What name do you give to that wonderful gospel passage?.......
I know what pops into my mind: but it is the 'wrong' name.
It should be called 'the parable of the loving Father'.
The father is centre stage in this story.
The father goes beyond what is required:
in giving his younger son access to his inheritance.
It is the memory of the father that draws the younger son back
when he finally realises the emptiness of the life he has chosen.
The father, moved with pity for the returning son,
runs to greet and embrace.
The father, in his joy and eagerness, interrupts the son
before he can get in his request to be treated as one of the servants.
The father immediately treats the son as a guest of honour:
best robe; a ring, probably signifying authority,
and sandals, for only slaves go barefoot.
The father wants a feast, a great celebration.
The father pleads with the elder son to come in,
responds to this son's anger with words of love,
and does not withdraw this son's 'invitation' to the party.
Now look at the context Luke provides for the parable:
Tax collectors and the sinners were all seeking the company of Jesus
to hear what he had to say,
and the Pharisees and the scribes complained.
The parable isn't abstract: it speaks directly into this controversy.
The younger son returning
corresponds to the tax collectors and sinners
seeking out Jesus to hear him.
The elder son corresponds to the Pharisees and scribes
who don't like what is happening.
Jesus telling the story
is like the Father going out to plead with the elder son,
appealing to his conscience.
Clearly, Jesus is identifying himself
with the loving, merciful father of the parable.
He is living out the story.
Individually, we can ask
'what parts of my life resonate with the wayward son' and
'what parts of my life resonate with the mean-spirited older brother'.
This is a good thing to do as part of our Lent,
and if we focus on the love and mercy our Heavenly Father
it will lead us to conversion and repentance.
However, such an exercise is really just a 'warm-up' for the main theme of today's liturgy of the word.
Look at the second reading, where Paul says:
God in Christ was reconciling the world to himself....
and he has entrusted to us the news that they are reconciled
...we are ambassadors for Christ
This is what it means to be a Christian.
We are the people who know the mercy of God, shown in Jesus,
We are entrusted, a word worth pausing on,
we are entrusted with this good news.
We are to 'be' Jesus, living out the Father's merciful love.
We come together each Sunday
to renew our own encounter with this good news,
so that we can become more effective ambassadors of God's mercy.
Our Mass is the feast, the celebration, of that mercy.
It is a feast of God's delight at welcoming us into his company,
a feast of God's joy at bringing us from death to life.
In this we rejoice.