Joshua 5:9A, 10-12

Psalm 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7

​This passage at the outset of Chapter Five, follows immediately after the passage of the people across the Jordan. Like their miraculous passage through the Red Sea, they walk again between waters parted by the power of the Lord. The miracle marks the definitive end of the Sinai wanderings and the clear beginning of their new life in the Promised Land.
 
Now that the people have begun this new phase of their history, they must reaffirm their covenant relationship with the Lord Who has delivered them and blessed them. In the first few verses, we hear about the circumcision of the young men born during the Sinai wanderings. Now in these verses, the text relates the celebration of Passover in the new land. It is curious that this account of the feast does not mention the sacrifice of lambs. Modern scholars believe that the rituals of Passover originate from two originally independent feasts – a spring offering of lambs and a fall offering of harvested grains. This mention of the grain alone may be evidence for this process of development.
 
Irrespective of such questions, we must recognize the drama and importance of the moment. Notice that the celebration of the feast also sees the cessation of the gift of the manna. Now that the people have come into the land, the miraculous gift that sustained them in the wilderness is no longer necessary. Of course, they remain dependent upon their relationship with the Lord, but they are no longer helpless refugees. The gift of this bountiful land requires response. They will participate in the gift of the Lord by their husbanding of the Promised Land.

​This Psalm expresses the heartfelt thanksgiving and witness of an individual who has experienced the deliverance of the Lord. The central focus of the prayer is a summons to trust in the Lord. The Psalm provides an appropriate response to the first reading. The people have experienced, even “tasted,” the providential care of the Lord in the wilderness. They must now take that learned trust into their life in the land.

Second Corinthians 5:17-21

​In this section of Paul’s letter, he outlines the authentic foundations of his own apostleship and the Christian life itself. That foundation is the self-sacrificial love of Jesus Christ Who accomplishes for sinful human beings the reconciling fidelity and trust that people could not accomplish.
 
Here is the context for the startling assertion at the conclusion of our passage: “For our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.” Jesus Christ is sinless – One Who lives in perfect communion with the Father. Paul does not contradict this truth but meditates on the extraordinary mystery of the sinless One Who takes on the effects of sin in order to deliver the guilty.
 
The effects of this reconciliation are on display in the dramatic transformation of Paul himself. His false devotion to the law brought him to the point of violence and murder. Christ’s embrace, an unmerited gift of mercy, has transformed Paul and his relationship to others. In this Paul sees an entirely new basis for relationship with God. We need no longer rely upon the written law, for we now live in communion with the One Who is the fulfillment of the law. We must still live moral lives, but the code has become a relationship – and one that offers mutual love and support. 

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Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

​The first three verses of this chapter introduce three parables that respond to the objection of the Pharisees and Scribes. They have objected to Jesus’ association with sinners. The three parables of the lost sheep, lost coin, and lost son powerfully assert the power of God’s mercy. The grouping of the parables and the long, complex, and shocking third parable emphasize the point. That parable, a story of two sons and their father provide our passage for the Fourth Sunday.
 
The story recalls other biblical stories of fathers and their sons – consider Esau and Jacob and Joseph and his brothers. In those stories too we see energetic younger brothers and their jealous elders. Nonetheless, this parable differs fundamentally from those stories. Its focus is not on sibling rivalry but upon Fatherly love.
 
The parable has many details that are meant to shock the listener. The younger son behaves in a scandalous manner – he manipulates his father’s generosity with no sense of love or even respect for his father or his brother. When he achieves his nefarious end, his actions are as foolish as they are immoral. He is vastly reduced in status and appears about to succumb to the inevitable effects of his own hubris and foolish sin.
 
And then he comes up with another scheme. His father proved an easy mark the first time, why not try a new tactic? Is this too strong a statement? Where in the passage do we hear of the young man’s repentance. We are only told of his desperation and his new plan. The greatest shock of the parable is the behavior of his father. He is the aggrieved party in a confidence game. He has every right to call his foolish son to task, but behaves in an entirely unexpected way. He runs forth and celebrates the return of his son even before the boy can offer his new line.
 
The behavior of the older brother look more like what we should expect in such circumstances. But here too, we have something of a lack of filial piety. True, the older son asserts his fidelity to the father, but notice that he has a sense of entitlement. Because he has done his part, he expects reward. This attitude too falls short of authentic filial love. He just has a different strategy for getting what he wants from his father.
 
The story could not be stronger in its assertion of the nature of God’s mercy. That mercy and love for the son’s exceeds their expectations and the usual human notions of “fairness.” The grace precedes repentance in this story. Jesus’ lesson for the Pharisees is a summons to bow in humble gratitude before a loving father who would love all his children, even in their sins. It is not a moment to compare records, but a moment of awe before the truth that sin abounds but grace abounds all the more.