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| Paul Harvey 1918-2009 |
(Fourth Sunday of Lent (C):
This homily was given on March 31, 2019 at St. Pius X Church, Westerly,
R.I., by Fr. Raymond Suriani. Read Joshua
5:9-12; Psalm 34:2-7; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21; Luke 15: 1-3, 11-32.)
[For the audio version of this homily, click here: Fourth Sunday of Lent 2019]
Radio personality Paul Harvey became famous for ending his
newscasts with the expression, “And now you know the rest of the story.”
Too bad Mr. Harvey died back in 2009. Because if he were still around, he might
have been able do some research on the two brothers in today’s gospel parable,
and give us some insights as to what happened to them AFTER these events
that we heard about a few moments ago.
What was “the rest of the story”?
It all ends rather abruptly, does it not?
What was “the rest of the story,” first of all, for the
prodigal son? We know that he went back
to his dad and was forgiven for his many sins, but did he stay with his father? Did he
live a happy and grateful life from this moment onward? Did he really appreciate his father’s
forgiveness and pass that lesson on to his children and grandchildren? Or did he give into temptation a second time
and walk away, never to return? Or did
he walk away and come back again? Did he
do that a number of times?
Inquiring minds want to know!
And, just as importantly, what was “the rest of the story”
for the older, faithful son? Did he stay
angry at his brother—and his dad? Did
that unresolved anger eventually lead him to abandon his family? Or did he finally let go of it and find
peace? And did he ever get tempted to do
what his brother did? Did he ever give
in to the temptation? And if he did give
in, did he ever repent—or did he despair?
Now you might say, “Fr. Ray, hold on a minute. This is just a parable! This is a story Jesus Christ made up to
illustrate the mercy and forgiveness of his heavenly Father. As far as we can tell, it didn’t really
happen historically.”
Well, that’s true. But these are still valid questions to
ponder, because they apply to all of us and to all human beings who DO
experience the love and forgiveness of God the Father in real life. The ways these two fictional sons might have
reacted (had they been real people) show us the ways we might respond in real
life in similar circumstances.
So what was “the rest of the story” for the two brothers?
Well, if you asked me which of these two boys was more
likely to fall into serious sin and get off the right track later in life, I would
say without question it was the older son—the “non-prodigal
one”—the son who had been with his father from the beginning.
That might surprise some of you, although I don’t think it
should. After his return home, the
prodigal son was deeply aware of his father’s love and mercy—the love and mercy
his dad had for him, personally! After everything this boy had done, his
father was willing to take him back when he repented—no questions asked! And then he treated his repentant son like he
had never left! The father forgave—and
in a very real sense he forgot—his son’s many sins.
The bottom line is this: After he returned and was welcomed
home, the prodigal son had a relationship with his dad which was rooted in
love—real, agape love; whereas the older
son had a relationship with his dad which—from all external indications at
least—was superficial and cold. It
was not a loving father/son relationship; rather, it was a lot like the kind of
relationship a client has with a businessman, or a servant with a master.
Notice how this boy speaks to his father after he finds out
his younger brother has come home and his dad has thrown a big party for
him. He says, “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.”
In other words, “I paid my dues; I did what you asked me to
do; I fulfilled my end of our father-son deal.
Why haven’t you given me what I’ve earned? Why haven’t you given me a just reward for
all my years of faithful service?”
To me, that sounds like something a disgruntled employee
would say to his boss, not something a loving son would say to his dear, old
dad!
When we see a relationship with someone primarily in legal
terms (like this older son apparently saw his relationship with his father), we
don’t feel very sorry when we hurt the other person. Nor do we feel a lot of loyalty to the other
person. This explains why you and your
local car salesman will haggle about the price of the car you’d like to buy on
his lot. He’s trying to get you to pay
the highest amount possible; you’re trying to get him to charge you the lowest
amount possible. And in the process
you’re not concerned about hurting his feelings, and he’s not concerned about
hurting yours!
The relationship is strictly business!
Unfortunately, I think that’s also how many people interact
with God. It becomes a business-like
connection: “Ok, God, I’ll give you an hour each weekend, I’ll say some prayers
every day, I’ll observe all the rules your Church gives me, and in exchange you
give me (fill in the blank).”
That’s how the older boy in this parable would relate to
the Lord if he were a modern-day Catholic.
Every once in a while someone will say to me, “Fr. Ray, I
don’t get it. I used to see so-and-so in
church every Sunday; now they don’t even want to talk about God. What happened?”
Well, in many cases what happened is that something went
wrong in their “business deal” with the Lord.
God didn’t fulfill his part of the “deal” to the person’s satisfaction,
so the person stopped fulfilling his part of the bargain.
God wants to have a loving relationship with each and every
one of us. He’s not our employer; he’s
our Father! And such a relationship is
always possible. That’s the good news! That’s the message of this parable! If we’re like the prodigal son before his
conversion, all we need to do is run back to our Father by making a sincere,
sacramental confession—maybe during this week’s parish mission! If we’re like the older son, who seemed to
think of his father as his boss, all we need to do is to change our way of
looking at reality and invite the Lord into our hearts—something I’m sure we’ll
also have the opportunity to do during the mission.
Doing these things will make it much more likely that “the
rest of our stories” will include
a happy ending—the happy ending we long for, the happy ending we were made for,
the happy ending we call “heaven”!
