WEBVTT 00:00:02.250 --> 00:00:05.650 Glory to Jesus Christ. Glory to Christ. In the 00:00:05.650 --> 00:00:07.410 name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 00:00:07.410 --> 00:00:13.310 Holy Spirit. Amen. We've come to a very important 00:00:13.310 --> 00:00:18.949 moment on this day in our preparation for Great 00:00:18.949 --> 00:00:23.149 Lent. This parable of the prodigal son, which 00:00:23.149 --> 00:00:28.469 is very tempting to speak on every single verse. 00:00:30.379 --> 00:00:33.520 It's so profound. It's so immediately relevant. 00:00:34.140 --> 00:00:37.740 But this is not a Bible study. It's a brief homily. 00:00:37.759 --> 00:00:44.359 I hope it's going to be brief. This is the third 00:00:44.359 --> 00:00:47.780 of three parables in chapter 15 of St. Luke. 00:00:47.820 --> 00:00:53.320 All three are about God's love for us. How he 00:00:53.320 --> 00:00:57.700 seeks us. How he seeks what is lost. The Lord 00:00:57.700 --> 00:01:01.549 speaks of the shepherd and the lost sheep. The 00:01:01.549 --> 00:01:04.250 Lord speaks of the housewife and the lost coin. 00:01:04.909 --> 00:01:08.310 And what happiness they both had, what joy they 00:01:08.310 --> 00:01:11.069 had. They called their friends to come and rejoice. 00:01:12.849 --> 00:01:17.269 And the climax of chapter 15 is our parable today, 00:01:17.370 --> 00:01:21.290 the father and the lost son. Lost sheep, lost 00:01:21.290 --> 00:01:24.709 coin, and now a lost son. And the joy that the 00:01:24.709 --> 00:01:28.980 father feels at his return. Suppose we could 00:01:28.980 --> 00:01:33.099 call this the parable of the prodigal son and 00:01:33.099 --> 00:01:36.319 the merciful father and the hard -hearted son. 00:01:38.519 --> 00:01:44.200 All three pointing to the same thing. God is 00:01:44.200 --> 00:01:49.079 not passively waiting for us. He didn't just 00:01:49.079 --> 00:01:54.500 wind us up and see where it all goes. He seeks 00:01:54.500 --> 00:02:01.890 us in love. And all three completely negate the 00:02:01.890 --> 00:02:07.950 idea, listen carefully, that man sinned, which 00:02:07.950 --> 00:02:11.949 he did, broke a rule, and now Jesus is going 00:02:11.949 --> 00:02:16.389 to pay a fine, you know, to release mankind from 00:02:16.389 --> 00:02:19.669 the sake of appeasing either an angry God or 00:02:19.669 --> 00:02:22.189 appeasing something called divine justice or 00:02:22.189 --> 00:02:27.219 something like that. We simply don't see God 00:02:27.219 --> 00:02:32.259 in this legalistic way. You were bought with 00:02:32.259 --> 00:02:37.319 a price. You are precious before God. Glorify 00:02:37.319 --> 00:02:41.360 God in your body, says St. Paul in that epistle. 00:02:41.419 --> 00:02:44.259 That epistle is like a commentary on this gospel. 00:02:46.020 --> 00:02:49.159 It could be for some here that you see yourself 00:02:49.159 --> 00:02:53.300 in this parable, perhaps. that you've come a 00:02:53.300 --> 00:02:56.759 long way and here you are. Or maybe you have 00:02:56.759 --> 00:02:58.780 a person in your life that you grieve about, 00:02:58.919 --> 00:03:01.620 you pray about, you hope that he or she will 00:03:01.620 --> 00:03:06.180 come to himself and to God. However it is you 00:03:06.180 --> 00:03:10.020 relate personally, there's something more here. 00:03:11.120 --> 00:03:14.460 It's universal, of course. Consider the words 00:03:14.460 --> 00:03:16.659 of Father Alexander Schmemann from the book Great 00:03:16.659 --> 00:03:18.919 Lent. It's the book that I have the catechumens 00:03:18.919 --> 00:03:22.500 read. He says, often we overlook something essential 00:03:22.500 --> 00:03:27.560 in our repentance with Christ. This something 