Thursday of the Thirty-First Week in Ordinary Time

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/110311.cfm

Angle Lake in Seatac, WA

The 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."

In response to complaints about his association with tax collectors and sinners Jesus tells three parables. Because this fifteenth chapter of Saint Luke contains all three parables and the chapter is so long, we never hear Jesus’ entire response in one reading. In today’s reading we hear the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin. The third is the parable of the lost son: “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.’

But, hearing the familiar story of the Prodigal Son, we may miss the connection between the Pharisees’ complaint and Jesus’ response. It helps to go back and notice the similarities in all three stories:

·         The Shepherd, the housewife and the man all lose something precious.
·         Each is anxious to find the lost article.
·         Each is overjoyed when it is found.
·         Each calls in friends and neighbors to celebrate.
·         The first two end with similar summations which, we may assume, belong to the third:

o   I tell you, in just the same way
there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents
than over ninety-nine righteous people
who have no need of repentance.

o   In just the same way, I tell you,
there will be rejoicing among the angels of God
over one sinner who repents."

The parable of the lost son ends with feasting, song and dance, and a painful conversation between the father and his first born son. That young man represents the “Pharisees and scribes” who carped about Jesus eating with tax collectors and sinners; and the father’s word to him is Jesus’ reply: “But now we must celebrate and rejoice…”

And that, to me, is the main point. We must celebrate. There will always be problems; we will never in this world enjoy the perfection we want. Our families, our church, our nation and our world are steeped in sin. God knows that and so do we. But we have to celebrate now. We can’t wait until everything is just right. 

It's easy to be cynical. Any coward can do that. But to celebrate God's promises, and to act as if Goodness and Justice and Mercy and Peace will prevail in the end, no matter what! -- that takes courage. 

Celebration is food and drink to the soul. Every Mass is a gathering of confessed sinners but the Lord wants us to come together, to forgive one another and to eat in peace. And because we do come together, He promises, that Day will come.