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With the Sunday that just passed, the Church entered
the period known as the Triodion. It is the service book that will take us
up to the last service of Great and Holy Saturday. It takes its name from
the odes sung during Mattins on weekdays of this period. At all other
times of the year a collection of short hymns called the canons are made
up of eight odes or canticles. Now instead of eight there are only three
odes - thus trio for three plus odes make up the word Triodion. It is the
book of Lent, but begins with four Sundays before the onset of Great lent
with themes that will help us to prepare for that spiritual journey that
will lead us to that feast of all feast, the Festival of Pascha. For each
of the four Sundays before Lent, the themes are based on the Gospel
readings of that Sunday. Thus, last Sunday the Gospel reading was the
Parable of the Publican and the Pharisee which teaches us to beware of the
Pharisee’s pride and self assurance, and rather that we should embrace the
humility of the Publican. The Kontakion of the day, as also all the hymns,
speak clearly of this: “Let us flee from the proud speaking of the
Pharisee and learn the humility of the Publican, and with groaning let us
cry unto the Saviour: Be merciful to us, for Thou alone art ready to
forgive.”
The second
Sunday is called the Sunday of the Prodigal Son again because the Gospel
reading for this Sunday is the Parable of the Prodigal Son. This is the
Gospel reading we will hear on this coming Sunday. Appropriately our talk
today will be on this very moving story which should help give us a
clearer understanding to the deeper meanings of the Parable. We talked
about this Parable at some length last year in our Talk on the preparation
for Great Lent, so today I don’t want to repeat what has already been
said. For those who have internet access and want a more traditional
explanation on the Parable they can visit the Talks page on the website.
Before we begin our look at the Parable, we should say what parables are.
A parable is a story told in a familiar and simple way with a moral lesson
as a means to teach us that we need to change our current way of life. It
is used as an analogy [comparison] so that one can understand a deeper
meaning having a religious and spiritual significance. Jesus probably used
parables to explain His teachings because there was less chance of people
being offended than if he came straight out and told them the truth about
their spiritual condition. Every parable requires that we change our
behaviour, our thoughts, our beliefs, in fact our complete way of life if
we want to be saved and live eternally with God.
Jesus’
parables teach a series of moral concepts using the culture of the times.
They are just as relevant for us today as they were then, but for us to
understand them we need to examine them in the light of the Jewish culture
and customs of that time. For instance, in the story of the Prodigal son,
the son demanded his share of the inheritance. Under Jewish law he was
entitled to half of what the older brother was to receive. But more than
this, did he have the right to ask for the inheritance while his father
was still alive? To do so prematurely was to imply that he didn’t care if
his father was alive or dead and can even be interpreted as though he
wished his father’s death.
To understand
all parables we must first identify ourselves with the characters, because
one of them is me. Jesus is talking directly to me and he wants me to
understand how distant my life is from God. This is probably more true in
the parable of the Prodigal Son than in any other parable. Thus in today’s
parable there are three characters: a father and two sons. We should
identify and see ourselves in the younger of the two sons: He is you and
me and in general all of humanity.
What I want to
do is for us to look at two specific points of the Parable, the Prodigal
Son’s sin and his repentance and with a little imagination try and
identify these in ourselves and other people of today -. I’m sure you all
know the parable, but just to refresh our memories here’s a quick summery
of the story.
The Parable
tells of a father and his two sons. The younger of the two asks from his
father his share of the inheritance which he receives and then leaves home
for a distant land. In this far away country he spends all his wealth
living a wasteful and reckless life like there is no tomorrow, but a
famine arose and he found himself without any money and starving. He finds
work looking after a herd of swine but he was still so hungry that he
could have eaten the pig’s food. Eventually he comes to his senses and
realizes that at his father’s house even the servants have enough to eat.
He decides to return home hoping that his father will receive him if only
as a servant. His father sees him while still a long way off and runs to
embrace him and kiss him. As the son begins to ask for forgiveness, his
father orders the servants to dress him with the finest robe and shoes and
also place a ring on his finger signifying that he receives him back as
his long lost son and not as a servant. They then kill the fatted calf and
celebrate his return. The older brother on hearing of his brother’s return
is envious that his father should have received him with celebrations and
even more so because he was reinstated as a son. In other words, equal
with himself, who had always been a faithful son, living piously and
always observing his father’s commandments.
The Prodigal
Son’s sin and every sinner have two perspectives: the reckless squandering
of one’s wealth and money and the eventual outcome of this recklessness.
