Tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to Jesus,
but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying,
“This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
This, then is the context, the key that explains the primary meaning of the parable of the prodigal son. It is an explanation of why the Father delights to welcome sinners to his banquet. It also explained why the Pharisees tend to resist and reject that aspect of the Father.
It is important to note from the beginning that the younger son really had transgressed, and that his offense was no minor thing. He had not been misunderstood. Neither did he simply lack the moral knowledge necessary to know better. Asking for his inheritance while his father was still alive was all but saying that he wished that he was dead. His father, at that moment, was no more to him than potential financial gain. But it wasn't just greed, he wanted no part in the life of his father's house.
After a few days, the younger son collected all his belongings
and set off to a distant country
where he squandered his inheritance on a life of dissipation.
We might surmise a few things from the younger sons journey. The first is that he did not know how to put his newfound wealth to good use. He was not able to use it in a way that made him truly happy. And there was much less to prevent this away from home. He did not know how to use his money, and so far away and isolated there was no one to teach him. The second point is that the reason his father kept the inheritance for a later time was not so much because he was reluctant to share but rather his sons were not yet ready to receive it. If he grew in maturity by living with his father and learning his ways he would have been able to handle increasing sums with proportionally fewer problems. He fled his home precisely because he did not want to live under such scrutiny. But it was obviously just this of which he was still deeply in need.
Coming to his senses he thought,
‘How many of my father’s hired workers
have more than enough food to eat,
but here am I, dying from hunger.
We note that the younger son was not moved to return home in the first place because he had offended his father. It was more or less imperfect contrition that drove home back. He feared the pains of hunger and the loss of the comfort of home. It was not especially because he loved the father who was certainly deserving of that love.
Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.
I no longer deserve to be called your son;
treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers.
Still, his contrition helped him to realize that he had made a mistake. It motivated him to subject himself to his Father, whom he knew to be just. He saw the way sin had broken his relationship. But even if could not be the same he no longer wanted to be without it entirely.
While he was still a long way off,
his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion.
He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him.
The Father, however, loved his children far more than they could ever guess. All he he desired from them was that they could all be together, and share the life of his family. In order for the younger son to experience it, it was necessary he first turn from his ways. But the relationship that he feared could not be restored was already whole again before his speech, his act of contrition was even finished. It was a true spiritual resurrection. He had been dead in sin, but brought to life again by his father's love.
Quickly bring the finest robe and put it on him;
put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.
Take the fattened calf and slaughter it.
It was his father's love for him that made him capable of moving beyond his early and still self-directed motivations into genuine love. By seeing his imperfect contrition met with perfect love he more and more desired to reciprocate that love in an increasing pure contrition.
This can describe the way confession affects our own relationship to our heavenly Father. It can be a profound experience of unmerited love. Or it can if we don't take it for granted. This was the lesson of the elder son who had remained physically close to his father, but whose heart had grown cold to him. He was envious of others because he didn't know what he himself already had, since, as his father told him, "you are here with me always". So even if we never entirely leave home in mortal sin, our venial sins can still take our hearts increasing far from the Lord. We are invited, in confession, to rediscover the Father's love and to reintegrate ourselves more fully into the feast, the banquet of the Lamb.
Vineyard Worship - Hungry (Falling On My Knees)
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