4TH SUNDAY HOMILY OF LENT – YEAR C

4TH SUNDAY HOMILY OF LENT – YEAR C

HOMILY THEME: GOD’S MERCY

BY: Fr. Benny Tuazon

HOMILY: (Lk. 15:1-3, 11-32) Fourth Sunday of Lent, Laetare Sunday, Day Twenty Five (25) of Lent

In today’s Gospel, the Fourth Sunday of Lent, also called Laetare Sunday, God’s loving mercy is presented by the Lord Jesus in what is very well known as the Parable of the Prodigal Son. Three characters in the parable, the younger son, elder son, and their father, weave a beautiful story of sin, envy, and mercy.

It unfolded with the younger son asking his father for his share of the inheritance. The father granted the request of the son which the son immediately converted into cash and went on to squander the money. Later, he experienced poverty and realized how the servants in their home were being treated much better. Humbled, he decided to go back home and ask forgiveness from his father The son was guilty at least on two major counts; one, it was the older son who had first right on the inheritance, two, he asked his share even when his father was still alive. The second one is tantamount to wishing his father is dead!

When he arrived, even when he was still far away, his father did not wait for him to reach their house but proceeded to welcome him by running to where he was. This was seen by some exegetes as the father’s way of sparing his son from further humiliation by going through the gauntlet of neighbours who would unkindly talk about him on his way to their house. Also, the father’s gestures of running to him, embracing him, hugging him, and instructing the servants to give back to him all his things; ring, sandal, and finest robe were signs of forgiveness and welcoming back home the lost son. It was topped by slaughtering the fattened calf for the celebration. There were no explanations needed. The son is back and the father is just happy to have him again. Such compassion! Such love! Such mercy!

It did not end there. The father had to deal with the elder son, the one who had first priority on the inheritance and the one who had stuck it out with the father by being a good son. He was surprised at the feast held for his prodigal brother. He made it worse by reminding his father that he himself was not treated even fairly for never was he given even a young goat to feast with his friends. Note that he referred to his own brother not by name but “your son” which was a sign of disowning him. The answer of the father was classic, “My son, you are here with me always; and everything I have is yours.” How could the son ask for more when he had everything? In fact, the more important possession he had was being with his father. He was suppose to be at peace.

Some of us are like the younger son. We want a lot from God. We want to be out of His fold so we could be free only to realize later that our best place is with Him. And some of us behave like the elder son who fail to realize how gracious it is to be with the father and fail to appreciate it! It would be wrong to imitate the younger son so as to be given the "fattened calf” to celebrate. If we ask the younger son, he would tell us that if he could only bring back time, he would not dare do what he did. The elder son should instead be happy like the father. His brother was lost and was found again. He suffered very much and humbled himself.

It is really hard to understand and fathom God’s mercy. Or should we say, we could never understand and fathom the loving mercy of God. The fact that God commands and does it to all of us, it should be enough reason for us to be happy God is God. Who knows, one day, we will be in the shoes of the younger son. We will be the one needing His mercy. We will just be glad He is merciful.

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