The Prodigal Son of the Parable was the younger of the two sons and as
such is portrayed as most young people today: immature, spontaneous,
reckless, rebellious, wanting money, freedom and independence and not
thinking carefully on the outcome of their actions. The son asks and
receives from his father his share of the inheritance and seeking to be
free from the strict rules of home, sets out to find freedom and a good
time. Every sinner, seeking to distance himself from God, is empty headed
and foolish. The Prodigal continues on his journey and at every turn of
the road checks to see if the money is still in his possession to confirm
to himself that he still has his father’s wealth. The parable talks of
material wealth, but as we said earlier everything in parables have a
spiritual meaning. In this case the inherited wealth means the spiritual
gifts and blessings we received at Baptism, the gifts of the Holy Spirit,
the spiritual virtues, the image and likeness of God, but also includes
the bodily senses and organs we associate with being the members of our
body that reflect our spiritual state of health: for example the tongue,
the ears, the heart, mind and soul, and in fact our whole body which is
the temple of the Holy Spirit. Distant from God, the sinner believes that
these gifts are his and he wants to enjoy them without any strings
attached to God and his divine protection.
The Prodigal
Son reaches a distant and strange land far away from God and begins to
enjoy life having a ball of a time. This onetime prince living in the
seclusion and protection of the palace is dazzled by the bright lights,
similar to a boy from a small village when he first encounters the night
life in the great city and it draws him like a magnet. His money at first
seems almost inexhaustible. He rents a great mansion, he hires servants,
he dresses as the lord of the manor, visits the clubs and casinos. Soon he
is surrounded by friends and girlfriends who have sprung up like
mushrooms, ready to help him spend a little of his fortune. They introduce
him to alcohol, drug abuse, and sexual indiscretion. He now has the
flashiest cars and beautiful women by his side. No gift for them is too
much for the cardinal pleasures they offer him. One by one his spiritual
and bodily graces begin to disappear like a string of pearls that breaks
and the precious pearls scatter in all directions. What has happened to
the gifts he received from God? His ears no longer hear divine words, but
foul language which also his tongue has accustomed to spurting out. His
heart becomes the cradle for all kinds of evil and his soul becomes the
devil’s playmate. His beautiful body reeks of carnal sins and his genius
of mind has become refined in the ways of evil.
We can liken
carnal pleasure and all sin with a barrel of wine. At the very bottom
there is the sediment. Whoever drinks the wine of pleasure, when he is
well drunk he will also drink the sediment. Having drunk the sediment in
other words, having tried everything that is considered evil and reached
rock bottom, the Prodigal son is indeed in a very sorrowful state. The
great life the Prodigal son had, or imagined he had, could not last
forever just as it cannot last for ever for every sinner. Sooner or later
it will be cut short, either when the money dries out or health problem
arise or both. For the Prodigal son his bags full of money became empty
rags. His parasite friends disappeared and he found himself alone without
money, without food and shelter. The great city that once flourished now
suffered the consequences of a great famine. Everyone was looking out for
their own interest, their own survival: who was going to pay any attention
to this miserable poor lad who was now worst than a beggar, naked like a
worm?
Where he was
once rich and self-sufficient, he now has to find work to survive, but can
only find work looking after swine. When Jesus says in the Parable that he
looked after swine, he was trying to say that this occupation was the most
humiliating of all professions. Firstly we must remember that the Jews
were forbidden to eat pork, so for the Jewish nation there was no need for
rearing swine. The Gospel story of the man that was possessed by a legion
of demons again makes reference to swine. Before they were cast out from
the man they asked if they could enter into the nearby herd of swine.
Jesus allowed this because as Jews they had no right to rear swine. That
is also why the people of that region asked Jesus to depart from them
because they knew they had departed from the law and feared he would judge
them accordingly. So for the average Jew, rearing a herd of swine was
degrading. The Prodigal son did not become a shepherd of sheep like the
Patriarchs of Israel were, but a shepherd of greedy, noisy and filthy
pigs. No decent Jew would have even considered giving him his daughter in
marriage; he was an outcast, unclean like a leper. We can even say that
his employer was a gentile, an idol worshipper, who had no laws forbidding
him eating juicy pork chops. This shows the Prodigal’s total abandonment
of God, the result of his desire to live freely without any attachments to
the life he once knew close to God.
