Lk 15:1-3, 11-32
Meanwhile tax collectors and sinners were seeking the company of Jesus, all of them eager to hear what he had to say. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law frowned at this, muttering, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So Jesus told them this parable:
Jesus continued, “There was a man with two sons. The younger said to his father, ‘Give me my share of the estate.’ So the father divided his property between them.
Some days later, the younger son gathered all his belongings and started off for a distant land, where he squandered his wealth in loose living. Having spent everything, he was hard pressed when a severe famine broke out in that land. So he hired himself out to a well-to-do citizen of that place, and was sent to work on a pig farm. So famished was he, that he longed to fill his stomach even with the food given to the pigs, but no one offered him anything.
Finally coming to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will get up and go back to my father, and say to him, Father, I have sinned against God, and before you. I no longer deserve to be called your son. Treat me then as one of your hired servants.’ With that thought in mind, he set off for his father’s house.
He was still a long way off, when his father caught sight of him. His father was so deeply moved with compassion that he ran out to meet him, threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. The son said, ‘Father, I have sinned against Heaven and before you. I no longer deserve to be called your son.’
But the father turned to his servants: ‘Quick!’ he said. ‘Bring out the finest robe and put it on him! Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet! Take the fattened calf and kill it! We shall celebrate and have a feast, for this son of mine was dead, and has come back to life; he was lost, and is found!’ And the celebration began.
Meanwhile, the elder son had been working in the fields. As he returned and approached the house, he heard the sound of music and dancing. He called one of the servants and asked what it was all about. The servant answered, ‘Your brother has come home safe and sound, and your father is so happy about it that he has ordered this celebration, and killed the fattened calf.’
The elder son became angry, and refused to go in. His father came out and pleaded with him. The son, very indignant, said, ‘Look, I have slaved for you all these years. Never have I disobeyed your orders. Yet you have never given me even a young goat to celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours returns, after squandering your property with loose women, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
The father said, ‘My son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But this brother of yours was dead, and has come back to life; he was lost, and is found. And for that we had to rejoice and be glad.’”
REFLECTION
The context of today’s parable is the religious leaders’ outrage over what they judged as Jesus’ way of relating with those they considered sinners. To reveal the merciful love of God, Jesus responded with yet another parable. Today we allow the parable to mirror to us who God is and God’s constant search for us, and who we are and our constant search for God. The two sons in the parable represent us; their experiences and attitudes mirror our own. Both got lost in their pursuit of fulfillment and happiness. Paradoxically, one was lost physically while running away from home, and the other was lost spiritually while staying home. One lost all his material possessions but realized where real happiness lies, while the other enjoyed the security of material goods at home but never experienced real happiness. Instead he lost his opportunity to grow in compassion, to be like his father who was forgiving and joyful for someone who was once lost but found. At different times in our life, we can either be the one or the other. God wants us back and experience his merciful love, whether we have strayed away from home or have been lost at home.
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