The Mystery of Christ
The Liturgy as Spiritual Experience

by Father Thomas Keating

Chapter 2 Part IV

The Easter-Ascension Mystery

The Prodigal Son

    The tax collectors and the sinners were all gathering around Jesus to hear him, at which the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them." Then he addressed this parable to them:

    A man had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, "Father, give me the share of the estate that is coming to me." So the father divided up the property. Some days later this younger son collected all his belongings and went off to a distant land, where he squandered his money on dissolute living. After he had spent everything, a great famine broke out in that country and he was in dire need. So he attached himself to one of the propertied class of the place, who sent him to his farm to take care of the pigs. He longed to fill his belly with the husks that were fodder for the pigs, but no one made a move to give him anything.
    Coming to his senses as last, he said: "How many hired hands at my father's place have more than enough to eat, while here I am starving! I will break away and return to my father, and say to him, "Father, I have sinned against God and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son. Treat me like one of your hired hands.' " With that he set off for his father's house.
    While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him and was deeply moved. He ran out to meet him, threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him. The son said to him, "Father, I have sinned against God and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son."
    The father said to his servants: "Quick, bring out the finest robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and shoes on his feet. Take the fatted calf and kill it. Let us eat and celebrate because this son of mine was dead and has come back to life. He was lost and is found." Then the celebration began.
    Meanwhile, the elder son was out on the land. As he neared the house on his way home, he heard the sound of music and dancing. He called one of the servants and asked him the reason for the dancing and the music. The servant answered, "your brother is home, and your father has killed the fatted calf because he has him back in good health." The son grew angry at this and would not go in; but his father came out and began to plead with him.
    He said in reply to his father: "For years now I have slaved for you. I never disobeyed one of our orders, yet you never gave me so much as a kid goat to celebrate with my friends. Then, when his son of yours returns after having gone through your property with loose women, you kill the fatted calf for him."
    "My son," replied the father, "you are with me always, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice! This brother of yours was dead, and has come to life. He was lost, and is found."
[Luke 15:1 - 32}
Gospel of the Fourth Sunday of Lent

    To understand the main thrust of this remarkable parable, it is good to remember to whom it was addressed. The public sinners had gathered to listen to Jesus to see what he might have to say, to check him out. Some of the scribes and pharisees were also present. They complained that he hobnobbed and hung out with tax collectors and prostitutes. Tax collecting was considered the lowest form of earning a living at that time. Jesus presents us with an image of God that must have come as quite a shock to everybody. Jesus spoke of Yahweh as "Abba", Father, the God of infinite compassion This was a revolutionary way of speaking of God compared to the popular concept of Yahweh as the God of armies.

    The father in this parable was well-to-do and had two sons. The younger one seems to have had no sense at all. He was interested in his share of the inheritance because he wanted to live it up before he got too old, and this would cost money. So he negotiated with his father to hand over whatever was coming to him. He did not say what he was going to do with the money and his father did not inquire; he preferred to trust his son who was now a man. It only took the young man about three days after he got his hands on the money to pack his belongings and to take off to see the world. He went into a far country where nobody could check up on him and where he could have the maximum freedom to do what he liked.  His luxurious living quickly consumed the fortune. The inheritance, of course, was not something that was owed to him, but something someone else had worked for; he just happened to be the heir.

    The younger son was not a good manager. He drank a lot, caroused and squandered the money. Then what happened? As generally happens with projects for sheer pleasure, his plans did not work out as expected. He got clobbered by circumstances. This is the only way for some people to learn that their emotional projects for happiness are, in fact, programs for human misery. They go bankrupt, suffer a painful divorce, lose a child in an accident, are rejected by the people they most love, become alcoholics or drug addicts, and wind up on skid row or in a mental hospital. There it finally dawns on them that their happiness projects are not working out as well as expected.

    In similar fashion, the only way that this young man discovered his mistake was to encounter disaster. A famine broke out in the country where he was living. Soon he was starving and the only job he could get was tending a herd of swine. But no one ever offered him the husks that the swine were eating to assuage his hunger. In the popular opinion of his milieu, nothing could be worse than taking care of pigs. The young man had hit bottom. He began to reflect on the situation of the hired hands at home. Even if they did not have a share in the inheritance, they were well-fed. It was hard to leave the land of his cherished dreams of unlimited pleasure, but now all his fantasies had been shattered by the famine, his shameful occupation and his aching hunger. Reality, as it always does, had significantly insinuated itself into his emotional projects for happiness.

    He decided to return to his father and began the long journey home. As he went, he prepared a speech to present to his father. "Father, I have sinned against God and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired hands."

