God is absolutely merciful to sinners

By Msgr. John Wynand Katende

“Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful… Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned” (Luke 6:36-42)

I believe most people know the biblical parable of the “prodigal son”. It can be used fairly literally when someone returns home from an extended absence. Its message is very pertinent to the Lenten season.

But experts in Biblical interpretation, theology and spirituality inform us that calling the parable by that traditional name would be a misnomer. It is the parable of the merciful father. It tells about God’s nature. The father of the son is the champion, not the son. The father deserves the credit for receiving back his son, rather than the son being credited for returning home.

In Christianity God’s revelation of Himself to us is most pronounced through His Son Jesus Christ, so that we may know and relate to Him accordingly. By narrating the three parables: the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son, in Luke 15, Jesus reveals God’s goodness, God’s love and God’s mercy. These attributes are absolute. God does not change because He cannot change. He hates sin, but loves the sinner.

In the three parables, God wants us to acknowledge His longing for us, even more than we long for Him. He longs to reconcile Himself with the sinner, even more than the sinner does. Don’t we sometimes enjoy committing some sins, yet, at the expense of God’s mercy? God has a soft heart for sinners. That heart bleeds gravely whenever we sin. So, God wants every Christian to reciprocate with the same attitude and spirituality.

When Adan and Eve rebelled against God, He took the initiative to look for them. Sadly, they rejected His grace. But God did not give up on being good, being loving and being merciful to humans, because that is His nature. He promised a savior. He actually sent His only beloved Son, so that whoever believes in Him may not perish but be saved (John 3:16). When Jesus was describing His purpose, He chose words filled with great wealth and victory for our lives. He said: “For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.” (Luke 19:10).

In the tree parables, Jesus emphatically addresses those accusing Him for associating with sinners, that though they claimed to be faithful servants of God, like the elder son claimed to be faithfully serving his father, they did not know Him, just like the elder son did not know his father. They had rebuked Him, just as the elder son had rebuked his father for having welcomed back the prodigal son. This attitude prompted the father to go out to look for him and convince him to join the reception of his younger brother. God invites us associate with fellow sinners without judging or stigmatizing them, but to love, forgive, and to assist them to repent.

Paradoxically, the religious leaders were more lost, than the public sinners, they were repudiating, because they regarded themselves righteous, and unaware of their need of a savior. They were preoccupied with the legalistic observance of religion and morals, which tantamount to idolatry.

To these religious leaders applies this pronouncement by Jesus: ”On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name? ' And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me.. “ (Matthew 7:21-23).

All people are sinners, in dire need of God’s mercy and reconciliation. It is freely extended to all. But, as Augustine, the great Father and Doctor of the Church, summarized so well, “although God created us without us, he is not going to save us without our cooperation”. But we must do so at the level of our free will, not out of coercion.

The parable of the merciful father reveals that the lost son was more motivated to return home owing to material needs, than to a restoration of his lost relationship to his father. But God wants our repentance to be motivated by our need of Him than our needs from Him.