4th Sunday of Lent
Fr. Peter Robinson
Preached: March 30, 2025
- Luke 15:1-32
— For those of you who are Eagles fans (and I am, by the way):
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- You will remember a classic line from the album, “The End of the Innocence”
- It was the year 1989
— And Don Henley wrote these lines in the track titled “The Heart of the Matter”
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- “I’m learning to live without you now but I miss you sometimes.
- “I’ve been tryin’ to get down to the heart of the matter.
- “But I think it’s about forgiveness, forgiveness.
- Even if, even if you don’t love me anymore.”
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— A musician who covers Henley’s song said recently that Henley was referring to his ex-wife
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- That Henley chose the path of forgiveness
- “Even if, even if you don’t love me anymore”
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— Today’s Gospel reading gives us 3 attractive stories by St. Luke about forgiveness
— Now, it’s important to bear in mind that the Gospels are theological narratives
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- That is a technical term ⇢ it describes how the Gospels teach theology by story
- Which means that the Gospel writers were doing theology, just as much as St. Paul in his epistles
— So, today’s first two stories by St. Luke form a pair
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- These stories put all the accent on the joy in heaven at the return of a sinner …
— 1st parable: we read of the lost sheep
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- And the friends of the shepherd, who share his joy in finding the sheep that strayed away
— 2nd story: Luke then adds the parable of a woman looking for her lost coin
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- It is touching to notice that Luke is always careful to show that women have an equal part in the Kingdom of God
- This woman finds her lost coin, and calls her neighbours to share her joy
— Only then do we come to the 3rd story of the Prodigal Son
— We are all familiar with the details of the rebellious son, the prodigal
— But what about the character of the oldest brother?
— As we dig into the cultural context of the story, we realize just how much the older brother despises his younger brother — and dishonours his father!
— Why do I say that, you ask?
— The older brother invents slander concerning the women he claims the younger brother kept company with
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- Did you notice that there is no specific mention of such a fact in the story itself?
- Anthropologically, we know that it was dishonourable for the younger brother to demand, and then sell, his share of the estate — before the father’s death
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- No one in the village would have purchased his land, so apparently the older brother did
- That makes sense of the father’s claim to him: “All that I have is yours”
- So, in his greed for more property and more wealth, the older brother dishonours his father
- In refusing to go into the house to join the celebration, he forces his father to come outside to him
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- That means, in the eyes of the community, he shames his father yet again!
— The brilliance of Jesus’ parable of the Prodigal Son is the question: what will the older brother do next?
— Will he restore the relationship with his father and his younger brother?
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- If so, he will first have to work through his anger at his father
- Then, he will have to work through his lack of forgiveness of his brother
- Plus, he will have to admit that he is in the wrong
— He faces, the older brother, a long purgation, a long period of cleansing
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- Providing he repents
— Otherwise, the older brother remains locked in his lack of forgiveness
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- Even though his own father pleads with him to forgive
- Pleads with him to come in to the celebration
— If he does not forgive, the older brother remains locked in his own personal hell
