Sunday of the Prodigal Son 2025

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and

of the Holy Spirit, Amen. More than one commentator

on this marvelous and incredible story has said

that, it's a bit of a hyperbole, but there's

some truth there, that if the scriptures were

lost, which is not possible, being the most published

document, in all the world, in all ages, but

if the scriptures were lost, this marvelous,

moving, always relevant, universally relevant

parable told by Jesus would be enough to fill

in, to tell us what we need to know about God,

about our true home in paradise, about what we've

lost, about ourselves, about sin, the fall of

Adam and Eve in the garden. the knowledge of

God's loving presence, about repentance, about

healing, and about envy. Of course, that's an

exaggeration, but there's truth there. What a

story. And to whom was our Savior speaking when

he told this parable? What do you imagine? Where

was he? St. Luke records for us this. He says

that the tax collectors and the sinners were

all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees

and the scribes grumbled, saying, This man receives

sinners and eats with them. In other words, he's

defiling himself. So our Savior addresses this

parable and two others, the lost coin, the lost

sheep, the lost son. On the one hand, he addresses

it to those who are proud, who are judgmental,

who can't rejoice over the one sinner that repents

because that sinner is so bad he ought to be

cut off. There's your older brother. There's

the Pharisees, always doing their duty but with

no love. And on the other hand, Jesus is speaking.

to those sinners who come to him to repent, turn

to him to begin a new way. In the church, we

come as we are, but then we change. We are transformed.

We are given grace to be different, to have a

new way of life. This is what the word repentance

means, to turn our heart to a different direction.

Not our feelings, our heart, our minds, our whole

life. Repentance is not guilt, and guilt is not

repentance. This parable of the prodigal son

might be called the parable of the two sons and

the compassionate father, the humble father,

who does what no self -respecting elder of the

time would do. He ran out to his son, seeing

him from afar, and embraced him. and kissed him.

So we could call this parable the parable of

the loving father about his love, his mercy,

his patience, his generosity, his respect for

our freedom and the watchfulness that he has

over us. I don't want to ruin this story for

you by going on and on and trying to explain

every detail. Let me limit myself to what I can

understand and just share that. We can imagine

that this son thought himself something special,

a prodigy. And therefore, he felt too constrained

in his father's house. So he asked, he demanded

the inheritance from his father. Would you go

to your father? To say, give me my inheritance

now? No, because we don't receive an inheritance

until they pass away. So it's like saying to

his father, I just want what you have. I don't

care about you. You're dead to me. Give me the

portion, the property, the substance, all that

you have that is due to me. Upon your death,

I want it now. This conforms well to the myths

of our modern culture, that everything around

us is extreme consumerism, isn't it? We're told

to nurture a sense that every purchase, every

choice, every feeling we have, every decision

is shaping our happiness, creating our destiny.

And we curate, some of us, an image on social

media which is absolute fiction. Jesus tells...

us that this young man went into a far country

he found himself far from God obviously that's

what it's telling us and the man was hungry after

he squandered everything he had did you hear

what Saint Paul wrote to the Corinthians all

things are lawful but not all things are good

I don't want to be brought under the power of

any of that I want to be free This man was not

free. He squandered everything thinking he would

enjoy... Have you ever... Well, I won't go into

that. His heart, his belly was empty, but his

heart was full. His heart was full of terrible

things, loneliness, anxiety, and fear. He was

taking care of pigs, living with them in a pig

pen. He didn't go into the house and have a shower

and sit down at the master's table. He was living

with the animals. It's the saddest, most tragic

thing. We've seen it. I've seen it. Sometimes

in ourselves. For a human being who is not just

an ordinary animal, but created in the image

and likeness of God himself, created to be the

temple of the Holy Spirit in our bodies, to devolve

like swine, Not resembling his father, but resembling

the pig. It's profoundly tragic to lose communion

with God. We hear this parable two weeks before

Lent for a number of reasons. It follows, naturally,

the parable of the publican and the Pharisee.

For many reasons, one of which is to beware of

pride over others. like the older brother. In

Lent, the danger is not that we will fail at

prayer, fasting, and works of mercy. We will

certainly fail at that, and part of Lent is...

constructed so that we do fail at that and gain

a little humility. The danger in Lent is that

we will be prideful about the little bit of praying,

the fasting, the alms and church going that we

do, and we will look down on other people. That's

the danger in Lent. That's why it's related to

the publican and the Pharisee who was critical

of those who are repenting. who had a moralistic

religion, refusing to rejoice. But thou didst

come to save sinners, O Lord, we say, of whom

I am first. Our goal in Lent is hopefully to

believe that that is true, that God came to save

sinners of whom I am first. Secondly, this parable

tells us something about repentance. No matter

how far a person is from God, no matter how far,

no matter what terrible sins a person has fallen

into, repentance, restoration, healing are possible.

How did it begin for the young man? He came to

himself. He says, what am I doing here? I had

enough in my father's house. Why am I here? He

came to himself. And then what did he do? He

said, I know. I will go to my father and say,

I'm no longer worthy to be your son. You see,

we think sometimes God owes us. But this man

had it right. He didn't blame anybody for his

situation, and he didn't even say, I want to

be restored as your son, nor to say, I just want

to be a servant, because a servant lives in the

house. A hired servant. He could be dismissed

any time. And he came to himself, and he arose.

He did not. He did not think magically, I'm going

to be transported right back. No, he knew the

journey was beginning. And that's what repentance

is. It's a journey. It begins. Lent is this way.

God waits for us. He loves us. He runs to meet

us. This is the meaning of the incarnation. His

death. and resurrection. This is the meaning

of Pentecost. This is the meaning of every single

divine liturgy, that God is with us. And so we

may not be living in a pig pen in a swinish way

of life, but just like I know you're not, glory

to God for that. I thank him that each one of

you is being guided by your conscience. But just

as the prodigal son's substance was wasted, it

says in the gospel, so we waste. So we waste

that precious gift in our heart. And we're fragmented.

We're broken. We can't pray. We have thoughts

and anxieties. And we need to be brought back

to Christ too. Finally, We have this parable

each year to reset our thinking that a relationship

with God is not about moralism. It's not about

perfectionism. It's not merely about breaking

God's laws. We keep those laws because those

laws are about true life. It's about God's love.

It's about a relationship. The position of the

scriptures is not that we are born bad. They're

bad people. And we sort of work our way up and

become good people and earn our way to heaven.

That's not the scriptures. The perspective of

the scriptures, starting with Genesis, is that

God gave us everything. And we, every single

day, we squander it. We have it all and we lose

it. Now we are on the road back, brothers and

sisters, not to feeling self -righteous, but

to feeling humble and to being sanctified. I

will leave you with these amazing words of Elder

Emilio Nos, the great elder of Mount Athos who

died in 2019. He says, God stoops down to his

people. All that the scriptures say about God's

walking, descending, bending down, being with,

helping, bringing to birth, caring, and so on,

are simply different ways of describing God's

gracious condescension. Because man will not

bow down to God. God, in his infinite humility,

bowed down to man. On the night he was betrayed,

Christ set aside his garments and stooped down

to wash the feet of a man that would deny him

three times. That's how God was with the people

of Israel. That's how he is with everyone. To

our Lord be glory now and ever, to ages of ages.