Prodigal Son Fr. Matthew Tate

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

of the Holy Spirit, one God. We have today before

us the second in the pre -Lenten Gospels, and

this is one of the most beautiful, hopeful Gospels

that we have at any time in the course of the

year. There's a context for all of it, and I

want to read that to you. It's the beginning

of this 15th chapter of St. Luke. They're due

near to him all the publicans and sinners for

to hear him. The Pharisees and scribes murmured,

saying, This man receives sinners and eats with

them. So they're disdainful of the fact that

he's spending time with sinners, which is what

he did all the time. And so a lot of the context

of what will go forward has to do with trying

to help them to have a different understanding

about things. altogether different than last

week, the publican and the Pharisee, in that

you had a publican who kept the law. He did everything

right. And this was their perspective. They were

sons of Abraham. They were sons of Moses. They

did everything right. They kept the law. They

were the good guys. They were over here. And

then you have the bad guys. And they were over

here. We'll hear more about that next week, too.

But... They would divide things out in that way,

but they really didn't look to the heart of people,

nor did they really have compassion for the lost

sheep of the tribe of Israel. They had the opposite

for them. They had disdain. So in this parable,

in the two preceding it, the Lord is instructing

us in what his father is like, the true nature

of his father. To the degree that we can apply

human words to that. Because if we say that God

is love. We don't really know what we're talking

about. Because it's so far beyond what we think

of as love. If we say that he's kind. We don't

really know what we're talking about. Because

he's so far beyond our concept of kindness. But

we have to sort of look in human terms. That's

who we are. That's how we see things. So the

Lord gives us three parables. give us instruction

in this. The first is the parable of the lost

sheep. So the sheep is lost, paraphrasing. And

the shepherd, the Lord, goes after the one that

is lost, leaves the 99. Now, I would think that

practically speaking, he would stay with the

99 and let the one go. But it isn't his nature

to do that. He's not satisfied until he seeks

out every soul. We should find that very hopeful

and very helpful. Because it's his nature to

seek out lost souls. Not to be disdainful of

them. Not to judge them. Not to set them aside.

But to go after them as a good shepherd. And

he takes the sheep and he puts it on his shoulders.

It's a beautiful image. And carries it back.

Says, rejoicing. And he says to the people, rejoice

with me, the lost sheep is found. The next thing

is the woman with the drachmas, the coins. And

she has ten of them. She loses one. And then

she sweeps the whole house, looks everywhere

for it, and finds it. And then she says, rejoice

with me, for the lost coin has been found. And

always a coin in the scripture has an image on

it. And so what it's really talking about is

the image of God in us. That's the coin that's

lost. And she's not going to be happy with the

nine. The Lord is not going to be happy with

the nine. He wants all ten there. It's not about

money. The third thing is this parable about

the prodigal son. Wasteful. So there are two

sons. The younger says, Father, give me what

is owed to me. He's exercising his free will

here. In a way, we would say it would be better

if the father said, no, I don't think you're

ready. Let's just have you stay here a little

bit longer until you appreciate who you are and

where you are. But he doesn't do that because

he gives us this very dangerous thing called

free will that means that we can be profligate.

We could go out and be wasteful of the grace

and the goodness that God gives us. So he gave

this to the young man, gave him his inheritance,

and after a few days, He went on a road trip,

headed out. It says he went to a far country.

And if he's leaving the Father's presence, that

far country is the fallen place. So he goes to

that far country. And when he gets there, the

literal Greek word is that he sort of spews his

wealth everywhere. Just scatters it like seed.

And it doesn't last very long. It's not frugal.

He's not careful. And he spends everything that

he has, and then all of a sudden he finds himself

in poverty. And in that faraway land, immediately

at that time, the famine comes. Because to be

honest with you, it's always a famine in that

land. There's no food there. There's no life

there. It's a place that takes life away from

us. It sucks us dry. So he connected himself

to a citizen of that country, and we know who

he is. And so he did the thing to a Jew that

was the worst thing that could happen to a Jew.

And he turned him into a pig farmer. The worst

thing that could happen. So the Lord often gives

us these real juxtapositions so that we can see

things clearly. So he's serving the pigs. He's

caring for the pigs. This is absolute degradation

for a Jew. And of course these Pharisees are

hearing this. He feeds them these carob pods.

And it says that he would like to. He was starving

himself. Because he's working for the guy. But

the guy doesn't give him anything. He just gives

him bad things. And that's the nature of it.

We think we're getting something. But we're really

not. Not real life. Not sustenance. Not things

that matter. So he feeds these pigs carob pods.

it says that he would like to have eaten them

himself. And I'm thinking, well, why didn't he?

You know, if he'd like to have them, he could.

But the problem is that pigs get nourishment

from carob pots because of the teeth that they

have and the way that their bellies are and everything.

Humans don't. It's one of those things that if

you tried to eat it, you would have to chew it

so long that you would use more calories trying

to eat it than you would get out of it. That's

hellish food. But that's what hell is like. That's

what the far country is like. That's what it's

like to serve that master. Because he takes everything

away from us. So the prodigal son stands there.

His situation is bleak. There's really no hope

for him in this place anymore. And this tiny,

still, small voice goes off in the depth of his

heart. And he remembers where he came from. He

remembers his father's house. Because he is made

in the image of his father and his likeness.

And that is alive within him no matter what he

does. It's always alive within him. And it speaks

out in his desperation as so often happens to

us. And in that moment, the son remembers. He

remembers who he is. in the words of scripture,

they're really well stated. It says he comes

to himself because he had gone out of himself.

