Dear Parishioners, friends & visitors,
On this fourth weekend of Lent, our gospel pericope is taken
from the fifteenth chapter of Saint Luke’s gospel. This chapter
of Saint Luke’s gospel has been aptly described by some Scriptural scholars as ‘the gospel in the gospel’ because it appears
to contain a very distilled essence of the good news which is
the heart and soul of Christ’s Messianic ministry. The entire chapter contains three
related parables: the parable of the lost sheep (Luke 15:3-7); the parable of the lost coin
(Luke 15:8-10) and the parable of the prodigal son or the forgiving father (Luke 15:11-
32). These parables arose out of Christ’s response to the Pharisees and Scribes who
were accusing Christ of eating and dining with those they tagged as sinners. The
Pharisees and Scribes called anyone, who did not worship like them, a sinner, unclean
and an outcast. They had no business associating with people who were different from
them. In fact, they had rules and regulations that ‘when someone was labelled a sinner
or an outcast, such a person must not be trusted with charitable funds or public money,
should not be allowed to offer witness in court or anywhere, shouldn’t be entrusted
with a secret, nor be appointed to be a foster mum or dad to an orphan or even be
accompanied on a journey. Such a person could not even be a guest or host to a
Pharisee or be allowed to have any form of commercial dealing with a Pharisee or
Scribe. In fact, the Pharisees and Scribes hated them and looked forward not to the
redemption of those they regarded as outcasts but to their eternal damnation. No
wonder they were mortified when they saw Jesus Christ eating and drinking with
them. The difference between Christ and the Pharisees and the Scribes was obvious.
The Pharisees and the Scribes maintained that those they labelled as sinners must
become ritually clean before they had any dealings with them. Jesus on the contrary,
reached out to everyone regardless of their state of life. Christ invited people to
conversion through His table fellowship and everyday interaction.
In the gospel of this weekend, unlike the pervading belief of the Pharisees and the
Scribes that God rejoices over the death of tax collectors and sinners, God rejoices not
over the damnation of sinners, but over their repentance. This is obvious in the parable
of the prodigal son or forgiving dad. In narrating this parable Jesus said that ‘a man had
two sons, and the younger son said to his dad, ‘father, give me my share of the
estate.’ So, the dad divided his property between the two boys. “Not long after that, the
younger son got together all he had received, set off for a distant country and there
squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe
famine in that whole country, and he began to feel the pinch. So, he went and hired
himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to the fields to feed pigs. He
longed to fill his stomach with the husks that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him
anything…,” (Luke 15:11-16).
While the younger son may have appeared to be initiator of this drama, he cannot be
seen as the protagonist. This parable is about a loving, kind and merciful father who,
despite his son’s rude behaviour, was eager to have him back in his arms and restore his
rightful place in his household. Reconciliation always leads to celebration. When the
prodigal son came to his father and demanded his share of the estate, he kind of said to
his dad: ‘give me now the part of the estate I will get when you die, let me get out of
this place.’ For whatever reasons, he didn’t want to be with his family again. His father
did not argue. He gave the set share of the estate to his son who then took off. When he
left home, he embraced a life of pleasure and emptiness and pain. It wasn’t until he ran
out of money and found himself in a deplorable condition that he decided to return to
the family he had previously abandoned. Thank God he came to his senses and was able
to return to his father. He knew that he had messed up and was underserving of his dad’s love. There was true
repentance and humility in him. Unlike his elder brother, who did not leave his dad and
did not ask for his own share of the estate but he didn’t feel like a son who was part of
the household. He felt and worked like a slave. That is why his father had to remind
him: “My son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours.” He wasn’t even
happy that his younger brother had returned home safe and alive. He would have been
happy if the police had rung the door one day to inform them that his brother’s corpse
was found along the motorway. The characters in this parable are obvious. There is a
loving father who always forgives and shows love, a son who doesn’t care about anything except himself and the older brother who has always been faithful but is now
filled with resentment. If we picture ourselves undertaking any role in this parable,
which of the characters do we think we will be? Would we be the loving and forgiving
dad, the prodigal son or the faithful but resentful brother and son? Regardless of the
character we assume in this parable, we all stand to witness to the power of love, fidelity and reconciliation. May the Lenten season continue to be for us a special time when
we strive to renew our relationship with God and with our fellow human beings as well
as making ourselves instruments of Christ’s love, forgiveness and mercy in our world.
God bless you all.
Fr. John Ikechukwu Echewodo
Parish Priest
St Mary's Parish is committed to the introduction of the Alpha programme.
Christmas 2018 Mass Schedule 
