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The Prodigal Son
Mar
18
Written by:
Sunday, March 18, 2007
4th Sunday of Lent
March 18, 2007
There are 3 players in this Sunday's parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:1-32): the loving, generous father who is watching and waiting for the return of his child; the selfish son who squanders all his money; and the faithful son who is lacking in compassion. Most of us can identify with one or the other of these characters.
The younger son just can't wait to leave home. Unfortunately for him, local custom permitted this son to ask for his inheritance in advance, and this is exactly what he did. Off he went, squandering his money, ruining his life and eventually sinking so low that he ended up tending pigs, an animal most Jews didn't even want to come near! This son represents any of us, at any time, who have wandered off the path God set for us and have come to regret it later amid much grief.
The older, more mature son seems at first glance to be a bit better off. He has remained faithful to his father in the family business, never asked for money, in many ways a model child. He comes up short in one crucial area, however: love. The older son resents the fun his brother had at his expense, and most of all, he cannot understand how the father could still love him.
The father, of course, is the real star of this story. Most parents naturally love their children even when they are not especially lovable. In a way this is quite natural. But this is really a story about God's love for us. Notice the father does not restore the son's inheritance. His son really did squander it, and it really is gone. But the father gives him something much more important: a loving welcome back into the family. The father loves his child in spite of what he did (while the older son does not). All of this was the result of one thing: the son comes back and apologizes. No matter what road you have traveled in life, God's forgiving love is limited only by our unwillingness to com back to him and say, "I'm sorry," and that love is always available to us in the Sacrament of Confession Father Gary
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