Sermon for the Fourth Sunday in Lent- E. Pellini
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
The tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were whispering among themselves. They said, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
3 Then Jesus told them a story
“There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger son spoke to his father. He said, ‘Father, give me my share of the family property.’ So the father divided his property between his two sons.
13 “Not long after that, the younger son packed up all he had. Then he left for a country far away. There he wasted his money on wild living. 14 He spent everything he had. Then the whole country ran low on food. So the son didn’t have what he needed. 15 He went to work for someone who lived in that country. That person sent the son to the fields to feed the pigs. 16 The son wanted to fill his stomach with the food the pigs were eating. But no one gave him anything.
17 “Then he began to think clearly again. He said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough food! But here I am dying from hunger! 18 I will get up and go back to my father. I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven. And I have sinned against you. 19 I am no longer fit to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.” ’ 20 So he got up and went to his father.
“While the son was still a long way off, his father saw him. He was filled with tender love for his son. He ran to him. He threw his arms around him and kissed him.
21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer fit to be called your son.’
22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattest calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 This son of mine was dead. And now he is alive again. He was lost. And now he is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
25 “The older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants. He asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come home,’ the servant replied. ‘Your father has killed the fattest calf. He has done this because your brother is back safe and sound.’
28 “The older brother became angry. He refused to go in. So his father went out and begged him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve worked like a slave for you. I have always obeyed your orders. You never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But this son of yours wasted your money with some prostitutes. Now he comes home. And for him you kill the fattest calf!’
31 “ ‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me. Everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad. This brother of yours was dead. And now he is alive again. He was lost. And now he is found.’ ”

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A wonderful story of repentance and turning to God. A story that can cause the heartbreak of many and even tears. Or a story that may be just nice to some others. Why the difference? Because many of us find ourselves, perhaps, in the eldest son’s position. The eldest son represents believers faithful to God and his church. The youngest son represents people who once had fellowship with God, but because of sin they lost it. The father represents God in this story.

The eldest son represents believers, perhaps like us, who have believed in Christ their entire lives and have been part of the church for many years. Perhaps we never had the misfortune to fall into sin or to separate ourselves from God and the church in such a drastic way, as in the parable, like the separation of the youngest son from the father’s house.

This parable is addressed first of all, to Jesus’ contemporaries. The younger son who wants to leave the father’s house not only represents sinners, but also the people of Israel who did not want to accept and obey Jesus as the Son of God. And this is rejecting God himself, the Father. The religious of then, rejected that Jesus was in touch with sinners, that is with the marginalized of the Jewish religion, such as tax collectors and prostitutes, so Jesus wanted them to be compassionate with them. Not with the sin, but with the people separated from God.
Jesus wanted to show them that the relationship with God must be a relationship of obedience of His commandments, but at the same time to show sinners his same love and mercy so that they too can return to have a fellowship with God the Father.

Likewise, it causes us, sometimes, incomprehension or rejection, as it happened with the eldest son, that people that were separated from God can obtain grace and forgiveness, and they begin to live a life full of faith and trust and commitment to the church that, sometimes it is difficult to understand and to accept. Well, this new fellowship sometimes becomes even more committed than ours. Such was the younger son’s change, and his repentance and recognition of what it means to once again live a life in fellowship with his father.

Two very important messages come from this parable for us today and here: First, sin separates and breaks the relationship with God and that this can happen to anyone of us, we are not exempt from it. And secondly, we must be compassionate with those who are in sin and try to love them so that they can once again find the way to Christ.

I would also like to talk today about the concept of sin. Jesus himself uses this expression. Jesus does not deny the existence of sin. He says that: “I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.” (Luke 15:7)
He makes a clear difference between the one who sins and the one who doesn’t. For him it is clear that they are not two types of people alike.

The word sin in our society, especially for non-believers, sounds like an old-fashioned expression. It’s like something from the past, even outdated and backward. A word that is only used in certain churches, but perhaps not in our realm. For us it is not an old-fashioned word. It is a word that it’s still valid. Sin means nothing more and nothing less than separation from God, remaining far from God’s laws and the benefit of a fellowship with him.

And what is this separation? Or, how can we realize that we live apart from God? The only reference we have to prove it is the Bible. When we do not live our life according to the word of God, we are living a life in our own way, and not as God wants, that is, not according to his will.
Today there are many who question what the Bible says and believe they have more authority over it by wanting to interpret it at their own convenience or put before other philosophies or principles for the interpretation. There are many who question the Bible, saying that the Bible needs to be reinterpreted or adapted to our times, as if our generation were the authorized possessor to give another interpretation or omit certain parts of the Bible according to their opinion. I even heard it once said: God does not intervene in the world through a ‘mere book’—meaning the Bible. They say that God appears and manifests himself in many other ways. And that is true, God constantly manifests himself through his Holy Spirit, but that does not contradict that He himself has manifested more than anything to human beings in the written form of what we now call the Bible. There the Will of God is expressed. That is why we must be careful not to confuse the ‘spirit of this world’ (1 Cor 2:12) with the Holy Spirit of God. Every time we approach the Bible with faith and respect for God, we will receive a message that goes beyond our limits.

For Jesus, sin was something clear. It means to be separated from God. Live a life that has nothing to do with his word. Jesus never discriminated against anyone. He was always there nearby; he approached sinners, but with the intention that they repent and turn to God. And he got it, more than anything because he is God, but also because of his neighbourly love. This is the love that Jesus asks us to put into practice.

Some time ago I read a quote by Billy Graham that I liked, and I am sharing with you: “It is the Holy Spirit’s job to convict, God’s job to judge and my job to love.”
We have to see the whole world with the eyes of Jesus, worthy of being loved, but not for that reason approve what many are doing that may not concur with the will of God. Jesus does not approve of sin.
He expelled from the temple the merchants who wanted to take advantage of people and so desecrate and disrespect the temple; He accused Judas of betraying him; He faced the corrupt life of Zacchaeus the tax collector or the disorderly life of the Samaritan woman; or the morally wrong life of the adulteress. Although he accepted them all, he also forgave them “from their sin” and told them more than once: “Go, and sin no more” (Jn 8:11). He also said: “I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance” (Lk 5:32).
The society in which we live, however, sometimes not so Christian, tells us to do everything that makes us feel good, to do what we feel, to enjoy life, because the most important thing is to feel happy and love the entire world, showing peace, and happiness, and love. And that’s all true; it does not contradict Jesus’ promise when he assures us of “a live to the full” (Jn 10:10) for all who follow him. But that life in fullness is a new life in Christ based on his teachings.

When Jesus in the words of the father of the parable speaks: “This brother of yours was dead. And now he is alive again. He was lost. And now he is found.” He is speaking not only of a conversion, that is, of beginning to believe in Christ as the Son of God, but also of a change of life. It is not enough to say: I believe in God, but we are invited to live out God with our way of life.
If today we ask Jesus, where can we get the information to know what are the things that you want us to change so that we can be in your fellowship again? Surely Jesus would tell us:
“They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them” (John 14:21) Where are those commandments? In the Word of God, the Bible, that is the foundation of our faith.
Throughout the history of salvation, we see in the Bible, and in the history of the church that God worked and manifested himself through his Spirit in personal lives, in families, and in many communities that were faithful to his word, it is not otherwise.

May God allow us to remain faithful to His Word that is still valid. And that, through our commitment, the Holy Spirit may work in our midst, so that our lives are filled with the wisdom of God and the true love of his Son Jesus Christ. And may God’s favour and joy for having returned again and again to the father’s house come true.

Amen