00:03:27.560 --> 00:03:31.159 is precisely the feeling of alienation from God. 00:03:31.400 --> 00:03:33.939 The young man came to himself. He realized he 00:03:33.939 --> 00:03:39.219 was in a far place. He was alienated from his 00:03:39.219 --> 00:03:43.120 father, from the joy of communion with him, from 00:03:43.120 --> 00:03:46.120 the real life as created and given by God. It 00:03:46.120 --> 00:03:51.719 is indeed easy to confess. When we come to confession, 00:03:52.060 --> 00:03:55.639 that I've not fasted on the prescribed days, 00:03:55.840 --> 00:04:02.599 I miss my prayers, I became angry. It's quite 00:04:02.599 --> 00:04:05.580 a different thing, he says, however, to realize 00:04:05.580 --> 00:04:08.439 suddenly that I have defiled and lost my spiritual 00:04:08.439 --> 00:04:12.080 body because I'm far from God, and that I'm far 00:04:12.080 --> 00:04:14.520 away from my real home, my real life, and that 00:04:14.520 --> 00:04:17.439 something precious and pure and beautiful has 00:04:17.439 --> 00:04:22.310 been hopelessly broken. Any soul, says Elder 00:04:22.310 --> 00:04:24.730 Emelianos of Mount Athos, can go to confession, 00:04:25.009 --> 00:04:27.870 can read spiritual books, can pray much, can 00:04:27.870 --> 00:04:30.750 shed copious tears, or just go to church every 00:04:30.750 --> 00:04:39.089 week without the sense of sin and loss and restoration 00:04:39.089 --> 00:04:45.560 and joy that this parable describes. The point 00:04:45.560 --> 00:04:48.480 here that I'm making is not so that we should 00:04:48.480 --> 00:04:52.680 feel bad about ourselves. No, the point here 00:04:52.680 --> 00:04:56.139 is about repentance, learning how to do it, because 00:04:56.139 --> 00:04:59.879 we vacillate between two sides. Either we have 00:04:59.879 --> 00:05:03.480 sinned so badly, so wretchedly, that God will 00:05:03.480 --> 00:05:07.819 never forgive us, we feel, or else we feel, I'm 00:05:07.819 --> 00:05:13.689 okay. No sins. I'm pretty good. Either one, it's 00:05:13.689 --> 00:05:17.370 not reality of the condition of our soul and 00:05:17.370 --> 00:05:19.870 the love of God. Because in repentance, if we 00:05:19.870 --> 00:05:24.970 forget that God is merciful and seeks us, we 00:05:24.970 --> 00:05:31.050 won't get it. This is about restoring a relationship 00:05:31.050 --> 00:05:37.089 that is broken, that is lost. And it's how extravagantly 00:05:37.089 --> 00:05:40.750 our Lord has gone to restore us. Notice this. 00:05:41.550 --> 00:05:46.310 The parable says the younger son asks for his 00:05:46.310 --> 00:05:52.370 inheritance. If I went to my parents and I said, 00:05:52.430 --> 00:05:56.649 Dad, I want my inheritance now. What is that 00:05:56.649 --> 00:06:01.490 saying to him? It's saying to him, you don't 00:06:01.490 --> 00:06:04.209 matter to me. You're dead to me. I just want 00:06:04.209 --> 00:06:09.149 what's coming. So the younger son asks for his 00:06:09.149 --> 00:06:12.769 inheritance. Well, number one. You don't ask 00:06:12.769 --> 00:06:16.209 for an inheritance until the parent dies. So 00:06:16.209 --> 00:06:20.089 how thoughtless that is. Number two, it's the 00:06:20.089 --> 00:06:24.769 older son, the firstborn son, who would actually 00:06:24.769 --> 00:06:28.209 inherit everything in that culture, all of it, 00:06:28.250 --> 00:06:32.829 100 % from the father, and only then would he 00:06:32.829 --> 00:06:38.180 distribute it to the other son or sons. I have 00:06:38.180 --> 00:06:41.139 to imagine, Father Daniel maybe can correct me 00:06:41.139 --> 00:06:44.160 as the biblical scholar he is, that those listening 00:06:44.160 --> 00:06:47.740 to Jesus speak this parable would reject this 00:06:47.740 --> 00:06:52.540 idea. They'd laugh at how God is not like that. 00:06:52.680 --> 00:06:56.000 This man is a fool. This is overly generous. 