Fourth Sunday in Lent, Cycle C

LUKE 15:1-3, 11-32

SOME PEOPLE SAY THAT THE STORY OF THE PRODIGAL SON, WHICH WE JUST HEARD, IS THE GREATEST OF PARABLES, A MASTERPIECE OF A SHORT STORY. AND IT IS PRETTY HARD TO FORGET – YOU WILL HEAR PEOPLE WHO COME FROM DIFFERENT FAITHS – MUSLIMS, JEWS, HINDUS – WHO'VE HEARD THIS STORY AND BEEN MOVED BY IT. IT IS TRULY A UNIVERSAL STORY. AND YOU CAN LOOK AT IT FROM DIFFERENT STANDPOINTS – THE PRODIGAL SON, THE FATHER, THE OLDER SON – AND OF COURSE, YOU'VE HEARD ABOUT THE FIRST GRADER WHO WAS ASKED WHO WAS THE SADDEST WHEN THE PRODIGAL SON RETURNED? THAT WOULD BE THE FATTED CALF, HE REPLIED.

THE STORY OF THE PRODIGAL SON TELLS US SOMETHING ABOUT GOD. FIRST, YOU WILL NOTICE THAT THE FATHER DIDN'T JUST LAUGH AT THE YOUNGER SON WHO WANTED HIS SHARE OF THE INHERITANCE RIGHT NOW. THAT WOULD MEAN THAT THE FATHER WOULD HAVE TO COME UP WITH ABOUT 1/3 THE VALUE OF HIS PROPERTY – POSSIBLY BY SELLING LAND OR LIVESTOCK – AND CONVERTING IT INTO CURRENCY OR GOLD OR JEWELS SO THAT IT WOULD BE PORTABLE. I CAN'T SEE MYSELF DOING THAT FOR ANY OF MY KIDS UNLESS THEY WERE IN DEEP TROUBLE. I SURE WOULDN'T DO IT IF I THOUGHT THEY WOULD SPEND IT ON ALCOHOL AND LOOSE LIVING. BUT I”M NOT GOD, AND GOD SHOWERS HIS GIFTS ON HIS PEOPLE WITHOUT REGARD TO YOUR GOODNESS OR BADNESS. I THINK GOD GIVES THE HUMAN RACE EVERYTHING WE NEED TO BE HEALTHY AND HAPPY AND TO COME TO KNOW HIM – BUT BECAUSE OF ORIGINAL SIN, WE STILL DON'T REALIZE THAT IF WE HAVE MORE THAN WE NEED, THAT MORE REALLY BELONGS TO SOMEONE WHO DOESN'T HAVE ENOUGH. THE FATHER NEVER GIVES HIS GIFTS WITH CONDITIONS ATTACHED, EVEN THOUGH WE MAY USE THEM IN A WAY THAT DOES NOT PLEASE HIM.

SECOND, MANY PEOPLE HAVE COMMENTED ON THE FACT THAT THE FATHER SPOTS THE RETURNING SON “WHILE YET HE IS AFAR OFF”. THAT MEANS THAT THE FATHER HAS BEEN WATCHING,WAITING, HOPING, PRAYING FOR THE RETURN OF HIS SON. HAD HE HEARD THAT THE SON HAD BURNED THROUGH HIS INHERITANCE? MAYBE. BUT I'M SURE HE MUST HAVE SUSPECTED SOMETHING EVEN BACK WHEN THE SON TOOK HIS INHERITANCE AND ABANDONED THE FATHER. BUT THAT DOESN'T CHANGE HIS LOVE, HIS UNCONDITIONAL LOVE. EVEN WHEN THE SON TURNED HIS BACK ON THE FATHER, EVEN WHEN THE SON TOOK WHAT HE HAD BEEN GIVEN AND WASTED IT, EVEN WHEN HE TURNED AGAINST EVERYTHING HIS FATHER HAD TAUGHT HIM – THE FATHER STILL LOVED HIM – AND WHEN HE CAME BACK, ALL WAS FORGIVEN, AND TO PROVE IT, A CELEBRATION WAS SET IN MOTION.

THE THIRD ISSUE: HOW MUCH DOES OUR FATHER LOVE US? HE LOVES YOU AS MUCH AS HE LOVES THE BLESSED MOTHER. HE ALSO LOVES SATAN AS MUCH AS HE LOVES THE BLESSED MOTHER. THAT'S BECAUSE GOD IS LOVE, AND HE LOVES HIS CREATURES UNCONDITIONALLY. IF HE DIDN'T, SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS TELLS US, WE WOULD CEASE TO EXIST.

WHEN I WAS GOING TO COLLEGE A COUPLE OF GENERATIONS AGO, MY FRIENDS AND I CAME BACK FROM MASS ON SUNDAY. IN THOSE DAYS THEY DIDN'T HAVE SATURDAY OR SUNDAY EVENING MASSES. THEY ONLY HAD THEM ON SUNDAY MORNING. ALL OF US KNEW THAT IF YOU MISSED MASS ON SUNDAY, THAT WAS A MORTAL SIN, UNLESS YOU HAD A REALLY GOOD EXCUSE. AND MORTAL SINS MEANT THAT YOU WERE IN DANGER OF LOSING YOUR SOUL. SO WHEN WE GOT BACK TO THE DORM, WE NOTICED THAT ONE OF OUR NUMBER WAS STILL SLEEPING. WE PROMPTLY WOKE HIM UP TO TELL HIM THAT IF HE REALLY HURRIED HE MIGHT BE ABLE TO MAKE THE LAST MASS. HE ROLLED OVER AND TOLD US HE WASN'T GOING. WE WERE SHOCKED. HE TOLD US THAT GOD LOVED HIM, AND GOD WOULD NEVER SEND SOMEONE HE LOVED TO HELL.

