Merciful Father

2nd Week of Lent - Saturday (23 March 2019)

Micah 7:14–15, 18–20. Psalm 103. Luke 15:1–3, 11–32.

“While he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and embraced him and kissed him.”

Today’s gospel reading is one of the most loved stories from the Bible—arguably the best of all: the story of the prodigal son. But a better name would be: the story of the merciful father and his two sons. The focus of the story is neither the younger son, the prodigal, nor the elder son, but the compassionate father himself. Just this story is sufficient to see God’s face, to understand God’s beauty!

Lest we forget our first reading from the prophet Micah: the gospel reading is a proof of Micah’s words describing God’s loving mercy and forgiveness. “Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and taking away guilt for the remnant of your inheritance? Who is like you whose anger does not last? For you delight in merciful forgiveness. Once again you will show your loving kindness (compassion)…”

The immediate context of the parable of the Merciful Father is the controversy between Jesus and the scribes/Pharisees, and they complain about Jesus’ friendship with tax collectors and sinners. Another context, a remote context, is the rivalry of the siblings as seen in the Old Testament: younger son/brother vs the elder son/brother: as Jacob vs Esau, or as Joseph vs his brothers. But here the younger brother is a parody of that rivalry, who is not triumphant apparently but ends as a Gentile; and the elder brother after all his grumbling and complaining is invited to join the feast.

The younger son (resembling the sinners and tax collectors) considers his father dead when he demands his share of the property. His prodigal living takes him to the pigs literally (to the dogs). A Jewish person has no relationship or dealing with the pigs. If the younger son is working in a pig farm, then he has become a Gentile (or the devil). But eventually he returns to his father.

The elder son (resembling the Pharisees and the scribes) is unhappy with the feast for his younger brother. He gives in to resentment and jealousy. Notice how he adds information from rumours, imagines things, and sides with falsity. He doesn’t enter the house, doesn’t feel at home: “I have worked so hard like a slave!” The father reasons out with him, to bring him back to his senses, “All is yours, but you feel that you are a slave.” If there was humility in the younger son, here in the case of the elder son we see pride, resentment, anger. It gives us a sense of dissatisfaction for some because the story has no proper ending. It ends with the father’s words, begging the elder son to join the feast. But let us remember, the challenge of the parable is enhanced by an open ending. Thus the invitation of the father (of Jesus) is real—to join the feast.

If you ask what the turning point of the younger son’s conversion is, I would say it is hunger, not repentance, not love for his father. He returns to the father not for the right reasons, but (let’s say) for the wrong reasons, or insufficient reasons. Listen to the younger son rehearsing his confession, “Accept me as a slave, not as your son.” Yet the father accepts him, accepts him as his son.

This is real good news for us: God’s forgiveness comes to us even if we have selfish motives, or even insufficient motives: I dare say, God’s mercy is given to us even if our repentance is incomplete. The father accepts a Gentile, and restores him to sonship. “Mending the relationship is something that the boy cannot do for all his scheming; it depends on the father’s grace.” (Fallon.) This also shows that forgiveness comes from God, not from oneself. As the younger son accepts the ring, robe, feast, the penitent can only accept the gift of repentance, in humility.

“Going home is a lifelong journey. There are always parts of ourselves that wander off in dissipation or get stuck in resentment. Before we know it we are lost in lustful fantasies or angry ruminations. Our night dreams and daydreams often remind us of our lostness. Spiritual disciplines such as praying, fasting, and caring are ways to help us return home. As we walk home we often realize how long the way is. But let us not be discouraged. Jesus walks with us and speaks to us on the road. When we listen carefully we discover that we are already home while on the way.” (Nouwen)

If you feel that my reflection has been too long already, I need to apologize. I have not come to the main point yet. It is about the father, the best and most beautiful portrait of Jesus’ Father, our God. See the father who gives freedom, waits, runs, hugs, kisses, welcomes, gives the best, celebrates, even begs. He breaks the boundaries just for love, who accepts a Gentile (a wastrel) back. He welcomes the son with open arms and not a word of recrimination. Jesus uses this story to indicate God’s acceptance, tolerance, forgiveness and compassion for us whenever we stray from our values and make mistakes. This father (this God whom Jesus presents) is full of a mother’s unconditional love. (This father is full of mother! Running, embracing, kissing!) Though we may many times identify ourselves with the younger son or the elder son, it is with this character of father that we need to identify ourselves, and model ourselves. Our focus and aim is to be as compassionate and merciful as this father (our God) is.

“The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.” (Ps 103:8)