Walking with Jesus: Fourth Sunday of Lent C

For Sunday, March 30, 2025

Joshua 5:9-12; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21; Luke 15:1-3, 11-32


We are waiting for Lent: It is a time to slow ourselves down to see how we are living in conformity to God’s commands … how we are living and loving in our relationships … how we are being instruments of God’s graces, kindnesses and gifts as we live each day with our eyes on heaven. To do this we have taken on Lenten disciplines along with different “varieties of giving up and sacrifices” to help us be in touch with God’s love and care for us. Today in the midst of Lent, the readings point to our rejoicing and provide us reason for our thankfulness. This is Laetare Sunday which echoes the all-inclusive and sweeping goodness of God. David expresses this so completely in the response to Psalm 34: “I will bless the Lord at all times: His praise shall be always in my mouth.” [Psalm 34:2] The Psalmist reminds us of being rescued from our problems and difficulties, feeling even defenseless and not knowing where to go: We trusted in God alone, and He responded. So is my Lent helping my gratitude and trust in God to flourish?

The Old Testament readings have been preparing us for the Israelites’ arrival in the Promised Land. They have migrated to Egypt to find a home. Joseph is the ruler; his family does not recognize him. Joseph finally discloses his identity and they are rescued and saved. For many long years they kept their faith in God while being turned into slaves in building the supply cities. They pleaded for help and God sent Moses to lead them to the Promised Land — a 40-year odyssey of wandering, sinning and disobeying God until this new generation sees the Promised Land “… flowing in milk and honey.” The Israelites are near Jericho, the first city they will overtake in Canaan. They celebrate their first Passover in the Promised Land. How grateful they are — how dependent they have been on God’s presence and goodness to them. This celebration emphasizes their gratitude as God has rolled away the years of suffering in Egypt and kept His promise, just as God keeps all of His promises to us given in Jesus: We are loved, all the time; and we have heaven as our eternal reward if we believe and keep the commandments, especially Jesus’ law of love. Lent is a reminder to us about ourselves: Am I loving the Lord my God with all my heart, all my mind and all my strength? And am I loving my neighbor as I love myself? This is the path to heaven. We now know the ground rules: God helps us!

Paul reminds us that God’s saving activity of reconciliation is always initiated by God. This is a pure gift from God who doesn't count our transgressions against us. That’s why Jesus suffered, died, rose and ascended for each of us — to show us the way, the only way, to heaven. If and when we accept it, we are to be ambassadors of Christ — telling our world that we are loved, forgiven and redeemed by Jesus’ accepting suffering and death for you and me. Reconciliation is the heart of Paul’s message. What do I have to do? The real question is: What has Jesus done for you and me? “It is not something Jesus claims for Himself but a responsibility vetted upon Him by God. All of this God has graciously accomplished for sinners, you and me, through the magnanimous sacrifice of Christ. This is the good news Paul preaches.” [Preaching the New Lectionary; Diane Bergant; 4th Sunday of Lent ’25]

So how can God be so kind to us today and down through the years? What have I done to deserve this? It is not about me; it is about God — God’s love, forgiveness, care and compassion. God’s answer is given in the parable of the Prodigal Son: The bottom line is that the father has little reason to be so compassionate toward his younger son. Look at what that son did: He demanded his inheritance when he had no right to do so. Jewish Law and custom said only the first son had any claim on the inheritance before the father’s death. Despite his son’s total self-interest, behavior, arrogance and disrespect, the father gave what he asked (God’s total giving) and the son lost it all, finally returning and saying, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you, I no longer deserve to be called your son.” In our lives — mine and yours — we can fit into this situation. But like that father, God loves, has mercy and forgives, reminding the son: “… everything I have is yours.” What has God ever denied us? Some of our selfishness, greed, whatever. In the long run, God’s plan was not right for us. In retrospect, like the Prodigal Son, we are always learning about God’s plan if we accept God’s goodness and love and not our own.  

So I reflect on:

• God has been so merciful no matter what I’ve done — I’m always welcomed at the table of love.
• Can I accept a God who operates like this and join the party? Or will I stay out in the field?

Sacred Space 2025 states:

“Have you ever longed for or experienced the kind of acceptance and restoration that the younger son receives from the father? What happened? Similarly, have you ever been like the older son? What happened there? Has finding yourself in one or both of these roles changed the ways you think about and respond to others who find themselves in a similar position?

“Many of us have waited, sometimes for years or even decades, for the return of an un-restored prodigal. How does your understanding of God’s endless (prodigal) love help to inform that time of seemingly unrewarded waiting? How does your understanding of God’s prodigal love affect your relationship with, prayers for, and hope for that person?”