SO IF GOD LOVES YOU AND I AS MUCH AS HE LOVES THE BLESSED MOTHER, WHY BE GOOD? AFTER ALL, I THINK MOST OF US SECRETLY FEEL THAT OUR GOOD BEHAVIOR, OUR GOOD WORKS, OUR AVOIDING SIN – ALL OF THIS IS RELATED TO WHETHER WE ARE SAVED OR NOT. EVEN THOUGH I KNOW BETTER, I THINK PART OF ME STILL FEELS THAT WAY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS. SO THAT IS AN IMPORTANT QUESTION, IF GOD LOVES US UNCONDITIONALLY – WHY BE GOOD?

I THINK THE STORY OF THE PRODIGAL SON ANSWERS THAT AS WELL. THE YOUNGER SON EVENTUALLY RESPONDS TO THE FATHER'S LOVE – EVEN IF FOR LESS THAN PURE REASONS – HE WANTS TO EAT – BY THROWING HIMSELF ON THE FATHER'S MERCY. HE CHANGES HIS LIFE IN RESPONSE TO THE FATHER'S LOVE – HE REPENTS. AND OF COURSE THE FATHER RESPONDS WITH EVEN MORE LOVE. BUT THE OLDER SON, WHO, IF YOU REMEMBER ALSO RECEIVED HIS SHARE OF THE INHERITANCE, WHICH ACCORDING TO JEWISH LAW WOULD HAVE BEEN ABOUT HALF OF THE TOTAL – RESPONDS TO THE FATHER'S LOVE BY HOLDING HIS BROTHER IN CONTEMPT, AND BY EXTENSION, HIS FATHER AS WELL. WHEN HE IS INVITED INTO THE BANQUET, HE REFUSES, PREFERRING TO BROOD AND BE UNHAPPY, ANGRY AT HIS FATHER AND HIS BROTHER.

AND THAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE BLESSED MOTHER AND SATAN. SHE SAID, “LET IT BE DONE TO ME ACCORDING TO YOUR WORD,” PUTTING ALL HER TRUST IN GOD, LOVING GOD IN RETURN FOR HIS LOVING HER. AND HER TRUST MUST HAVE BEEN TESTED OVER AND OVER AGAIN. PREGNANT WITHOUT A HUSBAND, RISKING THE LOSS OF THE MAN WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO MARRY HER; GIVING BIRTH IN A STABLE, FAR FROM HOME; RELOCATING TO EGYPT, LOSING JESUS IN JERUSALEM – AND OF COURSE, WATCHING HIM DIE – AND ALWAYS, ALWAYS SAYING, “LET IT BE DONE TO ME ACCORDING TO YOUR WORD.” AND SATAN, CREATED OUT OF GOD'S LOVE AS THE GREATEST ANGEL – THE LIGHT BEARER, LUCIFER – WHEN HE HEARS THAT GOD INTENDS TO BECOME A HUMAN BEING, SAYS, “I WILL NOT SERVE!” AND IN HIS ANGER AND CONTEMPT, CREATES HELL FOR HIMSELF.

WHEN YOU THINK OF THE GREAT MYSTERY OF THE TRINITY – THE FATHER WHO IS LOVE, GENERATES THE SON FROM ALL ETERNITY. AND THE SON, BEING THE PERFECT IMAGE OF THE FATHER, IS LOVE AND HIS ACT OF LOVE IS TO BECOME ONE OF US, SUFFER AND DIE, SO THAT ALL OF CREATION, NOT JUST PEOPLE, CAN BE RETURNED TO THE FATHER. AND THE LOVE BETWEEN THEM IS BREATHED FORTH AS THE HOLY SPIRIT, TO GATHER UP AND MAKE HOLY ALL THAT GOD HAS DONE. AND THAT IS WHY WE SHOULD BE GOOD, REALLY. BECAUSE THE SON HAS MADE IT POSSIBLE FOR US TO RETURN TO THE FATHER, TOGETHER WITH ALL THAT THE FATHER HAS GIVEN US. WHEN WE EMBRACE THIS POSSIBILITY, AND SET OUT TO MAKE IT OUR REALITY, THEN WE TOO LIVE IN RESPONSE TO GOD'S LOVE; WE LIVE LIVES OF SURRENDERING TO HIS WILL, EMPTYING OURSELVES OUT FOR OUR LOVED ONES – BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT LOVE IS ALL ABOUT. WHEN WE REFUSE THIS INVITATION, WE REMAIN LOCKED IN OURSELVES, LIKE THE OLDER SON, BITTER, ANGRY, AND ALONE IN THE DARK, LISTENING TO THE GLORIOUS CELEBRATION THAT WE WILL NEVER LET OURSELVES ATTEND, BECAUSE IT WOULD MEAN ASKING FORGIVENESS AND REALLY MEANING IT.