The
parable of the Prodigal Son is one of the most well known. Some of its
expressions have passed into the ordinary, spoken language, while several
illustrations and pictures relating to it are well known to us from childhood.
In the preceding two parables
- of the lost sheep and the lost drachma - Christ, in calling men to
repentance, said that there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over
one sinner that repenteth (Luke 15:10). In order that the words about repentance
might be more forcefully impressed on the hearts of His audience, Christ
further utters the parable of the Prodigal Son. This parable is a continuation
of Christ's reply to the reproaches directed at Him by the Pharisees that He
receiveth sinners, and eateth with them (Luke 15:2). We find the parable of the
Prodigal Son, like the preceding two, in the fifteenth chapter of the Gospel
according to Luke:
A certain man had two sons: and
the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods
that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days
after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far
country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had
spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in
want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent
him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with
the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. And when he came to
himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and
to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will
say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no
more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. And he
arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father
saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And
the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight,
and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his
servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his
hand, and shoes on his feet: and bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it: and
let us eat, and be merry: for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was
lost, and is found. And they began to be merry. Now his elder son was in the
field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing.
And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant. And he
said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf,
because he hath received him safe and sound. And he was angry, and would not go
in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him. And he answering said to
his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any
time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make
merry with my friends: but as soon as this thy son was come, which hath
devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. And
he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. It
was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead,
and is alive again; and was lost, and is found (Luke 15:11-32).The parable of the Prodigal
Son is inexhaustible. It contains such a multitude of themes, that it is
difficult to enumerate them. Each man, who delves into it with reverence, finds
the answer for himself to questions about his own spiritual condition.
The first theme is historical
- the theme of God's chosen people and the pagans. The elder son in the parable
could be an image of Israel, and the younger son that of the pagan nations. In
the light of this parable, according to the words of Protopresbyter Michael
Pomazansky, it is possible to clarify for oneself the significance of the Old
Testament period, when men, having committed the original sin, withdrew from
God. "The Father grieves over the departure of the beloved son. But, not
infringing upon his filial dignity and filial freedom, He waits until the son
himself, on having come to know all the bitterness of evil, and having
remembered his past life in the Father's home, begins to yearn for this home
and opens his heart to the Father's love. Thus it was with the human
race".
The second theme is about the nature of sin. This is why the
parable of the Prodigal Son is read at the Liturgy on the third preparatory
Sunday before Great Lent, when the faithful are preparing themselves for
cleansing from sins through the endeavor [podvig ] of repentance.
Repentance is the third
theme. Nowhere better does the Gospel disclose to us what the essence of
repentance is, than, namely, in the parable of the Prodigal Son. It reveals to
us the gradual, inner process of the sinner's turnabout and the fullness of
repentance, which consists of consciousness of one's fall, sincere remorse and
turning humbly to the Heavenly Father.
The fourth theme is the
Church and her liturgical life. This is spoken of in the Synaxarion for the
Sunday of the Prodigal Son (a special instruction, which is read on this Sunday
preparatory for Great Lent). The best robe, in which the father arrays the son
who has returned, is interpreted in the Synaxarion as Baptism; the ring - as
the seal of the Holy Spirit in the Mystery of Chrismation; the feast with the
eating of the fatted calf - as the Eucharist, the Mystery of Communion. The
music and dancing are the symbol of the Church's celebration on the restoration
of her fullness and oneness.
The fifth theme that we
encounter in the parable of the Parable Son is the Saviour Himself, Who appears
here in the eucharistic image of the slaughtered calf, for, He is referred to
in Scripture as the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world (John
1:29).
The image of the elder son
reveals the theme of envy, self conceit, legalism and the theme of the
necessity for mutual, brotherly forgiveness.
The younger, prodigal son is
a symbol of all fallen mankind, and, at the same time, of each individual
sinner. The portion of goods that falleth to him, that is, the younger son's
share of the property - these are God's gifts, with which each man is endowed.
According to the explanation of Bishop Ignatius Brianchaninov, these are
"…the mind and heart, and especially the grace of the Holy Spirit, given
to each Christian. The demand made of the father for the portion of goods
falling to the son in order to use it arbitrarily is the striving of man to
thrown off from himself submissiveness to God and to follow his own thoughts
and desires. In the father's consent to hand over the property there is
depicted the absolute authority with which God has honored man in the use of
God's gifts".
Protopriest Alexander Men',
in one of his sermons on the "Sunday of the Prodigal Son", mentions
an interesting detail of an economic nature: "In those times, which the
Lord is speaking about, people would try to live as one family. Nowadays, it is
more natural for children to separate from and leave their parents when they
grow up. Then, men jointly owned the land, which they worked together, and the
larger the family was, the more working hands there were, the greater the
ability to labor was. Therefore, to divide the home, to divide the property and
the household was considered a detriment, a loss. If the children acted thus,
it was considered an offense to the parents".