    As he neared the paternal estate, his father caught sight of him a long way off. The bereaved father had evidently been on the lookout for his long-lost son. As soon as he spotted him, he ran down the road to greet him, threw his arms around him and kissed him. The young man started to recite the speech he had so carefully prepared, but his father did not wait for him to finish. The Prodigal only got as far as to say that he was unworthy to be called his son. He never got the chance to say, "Treat me as one of your hired hands," because his father was too busy kissing and embracing him.

    The father immediately calls his servants to bring out the finest robe, a precious ring, sandals for his son's bleeding feet, and to prepare the fatted calf, symbol of the epitome of celebration. The party begins. There is dancing, music, and everybody is having a bash. The father is aglow with happiness and the Prodigal is beginning to regain a glimmer of renewed self-respect. Everything is as it was before his departure, only more so.

    This first part of the story is clearly addressed to the tax collectors, public sinners and prostitutes who happened to be listening. We next hear about the Elder Son who was working in the fields. He hears the celebration going on and asks one of the servants, "What is this rejoicing all about?" When he learns that his ne'er-do-well brother, who went off with half of the inheritance and squandered it, is the cause of the celebration, he is fit to be tied. He stoutly refuses to go in to the party. His father hears about this and comes out to remonstrate with him. The Elder Son refuses to listen and blasts the old man with an outburst marked by harshness toward his brother and bitterness toward his father. "This is unjust," he complains. "This guy wasted the inheritance you worked so hard to acquire. I have slaved for you all my life, and you never gave me so much as a kid goat to celebrate with my friends!"

    His father replied, "Son, everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice. This brother of yours was dead, and has come back to life."

    The story ends without our knowing whether the Elder Son came in and joined the celebration. But this much is certain. The parable is not just about the Prodigal Son. It is about two prodigal sons. The elder brother turns out to be a bigger sinner than the younger. He is the chief prodigal because he refuses to forgive. He is just as interested in the inheritance, or more so, than the younger son who squandered it on a good time. The inheritance was a symbol for him of prestige, security and power. He thought that he could guarantee his share by earning it. But salvation, the sublime inheritance that is the central point of this parable, cannot be earned; it can only be received. The divine inheritance is the banquet of the Father's love. The Prodigal Son accepted the invitation to the banquet. The Elder Son refused. He did not understand that the divine inheritance consists in participating in the Father's love, a love whose only condition is that we accept it as a gift. The younger son came to understand the futility of his self-centered projects for happiness through disaster. The elder was favored by the quiet call to growth contained in the faithful fulfillment of his duties as eldest son. Unfortunately, his self-centered projects for happiness prevented him from recognizing the precious gift he was being offered. Thus he squandered his inheritance just as much as his younger brother.

    This parable does not stop at upsetting the prevailing value systems of the time. The self-righteous pharisees felt that the special favor of God belonged to them in view of their good works. From that vantage point, it was easy to despise those who indulged in the weaknesses of human nature. This is the typical attitude of people who serve God for the sake of reward. As a result of their service, they feel that they have a strict right to suitable remuneration. The pharisees complained when Jesus offered God's forgiveness to publicans and sinners. The parable, as Jesus' response to their complaints, implies that sinners rejected by society are more apt than they are to receive the reign of God. Unlike the pharisees, public sinners do not have the attitude that God owes them something. The scribes and pharisees had kept all the commandments except the most important one, which was to show love.

    The parable invites us to consider our own value system. Lent is about repentance, about letting go of our false value system in order to open to the values of the Gospel. The chief point of this parable is the invitation to each of us (whichever son you wish to identify with) to recognize that the reign of God is sheer gift. The divine inheritance does not belong to us or anyone else. It is the result of the sheer goodness of our Father. The father in this parable is characterized by unconditional love toward both his sons, each of whom abused the inheritance by wanting to take possession of it in his own way. Each is equally guilty of rejecting the goodness and love of this extraordinary father who is not put off by either of them; neither by the wild dissipation of the younger son, nor by the bitter self-righteousness of the elder. The Elder Son is offered just as much mercy as the younger, but because of his self-righteousness, it is harder for him to receive it. His pride will not allow him to accept the inheritance as sheer gift.

    Actually, there is no inheritance; there is only stewardship for what has been freely given. As stewards, we have an obligation to share with others the mercy we have freely received. This is the value system that shook the conventional piety of the people of Jesus' time to its roots.

More information can be obtained by reading the book The Mystery of Christ by Fr. Thomas Keating.  It is offered in our Book Store.