Sunday Reflection with Canon Robin Gibbons: 30 March 2025

Canon Robin Gibbbons
Mar 29th, 2025

Return of the Prodigal Son by Pompeo Battoni - Public Domain

30 March 2025

Fourth Sunday of Lent

Year C

We know all too well the parable of the two sons and the father, variously called, the 'Prodigal Son' or the`Merciful Father'. I have often reflected on the characters in the story and frequently have used Rembrandt's famous image of that son being welcomed back by a loving father. It's a story with many layers, at the heart of it is one we can identify immediately as that of the deepest yearnings of our own hearts, particularly for those of us who are growing old and for whom our parents are long gone. It doesn't matter how old we ar , the sense of being in some way an orphan becomes the strange and merciful gift for each one of us, because it pulls us back to that deeper yearning we know, of wanting to go home, and desiring that our mistakes and faults are somehow rectified, made good in that place where we are safe, loved, wanted. It ties in with our search for the 'Father's House', to which we are all journeying.

If we are to make the parable one of mercy in its fullness, each of us has to take the three characters in turn and fit ourselves into their shoes so to speak, and perhaps it is best to begin, not with the dramatic figure of the younger son, but the shadowy, almost hidden older brother, for I can assume this is a place we find ourselves all too often. His redeeming features, the gifts that will eventually draw him back into his fathers embrace and the acceptance of his brother as belonging with and to him, are those of so many; dependability, a strength of purpose, hard working, self-giving, and with a capacity for endurance in hardship. Yet his failure is like ours, a self-absorption at times, that does not see others in their full measure, and certainly has resulted in broken relationships, with both his brother and his father. The antidote is that offered by his father to him, be open, share what you feel in gentle truth, be respectful and above all trust in me, that is in God.

The younger son is one we identify with perhaps in younger days, very openly self centred, but nevertheless a fun person, whose exuberance gains him many friends, and we realise that they are still with him at the end of the story. He is the jester amongst us, the flatterer, but also might we suggest, an honest and clever person, who is able to turn a bad situation into a better one. His failings are there before is, but his gifts, which are really set alight by his father, are the ability to draw love (the enmity of his brother is only the shadow side of that passion), to create friendships, he has rto learn to be responsible with his trust, to be truthful at all times and not use things to his advantage. The father gives him back his integrity, he is restored to life, not mere existence. And, that is what Christ's gift is to us, to live fully, not just to exist!

But the last person is that enigmatic father, at once a symbol of love and also foolishness. How are we like him, if as people keep suggesting this is an image of the merciful God? In that we are refracted images of God - in - Christ, imperfect icons of holiness, in that the Spirit touches us, then we too share in that true paternity, parenting of God for others. We are gifted persons, tasked in adrawing others, adopting them to ourselves. There are many who become our friends, but there are those who also become our sons and daughters for a while. The wonder of that father in the parable is his openness and his unending source of merciful love, that is what we need to touch, this is what we need to draw close to, and in our small ways, this pattern of faith and love, this meeting with the father in truth and love, is what we need to aspire to each and every day. Amen.

Lectio

Hymn of the Jubilee Holy Year 2025

Pilgrims of Hope

Original text: Pierangelo Sequeri

English translation: Andrew Wadsworth

Like a flame my hope is burning,

may my song arise to you:

Source of life that has no ending,

on life's path I trust in you.

Ev'ry nation, tongue, and people

find a light within your Word.

Scattered fragile sons and daughters