Recently I ran across a story that could be a modern day version of the parable we just heard, entitled, “Somebody’s Son,” by Richard Pennell. It opens with a runaway teenager, named David, sitting by the side of a road, writing a letter to his mother. Expressing the hope that his old fashioned father will forgive him for leaving home, he writes,
“Dear mother, in a few days I’ll be passing our property. If Dad will take me back, ask him to tie a white cloth on the apple tree in the field next to our house.”
Days later, David is seated on a train that is rapidly approaching his home. He wonders if the tree will have a white cloth tied to a branch or not. As the train draws close to his family home, his heart beats faster and faster. David can’t bring himself to look at the tree as the train rounds the bend. He is afraid the white cloth will not be there. Turning to the man next to him, he asks nervously, “Mister, will you do me a favor? Soon, you’ll see a tree on the right. Tell me if there’s a white cloth tied to it.”
As the train rumbles past the tree, David stares straight ahead. Then in a quaking voice, he asks the man, “Mister, is a white cloth tied to one of the branches on the tree?” The man answers in a surprised tone of voice, “Why, son, there’s a white cloth tied to practically every branch!”
That story illustrates well what Jesus is saying in the first half of this well-known parable: God always forgives us when we sin and treats us afterwards as if we hadn’t sinned.
The father embraces his wayward son to show that he is welcoming him back fully with no strings attached. Then, the father puts shoes on his son’s feet to show him that he is fully forgiven. In biblical times, shoes were the sign of a free person; slaves went barefoot. Putting shoes on his son’s bare feet restores the sign that says he is somebody’s son, no longer a slave. Finally, the father gives his son a ring to-show that he is fully restoring the status his son had before he ran away.
With the embrace, the shoes, and the ring, the prodigal father welcomes his contrite son, forgives him fully, and restores him completely to the status he once had.
In the second half of the parable, the spot light shifts to the older son, who angrily refused to join the celebration despite his father’s pleas. He protests that he is being treated unfairly since he had never been disobedient yet he was never given such a celebration. All those years he remained near his father but obviously not close.
Usually when we reflect on this parable, we focus on the father’s willingness to forgive his young son but do we ever consider the other son’s attitude toward his brother? Notice that he couldn’t stand his father’s extravagant generosity and failed to see how he too has been a recipient of it.
The good news of this timeless parable is that God rejoices when we reconcile with him and give him the opportunity to forgive us. That is why Jesus often associated with sinners.But forgiveness is a two way street. This parable is telling us that we should forgive others just as God has forgiven us, which is what the older brother refused to do.
Buried in the Lord’s Prayer is the line, “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”When we refuse to practice the art of forgiveness, we are acting like the older son, resenting what someone who has offended us has done and passing up the chance to be reconciled.
When hearing confessions, I rarely tell anyone to say a bunch of prayers for a penance. Instead, I invite the penitent to reflect on the Lord’s Prayer thoughtfully and then ask themselves two questions. “Who do I need to forgive?” I suggest, “If a name comes to mind, ask God for the grace to forgive that person.” The second question is “Whose forgiveness do I need?” I then suggest, “If a name comes to mind, ask God to give that person the grace to forgive you.”
To say, “I forgive you,” are three powerful words. Yet no one can tell you to forgive. That has to come from within you and if you find yourself struggling to do so, I trust God will give you the grace you need to be a prodigal forgiver.
Like the father who fully welcomed his wayward son back, we should receive those whom we need to forgive as generously as God receives us back, with a full welcome, full forgiveness, fully restoring them to their former status. That is how Jesus treated Peter who had publicly denied him on Holy Thursday. Jesus not only forgave Peter but also restored him to his original status as the rock upon which he then built our Church. Jesus could have told Peter, “Sorry buddy, you failed me. You let me down. I’ll forgive you but I will count on another apostle to be the rock now.” But Jesus didn’t do that. He treated Peter as if he had never sinned.
We should treat those who sin against us in the same way, taking them back in our hearts with the same generous love that our prodigal God shows us. If we do this, we can be sure that when we depart this world in death and approach the gates of heaven, we too will see a tree there with a white cloth tied to practically every branch.