How many
sinners end up in the same state as the Prodigal son? They might preserve
outwardly a good appearance, but internally they are wretched. As the
Prodigal son found out, freedom from God means slavery, and every sinner
who exercises his freedom without God becomes a slave. A slave to his
passions and a slave to the Devil who is now the master the Prodigal son
now serves. In a state of spiritual and bodily hunger, the Prodigal son
tries to fill his belly with the husks the pigs fed on. If you remember
our talk last year we said that in the Greek text, the word for husks is
κερατίων which was in fact something we have a great deal of in Cyprus.
Κερατίων were the carobs from the carob trees. Eating carobs begins with a
sweet taste in the mouth but too much can be sickening. In a spiritual
sense it is like saying that the sinner tries to fill his empty soul with
sins and pleasures which taste sweet at first but sooner or later they
lose their sweetness and turn bitter. The pleasure goes out of them and
the soul yearns again for satisfaction but cannot be filled.
This is a very
dangerous state to find oneself in. it is called despondency. It is the
state which the fathers consider the greatest danger for the soul. Someone
in this state cannot see anything good or positive and his thoughts become
negative and pessimistic. It leads to disbelief in God and brings about a
spiritual suicide, a death to the soul. It is at this moment that the
Prodigal Son accepts the idea of returning to his father and the homeland.
The idea probably came to him many times before but he always rejected it.
How could he return in his wretched condition, to the house he left in
contempt, to the father who he had wished was dead, to the father he knows
must have suffered greatly on his departure, to the brother who he envied
because he stayed at home and was victorious. How could he return broke
without a cent in his pocket, without shoes, without clothing, without a
ring on his finger, unrecognizable, changed from the slavery, the hunger,
and the scorching sun and very dirty from the filthy swine. Wouldn’t it
give opportunity for his brother and neighbours and even the servants to
show their superiority, their righteousness? What would they all say?
Would he not be an object to be ridiculed? How could he kneel before his
ageing father who he didn’t even say goodbye to when he left? And he left
like a prince but would be returning like a worm. How could he now drink
of the water from the place he once spat? How could he return to the home
to which he had now become a complete stranger?
Despondency is
truly the worst condition a sinner could find himself in, it is a dark
place of despair with no hope of light, a living hell. But there is a way
out and the Prodigal son having reached the very pit of hell suddenly saw
a flicker of light when he remembered how even the servants at his
father’s house have more than enough to spare while he was perishing with
hunger. He had left as a foolish inexperienced adolescent, looking to find
his independence, but only found slavery. Now his experiences in the world
have made him a mature man and he realises that with his father he had
everything a person could hope for. Yes! He suddenly realizes that he was
even happy there. What foolishness had made him leave such a place of
paradise? And here at the very moment of his realization begins his
repentance.
Repentance has
two stages: the feeling of repentance and the return. For the Prodigal Son
the Lord says that “When he came to himself” in other words “When he came
to his senses”. Up to now the Prodigal and every sinner distant from God
are actually outside of them selves, out of their minds. The Prodigal son
begins to bend and repentance begins to show the first rays of hope. He
remembers as the saying goes in Greek “that blood does not turn to water”
or more well known in English “blood is thicker than water”. The Prodigal
Son begins turning things over in his mind. His father no matter how much
he was offended and hurt by his departure would surely not deny his own
blood. If he doesn’t want me as his son then at least he will take me in
as a servant. Instead of having the son of someone else as his servant, he
can have his own son to serve him. I don’t expect, neither ask for his
love because I lost that right long ago, all I ask for is a piece of bread
from the kitchen. Thus the first sign of repentance is humility and this
saving humility is what every repenting sinner should feel as he begins
his journey of retuning to God. He should consider himself unworthy of the
divine gifts. Thus now having come to his senses he realizes not only how
wrong he was about his father, but also how foolish he had been, how naïve
and gullible. He learnt that his friends with whom he squandered all his
wealth didn’t love him for himself, but for the things that he had, thus
earthy or worldly love is a false love that eventually fades and ceases to
exist. He paid a heavy price to learn this truth, but it was not in vain
because he learnt the meaning of humility which would now help him fight
his way out the clutches of despondency.
This is true
of every sinner: we all make mistakes, but our mistakes can teach us what
is right from wrong. No matter how deep the feeling of despondency is
before our repentance, the realization of our sins will lead to a equality
deep feeling of humility at our time of repentance. But we cannot remain
with just feelings: we must put these feelings into actions as did the
Prodigal Son. He begins his return to his father’s house, which is our
return to God, to the heavenly kingdom. This is not an easy journey. He is
thousands of miles away from his destination. He doesn’t have the money to
buy a ticket and take a quick plane ride and even if he had, the homeland
doesn’t have an airport. There is no quick way to get there. The journey
is on foot over many mountainous obstacles which at times seem almost
impossible to pass. Naked, cold and hungry, his bodily strength is tested
to its limit. As times he is driven to despair with feelings that he will
never make it. At other times he stops to rest hoping that this will help
him recuperate.
