Sunday Reflection, March 18: The Welcome Home

Scripture Readings
Joshua 5: 9, 10-12
Psalm 34
2 Corinthians 5: 17-21
Luke 15: 1-3, 11-32

A couple of years ago, I went to a local florist on a Saturday morning to buy some flowers for our chapel. I had to wait, as the shop owner attended to a young mother who was there with her two boys. They were about seven and nine years old. I quickly realized that this was not an ordinary commercial interaction that was taking place before my eyes. The mother had a rather serious look on her face. Each of the boys was slowly pulling money out of the pocket of his jeans, fumbling with dollar bills and sundry coins. The oldest held a beautiful bouquet of flowers in his hand. He stood there, however, with a grimace on his face, as if he were holding onto a skunk. I smiled at the mother. She nodded and, with a knowing look, said to me: “This is called ‘making it up to the babysitter’” … We are praying that she will not fire us.” It seems that this mother and her husband had gone out the night before (Friday night), and their two sons had pulled some classic antics on the babysitter. For their misbehavior, they had been “sentenced” to pay for this bouquet of flowers out of their allowance and to take these flowers over to the home of the babysitter. What was even more excruciating was that they had to write a note of apology and bring it along with the flowers. They finished their transaction and slowly walked with their mother out to the car. They looked like two convicts being led off to Alcatraz.

I tried to keep a straight face while they were inside the floral shop, knowing that this was a significant moment for them. But after they left the store, I could not help but chuckle to myself over the entire incident. I wondered what would happen when these two little fellows showed up at the house of the babysitter, flowers and apology in hand. What would her reaction be? Would she “fire” this family after all?

The parable of the Prodigal Son that is the Gospel for this Sunday is certainly one of the most well-known and beloved stories in all of the Scriptures. I have in my room a print of the famous painting by Rembrandt entitled “The Return of the Prodigal Son,” the original of which resides in the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia. If you ever have a chance to spend a few minutes with this painting, I would encourage you to do so. Rembrandt’s depiction of the father welcoming and embracing his son is worthy of a long, meditative gaze.

Of all the aspects of this parable, perhaps the most significant and memorable is the demeanor of the father. This father should have been indignant, even outraged. From the point of view of Mid-Eastern culture at the time, this father had every right to react with intense anger at his son. By prematurely taking his share of the estate and leaving his father and the rest of his family, the son had implicitly said to them: “To me, you mean nothing; you are as good as dead.” But here he is on the scene again, begging for mercy, asking for more. According to the patterns of justice at the time, the father should have treated the son as if he were dead to him. But in telling this story, Jesus includes two simple sentences that change everything. We know the words well. Jesus says, “While he [the son] was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him.”

In a sense, that is all we need to know. That says it all. Jesus wants to impress this scene upon the imagination of the people of his own day, and the people of all time. The father is vigilant, on the lookout, for the return of this wayward son. He catches sight of him from a distance and is moved deeply from within. Running out of the house – an action that would have been considered very undignified for a Mid-Eastern father – he throws his arms around this young man. This is the picture that Jesus wants to imprint upon our minds. It is the way in which he wants us to imagine what God is like. This is the way God responds to us when we come to Him in our need, especially when we come in sorrow for our sins.

The Scripture readings for this Sunday give us good reason for joy. We call this Fourth Sunday of Lent “Laetare Sunday” – from the Latin word for “rejoice.” You and I are invited to rejoice at this moment of Lent, knowing that we are coming closer to the great celebration of the Lord’s death and resurrection. What is illumined for us this Sunday is the abundant goodness of God, the never-to-be-outdone graciousness of our God.

What is the response to this Good News that is asked of us? I believe that, first and foremost, we are called to respond to Jesus with gratitude. As Christians, you and I are meant to be a grateful people. Our lives are characterized by a spirit of thanksgiving because we have experienced the forgiving and life-giving grace of God. Even amidst the difficulties and struggles of our lives, there is much for which to be grateful. We have been blessed to live in a free and prosperous land, blessed with the love of other people who are important to us, blessed particularly with the gift of faith. Even more, the Scriptures for this Sunday remind us that we have been blessed by the reconciling work of God in the world through Jesus. Saint Paul tells us that whoever is in Christ is a new creation; the old things have passed away. We may not always feel like “new creations.” But in fact we need to be grateful for the way in which God has called us in Christ to live in friendship with Him. Our first response to the message of the Scriptures for this Sunday, the message of God’s abiding goodness, should be a heartfelt “Thank You.”

These Lenten Scriptures call us to something else as well. Paul speaks of his vocation to be an ambassador of reconciliation for Christ. I believe that the mother of the two young boys whom I saw in the florist was being a good mother. By having her sons take the flowers and their note of apology to the babysitter, she was teaching them to recognize and admit that they had offended her and needed to say they were sorry. She was teaching them about reconciliation. In her own way, that mother was acting as an ambassador of reconciliation. All of us whose lives are shaped by Jesus’ revelation of God as a loving Father are called to be people who sincerely pray and earnestly work for reconciliation in our world. We are challenged to be people who recognize the ways in which we offend God and others and who can say, “I’m sorry.” And we are called to be people who can also say, “I forgive you.” Even when we have good reason to feel hurt and angry at others for what they have done to (or failed to do for) us, we are called to pray for the inner freedom to refrain from holding those people as hostages of our own anger and resentment. The Gospel invites us to hold out hope for reconciliation even when our best attempts seem to have failed.

“While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him.” This is truly what God is like. Isn’t that amazing?!

Fr. Robin Ryan, cp