Coffee With God

Reflection: Luke 15:1-3,11-32

Judaism taught that God granted his pardon to those who had sincerely repented and expressed their desire to be converted through fasting, penance, torn clothes and prostrations. But the Image of God brought to light by Jesus was a very different one – a God who sets a banquet for those who do not deserve it and invites sinners to his feast, without checking if they are repentant. He embraces them without asking any questions. What prompted the younger son’s return to the father was not repentance but hunger. He tried to survive even by eating what was given to the pigs ate. He would not have returned if anyone had offered him food. Fear of death brings him back. He is willing to be a servant in his father’s house provided he has food to eat. He might leave again if he has a possibility to survive elsewhere. But the father does not care whether the son is repentant. He embraces him. Through the parable, Jesus reveals the true face of God the Father who loves everyone, always and without conditions. The young boy represents many youngsters of our times. They believe that they have no freedom in their own house in the presence of their parents. Many people leave the Church today because the Church has too many rules to follow, and feel that there is no freedom. The elder brother follows all the commandments of the father. He attempts to remind the father: “I have not transgressed any command; I have always served you faithfully….” He then makes his complaints to the father, “… but when your son returns….” He refuses to admit that this “son of his father” is his younger brother! He is the perfect portrait of the scrupulously law-abiding Pharisees, who would say to the Lord in the temple: “I am not like other people, grasping, crooked or adulterous. I fast twice a week and give the tenth of all my income” (Lk 18:11-12). Does he sound familiar? We attend the Sunday Mass without fail, pray the novenas and litanies faithfully, observe the lent with utmost care. But we refuse to forgive and love that brother or sister who wronged us! Were all these done to obtain some favours from God? Do we get annoyed when people with “lesser” qualifications or “bad reputations” are accepted and recognised in our communities? The eldest son would still go in to attend the banquet for ‘his brother,’ because he wants to obey all the commands of the father, but with a grumbling heart. Yet the Father patiently awaits the return of his two sons to celebrate life together. Are we joining the banquet of the Father because we want to fulfil all the rules and regulations of the Church, but with anger and hatred towards our brethren?