In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen.
Throughout our lives, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we make plans for the future. We want to study certain things at school, we want to get a fulfilling job, we want to have a home. And I strategise, I make preparations. I will apply to go on that course, I will get a job from that company, I will work for them because they offer a good pension, I will look for opportunities for travel, for entertainment, for self-fulfilment. And, once I am secure, I will give back and help others—feed the hungry, visit the sick and all that.
And here, surrounded by the unclean swine of this world, I eke out an existence for myself.
Beside me is another, one who like me is trying to get by in this world—making plans, working, relating to others, trading, making the best of his life. But, all of a sudden, he says to himself, “There must be more to life than this!” And he remembers, in that moment, that this is not his home, that there is the Father’s House. While I am content to stay in what I consider to be relative comfort, he gets up and goes—despite the hardship of the journey, he departs for the Father’s House.
I am sat there, and he says to me, “I go to the Father’s House; come with me.” And I am afraid—afraid of losing what I have built up, afraid of ridicule from others, afraid of the challenges of the journey, afraid of the Father’s response. But my friend will not wait forever to go, he has resolved to return to his homeland, and I must make my decision.
The Church, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, is inviting each of us to return to the Father’s House. We are dwelling in a land of famine, not necessarily a lack of food but a famine of good works and virtues, a famine of blessings, a famine where we have separated ourselves from the love of God. And in this famine we have joined ourselves to one who will place us with the unclean animals, to one who tries to make us forget the dignity and worth we had with the Father—we have joined ourselves to the Satan. And he is saying to us, “Make a life for yourself, for your family and for your friends here among the pigs.” And we so easily fall for this deception.
But, like the Prodigal, we must “come to ourselves,” and return to the Father. We must each cry out from the depth of our soul, “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 as we make our return, the Father will run out to us. Notice how the Father interrupts the Prodigal, the son does not get to say, “treat me as one of your hired servants.” For as soon as he shows even an ounce of contrition and repentance, the Father immediately says,
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.
Since we know that,
The Lord is compassionate and merciful,
Psalm 102:8–13 ʟxx
Slow to anger and abounding in mercy.
He will not become angry to the end,
Nor will he be wrathful forever;
He did not deal with us according to our sins,
Nor reward us according to our transgressions;
For according to the height of heaven from earth,
So the Lord reigns in mercy over those who fear him;
As far as the east is from the west,
So he removes our transgressions from us.
As a father has compassion on his children,
So the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we are not called to make our existence in this world our destiny, we are called to return to the Father’s House. Let us come to ourselves, let us rise to the challenge, let us resolve to return. Unlike the Prodigal we do not have to do this alone, we have each other as help and support for the journey, but we must still act, still reject this fallen world, still each of us repent and turn again to the living God who will receive us and honour us as heirs of eternal Life.
To our crucified and risen Lord and God Jesus Christ, who is himself the Way, be all glory, honour and worship, together with his unoriginate Father and 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