In their encounters with Jesus, the religious leaders of the day never seemed to get it right. But in today’s gospel (Luke 15:1-10) we hear of an instance where they most definitely got it right as they made a profound observation about Jesus, saying “this man welcomes sinners”.
And in response to this “accusation”, Jesus uses three separate parables to make the point very clear – that God indeed welcomes sinners.
We hear the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost (prodigal) son. In all three cases Jesus makes it very clear how intent God is to reach out to us and save us. Jesus makes it very clear that God not only welcomes sinners but that God rejoices whenever one lost soul turns back to him. Jesus makes it clear that this is God’s most ardent desire.
Think about what Jesus tells us in the parable of the Prodigal Son (which some, including myself, are more inclined to call the parable of the Merciful Father). Jesus tells us that the Father is awaiting his son’s return, he is watching for his son and catches sight of him while the son is “still a long way off”.
And what does this tell us?
It tells us that the Father’s love for his son was constant and that it was never diminished. It tells us that the Father never rescinded his love even though he knew that his son had disrespected and disobeyed him. It tells us that the Father continued to love his son, even while his son was a sinner. It tells us that the Father’s love was always there, and that the Father never gave up on his son. And in the end, the Father’s love caused him to embrace his son, forgive him, and rejoice over his son’s return.
It is the same for us.
In these parables Jesus makes it abundantly clear that God’s love and merciful forgiveness is limitless – that no matter what we do – no matter how grievously we disobey God’s law, no matter how contrary we set our will against his, no matter how hardened we let our hearts become, no matter how far we wander from God’s goodness – God is constantly loving us, always awaiting our return, waiting with open arms to welcome us back to him. All we need to do is trust in God’s love and respond to that love. And we can respond to that loving forgiveness again and again if necessary no matter how many times we stray. God’s love is never rescinded, his promise is never broken. We can always return to God.
And this is precisely why Jesus came – this was precisely what his work was about – to welcome and save sinners. Jesus himself tells us that he came not to condemn the world but to save the world. He came to save sinners, not condemn sinners. He came to save each and every one of us.
So we go forward confident in God’s unconditional love and forgiveness. We go forward allowing God to, as Monsignor John Fell says, “break through our human imperfection and save us.” All we need to do – even amidst our own sinfulness – is remain open to God, and allow God to break through.