Having received his portion
of the father's property, the younger son departs to a far country, to a
foreign land - a place of estrangement from God, where he ceases to think of
his father, where he "lives riotously", that is, gives himself up to
a life of sin, which alienates a man from the Creator. There he quickly
squandered the property, his share of God's gifts - the powers of the mind,
heart and body. This brings him to destitution - to complete spiritual
desolation. This, too, is not surprising, for a man who has entered on the path
of sin, follows the path of selfishness, of self-indulgence. He does not really
control that which brings him momentary enjoyment; but that which gives him
pleasure controls him. This is why the Apostle Paul warns Christians: I will
not be brought under the power of any [thing] (I Corinthians 6:12).
In this regard, one Church
thinker has written: "…this far country, this foreign land reveals to us
the profound essence of our life, of our condition. Only after having
understood this, can we begin the return to real life. He, who has not felt
this at least once in his life, who has never realized that he is spiritually
in a foreign land, isolated, exiled, will not understand what the essence of
Christianity is. And he, who is completely "at home" in this world,
who has not experienced a yearning for another reality, will not comprehend
what repentance and remorse are …Remorse and repentance are born out of the
experience of alienation from God, from the joy of communion with Him …It necessarily
includes in itself the profound desire to come back, to return, to find anew
the lost home".
In the days preparatory for
Great Lent - beginning with the Sunday of the Prodigal Son - the Church chants
the psalm "By the waters of Babylon", which reminds us of the bitter
captivity of the Jews in a far country. This is a symbol of the captivity of
sin, which alienates the Christian from God. But this psalm likewise speaks of
repentance, love and return to the father's home.
Having dissipated his property,
the younger son begins to hunger. In order not to die of starvation, he becomes
a herder of swine - a swineherd. And he would gladly be sated with the swine's
food - "with the husks", but no one would give to him. After lengthy
sufferings, a saving thought awakens in him: How many hired servants of my
father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! The Prodigal
Son could arrive at such a thought thanks to the fact that he had not succeeded
in dissipating his final gift - the gift of memory of the father and the
father's home, in other words, the conscience (God's voice within us).
And here, just as after a
serious illness accompanied by unconsciousness, consciousness returns to him,
and he understands his calamitous situation. Then, there appears in him a
resolve to forsake his sins and to repent, realizing, that by them he has
offended the Lord; and, finally, in profound humility and in the consciousness
of his unworthiness, always accompanied by sincere repentance, the sinner actually
implements his resolution and returns to the father. Here it is necessary to
remark, that outward calamities are often sent by God to sinners in order to
bring them to their senses. They are God's call to repentance.
Bishop Theophanes the Recluse, who had expertly studied spiritual
life, compares the sinner with a man sunk into a deep sleep, and in his turning
to God he notes three psychological moments that correspond to what is
indicated in the parable: 1) awakening from the sleep of sin (Luke 15:17); 2)
the ripening of resolve to forsake sin and to dedicate himself to pleasing God
(Luke 15:17-21); and 3) investing the sinner with power from on high for this
in the Mysteries of Repentance and Communion.
In this parable, which is
multifaceted in its content and remarkable for the vividness of its colors,
where, the image of the father of two sons stands for the Heavenly Father, the
behavior of the Father - His goodness, which exceeds all human concepts, His
love for the sinner and His joy on the occasion of the Prodigal Son's return to
Him - virtually occupies the main place. …when he was yet a great way off, his
father saw him, the Gospel says to us; and this means that the father had been
waiting and perhaps each day had been looking to see whether his son was
returning. He saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and
kissed him. The son started his confession, but the father did not even let him
finish speaking; he already had forgiven and forgotten everything, and he
receives the dissolute and starving swineherd as a beloved son. The father did
not begin to require proofs of his son's repentance, because he saw that his
son had overcome shame and fear in order to return home. He commands his
servants to give him the best robe, shoes and a ring on his hand. The ring is
an indication of God's gift to the forgiven sinner - the gift of God's Grace,
in which he is clothed for the salvation of his soul. According to the
interpretation of Blessed Theophylact, the ring in the parable testifies to the
restoration of the sinner's unity with the earthly Church and the Heavenly.
It is difficult to convey in
words the fullness of the concept of God's love toward fallen sinners. Perhaps
no one gives us a glimpse of God's love, which we read of in the parable of the
Prodigal Son, better than the Apostle Paul in his First Epistle to the
Corinthians: Charity suffereth long and is kind; …charity vaunteth not itself,
..is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but
rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all
things (I Corinthians 13:4-7). It is appropriate here to mention that sin,
every sin, is a transgression against love and that repentance really can be
accomplished only before the face of Perfect Love, for God is love (I John
4:8).
It is especially essential to
emphasize also the reason for the father's joy: my son was dead and is alive
again; he was lost, and is found, that is, he had been spiritually dead, living
without God, and he had spiritually come back to life, having turned to life in
God. In Sacred Scripture, returning to God is often presented as a resurrection
from the dead (cf. Romans 6:13, Matthew 8:22, Revelation 3:1, Ephesians 2:1).
