Luke 15:11-32
The Lord said this parable: “There was a man who had two sons; and the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the property that falls to me.’ And he divided his living between them.
Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took his journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in loose living. And when he had spent everything, a great famine arose in that country, and he began to be in want. So, he went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would gladly have filled his belly with the pods that the swine ate; and no one gave him anything.
But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired servants.’
And he arose and came to his father. But while he was yet at a distance, his father saw him and had compassion and ran and embraced him and kissed him.
And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet; and bring the fatted calf and kill it and let us eat and make merry; for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to make merry.
Now his elder son was in the field; and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what this meant. And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has received him safe and sound.’
But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command; yet you never gave me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your living with harlots, you killed for him the fatted calf!’
And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to make merry and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.'”
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In our Gospel reading today from Saint Luke, we hear the parable of the Prodigal Son. It is a well-known parable; and it is also well known that it illustrates for us how boundless is God’s mercy to all who truly repent, as the Fathers confirm. It also, I would suggest, lays out a good model for us to follow when it comes to our own repentance.
First, let us consider what it is that the prodigal needs to repent of. Obviously, there is the way in which he spends all his money in sinful living. And this sinful living must have been on a truly immense scale. Not only does he run through the immense sum that his father gave him, but he does so in such a manner that it is talked about far and wide. Consider here that even though all of this is taking place in a far country, what he’s up to is known about back home. This is why his brother can angrily describe to their father the sinful way in which he has squandered all that his father gave him.
But his sin begins before that. Consider how he got that money. He asks his father for his share of the share of the property that falls to him. In other words, his inheritance. Normally an inheritance comes when the person is dead; so, the son here is all but saying to the father that he is dead to him. It is shocking behaviour: so shocking that when the prodigal decides to go home, he realises that he has no longer has any right to be treated as a son, but instead only hopes that he will not be left to starve at the gate of the place he once called home.
The process by which he comes to find himself at these gates once more provides us with an example to follow when it comes to our own repentance. Note what our Lord says is the first step of this process: the young man ‘comes to himself.’ He realises that his previous behaviour was sinful, that he had sinned against heaven and against his father.
This first step is of immense importance, because it is impossible to repent unless we acknowledge that we have done are indeed sins. No doubt the prodigal’s so-called friends praised his riotous living and applauded all he did. This is the way the world operates, to say that sin is not sin.
It is a problem for Christians of every age and the only way to save ourselves from it is to set aside the values of the world and to look instead to what the Church teaches us. The Church does not base what she teaches on what’s popular at the moment; her teachings come from God by way of Sacred Scripture and Holy Tradition. The values of the Church show us the way of salvation; while the values of the world, where they are in opposition to the Church, lead us along the path to perdition.
And note well here the order in which the young man places his sin. He has sinned against heaven and his father. Heaven comes first. This is an acknowledgement that all the wrong we do is first a sin against God. Not all the evil we do is a sin against another person. But all are sins against God. However, if we do not sin against God, then we will never sin against another person.
Returning to the prodigal, after accepting that he has sinned, he then repents. He realises that he must turn from his sin and humbly return to his father. There he will admit his sins before him and ask to be allowed to return home, not to the place of honour he once held as his son, but as a mere servant.
But even as he even before he begins this confession, something amazing happens. The father runs to the son as soon as he sees him approaching, while he is still far away, embracing him and kissing him. And as soon as the son begins to speak, something even more amazing happens. His father forgives him. Not in some half-hearted way. Not ‘you’re back and you can stay but understand that things will never be the same again.’ No, he forgives him fully; and, without the son even asking, restores him to his former positions as a son of the household. More, he declares a celebration to mark the occasion.
Thus, our Lord sets out a pattern for us. We are to acknowledge our sins, understanding that our sins are what God has taught them to be, not what the fallen world tempts us to think that they might be instead. Then we are to repent of those sins. This is more than saying sorry but turning from them completely. Following that, we are to confess them and seek God’s forgiveness. And if we truly repent that forgiveness will be granted, and the angels will rejoice in heaven. I pray that they will rejoice for you. Amen.
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