Draw near
Saturday of the Second Week of Lent
Gospel: Luke 15:1-3, 11-32
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032225.cfm
Today’s gospel starts with one group drawing near, and another group complaining. I imagine an audience of outcasts finally finding someone who is not one of them accepting them. Jesus didn't just welcome them, he celebrated their presence. They loved it. They liked Jesus so much that they were brought close to him. They leaned in to listen to what he had to say, but the religious leaders didn’t like this so much.
In the world, there is only so much material to go around. Some of us will have and some will have not. Some of us will be good stewards of these materials and others will squander them off. Some of us will be winners and some of us have to be losers for the others to win. The winners eat the best food, wear the best clothes, garner attention, have material wealth, and are loved and accepted by all. Losers don’t have such things. They didn’t earn it and surely don’t deserve it. The winners are evidently better or they wouldn’t be winners. This is what Jesus observed about perspectives around him and is the stage he sets for his story. The Pharisees saw themselves as winners and the tax collectors and sinners as losers. There were the chosen people and the unchosen. There were the clean and the unclean; the holy and unholy. You were either for or against God; devout or undevout.
In the parable, the father gives the inheritance to both brothers. The older brother stays with the father and continues to grow what he has according to the family’s trade. The younger brother wastes his on self-gratification. The older brother has a significant reason to be angry at the end of the story. Not only did his brother blow his inheritance, his father is now using part of his inheritance in celebration of his scrupulous younger brother. What has he done to earn that? The younger brother squandered his share away, why should he be entitled to any part of his older brother’s portion? It wasn’t if he came upon bad luck, he blew it. He deserves what his behavior has earned, less than nothing.
But in this parable, Jesus is showing that the tax collectors and the sinners are also children of God. Like a good parent, God is going to celebrate the return of his children. The Pharisees, the tax collectors, and the sinners are all siblings. Like siblings there may be times when they are competitive, but deep down, they should want what’s truly best for one another. There is not a separation between the chosen and the unchosen; all are chosen. God’s love isn’t earned, it’s unconditional.
But it is quite the challenge, when you see the celebration of others who you think deserve suffering for their behaviors, but weren’t their behaviors suffering enough? Choosing the righteous path is its own reward. May we remember the words of the father as if they are from God, “'My child, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours. But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your sibling was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found." May we recognize that God is with us always and may we be ready to celebrate with our brothers and sisters upon their return. May we see each other as God sees us.
