"Coming to His Senses"

Sunday Mass Readings

If we had to trace our faith journey beginning with first Holy Communion till today, what would it look like? How has our faith matured over the years? If you get the chance, it would be a worthwhile exercise to list the areas where we have grown or perhaps even declined. Today’s readings encourage us to undertake such an exercise. More than any penance we may have undertaken this Lent, this might be the most important task. In the first reading from Joshua we hear that after forty years of wandering, the Israelites have finally reached the Promised Land. Thus far God had led them, protected them, fed them and quenched their thirst. Now, under the leadership of Joshua, they have crossed the Jordan and are encamped east of Jericho. Today’s reading gives us two important details: first the people celebrate their first Passover in their new land as a free, independent, settled nation; second, “No longer was there manna for the Israelites, who that year ate of the yield of the land of Canaan” (Joshua 5:12b). I would like to interpret these two details as God inviting the people to maturity, both spiritual and material. Like little children who begin to eat on their own, develop their own thinking and character, learn accountability, make responsible choices and grow up as mature, disciplined individuals, God now invites the Israelites to mature in their faith, in their relationship with God, with one another and with other nations around them.

I would like to interpret the parable of the prodigal son in the context of the first reading. The story of the prodigal son is the story of two individuals who exhibited different levels of spiritual and material maturity. The younger son exhibits two different personalities: The son who left home was impetuous, selfish, hedonistic and spiritually bankrupt. He wandered away from home like the Israelites wandered in the desert because of their disobedience. Just like they worshipped the golden calf, he too worshipped wealth and the pleasures life offers. The son who came back was repentant. Just like the wandering Israelites painfully but gradually learnt the meaning of fidelity, of steadfast love, of obedience to God, the prodigal son too painfully came to the same realization. The parable expresses this in the words, “Coming to his senses….” The younger son said to himself, “I shall get up and go to my Father….” That moment was the moment of his conversion and journey toward spiritual maturity.

Unlike the younger son, the older son never left home, did not squander his father’s wealth, served his father well and hadn’t once disobeyed him. But in his inability to rejoice at the return of his brother, in his almost cynical approach to life, in his self-complacency, in the seemingly absence of pure, simple love and joy in his life, he exhibits a certain character as well. He too was lacking in spiritual maturity. He too had to come to his senses like the younger son.

Jesus left the parable left wide open. For example, did the older son join in the celebration? Did the two brothers reconcile? What kind of a son was the younger son once he got back? We do not know the answers to these questions. But that is precisely the point where the emphasis needs to shift from the biblical story to our own life.

Let me draw three practical implications from today’s readings:

1. Jesus’ parable was not meant to be primarily a personal conversion story, although it is interpreted that way most of the time. Rather, the parable of the lost son was a commentary on Israel as a nation. There were those who, like the younger son let God take the back stage in their lives; the tax-collectors like Zacchaeus and Levi, the public sinners like the woman caught in adultery, and the sinful woman who wept at Jesus’ feet were some of these people. Then there were those who, like the older son took God’s salvation for granted. Jesus was targeting the Pharisees and the scribes in the character of the older son. They were well-meaning people. However, they concluded that salvation comes from their own self-righteousness. In the process they had become loveless, joyless, cynical and even idolatrous. And then there were the servants who were eager to do whatever the Father said. These servants stand for people like Nicodemus, and the disciples who were eager to grow in spiritual maturity. Through this parable, Jesus was calling all these people, indeed the entire nation to grow out of their spiritual adolescence and grow into a genuine practice of their faith.
If the Church is in the midst of a crisis in our nation, perhaps, God is inviting the Church as a whole to grow in its faith and its mission.

2. We could also look at the story of the lost son as the story of individual conversion. Conversion, however, is not a onetime event. Conversion simply means a daily “coming to our senses.” Spiritual maturity implies that we constantly try to find out where we can bring our lives more and more into conformity with God’s will for us. As I said in the introduction, if you get the chance, it would be a worthwhile exercise to list the areas where we have grown or perhaps even declined.

3. The greatest danger in life is to be like the older son. How can we describe a person who does everything right but there in no passion for God, no love for others, no joy in life, and leaves no room for growth? A Catholic equivalent of such a person would be someone who goes for mass and confession regularly, puts in the envelop, sends their children to Catholic schools and perhaps even serves on a Church committee or two – but the entire spiritual life is without a certain passion – loveless and joyless. There is no passion for God, no desire to grow and study God’s word, no desire to grow in relationship with God, no interest in knowing about our faith, and no interest becoming a witness to Christ. May be, it is time to “come to our senses.”

Scriptures tell us of those who did “come to their senses:” the disciples, Mary Magdalene, her sister Martha, Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea, and the Roman Centurion who confessed, “Truly this was the Son of God.” During this Eucharist, let us come to God like the prodigal son and confess, “Father I have sinned against heaven and against you…” Amen.