Fourth Sunday of Lent
Did you catch the Oscars last weekend? Maybe you were excited that Leonardo DiCaprio finally got one, but you otherwise didn’t recognize a lot of the movies. You probably found yourself thinking things like, “Wow really? They give out Oscars for best Assistant to the Assistant Director of Cappuccino Machine Maintenance?“ Perhaps you only flip it on to see the dresses on the red carpet, like people watch the Super Bowl for the commercials.
What if you had to give Oscars to some of the stories from the Bible? Best Actress – the Woman at the Well (John 4). Best Set Design – God (Genesis 1). Best Screenplay – St. Luke (Acts of the Apostles). I think Best Supporting Actor would have to go to the Older Brother from the parable of the Prodigal Son from this Sunday’s Gospel.
Don’t remember him? Well, you probably remember these details from that story: A man has two sons, one of them takes his inheritance, wastes it and goes broke, plans to beg for a job working on his dad’s farm just so he can have a place to stay and some food to eat, but the father welcomes him back with open arms and throws a huge party. This represents God’s love for us.
But Jesus tucks into the story right before the end the story of the Older Brother. It might seem insignificant compared to the story of the prodigal son, but this might even be the most important part for us to focus on.
In a masterful performance, the Older Brother flips out on his father for welcoming back his other son because that son got what he deserved, after all, and this older son had been faithful the whole time. But then he learns a powerful lesson about mercy when the father says “But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.” We don’t get to hear the rest of the story, but I like to think that the Older Brother has a change of heart and goes and throws his arms around his brother, with the ending narrated by Morgan Freeman.
That’s the kind of mercy Jesus is trying to teach in this parable. It’s interesting to note too that the very first line of this Gospel reading says that the Pharisees had been judging Jesus for welcoming the sinners and tax collectors, so Jesus is really addressing this parable to them, trying to point out that they’re being like the Older Brother and that they need to show mercy.
We’re still in the Year of Mercy which Pope Francis set as a theme for this year a few months ago, so in the spirit of that parable, who in your life do you need to show mercy to? Who have you been judging? Who have you been jealous of? How can you work on these things, especially during Lent in this Year of Mercy? Do this and some day you’ll get your own award – or rather reward – in heaven.
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