The Elder brothers

( A  Lenten message)

There is a disturbing almost shocking message that clearly comes across, in most of the parables of Jesus. The message is this: it is better to be a sinner who repents than be a saint who thinks he does not need repentance.

In most of the parables of Jesus, there are two groups of people.  What is striking about the first group is their virtues.   The Pharisee in the temple goes right up to the altar, raises his hands, looks up to heaven, and he says a prayer of thanksgiving. He, according to his own estimate, is not a thief, not an adulterer, not a publican. He knows his virtues well. He fasts twice a week, he is a man of prayer, and he contributes generously to the church.  Again the elder son in the parable of the Prodigal son according to his estimate is hardworking, obedient, chaste, poor, and home-bound. The workers in the vineyard are punctual, hardworking, sacrificing, and disciplined.  Those who received an invitation to the wedding banquet are well known to the master, they are friends of the master, and they receive the invitation well ahead of time. These are the ‘Yes’ sons.

The second group in many of the parables are sinners, publicans, and rogues. They, as well as others, know well their sins and weaknesses. They are rebels, wanderers, disobedient, unchaste, wasteful, lazy, indisciplined, happy-go-lucky ones who live in lanes and slums, They are not bothered about the marriage of the king’s son and are least prepared to go to the wedding banquet. The invitation comes to them suddenly and by chance. These are the ‘No’ sons.

There is a surprise at the conclusion of each of these parables. The group that was considered good and holy is rejected and the lazy and disobedient are accepted. The Pharisee goes home satisfied while the sinner goes home sanctified. The elder son is in the servant’s quarters, bitter and angry, while the younger son is inside the house dancing and celebrating. The first-comers and hard workers go home grumbling and angry while the lazy and last-comers return happy whistling and dancing. Those from the lanes and slums are at the banqueting table feasting and celebrating while the friends of the master are outside busy buying and selling. The ‘no’ son does what the father wants while the ‘yes’ son does what he wants.

The message is clear in all these parables. It is better to wander and come back and recognize the father than stay at home and never know the father. It is better to bow your head and beat your breast in repentance at the entrance door than walk up with pride right up to the altar and raise your hands and praise yourself. It is better to come late and work hard for an hour and rejoice at what you receive than work the whole day under the heat of the sun and fail to rejoice at the good fortunes of others and become grumblers at the generosity of the master. It is better to live in the lanes and by lanes, be surprised at the last-minute invitation, and go happily to the wedding banquet than be friends of the master but have no time or priority for his invitation. It is better to say ‘no’ and repent and go to the vineyard than say ‘yes’ and not do what the father wants. It is better to be the prodigal son who repents and comes home than be the elder brother at the servant’s quarters!  

-        Fr T.V.Georgesdb

                                                                   ‘The Father ran‘

The figure of the running father in the parable of the Prodigal son best captures the essence of God. Jesus said this parable in answer to a complaint by the Pharisees “Why does he eat with sinners?”. The figure of the running father is the answer.

The elderly man running through the dusty streets of Palestine must have been a comical sight to many. They don’t understand the urgency or the need. St John tells us, “God is love.” The nature of God is love. Mercy and forgiveness are synonyms for love. The name of God is Mercy. He is keeping the company of sinners because he is God. When God has an opportunity to forgive he runs. The father runs to get to the son as quickly as possible. He runs to reduce the pain and agony of the son as less as possible. For every step the son takes toward the father, the father takes a hundred steps toward the son. The son is limping. The father is running.

 A mother is a mother so long as she has a baby to nurse.  A doctor is a doctor so long as he/she has a patient to cure and save. A Priest is a priest so long as he has a sacrifice to offer. And God is God when he has compassion, mercy, and love. That is why he goes among sinners and eats with them. That is why he runs towards them.

God gets a new lease of life when he can forgive. The Pharisees complained, “ Who can forgive sins, but God alone”. They were right. Only God can forgive. It is his nature to forgive. It is in forgiveness, he is exercising his nature as God.  He wants to be God by forgiving. He wants to take the first chance to forgive. The faster he can get to the son, the longer he can be God! Therefore he runs like an arrow that rushes to meet its target or in the words of St Augustine, “Our hearts are made for you and it can never rest until it rests in you”.  It is not we who go to him, it is he who comes to us.

