4th Sunday of Lent (C) / The Prodigal son.
 

Jos. 5:9-12/ Ps 34/ 2 Cor 5:17-21/ Lk 15:1-32
  Introduction
 

Most of the parents want to have their own will, written down carefully while they are still strong and alive so as to avoid any legal problems when they passed away. They want their children’s future to be secured. They remind their kids to use it wisely, not only because it is their parents’ sweat and blood, but it will serve also as their “seed” money to start with their own life. But the son in today’s Gospel gambled it all in his early years. This is a frustrating scenario for parents who hoped for their kids’ better life.

  
   
  Background
 
  1. The “younger son” was a symbol for the gentiles and the sinners. The gentiles were those who went to far away country and worship different pagan gods. The sinners, like tax collectors, were considered the children of Yahweh but spent their lives in an immoral and corrupt way of life. But the twist happened at the end of the parable, when he realized that the servants of his father have been enjoying the prosperity of his family, he went home and asked for forgiveness. Likewise, when Christ came, and preached the Gospel of repentance, doing miracles and good works, the gentiles and sinners returned to the house to the Father again. So many sinners and tax collectors came to Jesus and received the mercy of the God the Father through Christ.

  2. The “elder son” was a symbol for the Jews. They believed that they were pious and clean; and faithful to the law, so they were the ones who had the right to inherit all the properties of the Father. They can not accept the fact that his younger “prodigal brother” will be accepted back again to the community as part of the children of God. They can not reconcile the fact that the Father has accepted the gentiles and the sinners as part of the people of God. They can not accept the fact the Father would even offer the “fatted calf” (the Messiah) to celebrate sinners’ return to the Father.

  3. The Father is Yahweh. He is a very merciful Father who did not mind how sinful we are. He always waits for our return. He loved both of his sons. The “pious” one’s and “the sinners” a like. He simply wants all people back into his heavenly home at “the end of the day.”
  
  Reflection:  
 
  1. We used to call this parable, “the prodigal son.” It is very clear in today’s reading how St Luke was able to enumerate all the sins of the younger son starting from inappropriate demand for all his inheritance while his father was still alive, down to the every detail on how he spent all his money in vices and prostitutes. But the turning point at the end was the touching one. It was the moment when he stopped, looked at the pigs, and realized how miserable his life had been. When he felt a deep sense of remorse he returned to his father and said his most sincere sorry. He wanted to be treated only as a servant, but the Father restored his original dignity as a son. Lent is the moment for us to stop, sit down a little bit, and tries to reflect on our own present situations as sinners. How sin was able to drag us down to our lowest dignity and placed us into a most embarrassing position. Sometime we have to feel the sadness and the emptiness within our hearts, in order to stand up and go back to the Father, say we are sorry. Only then we can really feel that loving embrace of our merciful Father - again.

  2. Lately, there are a lot of theologians who avoid calling this passage the “prodigal son” but rather, they want to call it the parable of the “loving Father” For them the focus of the whole story must be on the unconditional mercy of the Father, and not so much on the sinfulness of the son. We all know that we are all sinners and there is nothing new and exciting about it. It was the undying mercy of Father that makes the difference. If so happen that the son came back and did not find “an open arm” and a “welcoming door” then the whole story of the son’s conversion becomes meaningless and could even turn to a terrible end.

  3. For me, this parable could also be called the “unforgiving brother” This elder brother was supposed to be the good guy in the story. But let us look closely into his “real” personality: We have not heard any protest from him when his father divided all his properties into two. He allowed it to happen because he was also interested with the other half. When he came home and learned that his brother arrived and was accepted again as a son, he got mad because he might have a right (again) for the remaining property the father (which suppose to belong to him by this time.) When he tried to argue with his father why he needs to kill the fatted calf for the return of his prodigal brother, and why he did not even offer a small lamb for his friends? But the Father disagreed. The father knew that he can take any of lambs anytime because he was a member of the family, and he would inherent them all anyway. The truth is; he simply doesn’t want to touch any of the animals because he wants to take them all. He was the one who doesn’t want to offer even a one lamb even for his own very friends. The worst part is when he can not forgive his own brother. If the Father who lost all his property - can forgive, then why can’t he accept his own brother back (who did not even do any harm to him anyway)? When I realized how bad this elder brother was, I do not know who deserve to be called the real “prodigal son.”

  4. If the house of the father is the symbol for heaven, then we have to ask ourselves: who was the one who found himself inside the house at the end of the story? Ironically, it was the young prodigal son. Yes he was a sinner but came back and said sorry, then he celebrates the beauty of the God’s mercy inside his heavenly kingdom. The elder stays outside, not because he was not accept to enter the but because he refused to enter. He thinks he was the only one who was good, and therefore he was the only one who deserved to be in his father’s house. If ever he will see any sinners in it, he would rather stay outside, and will never dare to not to enter in it. Oftentimes, our own damnation is our own choice. The gate of the father’s house is always open to those who want to come back and humbly say sorry.
  
  Conclusion  
 

          Finally at the end, it is not a question of how many sins we committed, nor how grave our sins are.  It is rather our own humility and our sincerity of saying sorry, that matters most.