THE PRODIGAL FATHER
Many biblical scholars believe that the parable of the prodigal son should be titled the prodigal father who lavishes his love, mercy, kindness and tenderness more on the wayward son.
This reminds us of God’s abundant, lavish love and unfathomable mercy towards us sinners.
Traditionally, the fourth Sunday of the Lenten season is called LAETARE, which in Latin, “laetari” means ´to rejoice. Usually, the priest used rose-coloured vestments.
Hence, it is also referred to as Rose Sunday. This implies that we have completed more than half of our severe Lenten observances or practices.
WHY LAETARE SUNDAY
This Sunday has been a day of celebration within the austere period of Lent. It is a moment of pause to encourage ourselves on how far we have come with our Lenten observances. The theme of our celebration is joy and rejoicing because God´s tenderness, mercy, forgiveness, and reconciliation are boundless.
OUR THEME: THE PRODIGAL FATHER
Our celebration’s theme is joy and rejoicing because God´s tenderness, mercy, forgiveness, and reconciliation are boundless.
Today´s readings call us to reflect on the mercy of God and the need for reconciliation with God, others and ourselves because this is what brings joys, happiness and rejoicing into our lives.
Besides, the readings present us with a vivid image of God the Father as a loving and merciful Father. The joy of God does not desire our death or punishment but repentance.
Hence, God, the prodigal Father, lavishes us with his unconditional love, abundant grace and unfathomable mercy. However, we ungrateful children squandered this love, grace and mercy unprofitably. This is a course of celebration and rejoicing in the Lord.
FIRST READING: JOSHUA 5:9-12
In the first reading, Joshua, the new leader of Israel, tells his people to rejoice because God has taken their shame of Egypt away. He has delivered them from slavery in Egypt. Egypt, for the Jews, is a place of slavery, sin, failure, suffering and death.
“Today I have removed the reproach of Egypt from you.” The reconciled people of Israel had the honour, privilege and grace of the first fruit of the Promised Land at Gilgal. The Israelites were freed at last from slavery and humiliation in Egypt, entered the Promised Land.
The images of God here are (a) an intervening God, (b) a merciful God, and (c) a protective as well, a provident God.
PASLM 33 OR 34
In today’s responsorial psalm, the joyful psalmist invites us to taste and see the goodness of the Lord. He encourages us to sing, praise and worship God by glorifying and extolling His Name.
Then, he gives us our reason for rejoicing. “I sought the Lord, and He answered me and delivered me from all my fears!”. For the psalmist, his joy is one of the promises fulfilled through a loving and saving God.
SECOND READING: 2 CORINTHIANS 5:17-21
In the second reading, St. Paul urges the Corinthians to rejoice because, in Christ Jesus, all old things gain newness and a new dimension of life and purpose. Hence, he argued that they have a new mission of mercy and reconciliation as Christ’s ambassadors.
For Paul, a radical difference between Christians and the rest of humanity is reconciliation. Christians have reconciled humanity. “If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation, everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ”.
That is to say, we Christians have the same mission as Christ: to be instruments of peace and reconciliation. In other words, the aim and mission of Christ were to reconcile us with God, and this is the purpose of the Christian life, too.
THE GOSPEL: LUKE 15:1-2, 11-32
The story of the Prodigal Son is a perfect model story of God´s mercy and forgiveness. Besides, it demonstrates why sinners have the great grace of celebrating with joy. It also challenges us to treat all we meet with the example of loving concern without judging their past behaviour.
The vivid parable of the Prodigal Son and the patient love of the father is one of the most dramatic images of God the Father in the Bible. A loving, merciful, patient and gracious Father, not a policeman or judge God.
Hence, Jesus in the gospel of Luke 15:1-3, 11-32 demonstrates to us the mercy, grace and love of God in an extravagant way that leads to reconciliation and restoration despite our failings.
LESSONS OF THE GOSPEL
1. Sin is rebellion and reckless living against God’s will and his infinite goodness.
2. Sin reduces us to a despicable or deplorable state of being and wretchedness.
3. In sin, we lost the dignity of God’s sonship, and we become slaves to the devil.
4. God’s mercy restores us to grace, dignity and the beauty of God’s image and likeness.
5. Some self-righteous individuals are unhappy with God’s generous forgiveness and mercy towards sinners and “bad” people (the elder son).
6. God looks out for our homecoming after we stray away, more than our contrition to return to seek his mercy and forgiveness.
