The Fourth Sunday of Lent, March 30, 2025

Luke 15, 1-3; 11-32

Tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to Jesus, but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So to them Jesus addressed this parable. “A man had two sons, and the younger son said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of your estate that should come to me.’ So the father divided the property between them. After a few days, the younger son collected all his belongings and set off to a distant country where he squandered his inheritance on a life of dissipation. When he had freely spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he found himself in dire need. So he hired himself out to one of the local citizens who sent him to his farm to tend the swine. And he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed, but nobody gave him any. Coming to his senses he thought, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have more than enough food to eat, but here am I, dying from hunger. I shall get up and go to my father and I shall say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers.”’ So he got up and went back to his father. While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him. His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son.’ But his father ordered his servants, ‘Quickly, bring the finest robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Take the fattened calf and slaughter it. Then let us celebrate with a feast, because this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found.’ Then the celebration began. Now the older son had been out in the field and, on his way back, as he neared the house, he heard the sound of music and dancing. He called one of the servants and asked what this might mean. The servant said to him, ‘Your brother has returned and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ He became angry, and when he refused to enter the house, his father came out and pleaded with him. He said to his father in reply, ‘Look, all these years I served you and not once did I disobey your orders; yet you never gave me even a young goat to feast on with my friends. But when your son returns who swallowed up your property with prostitutes, for him you slaughter the fattened calf.’ He said to him, ‘My son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours. But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’ ”

This Parable is customarily called that of The Prodigal Son, “prodigal” meaning “spendthrift”.  Because most of the attention in the Parable falls on him, he seems to be the main character and the story is all about him.  Recently, sermons have begun to focus on the character of the father, who loves his errant son unconditionally.  This leaves the older son, the third character in the Parable, as an unnecessary detail.  That is, if the sin and repentance of the younger son is the subject of the story, or if the father’s love is, the older son comes as a diversion from the main point.  In fact, the way the Lord tells the Parable, the situation of the younger son and the position of the father hinge on what the older son decides.  Will he forgive his brother for the shame he has brought upon his family, not to mention the sizable financial loss it has incurred through him?  His lack of forgiveness would deeply wound his father and at the same time foreshadow the penury and homelessness of the younger son when the father dies.  And no one could blame the older son for his refusal to forgive.

The Lord ends his Parable without a real conclusion.  No hint of the older son’s decision is to be found in the Parable itself.  Not even examining its context helps, for the first three verses of the Gospel Reading pertaining to a completely different Parable in which Jesus addresses the complaint of the Pharisees, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”  Jesus leaves us to consider the question for ourselves.  Do we side with justice by allowing the younger son to deservedly suffer the consequences of his terrible choices, or do we side with a spendthrift mercy that the younger son is in no way owed?  And it is a “spendthrift” mercy to reconcile with the younger son, going far beyond the ordinary bounds of mercy, which might include the provision that the son be allowed to stay as a servant.

Perhaps even the Apostles felt uncertain as to the right decision for the older son’s to make until the Sacrifice of the Lord Jesus on the Cross and coming face to face themselves with indescribable mercy.