Luke 15, 1-10:
Sunday, 11th September 2022 (24th O T C)
“God’s punishment”, “If you do…, God will punish you”. There are still people who think like this, and say these things. And nothing is further from the heart of God. It is possible that such a “punishing God” mentality is commonplace. It is a consequence of the mentality of the the Old Testament. But when Jesus came, he showed us the true image of Father God. If God intervenes in people’s lives, it is to go out to meet them, to show his closeness, to offer forgiveness. Never by threatening them with punishment; this is a human mentality. The parables of the lost sheep, of the lost coin, of the prodigal son, with which Jesus tells us what the Father is like, show us the greatness of the love he has for us, always over and above our own evil. We should be clear about this image of God in order to continually turn to the embrace he offers us.
Of all these parables, it is perhaps the parable of the prodigal son that we know best and in which we can most easily see ourselves reflected, because it shows the attitude of the Father in the face of our selfishness and sin. We tend to see in ourselves the attitude of the younger son, but we must not forget to whom the parable was addressed: the learned men and Pharisees who murmured at Jesus because he welcomed sinners and ate with them. To those who, like us, often think we are better than others and find it hard to accept God’s love without conditions.
Do I find it hard to forgive, do I look down on those I consider “worse than me”? May we recognise our weakness and seek the love of the Father.
Juan Ramón Gómez Pascual, cmf
How do I view other people?