7. There is no genuine forgiveness without restoration to the previous state of grace before our relationship with God went sour (the younger son).
8. No sin is out of bounds of God’s unfathomable mercy.
9. God’s forgiveness and infinite mercy are more lavish than our squandered grace (the Prodigal Father).
MERCY AND RECONCILIATION
The biblical scholar Father Ernest Munachi puts it better when he affirmed: ¨We are all sinners. Whether your sins are more visible like those of the younger son. Or more hidden like those of the elder son. The message for us today is that we all need to repent and return to the Father’s house.
In a nutshell, the story of the Prodigal Son is a perfect model story of the mercy and forgiveness of God. It demonstrates to us the reason why sinners have the great grace of celebrating with joy. As well it also challenges us all to treat all we meet with the example of loving concern without judging their past behaviour.
THE CONTEXT OF THE PRODIGAL SON
The parable of the Prodigal Son arose out of a situational context. The Pharisees and the Scribes were angry about how Jesus mingled with sinners and tax collectors. They are not only enemies of Jews but people of irreligious and immoral character.
Among the Jewish religious authority, it was an offence that a teacher of the Law, a Rabbi, should mingle with the low people. Hence, the Scribes and Pharisees were highly displeased that Jesus associated with men and women who were labelled as sinners.
PHARISAIC BRANDING OF SINNERS
The Pharisees gave to people who did not keep the Law of God a general classification. They called them the People of the Land. There was a complete barrier between the Pharisees and the People of the Land.
It was prohibited to marry a daughter to one of them; it was like exposing her bound and helpless to a lion.
The Pharisaic regulations laid it down, “When a man is one of the People of the Land, entrust no money to him or take testimony from him.
They also encouraged religious, abiding Jews not to trust them with any secret.
The People of the Land are not appointed as guardians of the orphans, nor are they to be made custodians of charitable funds.
It is also advised not to allow them to be your companions on a journey.
A Pharisee was forbidden to be the guest of any such man or to have him as his guest.
The Pharisees, Scribes, and Jews were forbidden not to relate with the so-called sinners. So far, as it was possible, they are not to have any business dealings with People of the Land.
It was the deliberate Pharisaic aim to avoid every contact with the people who did not observe the petty details of the law. Obviously, they would be shocked to the core at how Jesus companied with people who were not only rank outsiders. They are also considered sinners, and contact with them would necessarily defile a holy person.
RELIGIOUS ILL REPRESENTATION OF GOD
We will understand the parable more fully if we remember what the strict Jews said and did and what Jesus did and said about God and the sinner.
For the Jews, “there will be joy in heaven over one sinner who is obliterated before God.” They looked sadistically forward not to the saving but to the destruction of the sinners.
While Jesus said, “there will be joy in heaven over one sinner who repents.” For Jesus, God and religious life are all about salvation to souls. It is making them embrace the mercy, grace and love of God.
THE IMAGE OF GOD
The images we construct in our minds about a person influence our relationship with that person. It is the same with God; how we contextualize or imagine God to be determines how we approach and relate to Him. This is one of the greatest dangers of religion over many centuries. The image of God creates saints or beasts out of many religious minds.
The image of God we have shapes the way we relate with Him. If we have this image of God as the punisher. Then, our relationship with him will be legalistic. However, if we see God as a loving and merciful Father. We will relate to Him in a fraternal and lovely way.
The image of God presented to us on the fourth Sunday of Lent is one who rejoices over one repentant sinner rather than millions of righteous souls. God does not rejoice alone when thousands or hundreds of souls repented, but when one sinner embraces his mercy, grace and love.
THE YOUNGER SON IN THE STORY
The younger son was a shameless, unsettled, insecure and lazy brat who thinks of only inheritance (the labour our and sweat of his father).
He was a wayward, disrespectful and disobedient child who selfishly thought of only himself and no one else.
He was manipulative and externally extravagant, the way he left home unearned money and squandered it in no time.
He soon ran through the money. He finished up feeding the pigs. A cultural task that was forbidden to a Jew. It is written in the law: “Cursed is he who feeds swine.”
However, he was conscious of who his father was. That was why he had the gut to ask for the first time, his share of heritage.
Hence, while going through time created by his wanton actions and decisions. He came to himself or his senses.
He had the humility to recognize his sins and returned home to his father to ask for forgiveness.
He recognized the three steps to holistic recognition: reconciliation with God, his father and himself.
He was ready and bold to face the consequences of his actions and decisions without shifting blame.
