One of the earliest debates in Christian history was a theological debate about how we gain salvation, why God loved us. Two men engaged in the debate. On one side was St. Augustine, a name I think many of you know. Augustine’s opponent was a lesser-known man by the name of Pelagius. Pelagius’ position was this: we gain salvation by our good works. When we live an honorable life, when we do what is right, when we love God and our neighbor, God sees our good works and grants us salvation. Because of the works that we do, God loves us.

Now this is a very attractive theory. But Augustine was dead set against it. He argued that God is so much greater than us and a relationship with God is so beyond our ability that no good work could ever earn God’s love or be the reason for our salvation. God saves us simply because God chooses to save us. We are in a relationship with God because God chooses to initiate that relationship. None of our good works cause God to love us. It’s all grace. Now, of course, St. Augustine felt we should do good works. He believed that was what God asks of us. But he was insistent that God does not love us because of the good works that we do. God loves us simply because God loves us.  

If you pick up any theological textbook, it will tell you that Augustine won the debate with Pelagius. Augustine’s position is now official Church teaching. We come to salvation totally by God’s grace. But I would be willing to say that many of us are actually more followers of Pelagius than Augustine. Don’t we think that we are good Christians because we live a good life, because we do what is right, because we try to be good parents, because we give to the poor, because we come to Church? These are all good things but when we think that our relationship with God is based on the good works that we do, we are in fact siding with Pelagius. And taking such a position is more than a theoretical stance. There are actual consequences which appear in ourselves. When we think that it is our good works which initiate our relationship with God, we inevitably find ourselves in jealousy and judgment. When we see our accomplishments as the reason for God’s love, we cannot help but compare our accomplishments with the accomplishments of others. 

The elder son in Sunday’s Gospel (Luke 15:1-32) is a perfect example of this kind of thinking. When his sinful, wayward, younger brother comes home and his father welcomes him with warmth and love, the elder son explodes. “It’s not fair,” he says. “This boy has done nothing but sin, nothing but waste your inheritance on prostitutes. Meanwhile, I’ve been here, working the land, keeping the family together.” The elder son is jealous of the love that is given to the younger brother. He is judgmental. He keeps pointing to all the good things that he has done. But he does not understand that the father does not love his children because of what they have done, but simply because they are his sons.  

Friends, you and I are most often the elder brothers and sisters of the parable. We try to live our lives by doing what is right and good. We work hard. We come to Church. These are all good things that God asks of us. But we must never think that these good works of ours gives us a claim on God’s love. God remains free, free to love others who might, in our thinking, be less good than we are. The moment we begin to feel jealousy and or judgment toward others, in that same moment we should recognize that we have twisted our relationship with God. When we begin to say: “Thank God I am not like that person who only comes to Church on Christmas and Easter, who is addicted to drugs, alcohol or pornography, who lives a sexually dysfunctional life, whose family is in disarray,” we are really pointing to our own accomplishments. When we begin to hurl judgments toward others, what we are really saying is that God should love us more because we are good.  

But God remains free, free to love those who are less good than us (so we think). God remains free to love those who are struggling, to love those who are sinful. The great message of Sunday’s Gospel parable is that God’s love is primary, and our deeds are secondary. God remains free to rejoice in a sinner who repents, in the weak who try, in the prodigal who comes home. And if we intend to live in our Father’s house, we must be willing to rejoice as well.