First Steps to God

Homily for Sunday, March 30, 2025
The Fourth Sunday in Lent
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

If someone knew nothing about God but were curious to learn, the Bible itself offers several possible “first steps” to help introduce them.  In Romans, for example, Paul’s “first step” to introduce God is to point to nature.  Paul writes:

Ever since the creation of the world, God’s eternal power and divine nature,invisible though they are, have been seen and understood through the things God has made. (Rom 1:20)

In 1 John, the “first step”is to appeal to the author’s and community’s own experience of God:  “We declare to you what was from the beginning,” the author writes…

…what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life. (1 John 1:1)

Or in the prophetic writings,a common “first step” to introduce God is to point to the people of Israel, as for example in Zechariah:

Thus says the Lord of hosts:  In those days ten from nations of every language shall take hold of a Jew, grasping his garment and saying, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.” (Zech 8:23).

If someone knew nothing about God but were curious to learn, the Bible itself offers several possible “first steps” to help introduce them.  

One possible “first step” to help introduce God comes from this morning’s Gospel lesson.  The parable of the Prodigal Son introduces God…

·       …as merciful.  Even though the second son had, in the words of his brother, “Devoured your property with prostitutes,” yet the father killed the fatted calf for him. Our God is merciful.

·       …as enjoying the company of “sinners:”  In his preface to the parable Luke writes:  “All the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to Jesus.  And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, ‘This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.’"  Our God enjoys the company of “sinners.”

·       [The parable of the Prodigal introduces God]…as a God who allows us maximum freedom:  Note how when the son asked –even though the Father, knowing his son, probably knew how he would spend it –the Father still gave him his share of the property.  God allows us maximum freedom.

·       …as a God who can’t get us off his mind:  Note how the father must have been scanning the horizon day in, day out, for “While he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion” and ran to him.  God can’t get us off his mind.

·       …as a God who celebrates us:  The father “ran and put his arms around him and kissed him… and said, ‘Quickly, bring out a robe,the best one, and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.  Get the fatted calf and kill it.’”  God celebrates us.  

·       …as a God who “has our back:”  Despite the older son’s protests, the father defended the Prodigal:  “Son… we had to celebrate and rejoice,because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.”  Our God always and everywhere works on our behalf and for our good; God has our back.

Today’s parable of the Prodigal offers a great “first step” to help introduce God to another.  

Probably like many of us, the “first steps” that introduced me to God were mixed.  My pastors, parents and teachers verbally had the message right – I remember them telling us that God loves us.  But if God is merciful, why were the punishments meted out in my parochial school so severe?  If Jesus enjoyed the company of “sinners,” why in my church was there an air of secrecy and shame around, for example, unwed mothers?  If God allows maximum freedom, why were we taught that so many things were “sinful” and warned not to do them?  I was taught that God is always thinking about us; but it was kind of like Santa Claus in the song: “He knows if you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake.”  The “first steps” that introduced me to God were mixed.  And, as I suspect many of us are, I am still coming to terms with these mixed “first steps” that introduced me to God.  

In the spiritual life, freedom is paramount.  With the Spirit, there is little to no place for the “shoulds,” “oughts” and “supposed to’s” that for many of us were how we were introduced to God.  Re-finding freedom in our relationship with God is likely to be a life-long process. This morning’s parable can help us rediscover that freedom because it reminds us that God is merciful, that God enjoys the company of “sinners,” that God allows us maximum freedom, that God thinks about us constantly (in a good way), that God celebrates us, and that God is at all times and in all places working for our good.

In the introduction to his first book published as Pope (The Joy of the Gospel, 2013), Pope Francis borrows images from the parable of the Prodigal Son.  He imagines the father welcoming us with open arms when we return to God; he speaks of the father’s forgiveness for us; he tells how the father celebrates us.   And the Pope invites us into a renewed, ever-deepening,freedom-filled relationship with the God that is not at all marked by“shoulds,” “oughts” or “supposed-to’s.”  I will leave us with the Pope’s words:

I invite all Christians, everywhere, at this very moment, to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ, or at least an openness to letting him encounter them; I ask all of you to do this unfailingly each day.  No one should think that this invitation is not meant for him or her, since “no one is excluded from the joy brought by the Lord.” The Lord does not disappoint those who take this risk; whenever we take a step towards Jesus, we come to realize that he is already there, waiting for us with open arms.  Now is the time to say to Jesus: “Lord, I have let myself be deceived; in a thousand ways I have shunned your love, yet here I am once more, to renew my covenant with you.  I need you.  Save me once again, Lord, take me once more into your redeeming embrace.”  How good it feels to come back to him whenever we are lost!  Let me say this once more:  God never tires of forgiving us; we are the ones who tire of seeking his mercy…  Time and time again he bears us on his shoulders…  With a tenderness which never disappoints, but is always capable of restoring our joy, he makes it possible for us to lift up our heads and to start anew.  Let us not flee from the resurrection of Jesus…  [And]may nothing inspire us more than his life…