THE PRODIGAL PERSONS

Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

Whenever I read this parable I always find it very rich to the extend that I call it the a gospel in the gospel. It is a gospel in the gospel because of the  message it carries. What is it about in this story? Is this story really about the prodigal son as it is well known? During my meditation on this passage I first check the dictionary and find out what the word “prodigal” means. Prodigal means recklessly wasteful. But the second meaning is very interesting and this is which attracted my attention: prodigal means also lavish, or overflowing, abundant.

With this meaning, the word ‘prodigal’ describes three characters in the gospel.

First is the prodigal younger son because he was overflowing with sin, vice and ingratitude. Second is the prodigal father, because he was overflowing with mercy. He was lavish with forgiveness and love. Third is the prodigal eldest son who was overflowing with work and unforgiveness. He believed that by working, he could express his love for his father.

Let us understand the story; The issue begins with the younger son who asks for his share of the inheritance then goes abroad to live a life of fun. Being from African background we all know that inheritance is shared at the death of the father and here, the son, asking for inheritance before the death of his father means that he wishes the death of the father or he does not care about him. The son is saying to his father, “You are dead to me. I don’t need you.

After spending all he property, the country he settled in experienced famine until he finds himself reduced to the level of tending the swine. This image of tending the swine has a proper significance here that a Jewish prince like him should descend to feeding pigs, which Jews regard as unclean animals, this shows the depths of degradation in which he finds himself; he is reduced to nothing. From there he comes to his senses and decides to go back home. “I shall get up and go to my father and I shall say to him: Father I have sinned against you and against haven”.

At the welcome home, the father did not want even to hear the confession of the son, he clothes him in a colorful robe as a sign to the son that something important had taken place. It is a sign of a new belonging of the repentant son to his loving father. The ring on his finger symbolizes the new relationship, the new covenant with the son; and the sandals upon his feet are sign of son-ship. This is what the father is celebrating; the new life of his son.

Looking at the older son who stayed at home with his father all his life we see something shocking. Like his brother he also did not know his father’s heart. He regarded himself as a slave not as son as he says “all the years I have served you and not once did I disobey your orders". There was no closeness between him and his father. He was like those Pharisees who thought were obedient to God but without real love of God.

You and I are repentant sons and daughters as we approach the altar this morning. God is our loving father, and we know that his forgiveness is complete. The first lesson is that God is always waiting for us to come back. Ready to give us a hug and to clothe us as his sons and daughters. As such, we are all prodigal sons and daughters. But like the prodigal son, be sure of your willingness to make the confession of sin to our loving Father; be sure of your willingness to start life anew in a very special relationship with God.

The second lesson comes from the image of the old brother. This is a picture of many of us who are in the family of God, who are in the Church today. Most of time we are always around the Father, but we don't know him. We think christian life is about getting points to win God's favor. (I did this; one point... I did that; two points...) We are self-righteous brother with the tendency to look down on someone else, because that person is not as good as we are, or behaves in a way which we disapprove and we forget we are who we are not because of our merit, but because of God's mercy and grace.

Is there any way in which our lives, or part of our lives, have been lived in 'a far country'; where we have been rather prodigal in our use of, or waste of, the things of God? If so, how might we turn back to the Lord once more? If we do know our need to turn back, how strong is our resolve to actually do so? Friends, regardless of where you are today, there’s no place like home! If you are in the far country, you need to come home. If you are out in the Father’s field, but lack the kind of love you need for the Father, you need to come home too. The door is open, the table is spread and the Father is waiting for all who will come!

Where are you? In a distant country living a life of fun? The father waits patiently and you are loved. And the second reading is the summation of God’s message of mercy and forgiveness to us today, “whoever is in Christ is a new creation… God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting their trespasses against him and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation…” This is what Lent is all about; becoming a new creation in Christ because the Father does not count our trespasses against us. This truly is a reason to rejoice.

We are all sinners. Whether your sins are more visible like those of the younger son or more hidden like those of the elder son, the message for us today is that we all need to repent and return to the father's house. If the house of the father is the symbol for heaven, then we have to ask ourselves: who was the one who found himself inside the house at the end of the story? Ironically, it was the young prodigal son. Yes he was a sinner but came back and said sorry, then he celebrates the beauty of the God’s mercy inside his heavenly kingdom. The elder stays outside, not because he was not accept to enter but because he refused to enter. He thinks he was the only one who was good, and therefore he was the only one who deserved to be in his father’s house. If ever he will see any sinners in it, he would rather stay outside, and will never dare to enter. Oftentimes, our own damnation is our own choice. The gate of the father’s house is always open to those who want to come back and humbly say sorry. Finally at the end, it is not a question of how many sins we committed, nor how grave our sins are. It is rather our own humility and our sincerity of saying sorry, that matters most.