LOVING IS HARD, FORGIVING IS MORE DIFFICULT

SERMON PREACHED BY FR. TONY NOBLE ON March 14^th, 2010

Luke 15: 11-32 “Your brother was dead and is alive.  He was lost and is found.”

Sometimes, the season of Lent proves to be very difficult.  Here we are in the middle of the season, and perhaps. like me, you’ve already slipped in your Lenten rule.  Perhaps, you made some resolutions about extra worship, or prayer, or reading, or fasting.  And then hurdles appeared, and caused you to stumble.  We ought not to be surprised at this.  Satan does not like us to make spiritual progress, nor to focus more on Christ in our lives.  For Satan is the tempter. 

So today, with its note of festivity and refreshment, is more than just light relief in Lent. It is an opportunity to start again - to reassess our spiritual journey, and renew our Lenten pilgrimage. 

Today’s Gospel is all about starting again and renewal.  The prodigal son squandered his father’s gifts. But then he was able to start life again because of his father's love and forgiveness.  Of course that father is an image of our Heavenly Father. But he is also an image of Jesus, who forgave those who crucified Him with that most easiest of excuses – that they did not know what they were doing. "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do".

 In the parable, not only did the prodigal son experience renewal, but so did the father.  He was renewed by his son’s return.  The tears he shed were not those shed by the waters of Babylon, but tears of his own unconditional love.           

Loving is hard, but forgiving is much more difficult - and both are divine.  And when we do so, we are blessed, renewed, and sanctified. 

Did the older brother know this renewing power of love and forgiveness?  We are not told.  We would hope so. But all we are left with is a brother who has succumbed to the evil one – that great tempter who is the father of lies.  This parable presents to us an image of temptation, and the choice between good and evil.  One results in love and rejoicing; the other in jealousy and bitterness.  

So today would be a good day to revisit the temptations that our Lord faced at the hands of Satan in the wilderness.  For those three temptations are common to us all.   Jesus’ forty days of prayer and fasting in the wilderness are our pattern for the season of Lent.  So we ought not to be surprised that during Lent, we may have slipped and faced temptation like Jesus.  The forty days of Lent are also an image of our own life and its pilgrimage - with all its’ snares of the enemy. The enemy who is the evil one. 

We confront evil in the normal course of life, year in and year out.  Lent reminds us that the temptations we face are more subtle and attractive than evil - to put ourselves ahead of others, for instance. Or to make our needs and desires an idol to be worshiped.

And so to Jesus’ temptations. He fasted, and He was both hungry and thirsty.  “Turn these stones into bread,” said Satan.  I suppose Jesus could have - if He wanted to - turn those stones into bread.  It would have been to please himself, of course. Not to have shown the glory of God, like when He turned the water to wine at the wedding in Cana. That was to glorify God. To change the stones into bread would have just satisfied His immediate need. 

Turning stones into bread may not seem to be a temptation that we face - but all of us have gifts from God, and sometimes we waste them.  Or we use those gifts to glorify ourselves,  or to please others. 

Take the gift of speech for instance – how easy it can be used as a vehicle of destruction or self justification, rather than communicating truth and expressing the love of God - like the prodigal son’s father did.  Do we squander the Father’s gifts like the prodigal son? 

What of the second temptation - the temptation for Jesus to throw himself down from the pinnacle of the temple, way down into the brook of Kedron?  This was a test for Jesus of His divinity - to show He could do these miraculous things.  The tempter whispered, “You have nothing to fear.  Angels will swoop down and catch You.”  We could go to the Coronado Bridge and jump off. It is unlikely - but there are times when we do put God to the test.  Like making demands in our prayers. Putting God in a balancing act, and waiting to see if He responds in our favor.  I guess we’ve all done that - thinking it was the sort of prayer Jesus urged upon us. 

Finally, the temptation of power and control.  Mostly, this does not come our way, but is left to those in high places.  But Satan whispers to Jesus, “worship worldly success, not the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth.  Use Your divine powers to persuade the crowd to follow You.  There is only one condition.  Bow down and worship me.  Serve evil and not the good.” 

In its simplicity, the parable of the prodigal son is the antidote for all those temptations which are mirrored by Jesus. and more.  Chiefly, the parable of the prodigal son is the story of God’s great love for all His creatures. Even we humans who are prone to sin. Especially, we humans who are prone to sin.

It is the story of Lent.  Like Lent, this story climaxes with resurrection.  The prodigal son was dead, and he came back to life.  He was lost, and he was found.