Homily For The Fourth (Laetare) Sunday Of Lent, Year C

Joshua 5:9, 10-12; Psalm 34:2-3.4-5.6-7; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21; Luke 15:1-3, 11-32.

“THE MERCIFUL FATHER: THE GOD WHO FORGIVES!”

By: Rev. Fr. Charles Onyeka Ezejide

·      Today is the fourth Sunday of Lent, traditionally known as “LAETARE Sunday”. It is also known as Rejoice Sunday. It is a day to celebrate the joy of God’s mercy and unconditional forgiveness to us sinners (Rom.3:23). We have reached halfway on our Lenten journey. We have barely a few days until Easter Sunday. So, we have every reason to celebrate this midpoint and be happy because God’s mercy is boundless.

·        God continues to take the initiative to extend his hands of mercy and repentance to us if only we will yield to his invitation. The readings of today highlights the joy that is expected of us when we dwell in the mercy of God.

·      The first reading today (Joshua 5:9-12) shows the joy the Israelites felt now occupying the promised land and eating the first fruit of that land. We have a promised land we are expected to occupy. But the more we wallow in sin, the more we miss our compass, and we suffer seriously - just like the prodigal son in the gospel reading. The fruits of this Promised Land are eternal, while the fruits of the world are temporal.

·       In the responsorial Psalm, the Lord invites us to taste and see that the fruits of God's kingdom are good. Hence, no matter how we wander away from God’s kingdom seeking other joys, it will always lead to frustration, loss of focus, loss of dignity, untold hardship, and enslavement.

·        Today's gospel (Luke 15:11-35) has been baptised by us as the parable of the prodigal son. By so doing, we celebrate the son and make him a hero while neglecting the father. This parable emphasizes the son as though he has done no wrong. We must realise that it was the son who sinned against the father and squandered all opportunities given to him. But the father remained consistent in being a father to the son, despite his shortcomings.

·       The Gospel reading presents us with three characters:

-     THE FATHER: A loving and merciful father who always forgives us of our transgressions. He is not tired of welcoming us back to the fold when we repent of our sins and come back to our senses. He is the restorer of our Christian dignity, lost by sin and a life of debauchery. He is the one standing on the streets looking out for us.

-        THE PRODIGAL SON: He is a known sinner who outrightly rejects the father’s love and protection by plunging himself into a life of sin and reckless living. He is the one who wished to enjoy the fruits of the Promised Land while still on earth. As a result, he suffered grievously. He lost his Christian dignity; he was ostracised from the Christian family. He was reduced to the level of an animal. When we fall short of the grace of God through sin and reckless living, we suffer a lot of consequences.

-        THE ELDER SON: He is self-righteous and spiritually arrogant. He lists the sins of his brother (Lk. 15:30). His faithfulness to the Father was because of duty, in expectation of a reward, and not out of humble service. He lacked sympathy for the brother who was injured and lost by sin. He denied his brother, who was in a lowly state (Lk. 15:30).

·       In the parable of the Prodigal Son, we find three strong persons, and our Lord probably intends for us who hear the parable to see ourselves in each of the three characters. How is this so? We probably can easily relate to the weakness and straying of the younger son. I'm sure we can identify with the jealousy of the older son who doesn’t get rewards for never straying.

·       And finally, the compassionate outreach of the Father, we can likely find in ourselves too. That is part of the beauty of the parable; each character does not represent just one type of person, but all of us who are a mixture of sin and repentance, jealousy and resentment; and finally, it is hoped that we develop an overflowing compassion, forgiveness, and love towards others.

·       The point of the parable has to be: try harder to become like the forgiving Father, be less like the jealous older son, and learn the meaning of love of self as the prodigal son finally learned in the compassionate arms of his Father.

·       Like the prodigal son, we’re often away from God because of our weakness. We get itchy feet and long to be anywhere but here, and off we go either really or in our minds. Like the oldest son, we are often absent from God’s love because of bitterness or anger over what others are getting and we think we aren’t. As we get older, maybe we more easily realize we are a mixture of both sons in the parable. At least, I do.

·       What Jesus is inviting us to in this parable is the realization that our God is a loving parent, stretching out hands to us, always forgiving, totally compassionate, and loving without limits. That should spell loud and clear to us: be ye comforted!

·       The parable is sometimes called that of the Prodigal Father since prodigal means recklessly wasteful, which the son certainly is in a negative sense, and the Father is a wholly positive sense of throwing love without restraint at all times and never counting the cost.

·       The younger son’s misery–being a kosher Jewish lad consigned in his misery before repentance to a pigsty, and nothing could be uglier in the minds of Jesus’ hearers–the younger son’s finally brings him to his senses. Is this the greener grass on the other side of the fence? Hardly!

·       In Lent, we are to be striving for repentance, that is, walking closer with God who is ever near us, but we stray through preferring our ways to God’s.

·       Have you ever noticed that the parable of the Prodigal Son has no end, really? We don’t know, for example, if the elder brother ever goes in and enjoys the feast with the rest of the household. We’d like to think so, at least.

·       What we have is not just a story, then, but a challenge, and that’s the nature of the parables. In other words, if I’m the prodigal son, will I eventually go back to my father’s house? If I’m the elder son, will I stay outside or go in and rejoice over the repentant sinner, forgiving as I am forgiven? Can I show a similar loving forgiveness so lavishly bestowed by the father?

·       Even when we make a mess of things, our loving God is ready to take us in.
Forgiveness is the final form of love because it defies logic and can only be described as God-like. We’re all called to show it.

·       “Seventy times seven times,” as Jesus expresses it elsewhere in the Gospel (Matthew 18). All of this should inspire us to ponder on God’s forgiveness of our sins, our need to repent, and to have confidence in God’s mercy. And we must forgive others. We must pray for the grace to do so. The fact that we want to forgive means we are nearly or already there, and the grace to forgive will follow, though not necessarily right away.

·       Happy Sunday!