This fourth Sunday in Lent comes as a sort of a deep sigh. The scriptures in each of the preceding three weeks have tended toward accountability to God’s covenant and judgment for our failure to measure up. Today’s lessons however, resonate with consolation. Israel’s disgrace is rolled away. Anyone in Christ is a new creation. And the sibling who was dead and lost has been found alive.

What’s interesting is how these stories are based in community settings. However much we may think that faithfulness comes down to individual accountability to God, the scriptures tend to address the faith community as a whole. Even if sin or evil befalls a particular someone, its impact and resolution affects everyone else around them.

This presents us with an opportunity to see the gospel story in a different way today. We know this parable of the prodigal very well even though it is only in Luke’s gospel. You’ve probably heard this story re-branded from the “the Prodigal Son” to “the Prodigal Father”. Because certainly the father goes way beyond any reasonable expectation of generosity in reconciling with his wayward adult child.

Both the traditional interpretation of prodigality and the alternative put the emphasis primarily on what God or Jesus do. Only secondarily is it suggested that ordinary people might attempt some degree of imitation. If God can be so very very good, perhaps we can be sort of good?

The good in the story of the prodigal comes down to repentance and return, met with forgiveness and reconciliation. And what’s strange about this story as Jesus tells it, is the character of the older brother, who simply cannot rise to the occasion. He has received only good in his life, and yet he cannot rejoice over the change in his brother’s fortune.

If we take this as an individual fault, then it ends with us shaking our heads sadly over the older son. We might even muster some sympathy. The older one is paying a high emotional price by not entering into the spirit of forgiveness. We might even think of someone of our acquaintance who is just like that. Poor soul.

Another individualized reading of this story comes from framing it as a story of Jesus showing God’s love to people who’ve made poor life choices. Tax collectors and sinners break the commandments. But all it takes for them to be restored is that they each remember God’s parental love and acceptance, turn their lives around, and return to God with all their hearts.

But. What if this story is not about anyone’s individual failure?  Might it be about a community represented by two sons, both of whom love their father?

So. Here is Jesus, teaching. His Galilean audience is primarily Jewish. Some practicing their faith with great devotion, others not. This is a picture of a community of faith, God’s people gathered together. But they do not regard one another as the same before God.

There are, on the one hand, sinners and tax collectors. And on the other hand, the Pharisees.

We may imagine Jesus sitting in between them. The atmosphere is unsettled. There is grumbling.

For God’s sake, who invited them here?

And yet they all belonged in this place with Jesus. Tax collectors unwisely serving the interests of the Roman Empire. Sinners flaunting God’s commandments. All claiming their place at God’s table as God’s children.

And the Pharisees too. They were single-minded in their dedication to God. They studied God; cared about God’s commandments, served God with their whole hearts. No one would deny their love for God.

The Pharisees were not enemies of Jesus. We know from other stories that they listened to Jesus and some allied themselves with him. They were keepers of the tradition of God’s law. It was their responsibility to challenge and debate the teachings of anyone presuming to interpret the Torah, the repository of God’s commandments.

In fact, the Pharisees were deeply interested in what Jesus had to say about the Torah. Their primary concern was whether or not Jesus could show that his teaching was consistent with the tradition of Torah. They expected him to act in ways consistent with the Torah.

That included not sharing fellowship with people on the wrong side of God’s Law. At least not until they’d been properly re-admitted to the community after ritual cleansing. It was on this matter that the Pharisees questioned Jesus. How could he justify being with impure people?

But Jesus didn’t answer that question directly. Instead he replied parabolically. Which is to say, with a story that parallels and reflects something significant.

It is a story about a family divided. The elder brother stayed home and followed tradition dutifully. And his father loved him unconditionally. The younger brother left home and openly defied tradition. And his father loved him unconditionally.

This is all about the Torah tradition. Two traditions actually. One is the tradition of humankind’s willing obedience to God. The commandments of the Torah, are the authority here. The other is the tradition of God’s unconditional love. Torah is the authority here too, as shown in God’s many redemptive and reconciling acts toward Israel.

The tradition of the Torah is generous. This is what Jesus was saying. In a larger sense Jesus was challenging the community of faith to see all people as one family receiving God’s prodigal love. To remain together means practicing mutual welcome, grounded in the conviction that we all stand convicted before God’s love and righteousness.

The timing of this story matters. Jesus was on his way to the cross. The community of faith would be shaken by his arrest and death. Yet no matter what their part in it would be, from bystander to activist, this story would end in God’s consolation for all.