I once saw a T-shirt that said: ”My mother was right about everything.” It is a cheeky message but with a deep meaning. It appeals to our experience that as we grow older and mature, we realize that our parents were right in warning us about and advised against certain choices. They might not have been right about “everything,” but they surely were right about many things! I guess the T-shirt should have also said, “And I wish I had listened!”
The Gospel today is the beloved story of the Merciful Father and his two Prodigal Sons (Luke 15) who reject his wisdom and are faced with a choice to accept it anew. It is a story about TWO sons.
Jesus tells the parable in reaction to the indignation of the Pharisees and scribes at the sight of his interactions with publicly recognized sinners. They complain that Jesus “welcomes sinners and eats with them.” They disapprove of Jesus’ acceptance of the unacceptable people.
The setup is dramatic. A younger son requests his portion of the inheritance while his father is still alive. In any culture this is a hurtful request, and in a Semitic one it is also a great dishonor and offense. Normally, inheritance is given upon the death of the parent. The son basically says he wants his father dead. Having received the money, the son leaves home and lives fast and large - at least as long as the money lasts. He does not invest or purchase but squanders his inheritance. His personal disintegration progresses proportionately to his life of debauchery and immoral living. When the money is gone, and his “friends” are gone, he has to work by tending pigs – an abhorrent job for a Jew. A meteoric fall! Instead of having a good life, he finds himself hungry and shamed by the work he has to do.
As he lives the consequences of his actions, he comes to his senses and begins to appreciate what he used to have, and what he took for granted, namely, the goodness, generosity and kindness of his father. He realizes that he gave up his sonship for nothing. He is left empty and wanting. It happens sometimes that we foolishly leave good things behind only to realize that we’ve made a terrible mistake. We leave relationships, places, jobs and certain situations without thinking about the consequences. Often, like the younger son, we end up yearning for what we chose to abandon. However, this is also a graced moment which may propel us to act in way that will heal and restore us. As the younger son who acknowledges his wrongdoing and decides to go back home. There is a sense of a tender trust in his father’s goodness that his father might be open to hire him since he no longer feels he can be called his son. He might be anxious, but he knows his father is kind and hopes for a place among the hired workers.
It is not unusual for us to be like this son! Many of us often want to live as if God were dead to us. We think that life away from the Father, on our own terms, will be better because we think we know better. We cash in on God’s goodness and love, and we make choices that lead to disasters. The more we move away from God, the more we disintegrate. Hopefully, we hit the bottom before it is too late and come to our senses. Then we can realize what we have abandoned and seek ways to be restored and reconciled to God and those we have sacrificed on the altar of selfish pursuits. When we acknowledge that we have chosen wrongly, we are ripe for change. We can seek God’s mercy and become a new person. Hopefully, the change is fundamental and reorients us for the rest of our lives.
A new life is possible because God, like the father in the parable, is gracious and kind. The father sees his returning son from far away, runs toward him, embraces and kisses him even before the son confesses his guilt. This public display of emotion communicates to all onlookers to show the same openness to the returning son. The father, just by looking at him, knows he is sorry and burdened by the choices he made. In his compassion, he makes sure the son feels welcome before he utters a word. And when the son speaks, he does not even let him finish and ask to be a hired hand. Instead, he orders the servants to robe him, put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet and thus restores his son’s dignity and status as a member of the family.
If the parable ended here, it would be a truly happy ending. Unfortunately, there is the other son. Jesus did say that this was a story about TWO sons. The elder brother hears the commotion and learns that the father throws a party in honor of his younger brother who just came home. He is livid. The father sees that this son is lost too, and just like with the first son, the father goes out to meet him and to persuade him to enter the house. But the elder son disregards the father’s efforts and confronts him. Blinded by anger and resentment, he does not even once address him as “father” or acknowledge his brother as brother whom he calls “this son of yours.” He orders the father to “listen” and expresses how he truly feels. He does not feel ever rewarded. He feels like a servant.
How long has he felt like that? How long has it simmered in him? He claims not to have disobeyed any of the father’s commandments, and yet he refuses to hear the pleas of the father to join the feast of mercy. The father pleads with the angry young man, and calling him tenderly “my child,” invites him to come in. The self-righteousness of the elder son is no less worthy of mercy than the open rebellion of the younger one. The father pleads and persuades: “We must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again.” He invites his elder son to embrace his brother and to have a new relationship with the restored family. The elder son’s hardened heart does not have love for his brother or father and his bitter soul does not rejoice at the miracle of his brother’s changed life.
We are like the older brother (and the Pharisees and scribes whom he represents) when we fail to appreciate the Father’s mercy and acknowledge our need for it. We are like him when we do not celebrate the miracle of conversion. We are like the elder son when we refuse to accept the invitation to a new life.
We do not know how the story really ends. We do not know if the elder brother accepts the invitation to enter the house or stays outside. We are left with a cliff-hanger on purpose because it is really a story about us. We need to decide whether we stay out or go in.
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