The tax collectors and the sinners were all seeking the company of Jesus to hear what he had to say, and the Pharisees and the scribes complained. ‘This man,’ they said, ‘welcomes sinners and eats with them.’ So he spoke this parable to them:
‘A man had two sons. The younger said to his father, “Father, let me have the share of the estate that would come to me.” So the father divided the property between them. A few days later, the younger son got together everything he had and left for a distant country where he squandered his money on a life of debauchery.

‘When he had spent it all, that country experienced a severe famine, and now he began to feel the pinch, so he hired himself out to one of the local inhabitants who put him on his farm to feed the pigs. And he would willingly have filled his belly with the husks the pigs were eating but no one offered him anything. Then he came to his senses and said, “How many of my father’s paid servants have more food than they want, and here am I dying of hunger! I will leave this place and go to my father and say: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as one of your paid servants.” So he left the place and went back to his father.

‘While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with pity. He ran to the boy, clasped him in his arms and kissed him tenderly. Then his son said, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son.” But the father said to his servants, “Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the calf we have been fattening, and kill it; we are going to have a feast, a celebration, because this son of mine was dead and has come back to life; he was lost and is found.” And they began to celebrate.

‘Now the elder son was out in the fields, and on his way back, as he drew near the house, he could hear music and dancing. Calling one of the servants he asked what it was all about, “Your brother has come” replied the servant “and your father has killed the calf we had fattened because he has got him back safe and sound.” He was angry then and refused to go in, and his father came out to plead with him; but he answered his father, “Look, all these years I have slaved for you and never once disobeyed your orders, yet you never offered me so much as a kid for me to celebrate with my friends. But, for this son of yours, when he comes back after swallowing up your property – he and his women – you kill the calf we had been fattening.” The father said, “My son, you are with me always and all I have is your. But it was only right we should celebrate and rejoice, because your brother here was dead and has come to life; he was lost and is found.”’ (Luke 13:1-3, 11-32)

This Sunday’s Gospel is a parable of lavish and unexpected forgiveness and reconciliation. It is one of three parables in which God’s mercy breaks through all human and religious restrictions about how God should act toward sinners.

A wealthy father has two sons. Very cheekily, the younger son asks for his share of the estate which would come to him on his father’s death. This is a young man who has places to go and things to see!

Remarkably, the father gives him half of his estate, not the one-third to which the son was entitled. No wonder the older son is put out. The younger son goes off and has a great time until the money runs out. Financially ruined he has to earn his keep feeding pigs. He decides to return home, beg forgiveness and ask to be only a servant in his father’s household.

The father is anxiously waiting for the son when he returns. He runs to embrace him. The son begins his confession, but the father takes no notice. He does not chastise or lecture. He refuses to treat his son as a servant and immediately sets about restoring him to his rightful place in the household with the ring, the robe and sandals. He orders a feast to celebrate the fact that his son is alive and has returned. No wonder the older son is angry and resentful. But the father sets about reassuring him that his place in the household and in the father’s affection is secure and urging him to be reconciled with his brother. We are left wondering about what eventually happened.

The Gospel offers not just the hope of God’s forgiveness but the certainty of it.

The message today is: Rejoice in God’s abiding mercy!

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