4th Sunday of Lent
Cycle C
March 31, 2019
Saint Mary Parish, Pylesville 4pm
Saint Matthew Parish, Baltimore 11am
Sandals
So, I’m guessing that many of have or have had a pair of sandals.
I’ve got a pair of Rockports and I like wearing them in the summertime. Back in Jesus’ day, sandals were the only footwear they had.
They either wore sandals or they went barefoot and this really symbolized something. If you wore sandals, it meant that you were a free person.
If you had no sandals and went barefoot, that signified that you were a slave. Now this point about sandals is helpful in understanding today’s gospel and the three persons in this story.
The Younger Son
First, there is the younger son.
This younger son is something like children who talk back to their parents. Or like teenagers who are rebellious and sometimes do risky, maybe even reckless things.
Or like adults who get self-absorbed, taken up in their own pleasures and priorities. My bet is that in some way or at some point in our lives, we have all been something like the younger son.
Now, the significant thing in the story is that the younger son comes home barefoot. He has no sandals – physically, but also spiritually.
He plans to say to his father, “I am not worthy to be called your son, so just treat me as one of your slaves.” That is his understanding of his relationship with his father – as a slave and not as a son.
He realizes that he has lost that close, father-son relationship. So, he is without sandals, barefoot, both physically and spiritually.
The Older Son
Then, there is the older son.
This older son is something like us when we resent any good fortune that comes to others. There’s this expression: “Zero-Sum Game.”
This expression – “Zero-Sum Game” – it means that one’s person’s gain must mean the other person’s loss. Well, this older son seems to have fallen into this trap when it comes to the love of his father.
He seems to think that the attention the father gives to the younger son must mean a lessening of the father’s love for him. So, this older son doesn’t address his father as “father” or “dad.”
And he resentfully refers to his younger brother as “your son.” On top of that, he talks about his work on the family farm as service and obedience.
So, this older son, physically, is wearing sandals, but spiritually, he is also barefoot, without sandals. He also sees himself as more of a slave than as a son who would be working happily for his father.
The Father
Finally, there is the father.
The father must have been hurt when his younger son asked for his inheritance. He knew that this amounted to his son saying that his father was as good as dead to him.
But still, the father respects this son and gives him freedom. Then, when this son returns, he runs out to greet him and what does he do?
He puts a pair of sandals on his feet. He wants him to know that he’s not a slave, but a son – welcomed back fully into the family.
In the same way, the father takes the initiative to go out and talk with the older son. He doesn’t debate that son’s feelings or put him down.
He just says, “Okay, but come on in and please be part of us.”He is placing spiritual sandals back on this son’s feet and reminding him that he is a member of the family.
Conclusion
So, in this unforgettable story, Jesus wants us to know that God is like this father.
God has put sandals on our feet. God has made us members of his family, his sons and daughters.
We may wander into wasteful and sinful ways. Or we may develop resentful and exclusionary feelings toward others.
But, God is still here with us. God continues to place sandals on our feet.
And the result is that the choice is ours. We can choose to become more and more like the father in the story – more and more like God in whose image we are made.
