3/11/2010
Finding ourselves in the gospel
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 | Mary Jo Tully
Chancellor, Archdiocese of Portland |
Fourth Sunday of Lent
Joshua 5:9a,10-12
2 Corinthians 5:17-21
Luke 15:1-3, 11-32
The Gospel of Luke is richly human. Perhaps that is the reason it is my favorite. This is the Gospel of the Poor, the Gospel of Mary, the Gospel of Prayer, the Gospel of Women and the Gospel of Human Experience. Luke writes of the poor and the alienated, the second class citizens of his own society. Jesus seeks out the lost...the sinful woman, the tax collector, Zaccheus, the good thief, lost coins and lost sheep. He experiences what we experience. His emotions are very like ours. At times, he seems to frown in anger, glow with affection, and smile in welcome. We can almost hear him sing with joy at festivals. This is the Gospel of the teaching Jesus — the Jesus who tells us that we can find him by looking at ourselves. And he does that in stories like the one we hear this morning.
The story of the prodigal son or forgiving father is a narrative with which even the smallest child can identify. It is a powerful reminder that, indeed, the affairs of the human family are the concern of God. Children know what it is to walk away from the love of their parents, and they know what it is to be welcomed back with extended arms. For children, the message is clear cut and changes little from the time when they first hear it until they meet it in a high school literature course as an example of a good short story. But the parables of Scripture have a dimension beyond this literal interpretation and even beyond the multi-layered meanings found in ordinary tales. It is meaning provided by the current context of the Church and the believing posture of those who hear them.
This is a parable about the waywardness in each of us and the petty jealousies that consume us. It is a tale about our lack of sensitivity in relating to others and the needs we do not know they have. Most of all, it is a story into which each of us can step during various times in our life and assume different roles as the situation changes. Are you the wayward son or the jealous brother? Are you the forgiving father? Or perhaps you are the mother observing the alienation among those you love deeply. Spiritual meaning is best found in the context of one’s own life and in the life of the Church. There is a tension between two sorts of persons: the believer and the non-believer. The task of the listener is to discover the category into which s/he best fits at a given time.
My family relationships have never been cluttered with worry about an inheritance. Nevertheless, I can understand the prodigal son’s desire for instant gratification. As a teen, I asked my dad for a new dress with the promise that if he let me have it right away, he wouldn’t have to buy me one when I was buried. Dad admired creativity and wasn’t risking any relationship by granting the wish. I got the new dress.
Whenever we discover something about any individual in a family, we uncover the traits of the others. The son’s actions in this story tell us about the father’s forgiveness and also about the brother’s inordinate concern for what the father should be giving him for his fidelity. Despite all this, the father was willing to take another risk.
God is this sort of father. For many, a relationship is built on hope for reward. We point out the good things we have done even as we ask God to bestow another favor on us. The continual love and affection of the Father is not enough. From time to time, we take the gift of the moment and run. Yet, no matter how far we wander, the Father welcomes us back. He knows we might be returning for the wrong reason, but he hopes we will remain for the right one.
This liturgy is a beautiful reminder that God loves those who never stray but his joy is multiplied when a sinner comes home. It is clearly much easier to approach God than one another — a truth worth remembering both for those who recognize their sinfulness and those who do not.
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