Fourth Sunday of Lent -- Laetare Sunday

The parable of the prodigal son is the third of three parables Jesus tells in the 15^th chapter of Saint Luke’s gospel.

The first concerns a shepherd who has a hundred sheep and, losing one, leaves the ninety-nine in the wilderness to retrieve his one lost sheep. The owner of the sheep might not appreciate his shepherd’s concern, considering the risks of wolves, lions and thieves; but he seems to be lucky this time. Finding the lost sheep the reckless shepherd returns and celebrates with his friends saying, “Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.”

The second story is similar: a woman loses one of ten coins and frantically searches the house until she finds it. She too invites her friends in to celebrate her relief. We can suppose the one coin is more valuable than the cost of tea and cookies for her friends.

A pattern is developing. Something is lost, found and celebrated. 

Finally, as we hear today, a man has two sons and loses the younger one. He does not pursue the boy but he searches the horizon daily waiting for his son’s return. At last the boy returns, a sorry spectacle, and the old man rejoices.

When I interpret this story I like to keep it simple. The older son has reason to complain. He was not invited to the party when every other detail – the fatted calf, the fine wines, the musicians, the guests – was attended. The father is not an ideal parent. Why on earth did he give his wastrel son half of his wealth and let him walk out like that? Did the father never consider what his prodigality would do to the older son and the household? How the young man would now be his father’s only heir and coequal to him? Can he continue to order his son out to the fields when they own the estate as equals? Finally, does he suppose the younger son has actually learned his lesson or changed his ways? 

This family is a mess. Things don’t get said unless they’re shouted. 

But the old man is right in one important way, and this is the essential message: 

…we must celebrate and rejoice,

because your brother was dead and has come to life again;

he was lost and has been found.

Ours is not a perfect church. We are in so many ways A People Adrift. Following the half century when we found ourselves at the peak of respectability and influence in the United States – a country which had not welcomed us despite its own principles of hospitality – we discovered a horrifying corruption within ourselves. 


Nor are our families, neighborhood or nation perfect. Why should they be? They are what they are.  "We must celebrate and rejoice". We can’t wait until everything is “just right.” Hell will freeze over by then. Rather, we thank God for the blessings that are and the people he gave us. 

That’s what Jesus was doing among tax collectors and sinners when the Pharisees accosted him.
Finally, our faith tell us, if we celebrate today well -- tomorrow will be better.

Laetare! Rejoice!