Those who edited the lectionary readings for the day chose to present the parable of the lost son and skip the parable of the lost sheep and the lost coin. This trilogy of parables is found in Luke chapter 15. Reading the three together allows us to get a better sense of what Jesus is revealing. There is great joy in finding what has been lost, there is great joy in being found! Maybe we can recall something or someone that had been lost and then found, or have experienced a time where we had been lost or separated, and/or a time when we have experienced a time of reconciliation from someone that we have been estranged from?
There were a few times in my marriage to JoAnn that I didn’t have the best judgment, messed up, and she understandably got upset. One memory that comes to mind was when I had been a permanent deacon for a few years and we were still adjusting to the demands of another responsibility that I took on in addition to still teaching full time along with all that went with that obligation. We were out for our anniversary and I was thinking out loud, my first mistake.
We were parishioners of St. Peter Catholic Church and our parish had a good number of deacons, and yet none of us helped out at our one Sunday, Spanish Mass. I mentioned that fact and also that I was thinking of helping out our Hispanic ministry. I didn’t need to speak another word. I saw the change in JoAnn’s face and as she expressed her frustration that she hardly saw me as it was without taking on another responsibility, my chest constricted such that I could barely breathe and I felt like someone just grabbed and started twisting my intestines.
Already operating under an unconscious fear that I would do something to mess up our marriage because of my own unhealed and unconscious insecurities, the next few days were a bit bumpy and internally I was experiencing an emotional maelstrom. We were able to work through not only the poor timing of sharing my thoughts, but the content of them. I would help out with our Spanish Masses once a month. The experience of our reconciliation and that JoAnn indeed loved me more than I messed up, felt like a new lease on life.
In my story as well as each of these parables, there is a great joy for that which or who has been lost and found. How many of us are not even aware of our separation from God or those unconscious mines that we can trip at any time? The son who had squandered every bit of the inheritance he asked of his father before his death, realized not so much that he had really messed up, as I had, but that he was in a dire situation, as I was. He made the right decision to come back home and I admitted the unthoughtful timing of my request. His father never stopped looking for his return, and so saw his son returning “while he was still a long way off” and “filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him” (Lk 15:20).
The father was not seeking his son to bow before him and prove his repentance, his loyalty, and allegiance. The father ran to his son without hesitation. No insignificant act. For an elder to run to a younger family member was unheard of and simply not done. He was breaking this social taboo, most likely to redirect the focus away from his returning son; the one who had betrayed his father, the son who would receive glares and snide remarks. The father rushed out with a reckless abandonment of compassion and love to embrace his son. The jaw-dropping, followed by echoes of gossip surely rose in chorus about the father’s present actions, not his son’s past actions.
God is watching and waiting, seeking opportunities to run to us with compassion and love to welcome us home as the father did in the parable of the prodigal son. God is also like the shepherd who does the absurd in his outpouring act of love, leaving the ninety-nine sheep to go and find the one stray. God seeks each and every one of us just like that shepherd. God is represented by the woman who rejoices over finding one seemingly insignificant coin, for God rejoices in our turning back to him because not one of us is insignificant to him. We are all precious to God, each in our own unique way, and he loves us more than we can ever imagine.
No matter the reason that we have strayed, no matter the temptations and distractions we have fallen for, and/or how far we have wandered away, God loves us more than we can ever mess up. Lent is a season to open our eyes and remember who and whose we are. We are God’s beloved daughters and sons, and that is our truest identity! No matter the separation our choices have caused all we need to do, is turn back to the Father and seek his forgiveness, healing and love. There is great joy in the healing of relationships and reconciliation! Lent is a time to be found, Lent is a time to come home, and Lent is a time to heal and reconcile.
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Painting: “Return of the Prodigal Son” by Rembrandt
Spiritual Stepping Stones 