FORGIVENESS, MORE OFTEN THAN NOT, IS A FAMILY ISSUE

A man had two sons. He said to the older son, “You have been here with me the whole time, but now we must celebrate and rejoice because your brother was lost and has been found.

Luke 15:11-32

I believe with all my heart that if the whole Bible were to be lost except this one story, it would be enough! This parable is really a short play, narrated by Jesus as a parable, that teaches us in the clearest way possible just how much God loves each and every one of us – no matter what! He loves us without condition, no matter how far we stray or how faithful we stay! To me it teaches us that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ as St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans will tell us in this coming Sunday’s second reading.

This parable is about God and his relationship to us. God plays the role of the father. We, when we sin and fall short in our relationship to God, we play the role of the younger son. We, when we follow all of God’s rules and end up smug and withholding and jealous, we play the role of the older son. The only hero in this play is God. Both sons fell short in their relationship with God: the younger son who asked for his inheritance before his father even died and then wasted it on prostitutes, got down with the pigs and had to come crawling home and the older son who withheld forgiveness from his brother and refused to celebrate their father’s love for both of them, no matter what they did or did not do! The younger son represents us when we fixate on our freedom without responsibility and the older son represents us when we fixate on our responsibility without freedom.

The famous 17^th century Dutch painter, Rembrant, tells this story beautifully in his famous painting “The Return of the Prodigal Son.” He pictures the younger son kneeling like a servant, ragged, barefooted, humiliated and hoping to get a menial job in his father’s house as a servant. The older son is standing, with his arms crossed glaring in disgust, judgment, resentment and pride. The father, who had run to meet his youngest son and did not give him time to deliver his well-rehearsed apology, embraces him tenderly. Rembrant adds a tender touch to the scene. The father’s hands on the younger son’s shoulders are very interesting. One hand is large and more masculine and the other hand is smaller and more feminine. The father’s hands represents God’s masculine attributes and God’s feminine attributes!

Both the parable of Jesus and the painting of the artist Rembrant tell a moving, memorable and educational story about God’s forgiveness and unconditional love. It is worthy of our study, consideration and imitation. This beautiful parable is really about God’s unconditional love and the importance of reconciliation in families and communities - among parents, siblings, relatives, neighbors – and, yes, even with our enemies!

With that said, let me speak directly to all of the families reading this post today. In the last couple of weeks we have been focusing on the importance of forgiveness, especially in our Sunday readings. As a priest, I know from fifty-six years of ministry that your family and mine are not exceptional. Grudges, hurts, disappointments and misunderstandings are rampant in families - always have been and always will be! I have never met a family free of such problems. 

Wherever we are in this gospel parable, know that God loves us no matter what we have done or failed to do. He loves us no matter where we end up on the scale between our wanting our own personal freedom and our responsibility to our families. With God, we are always welcome home! With God, we have always been loved and we will always be loved! With God, there is always a welcome home party waiting for us!