Joshua 5:9-12; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21; Luke 15:1-3,11-32
The Israelites had fled Egypt and have just crossed the River Jordan, arriving in the Promised Land. The long journey from Egypt had led them through the desert, the wilderness. They had to overcome doubts and the temptations to worship other gods. The Israelites have arrived. The passage in Joshua describes the joy of homecoming. No need of manna anymore. The “shame” of Egypt, the time of slavery and dependence is over.
However, the experiences made are to be acknowledged and remembered. The Israelites celebrate their first Passover in the Promised Land.
Just as Joshua describes the new life of the Israelites, Paul describes the new life and the new creation after God’s forgiveness in his letter to the Corinthians. God reconciled himself to us through Christ. Our sins were taken and forgiven through Jesus, and a new life has started for us.
The parable of the Prodigal Son, the Lost Son, is maybe the most popular story about forgiveness.
Jesus tells the parable when he is already watched with suspicion by the Pharisees and the scribes. They say that Jesus “welcomes sinners and eats with them.’ And his parable actually ends exactly this way.
In the first part of the parable, Jesus explains why the younger son became a sinner. The story is as old as humanity. A son breaks away from his family, their values and morality. Maybe he was working under his older brother who one day would inherit the land and the farm. What perspectives did the young man have? Would he inherit money while the brother would inherit the land? This was the reason for thousands of second-born young men in history who eventually emigrated from Europe, seeking their own land and life in foreign countries.
We don’t know if the young man in the parable was also looking for land and a farm, but, instead, was a victim of scammers. Things might have gone well for some more time, but then a famine hit the country he lived in. He eventually left.
When the young man hits rock bottom, he remembers his father and regrets that he had left home. He repents. He doesn’t expect to be accepted in the family anymore, but he hopes for just enough mercy to get the chance to survive.
With deep regrets, the son returns home, but how surprised would he have been when his father came running towards him! The father didn’t even allow his son to offer his services to him. He organises clothes, a ring and sandals – the symbols that showed everyone that the father had accepted him back at his side.
The father has welcomed the sinner and prepares a celebration – and eats with his son and everyone who followed his joyful invitation: his son was lost and was found. His son, who seemed to have wished his father was dead when he asked for his inheritance – this same son is now back at his side.
The father is happy to have his son back alive. He is overwhelmed by joy – but his older son doesn’t understand his mercy and generosity. He feels taken for granted.
Does he feel jealous? He might have known about how his brother wasted the inheritance, but he might have overlooked how deep his brother had fallen, how much he had suffered and how deeply he regretted his mistake. He wouldn’t have known that his brother came back with the intention to ask to work as a servant just in order to survive.
The audience knows that it was the will of the father, the compassion that had moved his father that made him forgive the sinner. The father invites the older son to join the celebration and to rejoice that the younger son was thought to be dead but was back alive.
It is Laetare Sunday – the joyful Sunday of Lent. Let us celebrate God’s abundant forgiveness.
BM
