24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Exodus 32: 7-11, 13-14, 1Timothy 1: 12-17, Luke 15: 1-32 or 15: 1-10

 

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

Mercy Triumphing Over Justice

After going through the story of the Prodigal Son, a Sunday school teacher asked the kids, “At the end of the story who is it that ended up in the worst situation?” One of the kids shot up her hands and answered, “The fatted cow.” The animal-loving child was certainly correct, but the answer the teacher probably expected was “The older son.”

There are three main characters in the Parable of the Prodigal Son: the father, the younger son, and the elder son. The younger son is a volatile, impatient, easily bored, ready-to-try-everything teenager. He collects his inheritance, goes abroad to see the world, and squanders his birthright in loose living. He represents every sinner. In sin we squander our human and divine birthright and, in the end, we are no better than in the beginning. Sin promises us a life of happiness, satisfaction and excitement but in the end all we get out of it is misery, wretchedness, dissatisfaction, depression, and a loss of the sense of personal dignity that belongs to us as God’s children. The good news is that no matter how deeply the sinner sinks into sin, there is always a still, silent inner voice within us inviting us to come back to our father’s house where true freedom and satisfaction is to be found.

Then there is the father who is so loving that he lets his wretch son have whatever he wanted. In fact, we can say he even spoils the boy. We have this image of God as a very stern, demanding father who is always ready to whip us into line. This is very far from the image of God we have in this parable. Here God is presented as a tender loving father who is easy on his children, and who is always ready to forgive, no matter what. If this is how God relates to us, then we can see that God possesses the tender-loving quality of mother as well as the tough-loving quality of father.

And finally, there is the elder son who is introduced towards the end of the story. If you want to describe the older son by one word you would call him a gentleman. He is a man of honor, solid, hard-working, consistent,  disciplined, and sober — a perfect gentleman. In the elder son we see the virtues, as well as the vices, of middle-class morality. What are the vices of middle-class morality? Arrogance, better-than-thou attitude, intolerance toward those who do not meet up to our standards, insensitivity and a spirit of unforgiveness. The older son exhibits these vices in the way he refuses to welcome his lost and found brother, his father’s explanation and invitation notwithstanding. For him it is a matter of justice, but for God that is nothing but          self-centeredness and unwillingness to forgive (Rev. Ezougu)

Thank God for Paul and the three parables that Jesus tells today! Paul uses his own life as a story of sin offset by mercy, telling us he was once a blasphemer, a persecutor, and arrogant, “But I have been mercifully treated….  Indeed, the grace of our Lord has been abundant” (Timothy 1: 13, 14). Paul proclaims that Christ came into the world to save us. The Father sent him so that we might know God’s mercy.

Jesus’ parables are about getting lost, whether wandering off like sheep, accidentally getting lost like a coin, deliberately getting lost like that young son who thought freedom to do as he pleased was all that mattered, or stubbornly getting lost like that older brother who won’t make his way into the party. In all these cases, someone searches out what’s gotten lost and celebrates with party when it is found. That someone is God, revealed in Jesus Christ, a searching God passionately in love with us.

Peace and all good!

Fr. Valery Burusu

Parochial Administrator