Probably today’s gospel passage (Luke 15:11-32) is one of the most powerful images used by Jesus in His preaching. The “Parable of the Two Brothers” (sometimes called “The Prodigal Son”) reveals the boundless mercy of God. Some of the Fathers of the Church interpreted the younger son as the Gentile people and the older brother as the Jewish people. The younger son represents a people who were welcomed into the Father’s covenant despite their infidelity and idolatry, whereas the older son represents those who were with the Father the whole time but were unfaithful to Him in their hearts. Nevertheless, the most important dimension of this parable is what it says about the spiritual life, because everyone one of us here goes through phases similar to the younger brother and the older brother. Firstly, let us look at the younger brother. His life represents the sad effects of sin. When we sin, we are abusing our freedom. Freedom is our inheritance – our gift – from the Father, who lets us “do what we want” with this gift. When we abuse this gift by “loose living” (that is, sins of the world, the flesh and the devil), we are left empty. We find ourselves in slavery, especially when things are so bad that we are jealous of what pigs eat. Sin leads to hell. Yes, hell is where we will go if we do not repent, but hell is also a present reality. When we live so selfishly that our lives become closed in on ourselves that we have no love to give — this is hell. And ultimately, if this is how we live our lives now, God will give us what we want for eternity: separation from Him and His kingdom in sæcula sæculorum.
However, this spiral of sin does not have to end here. Like the younger son, we can turn back to our loving Father, who runs toward us to embrace us, to kiss us. Msgr. Rubino in this month’s edition of Homiletic & Pastoral Review gives a profound insight: “A significant break with Middle Eastern custom was the father’s action upon seeing the son. In the Middle East culture, old age was seen as a blessing, and reflected certain cultural norms, and ways of behavior. Seeing his son in the distance, he runs to embrace him. He does not walk; he runs. For an older person to run was a significant loss of status, rank, and dignity as the father would have had to pull up his tunic, expose his bare legs, and run. The father’s behavior was totally beneath the understanding of how ‘senior citizens’ behaved. Surely aware of the customs of the day, he still ran to his prodigal son, risking harsh criticism from his guests for his behavior.” This is where the sacrament of confession comes in: Once the Father has run toward us after our inner detestation of sin, verbal confession is the Father throwing His arms around us; penance is the Father’s kiss.
But what about the older son? How do we see him in our spiritual life? Those of us whose faith becomes simply a Sunday obligation are like the older son. We go through the motions, but our hearts are far from the Lord. We prefer entertainment to prayer; we prefer our political leaders over Christ (or our political parties instead of our Church); we are neither hot nor cold – just lukewarm. As the “older brother,” we can learn something from the “younger brother.” We need to repent; we need to ask for the gift of fervor from the Father; we need to ask Him to set us on fire for our faith. As we approach the holy altar this Sunday, we thank God for slaughtering the fattened calf – the Lamb of God – who stands on the altar slain but living. Let us, who have been lost, be found by the Father in the Son and through the Spirit. Amen.
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