God's Ways and Judgments: Surprise Surprise

I wonder how many times we have read, heard, and listened to homilies on the story of the Prodigal Son.  I would imagine that the number would be quite high indeed.  For us priests and deacons who preach sometimes these well known stories are actually tougher to preach than those Gospel readings that are more theological, obscure, or difficult to understand.  Anyway, I wanted to do something a little different today in regards to the Prodigal Son story.  I want to reflect on, “we may be in for a surprise in the next life.”

What do I mean by that?  When I was a seminarian our vice-Rector Brother Bill, actually a deacon, would often say, “We are going to be surprised by who we realize made it to heaven and who did not.”  That is exactly the message Jesus is trying to get across to the Pharisees and Scribes.

In the story, the Prodigal Son is the one who squanders his inheritance, the one who turns his back on God and the Law of Moses, he represents all the little folk, the sinner.  The Father represents God, and the other son – the older one represents the Pharisees and Scribes, the ones who are self-righteous..  If you notice when the Prodigal Son returns the older brother demands to know the reasoning and the justice behind the excellent treatment of a sinner compared to him who has always followed the law and been an obedient son.  Jesus was a radical at times, and it is clear that he is being such here.

There are two things that point to this, one) all that matters is love and forgiveness and two) God’s ways are not our ways.  The Prodigal Son returns to his father because he loves him, he realizes the errors \ sins he has committed and is truly sorry.  But the older brother doesn’t like this because he has followed the law meticulously and it’s just not fair.  How he is surprised!  He can’t believe it, he’s in shock really.

Jesus uses this story to “shock” the Pharisees into realizing that God judges differently than they do.  God sees the human heart, He alone can judge it.  We see the human heart only partially and our judgments are not perfect.  As Catholics and especially us priests we need to be careful in regards to how we judge.  I will often times hear or read, that a person has to do such and such or this and that before they can enter the kingdom of God and some hold to this is in a very strict and black and white sense.  Please do not misunderstand me as Catholics we have obligations but those obligations must spring from a desire of love and not just from duty, otherwise like the Pharisees and Scribes we will become the judge of our brothers and sisters or like the older son who believes he is entitled.

We are entitled to nothing.  I will leave you with two things, the words of my former Vice-rector Brother Bill, God rest his soul, “We are gonna be surprised to see who made and who didn’t,” and finally the words of Christ which teach us humility, “So should it be with you. When you have done all you have been commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.’” (Lk 17:10)  If we are ever feeling like the older brother remember Jesus’ call to humility.  We are owed nothing by God.  If we do not humble ourselves then we will stand before Him with prideful hearts and it is so much better to stand before Jesus with a contrite and humbled heart.  Amen.