When someone who has wasted everything and lost everything, or has strayed away from God, chooses to return in repentance, it is a blessing to witness. The Parable of the Prodigal Son is much more than just a story about repentance. It is also a story of the ‘one left behind’ and being too cold to be joyful over another’s repentance. You never know when you will meet a prodigal son returning to God. It is just as important to welcome others home as it is to repent and return home.
My brothers and sisters. Today, the church celebrates a very amazing parable, the story of the prodigal son. On this second Sunday of the Triodion, this period where we are preparing ourselves for great Lent. And all the time priests always talk about the importance of being able to repent from our sins and return to God. I will tell you that in my own personal life as a confessor, I’ve been hearing confessions now for 17 years, I have had the blessed experience on more than one occasion to experience a prodigal son returning to God. And I can tell you it is a very moving experience to stand in front of the altar of God when someone has realized they have totally lost everything in their life and the only thing they have is to come back to God. And I’ve seen people, full-grown adults weep and wail like little babies, that guttural cry that we see when tragedy comes upon a heart. And I’ve witnessed that in holy confession when a prodigal son has returned to God.
I pray that you can all witness such a thing in your life because it made me think about my own repentance and my own lack of repentance. I am one of those guys, I know you probably don’t agree with me. I’m one of those guys that says “I’m not so bad. I don’t do any of the really bad sins.” I found myself last week listening to the prayer of the Pharisee and caught myself there thinking I was so good. And today, the church is reminding us that when we think that we are in that position, and then we have the blessing to see someone come to God in true repentance, it moves us. It changes us on the inside if we have the love of God. You see, the older brother was so angry that the father forgave the prodigal son. He refused to celebrate even one moment with the Father.
Many of us find ourselves in that position. Maybe today there is someone in our church that has strayed away. Maybe there is someone who decided to come to church today for the first time in a long time because they felt moved to come and return to God. Maybe not living the life of the prodigal son, maybe not losing everything, maybe not living such a horrible life. But today might be the day that someone has come to return to God. And if you are one of those people, then I welcome you home. I welcome you with the words of the Father. You were lost and now you’ve found yourself here with God. And our job, my brothers and sisters, as the loyal children of God who have not walked away, our job is to celebrate the return of each and every human being to God with joy, not with judgment, with compassion.
Not to say to the church, where were they all those years when we were working so hard? Yes, God forgives all sins in the prodigal son, but it’s up to us also to show the love of God in forgiveness. Because if God’s going to forgive us, who are we to hold anything against anyone? That’s the message of the Gospel today. Both repentance and the sense of welcome home in forgiveness. When that adult confessed to me that day, almost in the exact same words as the Gospel, that person did not have to go through and list every single sin that had taken place.
His heart connected with God in that moment, and God knew what he had done. God knows what we have done, and let’s face it, he knows what we’re going to do tomorrow before it even crosses our mind. And still, he will forgive us if only we come back to him and then we welcome home those of our brothers and sisters, our friends, our neighbors, our co-workers, total strangers who today are moved to say, “Hey, there’s a church. Maybe I’ll go see what this God thing is all about.” Today is the day of our salvation as we sing in the liturgy, both for those who repent and for those of us who have been here every Sunday to welcome them home, because God is a loving father. I pray that the love of God calls all of us to repentance and to forgiveness as we continue to prepare ourselves for the holy and great fast that is ahead. Glory to God for all things.
