Bring The Fattened Calf

" 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 for a distant country. 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 his swine. And he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which swine fed, but nobody gave him any. Coming to his senses he thought, 'Here am I, dying of hunger. I shall get up and got o m y 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 one of your hired workers.'
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 father ordered to his servants, 'Quickly bring the finest rob; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Take the fatted calf and slaughter it.' "
- [Luke 15: 1-3, 11-32].


We live in an age when social media has enabled us to scrutinized others' lives with infinite detail. Ordinary citizens, as well as big media, weigh in on everyone's relative merits. It is as if we believe ourselves to possess the ultimate powers of judge, jury and Arbiter. Some of the enumerated demerits are deserved. Others are exaggerated or completely false.

Imagine a celebrity who, it was found out, abused women or children. We would be horrified. But imagine that we discover that this abuser was himself abused as a child. The celebrity's act of abuse is still horrifying. But things get more complicated when we learn about how haunted the accused is from his own past.

Imagine a celebrity who, it is found out, used corrupt means to earn more money. We would call out that behavior with vehemence, for the greed and evil that it is. But imagine that we discover that this greedy person is also struggling with drug abuse? The corruption is still wrong. But things get more complicated when we learn about the addiction.

In Luke 15, the older son does not run off to a life of dissipation, he does stay with his father and do the right thing, supporting his father's orders and working hard. The older son is visibly angry when the father welcomes home the dissolute son.

The older son says, "Look, all these years I served you and not once did I disobey your orders; yet you never gave me even a young goat to feast on with my friends."

But the father says to the obedient son, "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."

I think that the son with whom you most identify says a lot about you. I was once like the older son, a dutiful daughter who always did the right thing. And yet my brother, who made mistakes and sometimes made a mess of his life, was always receiving help and special treatment.

I felt angry and self-righteous. Why did I not receive more, when I was the one who was loyal and sober-minded?

It did not occur to me that I had already "won" by living my life in good standing. But my brother, who struggled, felt pain and believed he could not ever measure up, was "dying on the vine", and felt like he could do no right.

You see, there is a big difference between being Right and being Compassionate. Said another way, there is a big difference between Justice and Mercy.

In a world of only Justice, we can only harp on what everyone did wrong. We can never let anyone live down that one moment when he made a horrible mistake or did something awful. We can never allow anyone to have an epiphany moment, when a person has gained hard-won perspective and can see the awful mistake for what it was.

In a world of only Justice, even a plea agreement or a prison term can never let anyone move on and try to live a life that makes amends. Instead, we hunt the person down for the rest of his life; we corner him and trap him and flog him endlessly. We take away all his future earnings, we hound him in public, we always return to that one horrible chapter, while never allowing the possibility of redemption.

At the same time, in a world of only Mercy, every act is morally relative. We "live and let live". We declare, "I am the one in charge of my own life, to hell with anyone else."  It is individuality run amok.

We need both Justice and Mercy, friends. Justice establishes Right from Wrong. Mercy allows us to overcome our sins.

God sees us in all of our complexity, virtues and faults alike. God allows us to name what we did wrong, in the same way that the younger son says, "I have sinned against you and Heaven."  God allows us to change our ways and to reap rewards from our redemption.

God allows us the free will to make a mess of our lives, but to also own those mistakes and to be given the chance to rise again. He allows us to move past the dark chapters into the Light.

[Related Postings: "The Prodigal Son", 3/10/13; "The Prodigal Daughter", 9/15/13; "To Forgive is Divine", 3/9/16.]

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