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4th Sunday of Lent - March 20, 2022
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Every prodigal is welcome home!
The story of the ‘prodigal son’ or ‘prodigal father’ is a story with many names. It is a favorite of many people and one of the most loved stories of Jesus. This story unlike other parables has several facets, almost like a gem that reflects different colors as you turn it in the light. So let us look at it from the cultural perspective colored by Biblical insights.
The fathers, guardians of the ancestral property were discouraged from distributing inheritance during their lifetime (Sir 33:20-24). But if he did, a father still was entitled to live off the proceeds while he lived. This son acts shamefully, effectively wishing his father were dead. That the father did not explode and discipline him on the spot testifies to the depth of his love. The elder son is no better. Instead of protesting the inappropriate property division and refusing his share, he accepts it (Lk 15:12). And he makes no effort to reconcile his father and brother as culture demanded that he should. His behavior is equally shameful.
The younger son sinks deeper into shame. Selling his share of the family wealth will infuriate his village neighbors (see 1 Kings 21:3). Having plenty of liquid cash, he becomes a spend-thrift and loses it all in wanton behavior in a far-off land. When the famine comes, he begins to starve. In desperation, he falls deeper into the mire of impropriety by enslaving himself to a wealthy Gentile who assigns him to a repulsive job of feeding pigs (traditionally unclean chore according to Judaic standards). Still, he starves. He is tempted to lower himself by feeding on swine fodder.
As he hits the rock-bottom of tolerance, he resolves to become a “hired servant” of his family, thereby regaining a measure of honor and independence. He is willing to accept the shameful fact that the village will disown, reject, and physically abuse him for taking inheritance from the father before his death and then losing it to Gentiles. (See Sir 26:5).
Now we must look at the behavior of the father. Jaime Cardinal Sin, DD, in his opening address during the Festival on Conferences on God the Father in the year 1999, said that one of the most startling images of God the Father in all of the Sacred Scriptures is the image of the Running Father. This is because during Jesus’ time, running is not something a father, a head of a household does. A person of high importance does not run; others run to him to serve him or run from him to carry out his orders. For such a person, to run would mean throwing away his dignity. It is outrightly shocking and improbable. But that is the meaning of the running father Jesus portrays in the parable of the prodigal son.
Cardinal Sin continued to say that the listeners of Jesus would have been shocked when they realized why the father was running. This father was casting away his dignity, courting dishonor, looking like a public fool, all for the sake of a good-for-nothing, worthless son who had maliciously wished his father dead by asking for his inheritance in advance and who had brought disgrace upon his family and village by his wanton lifestyle!
The father acts totally out of cultural character. He publicly forgives the son by kissing him again and again on the cheeks and heals the broken relationship between them. The best robe is certainly the father’s. It will guarantee the son’s acceptance by the community at the banquet. The signet ring indicates that the son can transact business again. The sandals are a sign of being a free man in the house, not a servant. Killing the calf means the entire village will be invited and prodded toward forgiveness. God’s love is immense …. Every prodigal is welcome home!
Fr Tom