An Instruction for the Sunday of the Prodigal Son: On Repentance

Beloved brethren! The holy Church, this child-loving mother of the faithful, who has given them birth to salvation and takes upon herself all cares so that her children will not be deprived of their inheritance—Heaven—preparing them for the successful performance of the approaching labour of the holy Fast of Great Lent, has appointed that we read today at the Divine Liturgy the parable of our Lord Jesus Christ concerning the prodigal son.

In what does the labour of the holy Fast of Great Lent consist? It is the labour of repentance. In these present days we stand before the time, principally devoted to repentance, as if before its gates, and we sing the hymn filled with compunction: “Open to us the doors of repentance, O Giver of Life!” What does the parable of our Lord which we have now heard in the Gospel most clearly reveal? It reveals the incomprehensible, infinite mercy of our Heavenly Father toward sinners who bring forth repentance. “Joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth” (Lk. 15:10), the Lord declared to men, calling them to repentance, and so that these words of His might be more deeply impressed upon the hearts of those who heard, He was pleased to supplement them with a parable.

“A certain rich man,” the Gospel parable relates, “had two sons. The younger of them asked his father to give him the portion of property that fell to him. His father granted this. After a few days, the younger son, having collected his inheritance, went to a distant country, where he squandered his property, living a dissolute life. When he had spent everything, there came a famine in that country. The rich man’s son not only began to lack necessities, but came into dire distress. In such straits he attached himself to one of the inhabitants of that place, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. The wretched youth, tormented by hunger, would gladly have filled his belly with the coarse food with which the swine were fed! But this proved impossible. In such a condition he finally came to himself, and remembering the abundance with which the father’s house was filled, resolved to return to his father. In his thoughts he prepared a confession of sin, an acknowledgment of his unworthiness, and a humble petition to be numbered not with the father’s household, but with the multitude of the father’s servants and hired hands. With such a heart’s intention the younger son set out on his journey. While he was still far from his father’s house, his father caught sight of him, was moved with compassion for him: ran to meet him, threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him. When the son uttered his prepared confession and petition, the father commanded his servants: Take the best robe and clothe him in it, put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet. Bring the fatted calf and kill it: let us eat and make merry. For this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost, and is found! The elder son, always obedient to his father’s will, was in the field, and returned home during the feast. He found his father’s conduct toward the younger son strange. But the father, inspired by the righteousness of love, before which all other righteousness is poor and insignificant, replied to him: My son! You are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But it was fitting to make merry and be glad, because this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found!” (Lk. 15:11-32).

The younger son, according to the interpretation of the holy Fathers, may be understood as an image of both the entire fallen human race and each individual sinning man. The portion of property allotted to the younger son represents the gifts of God with which every man is filled, especially every Christian. The most excellent of God’s gifts are the mind and heart, and especially the grace of the Holy Spirit granted to every Christian. The demand made upon the father to give up his portion for use according to his own will represents man’s striving to throw off obedience to God and follow his own thoughts and desires. The father’s agreement to give up the property represents the free will with which God has honoured man in the use of God’s gifts. The distant country represents sinful life, which estranges and separates us from God. The squandering of the property represents the exhaustion of the powers of mind, heart, and body, especially the offending and driving away of the Holy Spirit by sinful deeds. The poverty of the younger son is the emptiness of the soul produced by sinful life. The permanent inhabitants of the distant country are the powers of darkness of this age, the fallen spirits, constant in their fall, in their alienation from God; to their influence the sinner is subjected. The herd of unclean animals represents sinful thoughts and feelings, which wander in the sinner’s soul, feed in its fields; they are the inevitable consequence of sinful activity. It would be in vain for a man to attempt to suppress these thoughts and sensations by fulfilling them: they are the most unfulfilable! Even the fulfillment of those passions and fantasies which are possible for man does not destroy them: it arouses them with redoubled power. Man was created for Heaven: only true good can serve as a satisfactory, life-giving food for him. Evil, attracting to itself and deceiving the taste of the heart corrupted by the fall, is able only to disrupt human nature.

Terrible is the emptiness of the soul which sinful life produces! Unbearable is the torment from passionate sinful thoughts and sensations, when they boil like worms in the soul, when they torture the soul surrendered to them, the soul violated by them! Not infrequently the sinner, tormented by fierce thoughts, fantasies, and impossible desires, falls into despair; not infrequently he attempts even his own life, both temporal and eternal. Blessed is that sinner who in this grievous hour comes to himself and remembers the unlimited love of the Heavenly Father, remembers the boundless spiritual wealth with which the house of the Heavenly Father—the holy Church—abounds. Blessed is that sinner who, terrified by his sinfulness, wishes to be freed from the burden oppressing him through repentance.

From the Gospel parable we are taught that on the part of man the following are necessary for successful and fruitful repentance: the sight of one’s sin, awareness of it, sorrow for it, confession of it. When the one turning to God comes with such a heart’s intention, “while he is still far away,” (Lk. 15:20) God sees him: He sees and hastens to meet him, embraces him and kisses him with His grace. Hardly has the penitent uttered his confession of sin, when the merciful Lord commands His servants—the ministers of the altar and holy Angels—to clothe him in a radiant garment of spotlessness, to place on his hand a ring—a testimony to the renewed unity with the Church both earthly and heavenly, to put shoes on his feet, so that his deeds might be protected from spiritual thorns by the firm ordinances of Christ’s commandments (such is the meaning of the shoes). To complete the manifestations of love, a table of love is set before the returned son, at which a fatted calf is killed. This table signifies the church’s table, at which there is offered to the sinner reconciled with God spiritual incorruptible food and drink: Christ, long promised to mankind, prepared by the ineffable mercy of God for fallen humanity from the very moment of its fall.

The Gospel parable is divine teaching! It is profound and sublime, despite the extraordinary simplicity of human speech in which the Word of God was pleased to be clothed! Wisely has the holy Church appointed the public reading of this parable before the coming Fast of Great Lent. What tidings can be more comforting for the sinner standing in uncertainty before the gates of repentance than the tidings of the infinite and unspeakable mercy of the Heavenly Father toward repenting sinners? This mercy is so great that it has filled even the holy Angels with wonder—the first-born sons of the Heavenly Father, who have never transgressed any of His commandments. With their bright and lofty minds they could not comprehend the incomprehensible mercy of God toward fallen humanity. They needed regarding this subject a revelation from on high, and learned from the revelation from on high that it behoves them to “rejoice and be glad”, “because” their younger “brother”—the human race—“was dead”, and “is alive”: and “was lost”, and “is found” through the mediation of the Redeemer (Lk. 15:32). “There is joy in the presence of the Angels of God” even “over one sinner that repenteth” (Lk. 15:10).

Beloved brethren! Let us use the time appointed by the holy Church for preparation for the labours of the holy Fast of Great Lent according to its purpose. Let us use it for contemplation of the great mercy of God toward mankind and toward each man who wishes, through true repentance, to reconcile himself and be united with God. The time of our earthly life is priceless: in this time we decide our eternal lot. May it be granted to us to decide our eternal lot for our salvation, for our joy! May our rejoicing be infinite! May it be united with the rejoicing of God’s holy Angels! May the joy of Angels and men be fulfilled and perfected in the accomplishment of the will of the Heavenly Father! For “it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish” (Mt. 18:14)—men diminished and humiliated by sin. Amen.

See the commentary of the blessed Theophylact.