About ten days ago now I was meditating upon one of the episodes from this year’s Hallow Lenten series PRAY40 – The Return* and was really struck by such a stark difference in the way Fr Mike Schmitz perspectivizes the brother’s reaction in the story of the Prodigal Son, and the way I’ve always understood it as gleaned from the many different but nevertheless agreeable homiletic takes I have learned about how the story unfolds.

The basic drawdown here is that I really have to contend with Fr Mike Schmitz when he perspectivizes the attitude of the Prodigal Son’s brother as one of ‘resentment’. I wouldn’t call his attitude resentment but I would label it one of egotism and self-righteousness. And the fact is, self-righteousness and resentment are two very different things, and in some senses they can be and most often are juxtaposed.

See, Jesus was addressing the Scribes and Pharisees by using the Parable of the Prodigal Son as an illustration of the stark contrast between their own smug attitude of self-righteousness which, in the story is represented by the brother’s attitude, which is then sharply contrasted to the contrition which saturated the heart of the Prodigal Son, and which also represents the hearts of those repentant sinners who  in the Gospel story’s context, were wanting to draw close to Jesus. The Pharisees dismiss these repentant sinners in a similar fashion to how the Prodigal Son’s own brother dismisses him upon his return. And so, the Pharisees have, like the brother, hardened their hearts in a bitter feud of fallen pride. They say to Jesus, “Why is it that You dine with these wretches?!” And they do so because according to their worldview, anyone who does not practice religion in the exact same manner of precision as they do is hardly worthy of God’s love and attention! Not only that but because many of those who were befriending Jesus also wandered away from the faith in times gone by and so they were returning. However, the Pharisees do not consider returning by way of desiring intimacy with God and hoping for an outpouring of His grace to carry much spiritual weight, for there were many Pharisees and even some disciples who looked down on ‘the woman of ill-repute’ who also came to Jesus with such humility of heart and a desire to be made whole by Him. And so as we read in today’s Gospel (from John 12 : 1-11), we also learn that this same ‘woman of ill-repute’ is identified here as Martha and Lazarus’ sister Mary (also sometimes known as “Mary of Bethany”), you know, the one who was eager to sit and have some meaningful and necessary time-out with Jesus while Martha was frantically busy-bodying herself around the pots and pans and consequently getting all wound up about why her sister was ‘just sitting there being lazy with the cooking, i.e. not doing anything about it’.

We also learn from today’s Gospel that by way of opening an alabaster jar – filled with what I like to call here, the Oil of Gladness, which was henceforth poured over Jesus, Mary was harnessing the graces of an important “dual action”. For one thing, this was her own very personal way of expressing contrite sorrow for her past sins alongside that most precious love and intimacy with our Lord. And yet again, from a bigger-picture angle, this most enduringly fragrant moment simultaneously signified an anointing that was preparing Him for entering into His battle in the underworld with the forces of darkness. And so, this fragrant moment shows forth for us who are contrite of heart though sinners, that we can truly be reconciled to God and through that pathway of reconciliation, and are given an outpouring of His grace as represented by the Oil of Gladness. It’s supposed to symbolize the making of our peace with God and His full absolution of our sin through Jesus’ own Passion. Take the other comparable illustration from when Jesus was baptised in the Jordan by John the Baptist, like how He the Son of God, gave Himself over to be baptized by John, He also gave Himself over to be anointed by the woman with the alabaster jar (whom we learn from St John’s Gospel, is actually Lazarus’ sister Mary), as a sign that He was willing to be the total supply of God’s grace for us in fighting the battle for our Eternal Salvation – for us yes! And on our behalf. Indeed I have strayed off the original topic of the Prodigal Son but I needed to point out these additional insights so that we can come to appreciate more fully the sheer weight of the Prodigal Son story. Like the strayed son in the Parable, Lazarus’ and Martha’s sister Mary, “the woman with the alabaster jar” was also a “prodigal” at some point before encountering the Lord and she, upon meeting Jesus, was also on her way home to the Father, just like the Prodigal Son.

---

Main Reference

* LENT PRAY40 – The Return Day 12 – Sunday Homily by Fr Mike Schmitz https://hallow.app.link/DRGZTQQEE1b