Twenty Fourth Sunday on
OT C
2022
The three parables in today’s
Gospel are part of the basic memory of the disciples about the content of the
Good News. Today’s Gospel proclaims how
the Lord seeks us out; never gives up on us; and shares his merciful love with
those in need.
We are invited to see in
these parables as a metaphor for God’s searching love that draws the sinner and
the lost back to the fold, back home, back to God’s loving heart.
In the first parable, imagine
God as a shepherd abandoning ninety-nine obedient sheep to seek the stupid one
who got lost. From one perspective the parable of the shepherd doesn’t make
sense to leave the 99 sheep, but from another perspective this beautiful
parable reveals to us a God who never gives up on us.
In the second parable. Imagine God as a
distraught woman losing something and turning the house upside down to find it.
Then in the third parable, imagine God as an
unconditionally forgiving father granting an unworthy son an undeserved feast.
The parable of the prodigal
son is the parable of the prodigal, forgiving father. The father was filled with joy when he
spotted his son returning home – the son a bit desperate, recognizing he had
made a mess of his life. The message of
the parable is found in the father. The
father ran to his son, embraced him, put a ring on his finger and sandals on
his feet and welcomed his son with an
extravagant celebration. Jesus tells us this parable to describe the extravagant
forgiving love of God for us. Like the
prodigal son, we are the recipients of God’s merciful love.
As you pray over this
parable, who is the person in your life you find most difficult to
forgive? Who has judged you very
unfairly, who has betrayed your trust, who has cheated on you, or who even in
your own family do you experience considerable tension?
Sometimes genuine forgiveness
is so difficult to come by.
As you pray over this parable
of the prodigal son, consider the feelings of the father in this parable. His younger son demanded his share of the
inheritance coming to him upon his father’s death. He wanted it now so he could abandon his
family and his home and go off to live a reckless lifestyle.
Consider the sense of abandonment, the
betrayal, the anger the father must have felt.
From the son’s perspective, he seemed to be oblivious to the hurt he was
inflicting on his dad.
Fast forward to when the son
was penniless and came to his senses and decided to return to his father’s
house, he came back just to be treated as one of his dad’s servants.
The point of this beautiful
gospel parable is the father’s reaction when he caught sight of his son. He ran
to him. He embraced him with much
love. He put a ring on his finger and
sandals on his feet and ordered the fatted calf to be killed and to have a
celebration.
The father led with
compassionate healing forgiveness rather than judgment and confrontation. What happened to his negative feelings and
judgments he surely could have carrying around?
This is a challenge for me to get my head around this. But this is how God loves us.
This beautiful parable of the
prodigal son can rightly be called the parable of the forgiving father. The message of the parable is not so much
about the recklessness of the son as it is about the forgiving, loving father.
Now consider again the person
you have the most difficulty extending a hand of forgiving love. If you encountered this person just now, how
would your encounter compare with the father’s encounter with his younger son?
Are we able to lead with
compassion rather than judgment? This is
the grace we seek from today’s Scriptures.
And it is only with God’s grace are we able to let go of our negative
feelings.
In this world of prodigal
sons and prodigal daughters, do we witness to the judgmental scowl of the older
brother in today’s Gospel parable, or do we witness to the reconciling love of
the Father?
I suggest that the only way
for us to extend forgiveness to those in your life that are so challenging for
you is for you and me to humbly recognize ourselves as the prodigal son in this
parable.
The prodigal son abandoned
home and family in favor of reckless living.
While we may not have physically left home and family as did the
prodigal son, the prayer of the parable invites us to reflect on how we have
spiritually abandoned home and family.
When have the challenges of
life have caused us to lose trust that our loving God holds us in the palm of
his hand? When have we questioned or
doubted God’s healing presence in our life?
Our sinfulness our greed, our
pride, the judgments we make about others are an abandonment of our Father’s
house of merciful love.
As we examine our conscience,
there are many ways we have abandoned the faithful and unending love of Jesus
The older brother in the
parable of the prodigal son needs to caution us against the rigidity and the
resentment that can be the downfall of the righteous. People can feel distant from the Church for
any number of reasons: divorce and
remarriage, same sex attraction,
alleged or real insensitivity on the part of church authorities, scandal caused
by church leaders, disagreements over moral issues such as abortion,
euthanasia, stem cell research, capital punishment, war, and so on.
May we, the church of St. Joseph’s,
be a faith community that re-commits ourselves to witness to God’s love and
mercy in our world. May we commit
ourselves to bring healing and forgiveness to a broken world. May we in all situations and circumstances
witness to the love of Jesus Christ in our world.
All are welcome in our faith
community. May we be faithful witnesses
of God’s compassionate love in the lives of all people.
The message of the Gospel is
always two-sided: he reconciles us, and
we must reconcile others.
May we test the Catholicity
of our faith community by the ways we witness to the 15th chapter of
Luke’s Gospel. We gather indeed because
has chosen and sought us out and never gives up on us. We gather to give thanks to God who is the
Good Shepherd and the Merciful Father.
As we have been given, so we are to share. We are to
welcome, forgive, be peacemakers, and be a community that proactively reaches
in the service of the marginalized and the poor.
Have a Blessed Day.
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