Father Rick Bolte's Homily

C: Twenty Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time              2007-09-16
 

People in Jesus’ day would have reacted with more surprise that we at the idea of seeking the one lost sheep while leaving the ninety-nine behind.  For the woman to work so hard cleaning the house just to find one small coin seems equally ridiculous.  But just in case we didn’t catch how excessive is the concern for the one lost sheep or coin, Jesus includes in the parable that they have an excessive celebration with friends and neighbors.  Jesus’ point is that God’s love and forgiveness is not the result of rational or human valuation.  Jesus is telling us that God’s concern for us who are lost is beyond reasonable measure.

Many of us are inclined to ask the question regarding the sheep, “What about the ninety-nine who didn’t wander away?  Isn’t God concerned about them?”  What we don’t say is that we regard ourselves to be usually among the ninety-nine.  That’s why the third parable is so important.  Through the older son we are included in the story.

When we focus on the third parable as “The Prodigal Son,” we miss much of Jesus’ thrust.  We can see from the two preceding parables that the focus should be on God’s love and forgiveness being beyond any human expectation.  People of Jesus time would have noticed from the beginning not only the failings of the younger son but of the older son as well.  The younger son is treating his father as if he were dead.  He wants his inheritance now.  In Jesus’ time, one’s honor is the most valuable possession one could have.  This honor, more than material possessions, was the greatest inheritance the father passed on to his sons.  The oldest son, who was to inherit the greatest proportion, had the responsibility of maintaining the father’s honor especially if there were any division between the father and a younger son.  But in this story, the oldest son is notably absent.  This absence is brought home in the story as we are told that the younger brother dose not leave as soon as the property is divided but actually waits a few days before he leaves.  There was ample time to intervene but the older brother did nothing.

That the older brother is not concerned about the father or his honor but only his inheritance becomes even clearer at the end of the story.  By refusing to come into the banquet, he further dishonors the father.  The father is not only humbly compassionate and forgiving toward the younger son, but also toward the older.  The father comes out to the older son and pleads with him.  The older son angrily responds without a proper address to his father, describes his relation to his father as a servant or slave to a master, and accuses the father of favoritism.  He accuses his brother of cavorting with prostitutes.  The father addresses him as his son and reassures him that his inheritance is intact.  He tries to get the older son to realize that the love within a family is more important that any inheritance.

Sadly, many of us identify with the ninety-nine sheep and the older brother because we too relate to God more as a master than a father.  We obey the Ten Commandments, church laws, and other directives of religious leaders.  We hope that by following them we have been “good” and somehow deserving of God’s promises.  Because we work hard to follow these rules and feel we sacrifice what we’d rather do, there’s a sense that we are better and more deserving than those who have not worked so hard.  We want our “inheritance” and feel it is not fair for someone to get it without the effort we put into it.

The older son has a hard time hearing what the father is talking about.  He reminds him that he loves him as his son.  He loves the younger son too.  This is the great gift; the true treasure or inheritance!  This is what our God offers us, his love and invitation to be in a loving relationship with him.  Following the “rules” helps us to be in contact with the Father’s love just as the older son has an advantage of being with the father, “you are with me always.”  Trying to be deserving gets in the way of receiving the gift of God’s love.  The way we live is only a means of inviting God’s power and influence into our lives.