Word to the Wise
Saturday, March 26, 2011 - 2nd Week of Lent - Sat
[Mic 7:14-15, 18-20 and Luke 15:1-3, 11-32]This man welcomes sinners and eats with them!
The scribes and Pharisees unwittingly sum up the ministry of Jesus in a very short phrase! This man welcomes sinners and eats with them! What could anyone say to that except, "Yes!" Well, Jesus does go further and offers one of the truly wonderful parables of his ministry. Although traditionally this parable is entitled THE PRODIGAL SON, it could easily be called THE FORGIVING FATHER or THE UNFORGIVING SON, depending on which character one wishes to emphasize. The great artist, Rembrandt, captures all the power of the parable by portraying one moment of it in his famous painting, THE RETURN OF THE PRODIGAL. There we see the Father welcoming the Prodigal and we know that the Father will order the "fatted calf" slain, new garments for his son and a celebration in the village! Restoration is not simply between Father and Son, it includes the whole community - well, almost the whole community, because there is still that older son who seems to bear an interesting resemblance to the scribes and Pharisees! Really now! Haven't they tried to be the loyal sons who have struggled to do all that God's law has demanded, seemingly without reward (although Jesus pointedly speaks of them when he says in the Sermon on the Mount, "They have already received their reward!"? The irony of it all is that Jesus would welcome them too and did eat with them, but they weren't ready to admit they are sinners!
This parable is the last of three by Jesus in response to the comment by the scribes and Pharisees. All three emphasize God's initiative in reaching out to sinners! The PRODIGAL SON takes its power in many ways from the fact that parent-child alienation and sibling rivalry are the stuff of human life from the earliest days! We are invited to put ourselves in the place of the characters. (If necessary, we could change it to the Prodigal Daughter and Forgiving Mother and Unforgiving Big Sister!) How forgiving (or unforgiving) are we? How willing (or unwilling) are we to accept forgiveness, realizing it means that we admit to being sinners? I, for one, am grateful to know that there is a place at the table for me and I hope everyone else knows that they are invited, too! AMEN
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