuine must be free. While the son squanders all his money in
dissolute living, the father keeps hoping for his return. He spends many hours outside his
house waiting for the shadow of his son. Upon seeing his son, the father runs
with abandon to meet him (Lk
15:20) – something unthinkable for a Jewish father to
do. The joy of seeing his son alive makes the father disregard his revered
status. Most of all, he forgets about his heartache and the humiliation his son
has caused him.
The son has a well-rehearsed speech: “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you;
I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired
hands” (Lk 15:18-19). He knows that he is a great sinner and that he deserves
nothing but mercy. But the father never gives the prodigal son a chance to
finish his apologetic lines. He needs no words, no explanations. The father
understands the pain, the humiliation and the shame of his son. And thus, he
restores immediately his dignity by giving him the best robe
(sign of honor), the ring (symbol of authority), the sandals (only slaves wear
no sandals), and by slaughtering a fattened cow (sign of joy and feasting).
The father of the prodigal son is the image
that Jesus would like us to have of his Father in heaven. God is a merciful
Father who loves us so much despite of our sinfulness or unworthiness. God
would like us to respond to his salvific invitation, but he never forces
himself on us. We are free to love God back or to reject him. Like the father
of the prodigal son, God patiently waits for the return of his lost children.
He is one who runs out to receive us. He is one who gives a lavish feast when
he gets us back. Unfortunately, many of us are not too familiar with this kind
of God.
Finally, there is the elder son. He is proud
that he has never strayed like his younger brother. He serves faithfully his
father and considers himself deserving of all praises and rewards. He imagines
himself as the ideal son, but he lacks mercy and compassion. He is not happy
that his erring brother has come back home. He says to his father: “Listen! For all these years I have been working like a
slave for 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” (Lk
15:29). From the words of the elder son, we can say that his years of obedience to his father had been years of grim duty and not of
loving service. The elder son stands for the self-righteous Pharisees who
followed all the letters of the law out of duty, not out of love. Like the
elder son, the Pharisees were arrogant and unforgiving. They would rather see a
sinner condemned than saved.
How often are we like the unforgiving son?
Sometimes, we are self-righteous and easy to find fault in other people. At
times, we also are judgmental and quick to condemn. A spiritual guru says that
when God looks at us, he covers one eye so as not to see the ugly parts of us.
But when we look at other people, we open wide our eyes and we even use
magnifying glasses in order to see the dirty sides of others. This is where the
problem often lies. We need to learn from the heart of our Father in heaven. As
Jesus invites us: “Be merciful as your Father is merciful” (Lk 6:36). At the
end of the parable, the one that ended up in the worst situation is not the
fattened calf but the older brother because he is self-righteous, proud and
unforgiving.
As we move deeply into the season of Lent, the
Church invites us to emulate the example of the younger son by turning away
from our wandering, self-satisfying and totally autonomous lifestyle. May we
learn to approach God in the sacrament of reconciliation not as slaves but as
his children, ready to repent and make amends to every wrong or harm we have done
to others. Moreover, the Church urges us not to follow the arrogant,
egotistical and purist mentality of the older son. Let us develop in us a
merciful and understanding heart, ready to forgive those who might have
offended or hurt us.