The shepherd searches ‘until he finds’ the lost sheep. Then he carries it home in joy on his shoulders. The woman sweeps ‘until she finds’ the lost coin.  She restores it in joy to where it belongs. She  wears it proudly once again around her neck. The father runs until his arms are on the shoulder of his son. With the support of his arm, he leads him home. “And they began to celebrate.” The father and the son celebrate with a feast and a dance. The son stood in wonder and amazement at the dancing father. For the first time, he recognized who his father was.

 Our God is a good runner. He runs until the target is reached. He searches until he finds. God is not only a Good Shepherd and a running Father but also a searching Woman. No ‘far away country’ is too distant for him. No sin is too heavy that he cannot carry.  No sinner is ever lost from his sight. No occasion he misses for a celebration.

                                                            -  Fr TV George sdb                                     

                                                             Scraps and  Broken Bricks

In the Parable of the Rich man and Lazarus, Jesus seems to mock at our purple and fine linen, our life of ease and comfort, our love of wealth and our state-of-the-art buildings, our flat TVs, and our golden and blue tooths.

In spite of his strict warning, ‘this shall not happen among you’ we continue to have our purple and fine linen and red buttons as symbols of authority and power. The master wrapped himself with a towel as a sign he came ‘to serve and not to be served’ and stood before Pilate like Lazarus covered with sores and crowned with thorns. He was nailed to a cross, forced to satiate his thirst with gall and vinegar and buried in a borrowed grave. 

Jesus is Lazarus bearing witness eloquently and simply to the truth that money, power, position, and wealth are a lie instead suffering, cross, and pain is the truth. The truth is on Jesus’ side. Falsehood on Pilate’s side.  Pilate asked the question, “What is truth?” He thought he had the truth since he had power, authority, money, influence, an army, a palace, purple and fine linen. Whom do we follow? Truth or falsehood? Facts or fake? God or mammon? Lazarus or the Rich man? Jesus or Pilate?

The rich man living in a mansion, dressed in purple and fine linen, eating the best of food and drinking the choicest of wine was insensitive to the needs of poor Lazarus who lay outside his gate. The poor man wished for the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table. Even that, he was denied.

There are many who follow the rich man and continue to deny even the scraps to those in need. Scraps take many forms.  I know of a poor man who was struggling to raise four walls and a roof over his head for a small house for his family. Near his village, there was a rich man building a four-story mansion with funds he had obtained for the upliftment and education of the poor villagers. As the big embellished four-story house  was being completed, the poor man went to see it one day. A JCB was at work leveling the place to make a road around the building. The poor man  seeing how the broken bricks and scraps of iron were being buried  under the mud painfully sighed, “ If I  could only have those broken bricks!”

Another rich man got a project approved for the education of the poor villagers. One of his friends who was helping the poor children of the village asked him if he could assist one or two teachers who were voluntarily taking classes for the children.  The rich man thought over it and finally agreed to pay one thousand rupees a month. He thought he was being very generous and making a gratuitous gift to them by offering them a thousand rupees a month.  He too had forgotten how and in whose name the funds had been collected. Even these scraps had to be reminded again and again because he was busy traveling often  by flight to collect more data for more projects!

This is the reality. We often build big mansions with the money we have received from sponsors.  We make detailed projects telling our sponsors about the number of poor people living in our district and the number of poor uneducated children in our social centers. We have no scruples in even exaggerating these facts. At the project-making stage, we are very much aware of the uneducated children and uninstructed faithful. We tell our sponsors how we lack space to gather people, and how we are unable to reach the villages due to a lack of vehicles.  But once our projects are approved and the money is in our account, I don’t say we use it for ourselves, but we tend to forget in whose name and for what purpose we received the money. The villages and social centers in whose name we got the fund  continue to languish. The children in whose name we forwarded the project remain uneducated. The teachers for whom we got the fund get the scraps. Lazarus continues to beg for ‘the broken bricks’ while ‘the rich man’ build memorials more to perpetuate his name and display his wealth than for the genuine needs of the poor. 

Wealth can blind one to humanity. Often the one in command of money and means does not feel the pangs of the poor. We fear others will take advantage of our money. We are blind to their needs. We are deaf to their cry. Even the broken bricks we don’t want to share. We will give long passionate talks and conferences on poverty like the man who was rushing to preach at a service and did not help the one fallen among the thieves. We can hurry to implement our projects not noticing the man lying at our gate. Oftener than not our social centers are our propaganda tools. We hardly visit them, if we visit at all,  it is to gather data for another project for the poor.

-        George Chalil