Occasionally
he comes across an inn where he begs for a small piece of bread which he
eats with the salt from his tears. This is similar to our Lenten journey
which is our journey to return to the homeland and to God our Father. Many
times during the fast we will feel that we have reached our limits and are
tempted to abandon our journey. True fasting will lead to temptations, to
weakness of the body, and many doubts will spring up in our minds
questioning the existence of God. These are the mountainous obstacles that
often seem impassable. But there are many inns on our journey where we can
find nourishment. These are the many Church services during lent that
offer us bread and shelter, spiritual food and sustenance to help us
recuperate, to re-find our strength to continue.
The Prodigal
Son continues his return journey unaware of how far he has actually
travelled. In fact he is still a very long way off; he has hardly even
come close. He feels as though he has been walking for ages, but in
comparison to the whole journey he hasn’t even travelled 1% of the way.
But what of the father; what has he been doing all this time? He too has
been suffering greatly. He was aware of the rebellious character of his
son and knew that it was a risk to give him the inheritance, but he also
knew that he could not keep him chained at home against his wish. The only
way to make his son understand what was good for him was to let him learn
through his own experiences. So out of love he allowed him to live
according to his own will. The father knew that one day his son would come
to his senses and thus sat patiently waiting for his return. In fact he
had kept track of his son all that time he was in that far away country.
He was very well known in all the lands and was continually informed of
his whereabouts. Thus he also knew the very moment of his son’s decision
to return and even sent instructions to the inns on the way that they
should secretly give his son food and shelter. In the condition his son
was in, there was no way he would have made the journey without a lot of
help.
Therefore
being fully aware of his son’s struggle to return home, the father keeps
watch and one day sees in the distance the tired and sad figure of what
once was his princely son dressed in the finest clothes now almost naked
in torn and dirty rags, but he is a loving father, full of compassion and
never once did he stop loving his rebellious son who had wished him dead.
He is so overcome with joy and love for his son that he doesn’t sit and
wait for him to approach. He runs out to meet him and there face to face
with his long lost son, he embraces him and smothers him with kisses. The
son doesn’t know quite how to handle the situation. His heart is filled
with tenderness and at the same time his mind is confused. He knows he is
unworthy of such a reception and finds it impossible to respond to his
fathers kisses. As soon as his father releases him from the smothering
embraces, he falls to the ground in humility and as he had rehearsed in
his mind from the moment of his return, he begins confessing, saying:
“Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more
worthy to be called thy son.” The son humbles himself renouncing any
claims he may have had to be called a son and would have continued with
his plea for forgiveness by asking to be accepted back as a hired servant
if his father hadn’t cut him short. The father’s joy was so great; his
love was so overwhelming that he never once considered punishing his son
further than what he had punished himself. He had been to hell and back
and he came back a new person, a new son with knowledge of good and evil.
This was a time for celebrating. He orders the servants to bring forth the
best [first] robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and
shoes on his feet: And kill the fatted calf, let us eat, and be merry: For
this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.
We said in the
beginning that the Prodigal Son represents each and everyone of us, but
here there is one significant difference between us. The Prodigal didn’t
know how his father would receive him, but Christ has already told us the
father’s response to him when he arrived in those rags. Before he even got
the words out of his mouth, the elder father was running out to greet him.
And this is God’s fundamental disposition towards us, his children. Unlike
the Prodigal, we can be assured of the Father’s embrace. We know that God
hears the prayers of us sinners, we know that God’s love for us is as
inexhaustible as God is Himself.
But the
Parable doesn’t end only with music and celebration, but also with a
hidden warning with the image of the older son. We don’t usually identify
ourselves with the older son, but identify “others” with him. Of course
those “others” probably identify us as the older son. Now the older son
represents all those who have never left home, in other words those who
have always been close to the Church and who have never transgressed at
any time the commandments. They keep the fasts and everything the Church
requires of them, in other words they appear externally as good
Christians, very much like the Pharisee who appeared as a good Jew. They
believe that they are righteous and better than other people, but their
true self, hidden until now, appears when they see a sinner, who they know
has led a wicked life, return to the bosom of the Church and be accepted
on an equal level as themselves. They see the grace of the Holy Spirit
shine brighter in them than in themselves and are overcome with envy. They
cannot understand why after all those years of devoting themselves to the
Church with prayer and fastings, they shouldn’t shine brighter.
