March 6^th 2016.  FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT

GOSPEL: Luke 13: 1-9

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading ...

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GOSPEL: Luke 13: 1-9

The tax collectors and the sinners, meanwhile, were all seeking his company to hear what he had to say, and the Pharisees and the scribes complained. ‘This man’ they said ‘welcomes sinners and eats with them’. So he spoke this parable to them:

‘A man had two sons. The younger said to his father, “Father, let me have the share of the estate that would come to me.” So the father divided the property between them. A few days later, the younger son got together everything he had and left for a distant country where he squandered his money on a life of debauchery.

‘When he had spent it all, that country experienced a severe famine, and now he began to feel the pinch, so he hired himself out to one of the local inhabitants who put him on his farm to feed the pigs. And he would willingly have filled his belly with the husks the pigs were eating but no one offered him anything. Then he came to his senses and said, “How many of my father’s paid servants have more food than they want, and here am I dying of hunger! I will leave this place and go to my father and say: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as one of your paid servants.” So he left the place and went back to his father.

‘While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with pity. He ran to the boy, clasped him in his arms and kissed him tenderly. Then his son said, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son.” But the father said to his servants, “Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the calf we have been fattening, and kill it; we are going to have a feast, a celebration, because this son of mine was dead and has come back to life; he was lost and is found.” And they began to celebrate.

‘Now the elder son was out in the fields, and on his way back, as he drew near the house, he could hear music and dancing. Calling one of the servants he asked what it was all about. “Your brother has come” replied the servant “and your father has killed the calf we had fattened because he has got him back safe and sound.” He was angry then and refused to go in, and his father came out to plead with him; but he answered his father, “Look, all these years I have slaved for you and never once disobeyed your orders, yet you never offered me so much as a kid for me to celebrate with my friends. But, for this son of yours, when he comes back after swallowing up your property – he and his women – you kill the calf we had been fattening.”

The father said,

“My son, you are with me always and all I have is yours. But it was only right we should celebrate and rejoice, because your brother here was dead and has come to life;
he was lost and is found.”

THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . To understand the story of the prodigal son, we must look at the opening verses. Jesus tells the story because the Pharisees and Scribes – the ones who keep the Law but who do not really treat God as a Father – complain that Jesus is rejoicing with sinners. The parable is about the merciful Father who freely pardons his son, and also about the elder brother who thinks he is doing the Father’s will, but in reality is only acting out of obligation, and secretly begrudges the little that he does. How many of us Christians are like that elder brother! We think that living a life of sin would be fun, and we feel that our Christian faith is really an obstacle to us fully enjoying ourselves. We envy those who live a life of debauchery and then convert at the last minute, like the prodigal son. But this view is completely wrong! It is a joy and a wonder to live the Christian life close to the embrace of the Father, a Father who embraces us and bestows on us the most wonderful of blessings! Let us not be like the elder son, who lives “close” to the Father but doesn’t really live in union with the Father. He would obviously prefer to be somewhere else, but stays at home out of scruples. But let us also not be like the younger brother! You know, his story is the story of the human race. Historically, humankind has not wished to be close to the Father. We would prefer to follow our own designs. So we take the inheritance that God has given us and distance ourselves more and more from the Father. We use the gifts God has bestowed on us to satisfy ourselves. An authentic relationship with God would only hinder the pursuance of our own selfish goals. In the end, both sons did not want to live in close union with the Father. One took everything and left, the other stayed at home begrudgingly. Eventually, the prodigal returned to the Father, whilst the elder son remained estranged from him, though he lived in the same home! And let us not envy the prodigal! Don’t think that he had his fun and then got an undeserved reward. He lived a life of misery and selfishness and then got an undeserved pardon. Instead, let us be like a third child of the Lord, a child that remains with the Father and does so willingly and joyfully, living a life of true union with God.

 To understand the story of the prodigal son, we must look at the opening verses. Jesus tells the story because the Pharisees and Scribes – the ones who keep the Law but who do not really treat God as a Father – complain that Jesus is rejoicing with sinners

In this Jubilee of Mercy, we encounter the celebrated passage describing the Prodigal Son. The introductory verses are the key for interpreting the entire story. “At that time all the publicans and sinners came to Jesus to listen to him. The Pharisees and Scribes began to grumble. ‘Look, he welcomes sinners and eats with them’. Then Jesus recounted this parable. . .” On Sunday the austere tone of Lent is softened with the tender story of the Prodigal Son. The first reading tells of the first celebration of the Passover after the Jews enter the Promised Land. After forty years of journeying, the people are finally able to enter into this joyful feast. The Lord says to Joshua, “Look, I have removed from you the shame of Egypt”. And so the celebration is greater because they have been liberated from shame. In the Gospel, the Pharisees and Scribes are upset because Jesus and his disciples are celebrating with sinners. Let us consider the situation in more detail.