He was living in a way that was not real. So

he came to himself and he had a very penitent

heart and he wanted to go back to be with his

father because he thought, well, you know, I

may not deserve to be a son, but at least the

servants have plenty to eat. And they have a

better life. A way better life than I have now.

I'll go back and ask if I can be a servant. Because

I don't deserve to be a son. So he repented in

the literal sense. Because he had gone to the

far country. But he had a metanoia. A change

of heart. He turned with his body. And that's

important. And he started in the next direction.

Because that's the true nature of repentance.

Sometimes we think repentance. is something where

we should feel really bad about something. And

if we feel bad long enough and beat ourselves

up long enough and are mournful and all that

sort of thing, maybe do enough sort of self -flagellation

and what have you, that ultimately God will sort

of be satisfied. That's not our theology, by

the way. It's from another place. And that we

will satisfy him with our repentance. That isn't

what he wants. Repentance is to turn and go in

a different direction. That's real repentance.

That's what we're after. We're heading in the

wrong way. We turn and head in the right way.

That pleases him because it brings hope. So the

prodigal son does that. He takes that action

and he heads back in the right direction. And

the interesting thing is, and this is where we

really see the nature of God. In his life, we

see the nature of God in our lives. We see the

nature of God, how God feels about us. And there

are some verbs, some actions that take place.

First, the father says. When he was still far

away off, his father saw him. So, number one,

he was on the porch looking. He was waiting.

He was looking. For that lost son. Because he

wants him to be at home. He wants to bring him

home. He's not thinking. I hope that scoundrel

never comes home. Because of the way he wasted

my money. And did the things that he did. But

rather. I want him home. I'm waiting for him.

I'm watching for him. And so he's watching. Then

it says. And the father saw him. Just like the

Lord last week. A couple of weeks ago. And it.

transformed Zacchaeus' life. As soon as Zacchaeus'

eyes met the Lord's eyes, he brought him down

and changed his life. So the father saw him at

a great distance. God sees us and changes our

lives. So he sees him, and then it says that

he had compassion on him. He didn't go out and

say, what a horrible kid you are. I can't believe

you have the nerve to come home. This in Greek,

the word that's used here is like deep, heartfelt,

deep, gut felt compassion. He longed, longed

for the son to come home. So he had compassion

on him. And then he ran, which an adult Jew would

never do. It's a metaphor of just letting go

because of the love that he feels. So he ran

to him, fell on his neck. And fervently kissed

him. Just in the south we would say he loved

on him. You know when someone's feeling sad down

there we always say you need to go love on Bill

because he's having a hard time. So this is what

the Lord does. He responds to him and he loves

on him. Loves him. Expresses it through that

most intimate of ways through kissing. And so

the son has a prepared speech, doesn't he? He

already knows what he wants to say, what he's

going to say. So he starts in on it. Father,

I have sinned against heaven and in your sight.

I'm no longer worthy to be your son. But the

father doesn't need that because he's already

seen his repentance, hasn't he? He sees his repentance

in his action. He doesn't need to do more than

that. It's kind of like the son is back here

trying to catch up with all this, where the father's

already made his response. He's brought him back.

And so next actions of the father. He brings

out his best robe. Now, again, in the Greek,

the word is original, his original robe, the

one he had before he left, the image of God,

right? So he brings out his original robe. his

wedding garment, and places it on him. Then he

put a ring on his hand, and that would be a signet

ring. And that would be, if you were in the Galooly

family, and John's father passed on and he handed

him his signet ring, then he would now have the

authority to press that into a wax seal, and

we would know that that was from his family.

So what he's doing is he's bringing him back

into the family. He's making him an heir again.

And then he puts sandals on his feet. Why? Because

he's not a slave anymore. Slaves could not wear

shoes or sandals. Only freemen could. So in making

him a son, in giving him his wedding garment,

in giving him the seal, the image of the family,

he's restored in that. And then he takes him

out of slavery and makes him a son again, completely

restores him to everything that he had before.

And then he says, bring the fatted calf, kill

it, let us eat and make merry. And of course,

this is a Eucharistic image. So there isn't time

to talk about the older son. He behaved. Very

incorrectly, much like the scribes and Pharisees

were. But in the end, we get a word that we had

in the lost coin, in the lost sheep. And that

is, we should rejoice and make merry and be glad.

For your brother was dead and is alive again,

was lost and is found. Was he dead? Yes, he was

spiritually dead, wasn't he? You can be physically

alive and spiritually dead, and that is not a

good thing. So he went from the death of living

to the true life of living. He stopped existing

and became alive again. He was lost and he was

found. So we should never feel That we are too

far away or too lost to be restored. Because

the prodigal son did this in what seems like

in the story. He went out and he was restored

and then he came back. But this image that takes

place from his father is an image of baptism

as well. And we unfortunately go for visits to

that far country. Quite regularly. there's always

the same way home. And since he tells us that

we should forgive, 70 times 7, then we know that

he offers us the same forgiveness. He's never

mean. The Fathers teaches that the wrath of God,

which we think of as the meanness of God, is

really always pedagogic. He's always teaching

us something when difficult things come into

our lives. But ultimately, all he really cares

about is to bring us home, to take us from death

to life, to take us from lost to found. And we

should never in our hearts condemn ourselves

to the point that we think that God cannot forgive

us or restore us or bring us back into his love

and his grace. That's what this parable is about.

Don't ever lose heart. Even when you read patristic

books sometimes that make you think things are

so harsh that it's impossible. It is not. This

is the Lord telling us, no, it's not impossible.

It is ultimately exactly what he wants to do.

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

Spirit. Amen.