Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Lent March 30, 2025

There’s an old European legend about a traveler who came upon a barn where the devil had stored seeds that he planned to sow in the hearts of people. There were bags of seeds variously marked “Hatred,” “Fear,” “Lust,” “Despair,” “Unforgiveness,” “Envy,” “Greed,” “Drunkenness.”

Out from the shadows, the devil appeared and struck up a conversation with the traveler. He gleefully told the traveler how easily the seeds sprouted in the hearts of men and women everywhere.

The traveler asked, “Tell me, are there any hearts in which these seeds will not sprout?” Glancing about carefully, the devil slyly confessed, “These seeds will never sprout in the heart of a kind, generous, thankful and joy-filled person.

Do you remember the old show, The Smothers Brothers? One of the things that sticks in my memory is the complaint by one of the brothers, “Mom always loved you best.”

The story Jesus tells in today’s Gospel includes two brothers. As we heard, the two brothers are not madly in love with each other; they won’t even speak to each other.

But that situation is as old as time, isn’t it? We have in the book of Gensis the story of two brothers, named Cain and Abel. Both offer sacrifices to the Lord, and God seems to like Abel’s best. This makes Cain so jealous that he kills his brother. When God comes looking, and asks Cain where his brother is, Cain gives the famous answer, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

The interesting thing about Jesus’ story is that we don’t know how it ends. We know how it got to this stand-off between the brothers. The younger one lives for the moment, asking for his share of the inheritance even before his father is dead. He then goes through the money and ends up friendless, and working among the pigs (a terrible fate for Jews, who do not eat pork).

Then he comes back to the homestead, contrite and humbled, ready to be treated as a hired hand. But the father is so happy that he is alive and safe that he immediately overlooks the young boy’s flaws and restores him to his former place in the family.

The older son is angry. He is the dutiful one, who obeys his father and seemingly never steps out of line. He hates the fact that the father so easily whitewashes the younger son’s deplorable behavior, and forgives him on the spot. He wants punishment; he wants justice, not mercy.

Then the father tries to reason with his older son. He tells him that the young returnee is not just his son. Looking into the old son’s eyes, he reminds him that this is his brother. Aren’t you relieved that he’s back safe and sound? That he wasn’t injured or killed?

So, we’re left hanging. We don’t know what will happen next. And I think that is intentional. I believe Jesus wanted those who hear this story to enter into it and wrestle with it. Specifically, if we are like the older brother, how will we respond? What will we do?

Once again, as with all Jesus’ stories, the greatest command is love. The greatest demand is forgiveness from the heart. Here’s the thing: the father is asking the older son to party with someone he feels is not worthy of his love.

And the remarkable message of the story is that God is willing to party with those who fall short, with those who do wrong, with those who come to their senses and realize that God’s heart is big enough to love everyone.

What’s the older son’s problem? We can choose a number of seeds the devil has sown in his heart. There’s definitely unforgiveness, and maybe envy, and possibly hatred. Those seeds of evil, as the fable suggests, can be planted because the older brother seems not to have a heart that is kind, generous, thankful and joy-filled.

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus asked if we love only those who love us, what’s so great about that? He then goes on to challenge his followers to love our enemies, to pray for our persecutors, and to care about brothers and sisters who fail to live up to our expectations.

That’s the whole point of today’s story: are we ready to party with those we don’t consider particularly worthy of our love?

This is clearly true on a personal level. But I think it can apply in other ways. Can we love those who need help in providing food for their families? Can we love those who are from a different race, culture or heritage? Can we feel the pain of those worrying about being picked up and deported, and separated from the rest of their families? Can we empathize with those who worry about losing their Social Security benefits or Medicaid?

We don’t know how Jesus’ story ends. We don’t know if the older brother goes to the party. But we know how the father feels: “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.”

Kindness, forgiveness, generosity and joy: it is such hearts the father looks for. Unforgiveness, envy, and hatred: those are the devil’s doing.