4th Sunday of Lent (Cycle C)

March 25, 2010

by Deacon Lawrence A. St. Onge

We often hear the words to “forgive and forget.” Realistically, however, “forgetting” is not always easy or even possible. But, on the other hand, “forgiveness” is an act of the will; a choice we make to go beyond the hurt, and not allow it to dominate the relationship or determine the future. It is in fact, an act of courage and hope for the future.

We find that hope in each of today’s readings. In the first reading the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have removed the reproach of Egypt from you.” In other words, no longer would God’s people be punished. In the last verse of the Responsorial Psalm we heard the encouraging words: “When the afflicted man called out, the Lord heard, and from all his distress he saved him.” And even more encouraging are the words of St. Paul in the second reading: “God, in Christ, was reconciling the world to himself, not counting men’s transgressions against him...the message of reconciliation.” To reconcile means to make friendly again, to settle a difference, to bring all into harmony. And finally, with respect to today’s gospel, T.W. Mason once observed, “This parable… lays down the fundamental principle of God’s relation to sinners; that God loves the sinner while he is still a sinner, before he repents, and somehow, that it is this divine love that makes the sinner’s repentance possible.

At the beginning of today’s gospel we heard how Jesus was sitting with the tax collectors and sinners. We also heard that this group was being watched by the Pharisees and the Scribes. The parable that Jesus tells is addressed to both these groups; and there is a message for each.

We are so familiar with this parable of the prodigal son, and its message telling us how the returning son is forgiven and accepted, that we tend to see the point of this story only with respect to how those sinners sitting around Jesus can be confident of forgiveness. We can easily overlook the purpose that this parable plays in the bigger storyline of Jesus going to Jerusalem shortly before his arrest and crucifixion. This parable appears as one of a number of episodes in Luke’s Gospel where the Pharisees and Scribes give Jesus a hard time. And, how each time Jesus calmly and gently offers them the opportunity to repent and to be reconciled with him, while at the same time firmly showing them that their continued words and actions against him alienate them from the God they so proudly claim to devote their lives to.

In todays parable the Pharisees and Scribes are like the loyal brother who sees his wayward sibling return, but instead of joy for him, he feels only jealousy and hurt. Jesus does not tell us whether the brother eventually puts his feelings behind him and joins the party, or stays outside brooding and sulking. The parable finishes leaving the Pharisees and Scribes with a choice – to join in rejoicing at the Good News of forgiveness and reconciliation that Jesus brings, or to continue their behaviour, which will drive them away from the joy that Jesus offers.

The kingdom that Jesus proclaims - full of tax collectors, prostitutes and other sinners - is not what the Pharisees and Scribes believe their God promises for them. They cannot recognise their proud, rule-bound God in Jesus. Jesus, on the other hand, makes it clear that all are welcome: Pharisees and sinners alike. Unfortunately, however, it is the Pharisees and Scribes, themselves, who cut themselves off from the rich experience being offered them. They demand that God give them what they want in the form of the kind of Messiah who will not consort with sinners; and in so doing, they willingly alienate themselves from the God whose primary aim is love.

As we would expect, rather than telling the Pharisees and Scribes to get out and barring them forever from his presence, Jesus’ response is rooted in God’s love. In later chapters of Luke’s Gospel, Jesus reiterates his invitation to all. Jesus continues to offer his welcome to Pharisees and Scribes. St Paul is the most famous Pharisee to have repented of his persecuting ways and to have received God’s loving forgiveness. And Christ himself, in the ultimate gesture of loving kindness, asks his Father for the forgiveness of those who have brought about his suffering and death, even as he hangs dying on the cross.

We have all had people who have consciously and callously tried to hurt us. But if we don't forgive those who have hurt us, we will be keeping ourselves out of the banquet of God's intimacy.   If we want to receive God's forgiveness, we have to give God's forgiveness.  If we don't, then we end up standing outside the banquet griping and complaining, and separating ourselves from God's love. At the conclusion of the gospel parable, it is only the Elder Son who is excluded from the banquet, and he does this to himself.

I would like to leave you with a whimsical, modern day parable of the Last Judgment.

It was judgment day and 2 lines of people stood before the gates of heaven waiting for the Lord to come and receive them. In the line on the right were all those who had seemed to have done all the right things in life; they had kept all the Commandments, obeyed all the rules of the Church, went to church regularly, paid their taxes, confessed their sins and generally thought of themselves as good people.

When they looked across at the line on the left, they saw the opposite: people who had been known for their sin, those who had left the church behind, were involved in less than respectable professions, and had even cheated a few people in their life time.

Those on the right looked at those on the left and said: we tried to warn you, but you wouldn’t listen; now it’s too late. You should have listened and turned your lives around.

Just then the Lord came through the gates and the people in the line on the right began to move forward. But the Lord held up his hand and motioned for them to stop and to wait as he turned to those in the other line and said: “Please, come in, I’m delighted to see you.”

Those in the line told to wait were simply shocked. They began to complain and said, “Well, I never!” “What kind of place is this?” “How dare he let them in!” And, in that very moment, those in the line on the right condemned themselves!