The Fourth Sunday of Lent
Year C

Our Prodigal God

Based on the gospel reading from Luke 15:1-3, 22-32 

Jesus is a wonderful storyteller. His parables give us not only rich insights into our relationship with God, but also glimpses of the kingdom. The Parable of the Prodigal Son is perhaps the greatest. There are so many facets to the story. And at the heart of the story is a portrait of God, an incredible Father who at every turn surprises us by grace. It is a portrait of our God who is in the real sense of the word, 'prodigal'.

However, the story is called The Prodigal Son.   And there is no denying that he fits the word.   So that is where we need to begin.  The younger son does something unthinkable in Jewish families. He demands that his father give him his inheritance. Think about it! What he is saying to his father is, "I wish you were dead.'' He wants what is coming to him, and he wants it now.  He wants to have it all now.  He wants to see it all.  He wants to explore it all.  He wants all of life, and he wants it now. He has no regard for the consequences to his family. He is thinking only of himself. By his actions he cuts himself off from his whole family and even from the community. He severs every relationship in his life. No wonder he quickly skips town with his new found wealth.  He wants to get going, no matter where as long as it is away from home. 

The story gets even more shocking. He is wantonly wasteful. He squanders his whole inheritance. He leads a dissolute life. In his newfound sense of freedom, he goes all out. He spends money lavishly. He becomes a slave to his appetites until there is nothing left. 

Just when you think things cannot get any worse for the son, they do.  A famine hits the land. He has no money.  He has no job.  He has no prospects. He has no friends or relatives to fall back on. He hires himself on to the only job he can get, the lowest of jobs, feeding the pigs.  He even envies the pigs their carob pods; the only time pigs will eat them is when there is nothing else.  He is totally lost. 

Then he comes to his senses.   Not that he is thinking about anyone else!  He is still thinking only about himself.  This is not a point of conversion in his life.  It is simply a realization that there may be a way out of his troubles.  He might even be able to maintain a sense of dignity and pride through it all.  He will return home and offer himself as a servant.  He is willing to work, grant you, but only on his own terms.  He will save himself.   He will have to ask for forgiveness, but he doesn’t need to mean it.  Let us be clear about it! He is not repentant.  At least not yet!

It is not until his father comes running out to him, arms open in forgiveness, that there is a change of heart in the son.  Father, I have sinned against you and against heaven, he says to him.   

And the father forgives him.  Don’t we all expect something quite different to happen?  Aren’t you just waiting for the father to pounce?  Jesus audience would have been startled by the father’s behaviour.  They would have been hanging on every word that Jesus spoke, certain that the young son was about to get everything he deserved and more.  They fully expect to hear that the father has banished him forever, given him his just desserts.  Yet where they expect judgement the father shows love; where they expect condemnation he shows compassion.  This is, after all, no ordinary father.  This is the prodigal father.  Without any hesitation, he can forgive the wandering child and welcome him home.  As his son was lavish in living, so the father is lavish in love. He is prodigal in mercy, and in grace. What a transforming gift that is for the son!

The father's mercy extends to the older son as well. Truth to tell, he does not come up smelling like roses in the story.   His younger brother spends his inheritance having a good time while he has been taking care of the family business.  Then when he returns home, he gets all the attention.  What about reaping what you sow?  It just doesn't seem fair.  Shouldn't he be paying for his sins instead of having a party? 

The older brother asks for nothing.  He wants nothing.  He also enjoys nothing.  He devotes himself to his father's service.  He never disobeys.  Yet he is the centre of his every thought.  He reacts with jealousy.  "This son of yours..." he says.  He is disappointed, to say the least.  He fails to experience the loving relationship of a loving parent. 

We may see ourselves like the younger son, wanting to live life recklessly.  We may drift away from the faith.  As the family grows up, somehow we get out of the habit of going to church.  We intend to go.  We sometimes yearn for the sense of community that we once had.  But at the same time, it seems impossible to go back.  We feel unworthy.   We do not feel as if we belong.  We do not see ourselves as beloved children.  And so we stay away.  That is somehow easier.  For by staying away, we don’t risk being rejected.  But if we go back, the parable assures us, God receives us back. 

We may be rather like the older son, carrying resentments and jealousies.  Here we are trying to serve God.  Trying to do God's work.  Then the homeless, the addicted, the downtrodden, the hopeless sinners, get all the attention.  "If I hear one more sermon about domestic violence or abuse!"  "Where is the justice?"  We ask.  "Don't I deserve more?"     

How like God! God gives us dangerous freedoms.  God allows us to live our own lives.  God entrusts the world into our hands, knowing that we are capable of destroying the wonderful work of creation.  God welcomes sinners to the table.  God offers us salvation, not because we deserve it.  Not because we have earned it.  Simply because God's mercy extends to each of us. 

At every turn God surprises us with grace.  He is a merciful and loving father beyond all reason.  The salvation that God offers us is more than a legal transaction; it is a loving relationship.  Our prodigal God rushes out to meet us, bless us, reinstate us, and call us his own.