Forgiving and Merciful

Homily for Saturday of the Second Week in Lent

Of all the parables that appear in the various Gospels, none is better known than the parable that we read today. The parable of the prodigal son is so well known and so often commented upon. Most of the commentaries focus our attention on the sons of this man, for we must remember that the story opens by telling us, “A man had two sons.” When the parable is paired with the reading from the Prophet Micah, it becomes evident that the focus of this story is not upon either of the sons or upon their sins. The focus of the story is on the father who forgives so completely even before the boy finishes his practiced and insincere little speech. With Micah we ask, “Who is there like you, the God who forgives, who pardons, and who removes guilt?” The question is rhetorical. The answer is all too evident. There is no one like our God when it comes to forgiveness. Indeed, it might be said that God is wastefully extravagant in mercy and extends his compassion lavishly upon all who ask for mercy - that God is prodigal in his willingness to forgive.

When asked to comment on this parable, one participant in a Bible study class that I taught years ago made an observation that only a parent could have made. She said, “Where is the mother in this story?” Perhaps the parable is so powerful because in our human experience, it is ordinarily the mother who forgives without question. Then add to that the fact that the Hebrew word for compassion is “rahamin,” the plural form of “raham” which means “womb.” When the psalmist asks for compassion in Psalm 51, he is asking for the kind of bond that exists between mother and child.

Dorothy Day once wrote, “God is on the side even of the unworthy poor, as we know from the story Jesus told of his father and the prodigal son. The prodigal son returned penitent to his father’s house. But who knows, he might have gone out and squandered money on the very next Saturday night; he might have refused to help with the farm work and asked to be sent to finish his education instead, thereby further incurring his brother’s righteous wrath, and the war between the worker and the intellectual, or the conservative and the radical, would be on. Jesus has another answer to that one: to forgive one’s brother seventy-seven times. Of course, there are always answers, although they are not always calculated to soothe.”

Yes, if we are the ones who are in need of God’s mercy, this parable suits us to a “T.” However, when it is others who need God’s mercy, we oftentimes are not so understanding. It is at those times that we need to remember that we were fashioned in God’s image and likeness and, consequently, are also called to be forgiving and merciful.