This mass
that you are at today, may be the last mass you will ever attend. It
may be the last mass I get to celebrate. None of us knows. Two weeks
ago, one of our parishioners was at Sunday mass. He died that night.
It was the last mass that he would ever attend. That is something to
think about, because that is the reality for all of us.
The fact
that Jesus taught using parables, is a great compliment to our
intelligence. What I mean is this: to understand a parable you have
to think about it. If you are searching for the truth in it, you will
find it. This means that Jesus is inviting us to think about what he
is saying, so that we will come to know what he is teaching us. He is
not just speaking to us like children, but acknowledging our
intelligence. He is inviting us to search for the truth.
In
the first century, there was a tradition, that if a Jewish son lost
his inheritance among Gentiles, and then returned home, the community
would perform a ceremony, called the kezazah.
They would break a large pot in front of him and yell, “You are now
cut off from your people!” The community would totally reject him
and he would be publicly shamed and humiliated.
In this
story, the prodigal son, having squandered his inheritance, was now
coming back to the community. For him to have asked for it in the
first place was the equivalent of having wished his father dead to
his face. He couldn’t have insulted his family more. Then he wastes
all the hard-earned money his family had made. Now he is coming home
to face total shame and humiliation, not just from the family, but
from the whole community.
Then it
says that the father ran to him. In middle eastern culture at
that time, a man, would never, ever, run, because to do so he would
have to hike up his tunic so that he wouldn’t trip, but this would
show his bare legs and that would be considered shameful. So why did
the father run? Not only because of his joy to see his son return,
but also so that he would get to him before the rest of the
community, so that he wouldn’t have to go through that shameful
ceremony of being publicly humiliated and cut off from the people.
The father was prepared to be shamed himself, in order to spare his
son the humiliation. This is pointing directly to the shame that
Jesus took on for us, dying on the cross, which was considered the
most shameful way to die, in order that we might have the happiness
God intended for us; the inheritance God wants for us.
What it
says more than anything else, is that God has no interest in
condemning us, only in bringing us back to himself and that is
probably one of the most encouraging things that our faith teaches
us. God has no interest in condemning us. God is willing to be
shamed, in order that we might receive our inheritance, that is,
heaven.
In the
parable, when the father welcomes the son, notice how there are no
words of condemnation, or accusation. All he does is welcome the son
and celebrate. The fact that he put a ring on his finger and sandals
on his feet, also meant that his place in the family was fully
restored. Slaves did not wear sandals.
Then there
is also the older son, who has been faithful, but is seething with
resentment at the younger son and how he is now being treated. He is
also very insulting to the father in the way he speaks to him. He
does not address him with a title and he accuses him of favoritism.
But the father is equally loving towards him.
The
parable of the one lost sheep is the same. It is telling us that God
will go to the ends of the earth to bring us home. God only wants our
happiness and will do everything to help us reach it, except force
us. God will never force us to do anything because He has given us
free will. That means that we can lose the possibility of heaven. We
have to be careful about how we live, because our actions have
consequences. God will always forgive us if we ask for forgiveness,
but we cannot just presume it.
If
everyone automatically went to heaven, regardless of how they lived,
then God would not be just. The Lord warns us many times that our
actions have consequences and we need to take that seriously. God only wants our happiness and will do everything to reach it, but we must play our part too.
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