Prodigal Son versus Prodigal Father
Homily on Saturday of the 2nd Week of Lent, 11 Mar 2023
We are ending today the second week of Lent. The gospel we have just heard presents to us Jesus narrating the beautiful parable of the prodigal son. This parable is an amazing story that reveals how with great joy God welcomes sinners back with a father’s loving embrace. The younger son in the story, after running away with his inheritance and squandering his father’s wealth regretted all that he had done. And so he retraced his steps and returning home he was welcomed back with open arms by his father.
In this story, we see some kind of “karma” or “gaba” taking effect. Si “bunso” pagkatapos niyang maglagalag at magliwaliw ay biglang namulubi at naghirap. After enjoying a lavish and luxurious lifestyle he suddenly was reduced to poverty and misery. Isn’t that karma or gaba? And for a time he accepted the consequences of all his misdeeds. His pride told him he could survive the ordeal. And so he took a job at a local farm to take care of dirty and unclean pigs, something he never imagined he would ever do in his life. Pero kailangan niya kasing panindigan yung desisyon niyang humiwalay at magsariling buhay. Di ba kung minsan ganyang-ganyan din tayo? We have committed a big mistake and yet we still insist we are right. Kasi sa tingin natin tayo lang ang laging tama.
Very soon however the young man came to his senses and realized how miserable he had become. And he suddenly remembered how good his father was even to their servants at home. Overcoming his pride, then, he decided to return home and humbly pleaded with his Dad to accept him as one among his servants for he was no longer worthy to be called his son.
Meanwhile he did not know that his father has actually been watching outside day and night hoping that his son would eventually return. And when he did recognize him from afar he ran towards him and hugged him repeatedly and kissed him profusely. He even gave away a festive blow-out party for he finally had his son back home safe. His son was dead but he got him back alive; he was lost and now he was found.
What does this story tell us about ourselves and God’s compassion? First, whenever we commit a serious sin we alienate ourselves from God and from the faith community. Not only that we also become a bad influence much like a little virus can contaminate a whole nation. The longer we remain in sin the more we become miserable and more toxic.
But the good news is our misery attracts God’s mercy. This is the second lesson. The deeper we plunge into misery, the more God wants to plunge us into the vast ocean of his mercy. One detail I would like from the story is the father running outside to meet his wayward son coming home. I find it quite strange and puzzling, hindi man lang siya nagduda na kaya siguro bumalik ang anak niya eh baka hihingi ulit at maglalayas. Or maybe the father could have said stern words like “Sige, suwail na anak, lumuhod ka muna dyan sa asin bago kita papapasukin. Or he could have simply said Oh anak mag-quarantine ka muna ha. Baka covid positive ka eh. On the contrary what his father did was to rush outside and embrace his wayward son to protect him from neighbours from the village who would rather have killed his son for setting a bad example for their children. Amazing isn’t it!
Thirdly, God’s compassion is really beyond our imagination. In this story the father seems to be more prodigal than the son. I tried to look up the meaning of prodigal in the dictionary and I found out that the adjective “prodigal” means “spending money or resources freely and recklessly; wastefully extravagant”. In this sense the father was in fact more prodigal because he gave all that his son requested, that is, his share of inheritance (when in fact he was not yet at the point of death), an act that is sheer prodigality. Added to this, when his son came back he gave out a lavish and festive celebration. Isn’t this another show of reckless prodigality? Somehow, the answer is yes. But for Jesus this is God’s compassion at its best.
What Jesus simply wants to emphasize in this story is the extraordinary compassion of our heavenly Father. It is amazingly beyond human experience and human imagination. During this period of Lent may we and many more people experience such marvellous compassion from God and in turn become ministers of his mercy to others. GiGsss!
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