Reflection on the Fourth Sunday of Lent

This Sunday, we hear perhaps the most well-known parable of the New Testament - the Prodigal Son. This parable is perhaps misnamed. The word 'prodigal' means extravagant. The son was extravagant with his father's money given to him as his inheritance to the point of ending up feeding pigs and wishing for the pigs’ food (indeed, a bad situation for a Jewish man who became ritually unclean by his proximity to the swine.) But it was the Father who was truly extravagant. But justice, he was not obligated to give the son his inheritance, but he did. Further, he was not obligated to take the son back, but he does. He waited, watching for the sign of his son to return to him, and rushes to the son brought low by his reckless lifestyle. The father gives the son a ring, a robe, and sandals, all of which are symbols of status and identity. The father restores his son to his former status as a son through the extravagance of his mercy and love.

Of course, the elder son is angry, but he himself did not know who he was. In the context of the story, one could get the sense that he saw himself as only a servant. He could not share in his father’s joy, because he did not see himself as a son. In leaving the parable hanging with the son outside, Jesus is hinting that the listener is the elder son - is he going to go in and not only share his father's joy, but also 'claim' his own identity as a son? Is he going to stay bitter, and remain outside in the dark?

In our vocations, those questions are ours to ask. We may be like the younger son. We may have walked, perhaps even run, away from our Heavenly Father's love. We squandered His riches to the point of ending up alone and hungry. We are invited to return, and when we do we find that God waiting to bestow an identity on us. With that, we can submit ourselves in love to His extravagance . But perhaps even more important for most of us is to become aware that we might be the elder son – that we might not know that God loves us, but see ourselves as only servants. The invitation for us with this is to know God’s love of us as his children. Yes, God gives us our dignity and identity, and when we live it out, we know the extravagance of His love.