March 14, 2010 4th Sunday of Lent Josh. 5:9, 10-12, 2 Cor. 5:17-21; Lk. 15:1-3, 11-32 _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________   Readings:     http://www.usccb.org/nab/031410c.shtml   ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________       The parable of the prodigal son has three characters: the prodigal son, the older brother, and the father.   The youngest son: Here we see the story of a human being like all of us, a common and ordinary person who wanted his independence, who wanted his freedom, who wanted to do what he wanted to do and not to have to listen to his father and older brother tell him what is right and wrong anymore. He didn’t want to live in the father’s house; he didn’t want to live in the father’s love. He wanted to go out and make it on his own, using his father’s inheritance. We as human beings, we take the inheritance that God has given to us. We take the money, the brains, the personality, the health, the resources; we take the inheritance that God has been given to us. And so we take our God-given inheritance and we go and live as if God didn’t exist or remotely exists. Then, we finally come to our senses and we come home to God. This is a story about us, about you and me, when we take our God-given inheritance and run away from God, living as if God does not exist.   But ultimately we need to ‘come to sense,’ wake up and realize that we need to return home to our heavenly father and our heavenly family; to return home to God and his love; to return home to loving relationships with a loving God; to return home to loving people and loving friends.   The older brother: represents those kinds of people who have a “better than you” attitude. They go to church, love Jesus, read the Bible, and feel that they are a little less sinful than people who live outside the church.   The father: had been waiting lovingly for his son to come home. When his wayward son finally came home, he put a ring on his finger, a coat on his back, shoes on his feet, and he threw a party. This same father deeply loved the son who had stayed home, and this loving father went out onto the porch to find his older son. And so it is with God and us. We may be the prodigal son who squanders away the father’s property, or the one who stays home with the father.   Let us during this season of grace come back to the loving God who waits patiently for us to come back and live as loving children within his house.     <<   Previous: 3rd Sunday of Lent  | Next: 5th Sunday of Lent >>   Go Back to SERMONS (Year C)