Lk 15: 1-32
Dear Friends,The parables of the Two Sons and the Good Samaritan have been a major factor in the development of Christianity as we experience it today. Without the impact of these two parables, our perception of Christianity would be quite different. They offer an incredible breakthrough in our exposure to the mercy of God.
The three parables in today’s passage have one overriding and common theme. They are just too much in their contradiction of common sense. They all point to an extravagance without measure of God’s mercy. The story of the father and the sons presents a new slant to our relationship to God. The father has no concern about sin and repentance. It is about lost and found, dead and alive.
In the father’s attitude, we are invited to move away from a sin and forgiveness approach to a much more personal understanding. In this view, we see the issue as a lost person being found. This connects to the sheep and coin in the first parables.
We need to see ourselves in both sons. When we repent, like the first son, we have our story ready. The father has no interest in the story. His son was dead and now is alive. The father will have nothing to do with hired servant nonsense. This is his son. The ring and sandals and feast are all symbols of his unconditional welcoming of the son in his merciful embrace. Like the shepherd and the woman, the father knows what was lost and has been found. It is time to celebrate. We need to see ourselves as the recipient of the feast of Gd’s mercy
As we move on to the second son, it is ever so easy to recognize ourselves, like him, as victims in so many of life’s broken experiences. Similar to the angry and hostile brother, our hurts have a good deal of merit.
However, also like the second son, we miss the point that the father sees so clearly. It is not about things, but people. Possessions and privileges just do not make sense when measured against life, love and mercy. “My son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours. But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found” (Lk 15: 32).
This story opens itself into an immeasurable panorama of interpretations. They all expose our human condition in the depth and breadth of its fractured reality. It is this very brokenness that displays the mercy of God. We are fond of saying that this mercy knows no limits. The actions of the father help us journey from the head to the heart when pondering this great mystery of a God calling us to the banquet of life despite our sinfulness.
All the great spiritual teachers of the Christian tradition emphasize the only way to know God is to know ourselves first. The story of the two sons shows us this profound truth. Only when they accept their own weakness are they able to begin to appreciate the wonder and magnificence of the love and mercy of the father.
We never find out if the older brother was able to break through his blindness of the commercial relationship by which he defined the father. What we do know is that the father was relentless in his pursuit of both sons. Their choice was to accept or reject this love and mercy. On the father’s part, there was only the continuing offer of love and the invitation to the banquet.
The message comes across in so many different levels. God is always accepting us. God is always forgiving us. God is always pursuing us. In the end, the call could not be clearer. We need to let God’s mercy and love define and direct our lives in every way possible.
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