(Audio recorded live, 29 March 2025)

Readings:

Jos. 5:9a, 10-12; Ps. 34; 2 Cor. 5:17-21; Lk. 15:1-3, 11-32

“But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.” These words from today’s gospel show us a most worthy kind of rejoicing, namely, for the sinner who returns to God. Jesus says, “he was lost and has been found.” I would venture that most of us have felt this sense of being lost at some point in our lives. It is often in those low points when God seems to act the most. Oddly enough, we tend to miss how God acts, at least in the moment. Then, sometime later, when we reflect on our lives, we see how Jesus was carrying us, like that beautiful poem Footprints in the Sand. But, what joy it is when we realize how God is with us. On this Laetare Sunday, we rejoice that God is with us.

In our first reading from the Book of Joshua, as Joshua led the Israelites into the promise land, the Lord says, “Today I have removed the reproach of Egypt from you.” No longer will they carry within them the shame and humilitation of being slaves, rather, they will now be free men in the land promised to their father Abraham.

For forty years, the Lord led the Israelites in the desert, providing them with manna to eat, and giving them water from the rock. The Lord would dwell with them in the tabernacle as it says in the Book of Exodus:

“Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle…The cloud of the LORD was over the tabernacle by day, and fire in the cloud at night, in the sight of the whole house of Israel in all the stages of their journey” (Ex. 40:34-38).

And so, the Lord remained with the Israelites until they reached the promised land, at which point the manna ceased and the Israelites ate the produce of their new homeland. The Lord fulfilled his promise.

Our psalmist says, “Taste and see the goodness of the Lord…Look to him that you may be radiant with joy, and your faces may not blush with shame.” Once again, we see the way in which God delivered the Israelites from slavery, raising them up on eagle wings, and carrying them through the wilderness. The Lord not only protected and defended his people, he also gave them the Law to follow. For nearly two generations, the Israelites learned the importance of this Law, which Jesus distills into two commandments: To love God and to love our neighbor.

St. Paul says, “Whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come.” Just as the old Joshua leads the people into the promise land, the new Joshua, i.e. Jesus, leads us to heaven. The Law of Moses is no longer necessary for salvation, rather, God has reconciled the world to himself in Christ. All that is needed is faith in the Son of God. As St. John tells us, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him” (Jn. 3:17). This salvation comes through sacrifice, as St. Paul says, “For our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.” Jesus became sin through the scandal of the cross: “a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles” (1 Cor. 23). As the prophet Isaiah says, “Though harshly treated, he submitted and did not open his mouth; Like a lamb led to slaughter or a sheep silent before shearers, he did not open his mouth” (Is. 53:7). Instead, “he was pierced for our sins, crushed for our iniquity. He bore the punishment that makes us whole, by his wounds we were healed” (Is. 53:5).

In the crucifixion of Jesus we see the length to which God was willing to go to save humanity. This is exactly what Jesus was trying to show the scribes and Pharisees in today’s gospel. In a passage known as “The Prodigal Son,” we ought rather to consider this entire parable from the perspective of the Father. After all, Jesus came to show us the way to the Father. What does God desire for each of us?

The younger son in the parable is a surrogate for the tax collectors and sinners whom the Pharisees despise, while the older son is a surrogate for the Pharisees themselves. When Jesus visits sinners, he forgives their sins and shows them the way to the Father. As Deacon John reminded us last week, whenever Jesus forgave someone their sins, he always followed it up with a command, “Now go and sin no more.” Reconciliation leads to transformation. Once forgiven, we seek to avoid whatever leads us to sin. The parable provides an answer to the question, “Whose sins can be forgiven?” Jesus shows how terrible a life the younger son had without his Father. He spent all his inheritance and hired himself out tending swine, unclean animals. But, in a moment of clarity, the younger son realizes he may win over his father by asking him to make him one of his hired workers. He says, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son.” An interesting subtext here is that the son never asks for forgiveness, nor does he say he is sorry. Might it have been the same with the tax collectors and sinners Jesus visited? Were they all falling prostrate before Jesus asking for his forgiveness, or did Jesus have to help them realize their sinful ways so that they could repent on their own? God does not force anyone to sin, nor does he force anyone to confess their sins. We are given the freedom to do either. Either we may choose to love God with our whole heart, strength, and soul, or we may choose to act selfishly and love ourselves. The parable teaches that it is better to be a worker in the Father’s vineyard than a slave to our sins.

Up until this point, I have ignored the older brother. Many of us can relate to this character in the parable. Many of us may even feel that righteousness swelling within. Why do we relate more with the jealousy of the older brother rather than the mercy of the father? Who is the head of the household? The Pharisees were so self-righteous that they could not appreciate what they had with the Father. The father in the parable says, “My son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours.” When we have it all, what more do we need? The only thing lacking then is joy. And on this Laetare Sunday, we celebrate with joy the merits of our Blessed Lord who reconciles us to the Father every time the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is offered. Indeed there is no greater cause for rejoicing, for we too, are with here with the Father always, who says, “But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.” As Jesus says in an earlier parable, “I tell you, in just the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance” (Lk. 15:7).

And so, as we turn now to the celebration of the Eucharist, the one True Sacrifice of Jesus, let us rejoice in his presence among us, especially in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. And may the communion we share, help us to carry this presence out into the world, so that we may lead others to Christ, who is the way to the Father.