This is my Beloved Son with whom I am well pleased ...

“This is my Beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.” These are the words we hear every year right before the first Sunday of Lent after Jesus is baptized by John the Baptist. And I think the season of Lent and the paschal mystery itself is about dying to ourselves and realizing how much Jesus loves us, how Beloved we are.‘I love you so much that I’m willing to be falsely accused for you. I love you so much I’m willing to be scourged for you. I love you so much I’m willing to be ridiculed and spit on for you. And I love you so much that I’m willing to die for you.’ I don’t know about you, but this is a kind of love I have trouble getting my arms around and truly believing and accepting with both my head and my heart.

This Sunday we heard the Parable of the Prodigal Son, a parable many of us have heard before. In the parable, the young Son asks for and squanders his inheritance, but upon his return home is freely received by the loving arms of his father, while the older son is jealous and hard-hearted and refuses to enter his father’s house after this outrageous demonstration of love and mercy toward his younger brother.

We can all identify with the older son I think, who jealousy says, “How dare my father say to my younger brother, ‘this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased.’ He doesn’t deserve it.” And we can all identify with the younger son too I think, who upon his return, prepares to tell his father, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you, I no longer deserve to be called your son.”

In the end, they’re both right. The Prodigal doesn’t deserve his father’s love and mercy, but it’s given to him anyway. And I think that’s the whole point of this story, our true inheritance is being God’s Beloved, it’s not about the property, the cattle, or the number of servants we have. As you’ll remember at the beginning of the story, the father gives freely the financial inheritance requested by his son without an argument, question, or challenge - - even though culturally at the time it would have been and still is today a tremendous insult for a young man to ask his father to cash-in his inheritance while the father is still alive.

But our TRUE inheritance as believers is that we are, as St. Paul says, “baptized into the blood of Jesus Christ.” His baptism is our baptism, the voice that calls him Beloved calls us Beloved, and the death that he died was for OUR sins, not his own. How outrageous is that? We certainly don’t deserve that kind of inheritance - - but it’s given to us anyway. It’s given to us freely with open arms from the Father who is waiting for us to return home this Lent amidst the sounds of music and dancing.

Whether we’re a son or daughter who has squandered our gifts on a selfish lifestyle like the younger son, or a codependent performance-oriented lifestyle like the older son, we BOTH are granted the same Beloved inheritance by Almighty God. God doesn’t grade on a scale. If we come home to him in a Spirit of love and repentance, we all get “A’s.” Truly, no child is left behind. How radical is that? But we’ve got to come home to him first and show up every day for school. That is what Lent is about. He wants to school us in what our inheritance as his Beloved is about. It’s not about performing outwardly for him during Lent - - giving up this or doing that - - it’s about letting God perform inwardly in our hearts. And he is waiting for us, as in the Parable says, to give him permission to do it.

“This is my Beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.”

The reason many of us are passionate about doing social justice work I think is that we have a genuine desire to serve those less fortunate than ourselves and share our gifts and blessings. Sounds like a nice thing to do, right? Our society is good with that. Giving something back, making tax-deductible donations, and looking out for those in need. But where does that desire come from?

Whether we realize it or not, I’d offer that we’re being called to share with others the outrageous love of the Father demonstrated in the Parable of the Prodigal Son: Welcome home with loving arms those who have hurt us. Give our love to those who have squandered their inheritance. Kill the fatted calf and celebrate with the sounds of music and dancing. It’s nice to say, but can really do this? Do we set our sights high enough?

During my recent trip to Israel, I had the realization during a reflection at the banks of the river Jordan, that I was a Beloved son of God, and I shed a few tears as I received that. Fr. Michael who was leading our pilgrimage helped me make a connection between Jesus’ baptism, the devil’s temptation in the desert, and our own lives as the Beloved of God. After his baptism by John, the Lord says to Jesus, “This is my Beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.” Then the Holy Spirit leads Jesus into the desert where the devil tempts him by saying, “If you are the Son of God … then do this,” and if you are the Son of God … do that.” So the devil is simply trying to get Jesus to doubt the truth of his gift of being the Beloved Son of God, doubt the power and integrity of the giver of the gift, God himself, and doubt his need for dependence on God for daily nourishment and subsistence.

As scripture tells us, Jesus passes these three tests from the devil with flying colors to go on to do amazing things with his ministry to the Jews and Gentiles, but how do these tests and temptations stop us from doing amazing things in our work and ministry?

• Do we trust in our inheritance as the Beloved of God to stretch ourselves like Jesus did, or do we do play it safe, and play it small?
• Do we trust in our inheritance as the Beloved of God when we face potential roadblocks and/or suffering, or do we persevere?
• Do we trust in our inheritance as the Beloved of God or do we let our own vision get in the way of what God has planned sometimes?
• Do we trust in our inheritance as the Beloved of God when we are successful, and give gratitude to God for the way he has blessed our work, or do we take the credit?

I’ve learned that if I truly believe I am a Beloved child of God and live into it this blessing every day, the devil and his doubts and temptations can’t touch me. I am a Beloved Son of God and unless I doubt or surrender the integrity of this gift to the devil or someone else, he and his lies can’t touch me. That is why; I believe Lent always begins from the baptism of Jesus, because we always need to be reminded before we go into this time in the desert that we are Beloved sons and daughters of God. Can we conceive it? Do we believe it? Do we receive it? If we do, we can do amazing, unstoppable things.