Thus
Christ is now telling us, “If you have never left the house, always did
what you were told, and stood fast by the father, don't be like the elder
brother.” The kingdom of heaven is about love that surpasses all
understanding and if we do not have the compassion and love of the Father
then we have no place in our father’s house. If we have this Christ-like
love then we would welcome and embrace every stranger, every returning
prodigal who has sought to return to the bosom of the father. This should
fill our hearts with joy and make us want to celebrate as did the father
and the angels of heaven. It does not matter if someone was once a member
of the house who left and committed the gravest sins, he has now repented
and returned from a far county as a re-born person. It does not matter
what race or colour they are, whether cradle or convert, rich or poor –
what matters is that they have given up everything to find eternal
salvation in the bosom of the father. Thus in an indirect way the parable
says beware! Don’t come so far in your spiritual journey only to allow the
sin of pride to hold you back.
The story of
the Prodigal Son is an 'exact icon of repentance', inasmuch as through it
we see the reality of repentance as it must be lived in our own lives.
Before telling the Parable of the Prodigal Son, Christ mentioned the
Parable of how the Good Shepherd leaves the ninety nine sheep in the
wilderness to go and look for the one which is lost and searches until he
finds it. He tells us that the Good Shepherd, the God who we serve and
love doesn’t remain idle when we have lost our way, but is out there
searching for us, but now with this parable of the Prodigal Son he is
telling us that we also must take a few steps in his direction. How will
he find us if we keep silent? Let us cry like the sheep so that our cry
will lead him to us.
As we approach
Great lent, let us prepare for our long journey home, confessing in our
hearts and on our lips that we “have sinned against Heaven and before the
face” of our Father. Let us beg God to receive us not as we deserve, but
according to the greatness of His love and the multitude of His mercies.
Although we are no longer worthy to be called the sons and daughters of
God, let us trust the words of Christ our Saviour, when he says “there
will be more joy in Heaven over one sinner who repents than over
ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance” (Luke 15:7). When
our return trip from the “far country” comes to an end, may we too see our
God and Father run to meet us, throw His arms around our shoulders, and
kiss us, calling out to His holy angels: “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… for this, my son, was dead, and is alive
again; he was lost, and is found!” Amen
As an
afterthought I want to share with you a story I came across in a Greek
article for the Prodigal Son. The story is about Leonardo da Vinci and his
famous painting of The Last Supper. The story is probably not true because
its says that he took more than 10 years to paint it whereas documentary
evidence indicates that he finished it in 3 years. Nevertheless, it has
often been used as a religious allegory or parable to warn of the
spiritual decay that awaits those who turn their backs on God.
The story tells of how Leonardo da Vinci needed to find models so that he
could paint the 13 faces of Christ and the Apostles. Each model had to
have a face that expressed da Vinci’s vision of the particular man he
would represent. One Sunday, as da Vinci was at the cathedral for mass, he
saw a young man in the choir who looked like da Vinci’s idea of how Jesus
must have looked. He had the features of love, tenderness, caring,
innocence, compassion, and kindness. Arrangements were made for the young
man, Pietri Bandinelli, to sit as the model for the Lord. Years went by,
and the painting was still not complete. Da Vinci could not find just the
right face for Judas Iscariot. He was looking for a man whose face was
streaked with despair, wickedness, greed and sin. Ten years after starting
the picture, he noticed a drunken man sitting in a corner of the square
and begging for alms. With shoulders far bent toward the ground, having an
expression of cold, hardened, rugged and evil, the man seemed to be the
model da Vinci had been looking for. Leonardo worked feverishly for days,
but as the work went on, he noticed certain changes taking place in the
man. His face seemed filled with tension, and his bloodshot eyes were
filled with horror as he gaped at the likeness of himself painted on the
canvas. One day, Leonardo sensed the man’s uneasiness so greatly that he
stopped painting and asked, “What seems to trouble you so much?” The man
buried his face in his hands and started crying his eyes out. After a long
time, he raised his head and inquired, “Don’t you remember me? I am Pietri
Bandinelli and years ago I was your model for the Lord, Jesus.” This
miserable man had turned his back on Christ and turned his life over to
sin and the world sucked him down to its lowest levels of degradation. He
no longer loved the things he had loved before. And those things that he
at one time hated and despised, now he loved. Where once there was love,
now there was misery and hate; where once there was hope, now there was
despair; where once there was light, now there was darkness.
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