He knew his father’s love for him was much more than his failure. There is this unconditional love despite failures, errors and weaknesses.
He still called the Father, father with a sense of honour and respect.
THE FATHER IN THE STORY: EXTRAVAGANT LOVE
Indeed, the shameless and wasteful youngster guessed right his father’s love for him. Though his offences were grievous, love overrode them all.
Under Jewish Law, a father was not free to leave his property as he liked. The elder son must get two-thirds and the younger one-third. (Deut.21:17.).
It was not unusual for a father to distribute his estate before he died if he wished to retire from the actual management of affairs.
The younger son’s request was heartless and callous. It was like he wished his father dead.
The father did not argue. He did as the son requested. He knew that if the son was ever to learn, he must learn the hard way.
Here, we see the image of a non-authoritative father figure who believes in freedom and liberty.
The father is loving, gracious and merciful. He was waiting and watching for the son to come home.
And when he saw him a long way off. He did not wait for him to take the long, shameful steps alone.
The father was full of compassion, a feminine quality that has to do with the womb. He was moved to pity. When he came, he forgave him with no recriminations.
He came home. According to the best Biblical Greek text, his father never gave him the chance to ask to be a servant.
LOVE AND FORGIVENESS LEAD TO FULL RESTORATION IN GOD
The empathetic, loving father restored his son to the sonship, dignity and glory he had before all went bad. The action of the Father makes him the central hero of the story, not the wayward son.
First, he waited and watched his return. Second, moving with compassion, he ran to welcome him and accompanied him home.
Thirdly, even in his filthiest, low moment of life, the father gave him a hug and kisses, a sign of reconciliation and forgiveness.
Then, before his request, the father called out for the robe, which stood for honour. The ring stood for authority, for if a man gave another his signet ring, it was the same as giving him the power to act on his behalf. The shoes stood for a son as opposed to a slave in the house. Children of the family were shod, and slaves or servants were not.
The celebration was a sign of welcome and restoration to sonship, dignity and honour.
THE ELDER SON IN THE STORY
That is not the end of the story. There was the elder brother who was unhappy and angry. That his wayward brother had come home. He stands for the self-righteous Pharisees who would rather see a sinner destroyed than saved. Certain things stand out about him.
(i) His attitude shows that his years of obedience to his father had been years of grim duty and not of loving service.
(ii) The elder son did not see himself as a son. His relationship with the father was purely legalistic, obeying rules and regulations, works and obedience.
(iii) Therefore, he sees his relationship with the father as one of serving or obeying. Sadly enough, you can claim to be loyal to someone and not love that person out of fear or sheer interest.
(iii) His attitude is one of utter lack of sympathy, empathy or compassion. He refers to the prodigal son, not as any brother, but as your son.
(iv) He was the kind of self-righteous character who would cheerfully have kicked a man farther into the gutter when he was already down.
(v) In his indifference or pride, he could not call his father as father and refused to enter the house. He was enraged and embittered to break family ties with his father and brother.
(vi) He had a peculiarly nasty mind. There is no mention of harlots until he mentions them. He, no doubt, suspected his brother of the sins he would have liked to commit.
THE UNFAILING LOVE AND MERCY OF GOD
Once again, we have the beautiful truth that it is easier to confess to God than to many a man. That God is more merciful in his judgment, that the love of God is far broader than the love of man. God can forgive when men refuse to forgive. The love of God can defeat the foolishness of man, the seduction of the tempting voices, and even the deliberate rebellion of the heart.
God’s mercy, love and grace have no sense of fairness and justice but flow to whoever needs it. It should always be our prayer to understand these and apply them to our lives and the lives of others. By learning to become ministers of God’s reconciliation in the world of hatred and lack of forgiveness.
THE JOY OF GOD THE FATHER
One of the most beautiful stories of the gospel of Jesus Christ is the story of the Prodigal Son, which demonstrates that the repentance of one sinner is the joy of God the Father.
For this reason, many biblical scholars believe that the parable of the Prodigal son should be called the parable of the Prodigal Father, the forgiving or loving father, or the joy of God.
The story shows us who God the Father is: a God who wastes grace, mercy and love despite our waywardness to squander them.
OUR PRAYER
Lord Jesus Christ, today the Palmist invites us to taste and see that you are good. Like the Prodigal Son, may we know that your mercy forgives and does not punish our past sins. Lord of mercy and compassion, help us to return home to you with a contrite heart. Amen!
