In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen.
I have seen brothers and sisters squander their inheritance. They have wandered far from God and have wasted their lives in licentiousness. I have seen them and I thank God I am close to Him, near Him, and I will inherit what I deserve. They are wasting away, facing the consequences for their unrighteousness, while I work for the Church.
Yet some of them come to themselves. They have lived their lives and realise the life they live has only one future, death. Something pricks their conscience and they remember the Father’s House, and in humility and repentance they make their difficult return. And the Father receives them without question, without prerequisite, without consequence. They have defiled their inheritance, they have poured mud on the image of God within, and I am full of fury. “Why should I receive them into my Church?” I shout at the Father, “They’ve even forgotten how to behave, how to act, how to pray, how to repent.”
And the Father comes to me. He comes in love and compassion, He comes in faithfulness to me—for even if I do not act as I should, God remains loyal to me—and He says to me,
Son, you are always with Me, and all that is Mine is yours.
The Lord honours my work for Him; He does not disregard the effort I have made. But what good have I taken from it? I have been with the Father not out of love but that I might take everything for myself and the return of one who has wasted everything scares me and fills me with horror. “What if others return, too?” I ponder to myself, “must I share all with everyone who comes?” And the Lord continues in His love for me but expresses to me how I should respond.
It was fitting to make merry and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.
Because I have forgotten I too had been living with the pigs, I too had wasted my inheritance, I too had lived a life apart from God far worse than any other. And our Father had received me as He receives others back: without question, without prerequisite, without consequence. Despite living a life far worse than any other, I am received back, and my life already within the Father’s House is only recent. And what hurts me most about the Father receiving others is that it reminds me of who I am.
And so, I must change: if I remain as I am I will lead myself away from the Father’s House. Our life of faithfulness can never be a life isolated from those whom we consider “lesser Christians,” because none is a “lesser Christian” save myself, so we must be welcoming towards them into the Father’s House. Christ tells us,
Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.
John 14:1–4
In My Father’s House are many dwellings; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.
And where I go you know, and the way you know.
He is leading us if only we will follow, He is guiding us by His words and His example, He is joining us to Himself through His Church. And when another finds their way home we must rejoice, despite the perceived inconvenience, and when a sinner repents, we must join in the “joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (Luke 15:10)
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us be like the younger son and come to ourselves and declare before God,
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, unlike the elder receive others who return with great joy. Our Father’s House has room for all to enter, for all to feast at the Marriage Feast of the Lamb, let us cry out, therefore, “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” (Second Corinthians 6:2) that we might proclaim with the Psalmist,
This is the day the Lord has made;
Psalm 117:24 lxx
Let us greatly rejoice, and be glad therein.
That we may offer true praise, glory and worship to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, 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