00:06:58.000 --> 00:07:00.980 But we're speaking of divine generosity here, 00:07:01.139 --> 00:07:06.939 not human laws of inheritance. The great metropolitan 00:07:06.939 --> 00:07:10.540 Anthony Bloom of London spoke about this parable. 00:07:10.600 --> 00:07:12.980 He said the father, keeping watch for his son, 00:07:13.160 --> 00:07:19.420 standing there, waiting for him, always waiting 00:07:19.420 --> 00:07:22.060 and going out further and further to look for 00:07:22.060 --> 00:07:27.800 him, suddenly saw a beggar, a man in rags, coming 00:07:27.800 --> 00:07:32.019 in a faltering manner, tired, tired to exhaustion, 00:07:32.240 --> 00:07:34.680 with a soul even more desperately tired than 00:07:34.680 --> 00:07:38.180 his body. The father sees this man and recognizes 00:07:38.180 --> 00:07:41.600 him immediately, heart speaking to heart, and 00:07:41.600 --> 00:07:45.319 he rushed towards him, like that wonderful stanza 00:07:45.319 --> 00:07:51.019 in the canon of St. Andrew, like the father rushing 00:07:51.019 --> 00:07:54.939 out to meet the prodigal son. And he sees him, 00:07:54.980 --> 00:07:58.139 and he embraces him in his arms, and the boy 00:07:58.139 --> 00:08:01.480 falls to his feet and begins his confession. 00:08:01.540 --> 00:08:04.920 Father. I have sinned against heaven and before 00:08:04.920 --> 00:08:07.459 thee. I am no longer worthy to be called thy 00:08:07.459 --> 00:08:09.860 son. But at that moment, the father interrupts 00:08:09.860 --> 00:08:13.019 him and does not let him even say that. He does 00:08:13.019 --> 00:08:16.060 not allow him to say, receive me as one of your 00:08:16.060 --> 00:08:21.079 servants, your slaves. He could in no way become 00:08:21.079 --> 00:08:24.819 a stranger. He took him in his arms, brought 00:08:24.819 --> 00:08:27.040 him to the house, and the father says, bring 00:08:27.040 --> 00:08:32.360 him the best robe. There's some debate here. 00:08:32.600 --> 00:08:35.279 It probably says bring him the first robe, which 00:08:35.279 --> 00:08:39.240 is the best robe, the best robe to clad him in 00:08:39.240 --> 00:08:41.960 novelty and beauty. No, what he says is bring 00:08:41.960 --> 00:08:45.539 his first robe, the one I discarded when he left, 00:08:45.720 --> 00:08:50.100 the one he discarded, the one that he let fall 00:08:50.100 --> 00:08:53.600 off his shoulders to the ground, but which I 00:08:53.600 --> 00:08:56.799 have collected, which I have folded, I have kept 00:08:56.799 --> 00:09:02.220 in a drawer, and I've taken out. every day to 00:09:02.220 --> 00:09:06.360 hold against my heart, to kiss and to bury my 00:09:06.360 --> 00:09:11.139 face in it. Metropolitan Anthony says, because 00:09:11.139 --> 00:09:16.379 that is all I have left of my boy. It's that 00:09:16.379 --> 00:09:19.740 robe which is the best that was brought and the 00:09:19.740 --> 00:09:25.519 boy put it on. For us, I say this about the robe. 00:09:25.950 --> 00:09:28.710 because it's the robe of baptism. It's the white 00:09:28.710 --> 00:09:33.610 robe you receive. It's the robe of the Holy Spirit. 00:09:33.750 --> 00:09:37.049 It's the robe of the life of the resurrection. 