4TH SUNDAY OF LENT (YEAR C)

1st Reading             Joshua 5: 9a. 10-12

Psalm                       34: 2-3, 4-5, 6-7 (R. 9a)

R:// "Taste and see that the Lord is good!"

2nd Reading          2 Corinthians 5: 17-21

Gospel                     Luke 15: 1-3, 11-32

RESPONSIBLE STEWARDSHIP OF GOD'S GIFTS

Dear friends, today is the 4th Sunday of Lent (Year C). The 4th Sunday of Lent is called Lætare Sunday (Sunday of Rejoicing), properly because the entrance antiphon starts with "Laetare" (Rejoice). We rejoice because we are very close to Easter. In fact, we are just 2 weeks away from Easter. The character of the Laetare Sunday is expressed explicitly in the liturgical colour, Rose, which is used today. Rose or Pink is nothing other than violet mixed with a little white. The white indicates the Easter joys. We are indeed very near. Additionally, we have a little adornment of the sanctuary with flowers. This tells us that things are beginning to blossom, and life is beginning to be restored. Gracefully, today is also the last Sunday of March, and we also need to rejoice because the Lord has sustained us, and we testifiers to his great providence. 

This Sunday, I suggest that we stay close to the Gospel passage from Luke 15:1-3, 11-32. This is a very popular narrative and peculiar to the Gospel according to St. Luke. We have before us the parable of the father who divided his property about his two sons at the request of the younger son. The younger son lived frivolously and returned, having regretted. His father took him back home and organised a feast for him. The elder son does not seem happy with the feast but receives reassurance from the father. The narrative sounds very benign and compassionate. More than that, it is heavy.

Let us look at a few unusual details from the passage. 

The first is that the younger son sought his share of his father's property. One particular incident that could call for the bequeathing of an asset to a son is upon the death of the father. Practically, the son's action could mean that his father is living too long. However, on the other hand, what the younger son did is in line with the ancient customs in the East for sons to demand and receive their portion of the inheritance during their father's lifetime. This is done when a son comes to the years of maturity. Therefore, the two sons of that "certain man" are not simply sons but are mature sons. They actually have the right to demand. 

What interests us is that he asks for the share of "PROPERTY" that falls to him (Lk. 15: 12). The word translated as property or goods or estate is the Greek word "Ousia" (οὐσία). That word is more than property. That word means SUBSTANCE or the BEINGNESS of a person. That is the EXISTENCE and LIFE of a person. The kind of property the younger son is seeking is a share in the existence or life of his father. He actually has a right to have a share in the life of his father. There is no doubt about it. I want us to remember the Creed and notice the word "Consubstantial." That word (Con + Substantial) means same substance. That is the relationship between God the Father and Jesus, God the Son. Jesus has the same life, the same substance, as the Father. Therefore, what the younger son is seeking is to have a share in the life, substance, or beingness of his Father. 

We have a right to seek from God as a Father, and he gives to those who ask. He grants graces to those who ask. 

The problem lies in how the graces we asked for, the life we asked for, is used. This is the second point. The younger son "gathered all he had and took his journey into a far country, and there he squandered his PROPERTY in LOOSE LIVING" (Lk. 15: 13). What actually constitutes the loose living? The Greek word is "Asōtēs" and could be translated as "prodigal" or "wasteful". The equivalent Old Testament Hebrew word is "Zōlēl", and this word means a "glutton". This is a person who is rebellious. We encounter "Zōlēl" in Deuteronomy 21: 20. We know that in Proverbs 23: 21, "the heavy drinker and the glutton will come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe a man with rags". In fact, Deuteronomy 21: 20 describes a glutton in the context of a rebellious child. The first known people to have expressed rebellion in the Bible are Adam and Eve (Gen. 3). The kind of loose living Luke talks about could be seen as a life that focuses on gratification of pleasures, living according to one's dictates, and not paying attention to advice. Imagine a man with abundant wealth and resources and has no plan for investment. He will eventually be brought down to zero. 

The third point is the consequence of his loose living. He was poor due to famine. He did not invest or make good use of his property. He misused his LIFE, his grace, and found life difficult during famine. The consequence was that he lost his personal identity.  Luke says that "He (the younger son) hired himself out to one of the local citizens who sent him to his farm to tend the swine" (15:15). This is the height of disgrace. Pig is an unclean animal. In fact, in Leviticus 11: 7-8, there is an injunction against it: "... a fig the pig, which does indeed have hoofs, and is cloven-footed, but does not chew the cud and is therefore unclean for you. You shall not eat their meat, and you shall not touch their carcasses; they are unclean for you". That same injunction is in Deuteronomy 14: 8. The younger son cannot tend or take care of swine without touching their carcasses. For him to have contact with a pig meant that he is not within the Jewish territory because, as an unclean animal whose carcasses are not even to be touched, Jews would not rear it. The younger son is simply very far from home. He is in a foreign land and is now ruled by another person. 

The things we ask from God are not really the issue. The issue really lies in how we use them. You can be rendered a man of zero if what God gives you as a share in his LIFE is only to feed your pleasures. You simply leave his presence, seeking independence and attempting to live a life outside his watch. This is SIN. 

The resolution is simple. Let us seek to use what God gives us resourcefully and under his care. Return home by using God's gift not to gratify your pleasures. You may have lost it all. God's graces do not get exhausted. His life does not come to an end. He has abundant life to share.

Pax et Bonum.