All three Scripture readings for the 4th Sunday of Lent present meaningful aspects of the lavish generosity of God.
In the first reading from the Book of Jushua, the Hebrew people have been liberated by the power of Yahweh from the tyranny of the Egyptians For forty years God had sustained them, in spite of their constant disloyalty, and now they cross the River Jordan and enter for the first time the land God had promised them.
The second reading from Paul’s second Letter to the Church in Corinth reminds the first Christians, as well as us today, that our salvation is all God’s work “not holding men’s faults against them.” We could not have saved ourselves.
The Gospel passage from Luke recounts a parable in which Jesus speaks of God’s unlimited mercy and wonderful, almost foolish generosity. Moved by the criticism of the Pharisees and scribes for eating with tax collectors and sinners, the parable of the prodigal son, which Jesus told, is one of the best known and best loved of his many parables. This parable tells of a well-to-do father, generous even extravagant in his forgiveness, and his two sons, the younger wayward and wasteful and his unfeeling, but hardworking older brother.
This parable presents both a challenging and a consoling message. Consoling, as it reveals to us God’s extravagant mercy and forgiveness, not only for us who are trying to do our best, but also for those who, at those times, seem to have been abandoned by God. No one is beyond God’s mercy. Although challenging as it is, the parable asks us to consider how generous we are in giving mercy and forgiveness to others, and also to consider whether we truly trust in God’s mercy towards us and whether we rejoice when we hear of God’s mercy to those whom we might think do not so deserve.
Life seemed to be proceeding well for this family until the younger son became restless and wanted to see the world. Seemingly, having no intention of returning, he asks his father for the share of the father’s property that would come to him on his father’s death. After the father split his property, the younger son immediately “left for a distant country where he squandered his money on a life of debauchery.”
Now being broke, he had to look for work. Possibly because, being an outsider, the only job he could get was feeding pigs, a terribly humiliating work for a person of the Jewish faith. After some time, he saw that the pigs’ food was better than his own food.
Knowing that the workers in his father’s house were better off than himself, he decided to swallow his pride, go home, confess his ingratitude, and ask his father to treat him as an employee. As he approached his father’s house but still had some distance to go, his father saw him, ran towards him, embraced him, and kissed him. He started to make his speech of contrition; his father brushed his repentance aside and called to the servants to dress him in the best clothes, give him a ring and sandals, and prepare a feast, “because this son of mine was dead and has come back to life.”
The older brother, who was out on the farm, heard the commotion, and, knowing what it was about, refused to join the celebration even though the father pleaded with him. He responded that he had always been loyal and hardworking and had not asked for favors, and here was the wayward son getting all the attention when he should have been ignored, even spurned by the father. His father tried to reassure him and reminded him that he was his sole heir, but insisted that his brother’s return was like a return from the dead, and so it was right to celebrate.
The older brother is no more accepting of his father’s love and forgiveness towards his younger brother than the Pharisees and scribes acceptance of Jesus. Do we accept that God’s extravagant compassion, patience, and mercy are there for all?
The parable of the prodigal son is one of the church’s gifts to us this Lent. Let us reflect on its place in our lives.
Columban Fr Reg Howard currently lives at St Columban's, Essendon.