00:09:37.549 --> 00:09:42.909 It's the robe of the kingdom of God. Again, Elder 00:09:42.909 --> 00:09:46.830 Milianos, the great elder of Athos who died in 00:09:46.830 --> 00:09:52.129 May 2019, reminds us that God stoops down to 00:09:52.129 --> 00:09:57.190 his people. If you are desperate in your repentance, 00:09:57.250 --> 00:10:01.370 or if you feel you don't have anything to repent, 00:10:01.789 --> 00:10:05.210 think about God stooping down, because he says 00:10:05.210 --> 00:10:09.350 man will not bow down to God. God, in his infinite 00:10:09.350 --> 00:10:14.169 humility, bows down to him. On the night he was 00:10:14.169 --> 00:10:16.690 betrayed, Christ set aside his garments and stooped 00:10:16.690 --> 00:10:19.049 down to wash the feet of a man who would deny 00:10:19.049 --> 00:10:22.230 him thrice. That's how God was with the people 00:10:22.230 --> 00:10:26.179 of Israel. That's how he is with everyone. This 00:10:26.179 --> 00:10:29.840 is the foolishness of the cross, of God's love. 00:10:32.259 --> 00:10:37.379 It says in the parable, at the end, Now his older 00:10:37.379 --> 00:10:40.279 son was in the field, and as he drew near to 00:10:40.279 --> 00:10:42.580 the house, he heard music and dancing. So he 00:10:42.580 --> 00:10:44.960 called to one of the servants and asked, What 00:10:44.960 --> 00:10:48.019 these things meant? And he said to him, Your 00:10:48.019 --> 00:10:51.049 brother has come. And because he has received 00:10:51.049 --> 00:10:53.610 him safe and sound, your father killed the fatted 00:10:53.610 --> 00:10:57.490 calf. But the brother was angry and would not 00:10:57.490 --> 00:11:02.750 go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded 00:11:02.750 --> 00:11:08.909 with him. Again, God's initiative. God's merciful 00:11:08.909 --> 00:11:13.570 kindness is often a stumbling block to the self 00:11:13.570 --> 00:11:17.809 -righteous. I know that. And this is the issue 00:11:17.809 --> 00:11:19.889 that prompts Jesus in the first place to even 00:11:19.889 --> 00:11:22.590 tell the story. He's responding to the complaints 00:11:22.590 --> 00:11:25.610 by the Pharisees and the scribes that his association 00:11:25.610 --> 00:11:32.009 with obvious sinners like prostitutes, tax collectors, 00:11:32.149 --> 00:11:38.649 is defiling him. The story is not directed to 00:11:38.649 --> 00:11:43.250 prodigals, but to the second son. He has an even 00:11:43.250 --> 00:11:48.230 worse and more pervasive problem. Self -righteousness 00:11:48.230 --> 00:11:52.129 has no limits, no bounds. It hides itself in 00:11:52.129 --> 00:11:54.950 the morally corrupt person just as easily in 00:11:54.950 --> 00:11:58.429 the morally upright. And this is one reason why 00:11:58.429 --> 00:12:01.210 we hear this before Lent, because it's very easy 00:12:01.210 --> 00:12:06.029 to be self -righteous during Lent. You will fail 00:12:06.029 --> 00:12:08.769 with the fasting and the services, that's guaranteed. 00:12:09.029 --> 00:12:14.429 But if you think that you're keeping track, you're 00:12:14.429 --> 00:12:22.139 in some danger. This self -righteousness is an 00:12:22.139 --> 00:12:26.320 equal opportunity evil. We might struggle with 00:12:26.320 --> 00:12:30.899 it all the time. We're maybe no longer in the 00:12:30.899 --> 00:12:35.440 emergency room of the church hospital, but we 00:12:35.440 --> 00:12:40.600 are still outpatients. We still need the medical 00:12:40.600 --> 00:12:47.539 care. My remission, my salvation. My transfiguration, 00:12:47.539 --> 00:12:51.759 transformation, my growth is absolutely dependent 00:12:51.759 --> 00:12:56.059 upon Christ and how I approach him in my spiritual 00:12:56.059 --> 00:13:01.100 program and in confession. I like the way the 00:13:01.100 --> 00:13:05.700 parable ends without an ending. We really don't 00:13:05.700 --> 00:13:10.659 know how it ends. Neither son is really out of 00:13:10.659 --> 00:13:15.409 the woods by any means. It's a lot like us. To 00:13:15.409 --> 00:13:18.230 our Lord be glory, now and ever, to ages of ages. 00:13:18.690 --> 00:13:19.169 Amen.