Prodigality Sunday: Forgive as Forgiven
Exodus 32:7-11, 13-14; 1 Timothy 1:12-17; Luke 15:1-32 or Luke 15:1-10
Our television screens are inundated with scenes of violence and strife. Nations are at war against nations: Russia against Ukraine, the two Sudan against each other; intra-national wars in Democratic Republic of Congo, Central Africa, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria, Colombia, Ecuador, etc; those nations not at war are preparing for war or aggression, like North Korea and Iran. To this list, one can add American gun-violence and racial tensions, global family disunities and divorces, genocides. We live in a world that needs healing and reconciliation with itself. But what happened to the reconciliation God offered humanity through the death of Christ on the Cross of Calvary?
Our first reading today points out one area of disagreement between God and human beings, with respect to the use of human freedom. After a spectacular display of power and strength, with a tinge of favoritism, God delivers Israel out of Egypt, with the intention of establishing a new covenant of love and promise of protection of Israel, but that project was high-jacked – Israel had a different plan, it created and worshipped a molten calf! Aaron bows to pressure, did what the people wanted, not God’s will but human democracy, the voice of the people! How often do we allow ourselves to be cowed in the face of human pressure and chicken out of our Christian responsibilities? How often do I steal because I need extra money or fornicate because there is a willing partner or because I think God is unreasonable with his demand of celibacy and chastity inside and outside of marriage?
You know what? There are many molten calves out there that you and I worship: every sin and attraction to sin is a molten calf. Every sin committed puts us in the same boat as Aaron and the Israelites of our first reading. To make matters worse, our society is good at inventing new sins, whether in the name of freedom or research in medical and communication technological fields. Free pornograpghy, eugenics and euthanasia, organ trafficking, etc.
There is a clear sign of hope in this bleak and grim situation described by our first reading: Moses stands tall and high in defense of God and the proof that fidelity is possible even in the very midst of human pressure and concupiscences to sin. Moses shows the power of fidelity because that made his intercession heard by God, contrary to Aaron, who needed intercession himself! Also, Moses shows the strength of love that goes with fidelity to God – intercession for sinners and not the wish for their destruction or condemnation. But where did Moses learn these (intercession and fidelity), if not from his own personal experiences of God’s mercy and forgiveness? When Moses killed the Egyptian, God forgave him by helping him to escape from Egypt and confers a mission of liberation of Israelites upon him instead of destroying him. When an Egyptian decree of extermination of every male child born of Hebrew slaves went out, God saved Moses despite Pharaoh’s injunction! In fact, Moses grew up in the royal family of the Pharaohs because of God’s benevolence.
Perhaps it is Paul who puts it more elegantly, lessons learnt from personal failures, in our second reading today, when he confesses his personal encounter with God’s mercy – forgiveness – despite his persecution of the Church. Imagine how God made Paul the apostle of the nations, in spite of his past murderous activities. What about Peter, who denied Jesus three times, he became the leader of the Church; Mary Magdalene, who became apostle to the apostles themselves; the doubting Thomas, etc. There is something good about every human being which makes God never to give up on even the worst sinner: we have been created to the image and likeness of God, and God will never abandon his image, except when his image abandons him!
According to our gospel reading today, God places a very high premium and stake on the redemption of his image, whether a sinner or a saint. The parable, which talks about chasing after one lost sheep, even if it were necessary to abandon 99 others in search of one strayed one, simply talks about how priceless each one of us is before God. The greatest militating factor to the experience of God’s mercy and forgiveness is the human arrogance to accept that we are fallible! Hear the older child in the parable of the prodigal father: “I have never disobeyed you,” but he is not obeying his father’s call to forgive and accept his baby brother as a returnee sinner or converted sinner! The younger brother had moved on, but the older brother is locked in the past of sin that used to define his baby brother.
The good news this Sunday is the fact that there are no longer Scribes and Pharisees to accuse tax collectors and sinners before Christ. There is only God’s mercy to welcome every sinner home, like the repentant baby brother. It is not about human prodigality but God’s prodigality or better put, liberalism: God chooses to forgive sinners, and there is no higher court of appeal to contest God’s decision, for God’s court is the Supreme Court of mercy!
If there is one lesson on which to work on this week, it is the ability to forgive oneself and others, as God has forgiven us all in Christ. This reality of forgiveness goes hand in hand with the mentality that says that God never gives up on humanity because of sin, but God offers each human being the opportunity to return home to him. Let our assignment for the week be to encourage sinners and let them know that God’s forgiveness is nearer to them than they might know!