Thinking Anew:TOMORROW'S GOSPEL, the story of the Prodigal Son, is one of the best-known parables in the New Testament. It paints an unforgettable picture of a father waiting for his son's return. His son's behaviour is appalling. The prodigal son does everything to annoy and upset his dad. He demands his share of the business and then ups and leaves. He spends and wastes all the money.
But the wise father never gives up. The story is so vividly told that the reader can see the father waiting in the avenue leading to his home. Then, in the distance, he sees his son coming home. But it also catches our attention because it gets right to the human heart – the extraordinary love of a father for his son. He asks no questions; there are no rebukes. Instead he kills the fatted calf to celebrate the homecoming of his son.
It is simply a wonderful story of the great and unconditional love and forgiveness a father offers his son. The hard-working son who stays at home is peeved by how his father treats his wayward brother. It is easy to overlook the brother at home.
Most of us, if we were honest, would have to say that the brother who stays at home gets a raw deal. In a world that places so much value on results and profit margins, there can be little sympathy for someone who mismanages his business and then goes off and squanders his inheritance.
Shareholders would be quick to vote the prodigal son off the board of directors in favour of the brother who keeps his shoulder to the wheel. And that is a problem, you might call it a challenge, that lies at the heart of the Christian message. There are no limits to the great mercy of God. It is the long tradition of Christian theology that the extraordinary grace that God is constantly offering us is not in any way contrary to the world of nature, rather it complements it and supports it. Grace gives us a new image of reality. It allows us to say that there are no barriers, no limits to God’s love. And that means that our dealings with other people have to be shaped in a way that is always tempered by our vision of God’s unlimited love for us.
We believe that God never gives up on us, no matter how great our wrongdoing might be. God’s invitation is open-ended. It is for us to accept that call. Again, it is central to Christian thinking that no one is beyond the pale when it comes to the possibility of answering God’s call. Priests are sometimes asked if wicked people like Stalin or Hitler could be with God in heaven. No Christian theologian could possibly dismiss the possibility, crazy though it may seem.
God never gives up on us. His Son, the Jesus of the Gospel, is the man who tells us about the prodigal son. The same man also reminds us what happens the lepers in his society.
Today we are dazed by revelations of child sexual abuse. We have been nauseated by the crimes of priests. For a while it seemed that legalities and financial considerations took precedence over the message of Gospel. The tendency of institutions to protect themselves prevailed.
Eventually the institutional church had to face the facts and take action. It was far too slow in doing so. Alleged offenders are now immediately stood down and rightly so.
But how does this shameful episode in the life of the Church square up with tomorrow’s Gospel and the theology of God’s forgiveness? It is a real question that requires a serious answer. Otherwise the whole story of the efficacy and value of grace is called into question. The church can never wash its hands of the sinner. The salvation of sinners is its core task. It is never a question of excusing the sin or exonerating the sinner. But if the church is to stay true to its calling it has to do exactly what the father of the Prodigal Son does in tomorrow’s Gospel.
The grace of God is all-powerful. It complements and builds on our human know-how.
In the hell of this current turmoil, we have an amazing opportunity to speak openly and factually about what it means to have faith in God and what grace means for us.
Christianity is about love and struggle and challenge. It's truly exciting. – MC