The gospel for Saturday of the second week of Lent is taken from Luke, 15th chapter, first through the third verse, 11 through the 32nd verse. Tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to Jesus. But the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying, this man welcomes sinners and eats with them. So to them Jesus addressed this parable. A man had two sons, and the younger son said to his father, father, give me the share of your estate that should come to me. So the father divided the property between them.

After a few days, the younger son collected all his belongings and set off to a distant country, where he squandered his inheritance on a life of dissipation. When he had freely spent everything. A severe famine struck that country, and he found himself in dire need. So he hired himself out to one of the local citizens, who sent him to his farm to tend the swine. And he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed. But nobody gave him any.

Coming to his senses, he thought, how many of my father’s hired workers have more than enough food to eat? But here I am, dying from hunger. I shall get up, go to my father, and I shall say to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son. Treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers. So he got up, went back to his father.

While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him. His son said to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son. But his father ordered his servants, quickly bring the finest robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his fingers, sandals on his feet.

Take the fatted calf and slaughter it. Then let us celebrate with a feast. Because this son of mine was dead and has come to life again. He was lost and has been found. And the celebration began. Now the older son, who had been out in the field and on his way back, as he neared the house, he heard the sound of music and dancing.

He called one of the servants and asked what this might mean. The servant said to him, your brother has returned, and your father has slaughtered the fatted calf. Because he has him back safe and sound, he became angry and refused to enter the house. His father came out and pleaded with him. He said to his father in reply, look, all these years I have served you, and not once did I disobey your orders. Yet you never even gave me a young goat to feast on with my friends.

But when your son returns, who swallowed up your property with prostitutes for him, you slaughtered the fatted calf. He said to him, my son, you are here with me always. Everything I have is yours. But now we must celebrate and rejoice because your brother was dead and has come to life again. He was lost and has been found. There are so many things in this story, but the one I like focusing on for a moment is the Father’s response to his son’s failure.

There’s nothing in the Father that instills a sense that he is angry or even very disappointed in his son who squandered his inheritance. He’s only excited and thrilled by the fact that he’s coming home, which is an image of wanting to regain a relationship with the Father. The scariest thing to me about sin is it so often makes us feel that we lose God’s favorite. But in this story, you have the sense that the father was always, always in love with his son. And no matter what he did, it didn’t diminish that love. Please pause and reflect upon these images, and then I will close with a pray.

Closing prayer. Religion can stress so much the destructive power of sin that they go so far as to say that if you sin, you are cut out from God and He’s not there for you anymore. But this story reminds us that no God loves us always when we’re at our best and when we’re at our worst. And what he wants us to do when we feel that is be that way to our brothers and sisters. We need never to long for people to be punished, but only for people to be saved. And we ask this in Jesus name, Amen.