By Leon Bent –
The parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke’s Gospel is one many know and love. This is a rich moral-story to meditate and reflect on, during Lent.
Every time we sin we distance ourselves from the Father. It is then our choice to remain in sin or bring it to our Father in Heaven. Lent is a very good time for us to reflect on the areas in our lives we need to work on.
Luke’s Gospel for the Fourth Sunday of Lent is one of the most celebrated pages of all four Gospels: the parable of the Prodigal Son. Everything in this parable is surprising; men had never portrayed God in this way. This parable has touched more hearts than all the sermons that have been preached, put together. It has an incredible power to act on the mind, the heart, the imagination, and memory. It is able to touch the most diverse chords: repentance, shame, despair, nostalgia.
The welcome that Jesus reserves for sinners in the Gospel is well known, as is the opposition that this procures him on the part of the defenders of the law, who accuse him of being “a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners” (Luke 7:34). Jesus declares in one of his better historically attested to sayings, “I have not come to call the just but sinners” (Mark 2:17). Feeling welcomed and not judged by him, sinners listened to him gladly.
An eminent scholar has written: “It is not true that Jesus opened the gates of the kingdom to hard-boiled and impenitent criminals, or that he denied the existence of ‘sinners.’ What Jesus opposed were the walls that were erected within Israel, and those who treated other Israelites as if they were outside the covenant, and excluded from God’s grace” (James Dunn).
There is a common element that unites the parables of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, and the Prodigal Son, which are told in succession in Chapter 15 of Luke’s Gospel. What do the shepherd who finds the lost sheep and the woman who finds her coin say? “Rejoice with me!” And what does Jesus say at the end of each parable? “There will be more joy in heaven for a converted sinner than for ninety-nine just people who do not need to convert.”
The leitmotiv of the three parables is, therefore, the joy of God. There is joy “before the angels of God,” is an entirely Jewish way to speak of joy “in God.” In our parable joy overflows and becomes a feast. The father is overcome with joy and does not know what to do: He orders the best robe for his son, a ring with the family seal, the killing of a fatted calf, and says: “Let us eat and make merry, for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.”
How beautiful it is to think how the Lord embraces us when he sees us returning to Him even after we have hurt him repeatedly. Nothing we do will ever be unforgiveable in our Heavenly Father’s eyes.
Have you been the prodigal son or daughter lately? Return to Him in the sacrament of Penance this Lent and your sins will vanish like a drop of water in a blazing furnace. The prodigal’s plight had brought him to the depths of despair and shame. But from the depths of his heart a conversion occurs. The young man comes to his senses and repents.
Jesus ends the story there, not telling us what the response of the older son is. This is intentional, for Jesus is leaving the door open to the Pharisees. Like the prodigal father, Jesus invites them to celebrate with him, the return of the lost.
The Father’s words of longing and compassion still come to His prodigal children, in the Sacrament of Penance. This is part of what St. Paul calls “the ministry of reconciliation” entrusted by Jesus to the Apostles and the Church.
So, what we see — vividly — in today’s Gospel, is not just the repentance of the prodigal, but the love of the Father: love without limits. The meaning of today’s parable, the message written on every page of Holy Scripture, is this: God loves us!
These words have gold dust sprinkled over them! The parable of the Prodigal Son appears to be the most famous of Jesus’ parables. It is fascinating with its surprises, doubts, wonders, affirmations, and challenges. Through this story, Jesus portrays the earth shattering acceptance available in the Kingdom of God.
The lesson embedded in the father’s prodigality is amazing. He loves both his sons. He wants them to be happy. God teaches, from this lens, that His joy is our joy. He is ready and available to forgive us. In this parable, the younger son, upon his return, is able to face his father with humility and boldness, saying that, I no longer deserve to be called your son (Lk.15:19).
Now, this gold nugget! “The compassion manifest in Jesus Christ must animate and define those who claim to be his disciples. This sounds like a tall order. However, we are all loved sinners, and we have already experienced and continue to encounter God’s transforming love. We have had the experiences of both sons, and by virtue of such experiences we can become sources of love and reconciliation to others” (Henry Nouwen).
And, this final flourish! We invite you to discover Luke: the Gospel of Mercy, to uncover God’s Mercy in His own words, and to see how His Mercy is still active in the world today.
Leon Bent is an ex-Seminarian and studied the Liberal Arts and Humanities, and Philosophy, from St. Pius X College, Mumbai. He holds Masters Degree in English Literature and Aesthetics. He has published three Books and have 20 on the anvil. He has two extensively “Researched” Volumes to his name: Hail Full of Grace and Matrimony: The Thousand Faces of Love. He won The Examiner, Silver Pen Award, 2000 for writing on Social Issues, the clincher being a Researched Article on Gypsies in India, published in an issue of the (worldwide circulation) Vidyajyoti Journal of Theological Reflection, New Delhi. On April, 28, 2018, Leon received the Cardinal Ivan Dias Award for a research paper in Mariology.