My Dear People,

Jesus speaks about the “lost son” with two smaller examples from everyday life about the joy of finding something that was lost. Jesus mentions that there will be more rejoicing in heaven over a repentant sinner than ninety-nine just. What Jesus is emphasizing is the importance of repentance from our sins. The parable may be read two ways. On a basic level, it is a story of forgiveness and reconciliation that teaches us about the character of God and his love for sinners. On the second level, it is a parable about the history of Israel. Israel was divided into two kingdoms: the northern kingdom “Ephraim” (the adopted younger son of Jacob) and the southern kingdom of “Judah” (the son of Jacob who inherited the rights of the oldest son). Ephraim went astray and was taken into exile by Assyria (a far country). Judah, however, was only exiled for seventy years and then returned to stay by God’s “side” in the land of Israel. However, in the end, it is “Ephraim” who returns to embrace God, whole “Judah” resents God’s mercy.

This fits a theme through Luke-Acts, in which Luke shows that Samaritans (direct descendants of the northern kingdom “Ephraim”) and Gentiles (into whom northern Israel had assimilated)  respond to the offer of God’s forgiveness in the Gospel, whereas the “Judeans” (descendants of southern Judah) resist the Gospel out of pride and resent the Christian offer of a “New Covenant” to Samaritans and Gentile “sinners.”

Today’s Gospel speaks to us in two practical ways, depending on which “son” we are. Some of us at Mass this Sunday are the younger son who has been going astray self-consciously. The younger sons need to be reassured of God’s forgiveness. We need to pick ourselves up and leave the pig slop we’ve been wallowing in (whatever that be: substance abuse, porn, financial corruption, promiscuity, manipulation, etc.) and return to God, who is waiting to embrace us. (Let us notice that the Father does not run after the son to the far country and pull him out of the muck. There is an act of repentance and renunciation that we must undertake before we can return to the Father. (We do have to leave the pigsty.)

Others at Mass are the older brother. We think we are good, not in need of forgiveness, and God owes us something. We resent riff-raff hanging around, and in particular, we don’t want them in our churches or other places where we hang out. We older brothers have no joy in our lives because we really aren’t motivated by love, we don’t understand the God of love and joy. We need conversion as much as the younger son. We need to recognize “younger son” siblings as family members, and share God’s joy at their repentance and reconciliation. God is not a businessman, rewarding service in a tit-for-tat or quid pro quo manner. God is a father, who wants all his children to share his love and joy.

Yours in Christ,

Fr. Vincent Clemente