Fourth Sunday of Lent - Year C

Fourth Sunday of Lent – Year C

Lk 15: 1-3, 11-32

This Sunday's Gospel parable, as we know, has been known by various names: The Prodigal Son, the Merciful Father, the Two Sons. But perhaps we should also refer to it as the parable of the Elder Son, or at least, the parable of the Prodigal Son's Brother. Because according to Lk 15:1-3, it was on account of the complaining "elder brothers," namely the Scribes and Pharisees, that Jesus told the parable.

That people have generally looked at the younger son and at what he did or at how the father forgave and welcomed him, is however no surprise and understandable. For yes, there are times, perhaps all too many, when each of us like that younger son, has wondered away from God, away from living out our Christian life in whatever vocation we have chosen. At such times, we do need to be reminded that nothing we have done, no matter how awful in our own estimation or in that of others, need stop us from repenting and making our way back into the arms of God our Father. At such times, what we most need to remember is that the God who is waiting for us is indeed "slow to anger, rich in mercy and kindness," that He is the father in the parable who is not ashamed to run to his son, to embrace him tenderly, and give him even more to celebrate his return – even after he has already squandered so much of the father's wealth. Here, we are being told that truly, there is no limit to God's mercy for his children.

But, is it not perhaps precisely on this point where the problem arises for many of us – that there is no limit to God's mercy for the sinner. To realize this, we need to look at the elder son in the story – the good son who stayed home, who had always worked hard, who had never insulted his father by effectively wishing he were dead when he asked him for his share of the family inheritance. The elder son represents of course the Scribes and Pharisees who are complaining to Jesus about his good treatment of all the sinners and for mixing with them. But the elder son also represents most of us, perhaps most of the time. Because probably most of us, most of the time, are not committing great sins and turning our backs on God. If we were, we probably would not be reading this blog site, let alone trying to live our religious vocation as missionaries in South Sudan. We would likely be somewhere else trying to have as good a time as we could!

For the elder son, that his father seemed to have no limit to his mercy and kindness for his sinful younger son was in fact the problem. We see clearly that for him, how his father treated the young lad was simply not fair, it was not just – especially in relation to how he perceived he himself had been treated by the father. Rather, should not the younger son, who had wasted so much property, who had shamed his father and his family, and who had done nothing whatsoever to repair the damage, but had only come home because he was hungry – should he not be punished and made to pay for what he had done? Would not this be justice? Would this not be necessary to ensure that such a thing never happened again and that the right order of how people should be behave and be treated be kept?

Well, it seems that according to Jesus, the answer is "no." No, what is needed is not strict justice, but instead, the expression of God's infinite mercy and compassion. For the elder son and perhaps for everyone of us, especially when life seems to be unfair to us or to those who matter most to us, when strict justice is not applied as we would like, then the longest journey we need to take is from justice to mercy. And we start that journey when we can allow those beautiful words spoken by the Father to the eldest son be heard in our own hearts and conscience too: "My son, you are with me always and all I have is yours." These words remind us that what is true for our sinful brother and sister – even when it seems so unfair to us – is equally true for us as well. These words remind us that whether we run away or stay home, whether we break all the rules or manage to keep them all, our loving and merciful God is always with us and it is He, not us, who makes us to be his beloved children. And that, in the end, is all that matters.

fr. Mario de Battista OFM