Let us turn now to the image
of the elder son. The elder son was displeased by the return of his younger
brother and his reconciliation with the father. Here is how this is set forth
in the parable: Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew
nigh to the house, he heard musick and dancing. And he called one of the
servants, and asked what these things meant. And he said unto him, Thy brother
is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received
him safe and sound. And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his
father out, and intreated him. And he answering said to his father, Lo, these
many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment:
and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends:
but as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with
harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.
By the elder son, Jesus
Christ implied, in the first place, the Pharisees and the scribes - the elders
of the people, who, by their legalism, had been hindering the people from
coming to Him. But to an equal extent this image applies to us all, to our
mutual relations. The elder son was not at fault before his father, he had not
actively sinned before him until his sinful brother returned. The return of the
prodigal brother evoked in the elder brother envy - this terrible sin, which
led to the first human murder and to the murder of the Saviour Himself. In the
house of the Father (an image of the Church) there is joy, exultation - the
exultation of the angels over one sinner that repenteth, but this joy remains
outside the soul of the elder son. The father invites the elder son to enter
into this joy, but he chooses the path of calculations, the path of legal
considerations and contracts. Such cold, juridical attitudes always prevail
wherever love dries up. The utterances of the elder son indicate that he did
not really value his father's gifts, which he made use of. He did not
appreciate them because in his soul there was a void more fearful than that
which we saw in his brother before his repentance. The elder son had stifled
the voice of his conscience.
We all, to one degree or
another, in one period of our life or another, behave like the sons of the
compassionate father. By our sins, we all alienate ourselves from His love. The
service for the Sunday of the Prodigal Son reveals to us the state of
alienation from God: "I have wasted the riches which the Father gave me; I
have spent them all and now am destitute, dwelling in the land of evil
citizens…".
And so, the Prodigal Son was
in such a state for a long time, and, finally, the Gospel parable says,
"he came to himself".
What does "he came to
himself" mean?
One Holy Father says that the
beginning of our salvation self-knowledge. But, after all, self-knowledge is a
lifetime pursuit, it is that toward which a man strives throughout the course
of his whole existence. The meaning of this saying is disclosed by the Holy
Fathers, who say that until you have come to know who you are; until you
yourself have sensed the image of God in yourself; until you, living amidst
earthly citizens, have felt that you are a citizen of heaven and have been
enslaved to "foreign citizens"; until you, living amidst the filth of
your own soul, have come to know the image of God in yourself - until then you
have not entered on the path of salvation, you have not yet begun your
salvation. It begins from the moment when you come to know your own divine
nature. Thus it was also with the Prodigal Son. In one instant he perceived
that he is living enslaved in a foreign land and does not possess genuine, real
life. Having begun with knowledge of himself, a man, going further along this
path, contrasts in himself that which is in him from God's image, although it
be covered with the sores of sin, to how he lives. And from this moment he
begins to thirst for life in God and for cleansing from the sores of sin in the
name of God's image.
A monk came to Venerable
Antony and began to ask that he forgive and have mercy on him. Antony replied
to him: "Neither I, nor God will have mercy on thee, if thou wilt not have
mercy on thyself".
At first glance, the response
seems strange. How is this so? For spiritual life, this is the greatest truth.
Until I myself discover the image of God in myself; until I myself have mercy
on the inner man who is in the abyss of sin, but possesses the image of God;
until I myself have mercy on God's creation in myself; until in my conscience I
have mercy on myself, who am sinful, defiled and prodigal, that is, until I
take pity on my immortal soul - until then, God also will not have mercy on me;
until then, my entreaty will also be in vain.
So this state of the Prodigal
Son, who saw how badly he is living and how well they are living who are not
even sons, but hirelings of his father - this is the state of having received
mercy. He had mercy on himself and then went to God and began to beg for mercy
from Him. It is necessary to take from the Patristic experience that which it
gives us; otherwise, our requests for mercy will be in vain. We must sense in
ourselves the image of God, the remnants of Divine beauty that are in us,
although they be distorted, and, first of all, have mercy on ourselves and
understand who we are in life and who we are in creation.
In life, we are sinful,
living in a "far country", constantly forgetting about God, while in
creation we are the image "of God's ineffable Glory" and only in Him
do we live, only in Him is our salvation.
And this contrasting of
oneself in creation with oneself in life also leads at a certain moment to the
state of having mercy on oneself. Here is the meaning of Venerable Antony's
words. And if we at some moment of our life will have mercy on ourselves and
will feel the contrast between ourselves in creation and ourselves in life,
then we can, like the Prodigal Son, go to God and beg for mercy. We must renew
the image of God in ourselves; we must understand that our sole business on
earth is to make ourselves, who are citizens of the earth, into citizens of
heaven. If God's creation - the image "of God's ineffable Glory" - is
constantly before our eyes, then we shall have mercy on ourselves. This does
not mean that we shall be proud, shall forgive ourselves, shall justify
ourselves; but we shall see in ourselves an ineffable temple of God's Glory, we
shall perceive all the joy of life in God and experience that filth in which we
live. Then we shall come to God and shall beg Him, as the Prodigal Son:
"make me as one of Thy hired servants"; and we shall be received, as
the Prodigal Son.
