Joshua 5: 9a, 10-12 / Psalm 34 / II Corinthians 5: 17-21 / Luke 15: 1-2, 11-32
The church was full, but I noticed a woman in one of the pews was starting to sob. She was overcome with emotion and then had to sit down. People in the pews near her and an usher came to her assistance. I thought she was going to faint, but things calmed down. It all happened as the deacon proclaimed the Gospel reading, which was the parable of the Prodigal Son, as in the reading for the 4th Sunday of Lent.
In the dictionary on my bookshelf, I see that “prodigal” means to be “wastefully or recklessly extravagant” and “lavishly abundant.” The be a prodigy is to be one who possesses exceptional talents. Some refer to this parable as the “Lost Son” or the Merciful Father.” All these descriptions are helpful in illuminating the manifold significance of this inspiring and consoling lesson which Jesus gives us.
I find a key to understanding it in the second reading for this Sunday from St. Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians: “We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (5: 20b).¹ The Spanish translation in many versions is actually more appropriate: “En nombre de Cristo les pedimos que se dejen reconciliar con Dios.” (2 Corintios 5, 20B).² “Se dejen reconciliar;” let yourselves be reconciled. A minor distinction, perhaps, but it captures what occurs in the parable, what Jesus teaches us.
It is easy to consider the younger son as the principal character in the story. However, the one who reconciles is the loving and merciful father. At the same time, he is the offended person. The prodigal son is the center of attention while the father serves as the backdrop or, better said, the foundational figure of the narrative. From the beginning of the parable to the end, it is the father who provides spiritual and family stability and is like the life preserver in which the son places his confidence.
It is important to recognize the initiative and confidence of the younger son as he makes the decision to return to his father. Still, his decision is motivated by the negative circumstances he was facing: finding himself in dire need after squandering his inheritance, working with swine and almost suffering starvation. His motives were not pure. Returning to his father was a risk. He had no certainty as to the kind of reception he would end up receiving.
In all of this, we can discern a great force at work: love. It is the same force, the same love which impels the lost son to trust his father and return to him and which moves the father to maintain a constant vigil for his son and embrace him tenderly upon his return home and forgive him without hesitation.
By way of a story which is capable of bringing us to tears or making our eyes water, we have the best manner of explaining who God is and how he treats us as well as the meaning of reconciliation and what it means to reconcile and to be reconciled, let ourselves be reconciled. The parable also teaches us simply and tenderly what it means to love unconditionally.
Reconciliation is the fruit of the love which surges forth from the heart of our Heavenly Father and which reveals his very essence and his holy will. We are speaking about a love which has made itself clear in the most tender and personal manner possible: in the person of Jesus Christ, who is the love of God made visible and human.
One of my favorite theologians, Fr. Robert Schreiter, C.PP.S., puts it simply: “Reconciliation is not a process that we initiate or achieve. We discover it already active in God through Christ.”³ In Christ, God takes the initiative, the first step. Through his love, God makes possible reconciliation between him and us, his sometimes errant, prodigal and sinful children. Again, in the second reading for today, St. Paul helps us understand: “So whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come. And all this is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and given us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation” (II Cor 5: 17-19).⁴
In other words, reconciliation is born of God and is made real each time we open ourselves to receive his love and mercy and then love others as Christ has loved and taught us to do, each time we let ourselves be reconciled and then reconcile with those who we have offended or who might have offended us.
In losing everything and experiencing hunger, it appears the lost son had nothing. In a material sense, he has lost everything, his inheritance. It seems he has hit rock bottom; his world has ended. However, in a spiritual and eternal sense, he has everything he needs and more. The younger son is prodigal because he has wasted all his worldly fortune but has gained the most abundant and lasting wealth, which the world denies us: mercy.
Hopefully, we will have the goodness to love others without placing obstacles and reconcile ourselves with others and so be prodigal in showing mercy and humble and grateful in receiving the same gift.
“So whoever is in Christ is a new creation” Fr. Charles Johnson, O.P.