In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen.
When, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, did the younger son sin? Was it when he asked for his inheritance? No. Nor was it when he left his Father’s house. It was when he was in a “far country,” away from his Father and away from his home, that “he squandered his property in loose living.” In staying close to the Father, close to his home, close to his rightful place the son had complete freedom and remains righteous.
The elder son, in contrast, is in a much worse spiritual state. Being near the Father, being near his home, being near his rightful place, he refused to accept the repentance of his brother. His brother returned, as if from the dead, and he did not want to receive him nor rejoice he is again alive.
And I look, and I consider my life. And I want to say I stay as close to the Father as I can, and whenever I wander I come back to myself and return to the Father’s house and I rejoice when others do the same. But this is a lie. For at least the prodigal went to a far country to sin; I, on the other hand, have brought sin into the Father’s house. And when sinners return to him, when they have remembered his house and repented, I am scandalised because their honest, deep and heartfelt repentance stands in contrast with my lacklustre attempts. I may be physically beside the Father’s house—refusing to enter with my fellow sinners—but my heart is with the swine in a foreign land.
But the Lord does not leave me in my miserable state. He offers even to me the opportunity to repent. “Son,” he tells me, “you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to make merry and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.” And I, too, am invited to come to myself, to remember my Father’s house, to enter the thanksgiving for the return of the lost—I am invited to repent. And the celebration can be, therefore, my celebration for I, too, may become alive in the Lord.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in whatever situation we find ourselves we may always repent, always turn again to the Lord. He is looking for any sign of our repentance and will run out to greet us, to embrace us, to restore us to our rightful selves. Let us, through his Church, keep alive our memory of him that we may be continually coming back to ourselves and return to the Kingdom.
May we be ever coming back to our Father’s embrace and be united with him by being joined to our risen and glorified Saviour Jesus Christ in the power and operation of the All-holy, Good and Life-giving Spirit. Amen.
Brethren, “all things are lawful for me, ” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me, ” but I will not be enslaved by anything. “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food” — and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I therefore take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that he who joins himself to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two shall become one flesh.” But he who is united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Shun immorality. Every other sin which a man commits is outside the body; but the immoral man sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body and in your spirit which belong to God.
— First Corinthians 6:12–20
The Lord said this parable: “There was a man who had two sons; and the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the property that falls to me.’ And he divided his living between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took his journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in loose living. And when he had spent everything, a great famine arose in that country, and he began to be in want. So he went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would gladly have filled his belly with the pods that the swine ate; and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired servants.’ And he arose and came to his father. But while he was yet at a distance, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘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, and let us eat and make merry; for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to make merry. Now his elder son was in the field; and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what this meant. And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has received him safe and sound.’ But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command; yet you never gave me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your living with harlots, you killed for him the fatted calf!’ And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to make merry and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.'”
— Luke 15:11–32