Reflection
In today’s first reading from Micah, the prophet prays that the Lord will “shepherd” His people “as in the days of old”, that is when He did many signs and wonders leading His people out of Egypt. Micah acknowledges that the Lord pardons the iniquities of “the remnant”; the small part of the greater whole of those of Israel and Judah. God’s mercy, in Hebrew hesed, is the devoted love and loyalty expected in a covenant relationship, sworn by God to the patriarchs.
The Gospel reading from Luke tells the well-known parable of the Prodigal Son.
After gravely insulting his father by demanding his inheritance early (I wish you were dead!), the son squanders it and falls into great misery, feeding and sharing feed with swine. He returns home, expecting nothing but is received generously by his father; a model of God’s forgiveness to all who return to Him. The faithful son, a model of Jewish scribes and Pharisees critical of Jesus’ fellowship with non-Jews and sinners, resents the welcome offered to the returned prodigal. The parable demonstrates three unique perspectives of God’s forgiveness: that of the fallen but penitent sinner, that of the overwhelmingly generous forgiveness of the father and the need of continuing conversion of the righteous.