The story of humanity is the story of a people who have the inheritance that God has given them and used it for their own purposes

The story of the Prodigal Son is the story of the merciful Father who welcomes his errant younger son unconditionally, but it is also the story of the elder son who does not enter into the feast of the Father’s mercy. There are two ways to enter the feast, but it seems from this story that one of the ways doesn’t reach a happy conclusion. The younger son takes the path of failure, emptiness, loss. This is the way of sin. In fact, the Father says, “This son was dead but now he is alive”. The story of sin is not the story of something enjoyable that we are not permitted to do, but the story of death. It is the story of a man of dignity, a prince, a son of a great family, who becomes a steward of pigs. He has become someone taken with trivial things, someone who thinks little of his Father and demands his inheritance so that he can dispose of it as he sees fit. And you know, this is the story of humanity. We want to take what God has given us and use it for our own purposes, dispose of it as we wish, independently of what God wishes for us. Historically, this is our condition. We have distanced ourselves more and more from God so that we can do as we please. God is an inconvenient hindrance in the way of us pursuing our own ends. And while we do our own thing, we believe that this will permit us to enjoy ourselves and have a party.

 The prodigal son represents the bitter Christian who thinks he is doing the Father’s will but actually does not accept God as a Father

The story of the Prodigal Son is the story of a man who left his Father in order to have a party but then realised that the real party was happening at home. He went in search of pleasure, ease, comfort, but found that the things he was pursuing were of little import. He loses himself in this process but one day he comes back to himself and becomes conscious of what he has left behind. And so, in the end, after a tortuous journey, having failed and behaved in an immature and selfish fashion, he nevertheless manages to arrive at the joy of the Father. The ironic thing is that the older brother, who never left home at all, does not enter into the feast. This bitter strain of Christianity, with its sour spirituality, unfortunately is not uncommon in our parishes. God the Father is not perceived as a Father but as a master. It is interesting that the elder brother speaks in exactly the same way as the Pharisee who complained that Jesus was eating with sinners. “I have served you for many years and never disobeyed one of your commandments. But you have never allowed me to celebrate with my friends”. There is a whole theology contained here! God is someone who simply must be obeyed. And in return he must give us things. But the Father says, “Son, you have always been with me. Why do you speak as if you were a slave? Why do you behave as someone who has no intimacy with me? Everything I have is yours”. The problem is that this son has not entered into the love of the Father. He performs his actions out of obligation.

We tend to think that sin is enjoyable. We do not appreciate the joy of living in union with the Father!

This older brother represents the unresolved problem highlighted by the parable: the bitter “disciple” who has not understood the mercy of God. We inhabit the house of the Father as slaves, servants, squatters, looking with jealous eyes at the blessings God bestows on others. We do not embrace the Father and do not rejoice in the fact of being children of such a wonderful and beautiful Father. We look at sinners with envy. If we manage to avoid sin, it is not because we have understood how empty and poisoned it is. Listen to the words of the elder brother: “This son of yours has devoured your wealth with his prostitutes and you kill for him the fatted calf!” In other words, the younger son enjoyed himself and you reward him! But the Father knows that this description is not accurate. He says, “Look, your brother was dead. He took a path that led to emptiness and pain. Don’t you realize the darkness of the path that he took?” How many Christians share the attitude of the elder brother! They look at the Church as an imposition and think that life would be much more enjoyable otherwise. Being a Christian is such a sacrifice, they think! But being a Christian is actually to be a participant in a great feast! Being with the Father, serving him is not a form of slavery but a way of being united to him. It is the service you render to someone you love, the person that you long to be with, that you want to please. Whatever you do for him will always feel like little!  This Sunday is truly the day for entering into the feast, for embracing Easter, for leaving behind the frustrated form of Christianity, from a vision that focuses on my rights, what I can get for myself. As the psalm says, it is better to live on the threshold of the house of the Father than in the tents of the powerful. What God calls us to do is marvellous: to be with him, to be embraced by his mercy, his patience and his pardon. If we reflect on how he treats us, then we realize that anything we do for him is always little!