THREE  MEN  IN   A   BOAT

Picture three men – one an old man – two in their mid 30’s.

There at a dock in the city of Tiberias. It’s around 4 pm.

They have rented out a small boat. They get in the boat and head out to the middle of the sea of Galilee.

There is a decent wind and they raise their sails.

They settle for a place in the deepest part of the Lake of Galilee – where it’s about 70 feet to the bottom.

Each of the three men  have a rock with a piece of calf skin or vellum tied around it. 

Each has writing on the calf’s skin they are holding – which is tied to the rock they are about to drop and  let sink into  the lake.

Each is going to give a small speech and then drop their rock into the depths of the sea – rocks which have their sins connected to them.

The youngest son goes first and says, “My brother, my dad, I’m sorry I ruined our family name with  all my sins in that far country I went to a couple of years ago. My motives for coming home were not the greatest.  I’m sorry I hurt both of you as well as myself, so thank you for forgiving me.

He dropped his rock into the water and all three watched it sink.

The oldest son went next. “I was the worst sinner – unwilling to forgive you dad for being so forgiving of my brother and for being so challenging to me. Plus, younger brother I’m sorry it took me so long to forgive you.”

He dropped his rock into the lake. All three watched it sink to the bottom.

Lastly, the father said, “Forgive me younger son for not coming after you.  And older son, forgive me for not giving you space and time – to figure all this out. I waited for your brother to wake up and come home, but I didn’t give you any time. Instead I came right after you. Please forgive me.”

Then he dropped his rock with his words on vellum into the lake.

And all 3 watched it sink to the bottom.

Carefully they all hugged each other and cried and laughed.

The older brother on the way back to shore and to get some breakfast asked his dad, “Why did you pick this lake to do this?”

“Oh,”  said the dad. “It was because of something Micah the Prophet said. ‘You, God, will cast into the depths of the  sea all our sins….’ Well, since it’s taking us all these years to let go of all of this hurt, I thought we needed God to give us some help in forgiving each other.”

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This is a reflection on the readings for this morning's Mass - the 2nd Saturday in Lent.

The gospel is the story of "The Prodigal Son" - Luke 15: 1-3, 11-32.  I've preached and written lots of different sermons and poems and reflections on this gospel - over the past 55 years. That's probably why I've done so many different  items.

The First Reading for today is Micah 7: 14-15, 18-20 - so that's where I got the idea in the last paragraph of this reflection. 

Amen.