THE parable of the prodigal son has a
side story worth
meditating on. I believe it contains rich and very relevant lessons
for all of us to learn, especially during these that tend to lead us
to rash judgments and self-righteousness.
It’s the story of the other son, the brother of the
prodigal son, who remained with his father and who appeared to be
faithful to him, until the wayward brother came back and somehow
caused trouble to him.
Like this other son, we can appear good and faithful, but
sad to say, in appearance or in name only. The real goodness and
fidelity are actually absent. When a returning sinner or person in
error appears at home and is welcomed by God, our Father, that sad
reality appears too.
More concretely, this can happen when all our interest and
eagerness for what is true and good would make us hateful of those who
are in error or in some bad state. It’s a sense of righteousness that
fails to include mercy and the cost that such mercy requires.
This is not so with God as epitomized by Christ himself.
He is all true and good. He is the very canon of holiness. And yet
what does he do with those who go against him? There is justice and
punishment, of course. But in the end, there is mercy.
He sent his very own Son to us. Becoming man, the Son
ultimately offered his life on the cross as a ransom for all of us.
Mercy is the prevailing divine sentiment, going beyond the demands of
justice.
In the parable of the prodigal son, we have the consoling
thought that the errant character regretted what he did, and decided
to go back to his father, asking for forgiveness.
But in some other parts of the gospel, we also learn that
Christ forgave those who did not even ask for forgiveness. For
example, he asked for forgiveness for those who crucified him.
“Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they are doing.” (Lk
23,34).
St. Paul expressed this sentiment of Christ by saying,
“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we
might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Cor 5,21)
In his Letter to the Romans, he said: “God shows his love
for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” (5,7)
It’s very important that we understand these words very
well, so that even as we ought to know and follow what is right and
avoid what is wrong, and even as we, of course, also have to comply
with the demands of justice, we still should have to go beyond these
levels, and reach the point of mercy and reconciliation.
This is what true righteousness is. We should avoid
getting stuck at the level of justice alone, which in our human ways
can never reach the justice of God that includes his mercy.
This was the problem with the other son, the brother of
the prodigal son. He got stuck with his human concept of justice. And
so the father, who in this parable is the image of God, had to tell
him:
“Son, you have always been with me, and all that is mine
is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of
yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been
found.” (Lk 15,31-32)
This is not going to be easy, of course. Christ himself
said that if any person wants to follow him, “he must deny himself,
and take up his cross daily and follow Me.” (Lk 9,23)
Our human justice is usually stuck with the merely
punitive. That it redresses the wrong done is more incidental than
anything. That it is restorative and medicinal to both the victim and
the guilty party can only be at best accidental.
We need to have the justice of God, which can only happen
when we would completely identify ourselves with Christ and do the
revolutionary thing of denying ourselves and carrying the cross. Short
of this, we can only be like the other son of the parable of the
prodigal son.
We have to be careful that in our pursuit for what is
true, good, fair in our dealings with others, we don’t fall into our
own self-righteousness, missing the righteousness that is of God. The
former avoids the cross. The latter requires it.
We have to understand then that the cross is necessary in
our life, both in good times and in bad.
meditating on. I believe it contains rich and very relevant lessons
for all of us to learn, especially during these that tend to lead us
to rash judgments and self-righteousness.
It’s the story of the other son, the brother of the
prodigal son, who remained with his father and who appeared to be
faithful to him, until the wayward brother came back and somehow
caused trouble to him.
Like this other son, we can appear good and faithful, but
sad to say, in appearance or in name only. The real goodness and
fidelity are actually absent. When a returning sinner or person in
error appears at home and is welcomed by God, our Father, that sad
reality appears too.
More concretely, this can happen when all our interest and
eagerness for what is true and good would make us hateful of those who
are in error or in some bad state. It’s a sense of righteousness that
fails to include mercy and the cost that such mercy requires.
This is not so with God as epitomized by Christ himself.
He is all true and good. He is the very canon of holiness. And yet
what does he do with those who go against him? There is justice and
punishment, of course. But in the end, there is mercy.
He sent his very own Son to us. Becoming man, the Son
ultimately offered his life on the cross as a ransom for all of us.
Mercy is the prevailing divine sentiment, going beyond the demands of
justice.
In the parable of the prodigal son, we have the consoling
thought that the errant character regretted what he did, and decided
to go back to his father, asking for forgiveness.
But in some other parts of the gospel, we also learn that
Christ forgave those who did not even ask for forgiveness. For
example, he asked for forgiveness for those who crucified him.
“Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they are doing.” (Lk
23,34).
St. Paul expressed this sentiment of Christ by saying,
“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we
might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Cor 5,21)
In his Letter to the Romans, he said: “God shows his love
for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” (5,7)
It’s very important that we understand these words very
well, so that even as we ought to know and follow what is right and
avoid what is wrong, and even as we, of course, also have to comply
with the demands of justice, we still should have to go beyond these
levels, and reach the point of mercy and reconciliation.
This is what true righteousness is. We should avoid
getting stuck at the level of justice alone, which in our human ways
can never reach the justice of God that includes his mercy.
This was the problem with the other son, the brother of
the prodigal son. He got stuck with his human concept of justice. And
so the father, who in this parable is the image of God, had to tell
him:
“Son, you have always been with me, and all that is mine
is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of
yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been
found.” (Lk 15,31-32)
This is not going to be easy, of course. Christ himself
said that if any person wants to follow him, “he must deny himself,
and take up his cross daily and follow Me.” (Lk 9,23)
Our human justice is usually stuck with the merely
punitive. That it redresses the wrong done is more incidental than
anything. That it is restorative and medicinal to both the victim and
the guilty party can only be at best accidental.
We need to have the justice of God, which can only happen
when we would completely identify ourselves with Christ and do the
revolutionary thing of denying ourselves and carrying the cross. Short
of this, we can only be like the other son of the parable of the
prodigal son.
We have to be careful that in our pursuit for what is
true, good, fair in our dealings with others, we don’t fall into our
own self-righteousness, missing the righteousness that is of God. The
former avoids the cross. The latter requires it.
We have to understand then that the cross is necessary in
our life, both in good times and in bad.
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