One of my favorite things that I would do on a routine basis during my years in the seminary was “going home.” It wasn’t just myself, but every seminarian would look forward with eager anticipation to the moment when they could drive down Glennon Drive and jump on the highway, headed to wherever home was. In my experience, it was always a moment of great jubilation at home as well. Usually, as I came in the house, there was always this palpable joy that would take hold, and even the farm dogs would usually join in on that as well. It was a brief break in the separation from home life, and it was quite enjoyable.
Many of us likely have that experience. If you’ve been away for college, for work, or even just live in a different place, there is always this experience of going back to our roots, or back to the place where we might say that “we belong.” It is a simple drive very often, or perhaps a little longer trip, but nonetheless, there is something that just may prove to be important to getting back home.
As you can see by the color of vestments, we are currently passing the halfway mark of Lent. We have been in the desert for quite some time, and perhaps our thoughts are turning more towards Easter and towards the joys and celebration that this brings. Yet, as we start to focus on that return journey, perhaps now is a good way to zoom out and to look at the way that we are being called to return home, and to experience our own journey back to the Father. The liturgy today, as joyful as it is, reminds us of how much more joy we can find in coming home, and turning back to God.
The first reading for this Sunday is taken from the book of Joshua. If you take a thirty-thousand foot view of the reading, it is speaking on the Passover- the very feast of celebration which noted the fact that God had spared His people, and had exonerated them from the tyranny of the Egyptians. They are starting to find stability yet again in their life. They are putting manna aside, which would have been the food of a nomadic people, and are instead starting to farm and become comfortable with a more settled way of life.
Yet, the framework of this entire passage is in the very first verse of the passage: “The Lord said to Joshua ‘Today I have removed the reproach of Egypt from you.’” What that means is that they have been removed from their persecutors, and they have, in fact, returned home. They are reaping the fruit of that return!
Moving into the second reading, we are hearing from Saint Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians. He speaks about the fact that there is a sort of newness that is being enkindled in the Corinthian’s hearts. We are told that “the old things have passed away, behold new things have come.” This is great! Yet, it can seem a little generic. What is Saint Paul pointing out here? He is actually moving into the fact that there is a reconciliation with Christ. There is a ministry of reconciliation, there is an entrustment of the message, and there is the experience that Christ has given us that reconciliation Himself.
Yet, there is a second have to this- we are ambassadors- and we are encouraged to be a people who encourage reconciliation with Christ. “He became sin, who did not know sin” so that we may experience the removal of sin, and the restoration of righteousness ourselves. This means that Saint Paul’s basic encouragement is to experience the newness of returning home and of being reconciled to God, through Christ.
The final part of all of this is the story of the Prodigal Son, which is relayed to us from the Gospel of Luke. The context for this is all very easy: the Pharisees and scribes are trying to accuse Jesus of what they consider to be something unclean: eating with tax collectors and sinners. They think that they’ve somehow undermined Jesus’s own authority by this simple observation. So, Jesus, aware of the fact that they are trying to dismiss him, gives them this very well known parable: there is a son who desires his part of the estate. If you understand the context of the Jewish culture- this is essentially saying to the father “you are as good as dead to me.” It’s insulting, and quite embarrassing to the Father! Yet, he gives him his share, and he leaves. In very short order, the entire inheritance that the son had is eaten up and squandered away. He finds himself hitting rock bottom very quickly, and he hits such a point where he is working for pig farmers- which would hardly be a job that he would have ever wanted. In this state of utter depravity- the son begins to think, and eventually comes to a conclusion: I need to return home. Look at how much better even my father’s own servants have it! He begins the journey home- an important part of this process- and rehearses this short speech to his father: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son…” We are told that the father catches sight of the son a distance off, and begins to run toward his son- something that wouldn’t have exactly been dignified for him to do. He was watching for his son, and all of a sudden, he begins to run to his son, as he sees him making that return journey.
When they meet, the father embraces his son- and as his son is going through this well-rehearsed speech, the father cuts him off, and then puts a robe on him, and puts him back in the place of being his son. The son had no intention of asking for this high place, but instead was utterly astounded at what happened.
Then, there is this dark side of what happens with the older son. The older son has been on his own journey, and is not at home. He calls out, and will not come back to the house when he finds out what has happened- that the father has welcomed the son in. It seems that the older son is filled with self-righteousness, and therefore is not interested in welcoming back his brother. Even though the father welcomed back the young son, the older is struggling.
If you consider all of this, my brothers and sisters, where do we find ourselves? Are we a people at home, or are we far away, and perhaps looking to make the return? You see, the reality of the prodigal son is that we are all the younger son. We have ways that we squander our inheritance- which is the kingdom of heaven. We have ways that we take the inheritance of the father, and simply dismiss and ignore the father. We are given the freedom to leave- and to lead a life of misery and unhappiness. Yet, notice the prodigal son: he decides that he wants to make that return to the father! He wants to come back and to be in that place, and the presence of his family. He wants to return home!
We are all actually called to make this beautiful return home. The way that the father- who is actually God our Father- waits for us is truly incredible! Did you notice how the Father was always waiting for the Son’s return? Did you see the way how the Father, in spite of everything that happened, made that dramatic run to embrace the son? That son is you and I! We are the ones that the Father wraps in his arms and bestows gifts upon, and even restores us to grace! This happens in no small way in the sacrament of Reconciliation. Isn’t it a beautiful though that from the moment you decide to go to Reconciliation, the Father begins to run towards you? As you reach the doors of the confessional, the Father works to embrace you, and all of your inheritance- the kingdom of Heaven- is restored to you- all by the Father’s goodness?
Really, the only limiting factor here is the older brother. If you had to think about it- at the end of this story, who is closer to the Father? The younger son or the older son? The older son had focused on making himself appear righteous in the Father’s eyes, and as a result, he became very harsh, and very critical. He no longer wanted to be a part of the family, and had gone away from the home of the Father! May we never find ourselves in such a sorry place as to refuse the Fathers love! The younger son ended that day closer to the Father than ever before- he experienced that dramatic love, and was filled with the Father’s grace yet again! Jesus reminds even the scribes and the Pharisees the simple fact- they are all in need of God’s mercy. They are not above the title of sinner themselves, because they refuse to acknowledge their faults and failings before God! Truly this is a sorry plight, because the Lord wants to love them so tenderly!
That is truly a remarkable and profound ideal! The Lord wants to bring us back to the promised land- and He wants to restore us back to that life of grace- and it truly is a journey. He wants to bring us back home! Thus, our simple encouragement, as we continue our Lenten journey, my brothers and sisters, is to be humble. To acknowledge our need for God. Most importantly, though, it is to return back to the Father’s house.
“My son was lost and has been found.” May we be so bold as to be found by the Father, and to return back home!
