Homily on the Prodigal Son – Father Gavril Galev
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We have heard the story of the two sons, one of them, the younger one, who asked of his father to give him his part of the inheritance and then departed from him, and the other one who stayed with his father and served him all the time.
The focal points in this parable are; that the younger son initially departed from his father (having taken his inheritance), his subsequent indulgence in a depraved life, then his repentance, as well as his return to his father’s house.
However, the broader significance of these events is the interpersonal conduct of the sons and father, the father towards them, as well as the interpersonal conduct of the sons between themselves. It is clear that the father in this parable is God, and we humans are the sons. Because the Scriptures have a personal perspective, through this parable we can find ourselves in that relationship. In fact, it is our personal relationship that we have with God and with each other.
The prodigal son represents all those people who have renounce God and gone astray. These are the people who lead a debauched life apart from God and are trapped by all three groups of passions: love of pleasures, covetousness and vainglory. In fact, more or less, we renounce God, each in our own way, serving our own passions.
The selfish younger brother shows immaturity, incompetence and darkness of the mind, asking for “his” share of the property. His darkness and madness can be seen from the fact that he is looking for something that does not exist and does not belong to him, but to his father, and that is the property. However, the mercy of God, the love of the father, which is shown in the respect of the freedom of the person, does not deprive him of his request and fulfils his wish.
This condition of the prodigal son manifests itself in many everyday situations in which we have to somehow choose whether to act as God teaches us and how He would act, or to act according to our fallen nature and the demon’s persuasion. Unfortunately, we often choose the latter, this is in fact, a repeat of how the prodigal son acted.
Our fallen state does not simply mean living an immoral life, but also not living in accordance with the will of God, and thus depriving ourselves of the enjoyment of God’s gifts. Just as the prodigal son, when he spent his father’s inheritance and found himself in poverty, he readily ate of the food that the pigs ate, and, that represents the passions. Then he gathered his thoughts and came to his senses realising that in his father’s house all the servants had more than he had at that moment. That is, whenever we choose the wrong path, that is, the path according to the fallen logic of this world, according to the false certainty of materialism, capitalism, the path of interest, etc., we remain spiritually hungry and miserable. The devil first promises us great riches and fame, and then he reveals his true face of the liar and a malevolent, and then he withdraws. He leaves the one who was carried away by him in those delusional states and leaves the man alone and fallen.
And it is very important at that moment when we find ourselves in that situation to know how to act. It is most reasonable to act as this young man did, that is, to repent.
Repentance means correcting ourself (change of mind), or returning to that original state we had before we fell from God. It is not enough just to say that we regret, but we need to change, and we need to demonstrate this visibly. To show a quality change in our lives for the better. I say this because many of us have not attained a quality of repentance, but having much pride, do not want to come to their spiritual Father and confess, to confess their sins, their sinful deeds, their sinful words, and their sinful thoughts. Also the thought is a sin, because everything starts from the thought. The tadpole is also a frog, although it does not yet look like a frog. So the sinful thought is a sin and that is why we should try to destroy it while it is in its early stage, such as the tadpole.
Once this young man realised that he was in a miserable and desperate state, he decided to return to his father. And how did the Father act in this case? He was the first to approach his lost son, who had spent his property on harlots, and at no point did he hesitate to receive him, but waited for him. His gaze was fixed on the direction from which his son had left, and he waited all the time for him to return to him.
God cannot act otherwise because His principle, His essence is love, not human justice, not calculations and mathematics, not economics, it is beyond comparison as to how we act. We always reason according to some fallen, earthly logic that if someone did something wrong to us, we should get even with him, those who did wrong should be punished, that we should be the winners, and so on. That is the complete opposite of Christ’s logic. You see that God first approached and embraced him, and restored to him all the dignity he had as a son. He also killed the fattened calf, preparing a feast for his return, because his son’s life was more precious than anything else; property, dignity, justice. Where is the justice here? Yet this is the victory of life over death.
Let us now see how the older brother acted, he who stayed with his father and who had everything that his father had. And these are the people who call themselves pious, they go to church, maybe they even confess, fast, pray, offer gifts to the church, but inside they are vain and proud, have a high opinion of themselves, they envy, gossip, judge and condemn others. What we really are, is revealed in the concrete relations with our neighbours, i.e. with each specific person.
When the time comes, as it is said, to clear the accounts, that is, when the time comes to face and accept our “sinful” brother or sister, then we show our true face. Then envy, jealousy, selfishness, high opinion of ourselves come to the surface and all of that is the act of forsaking God. Even unto being worse than the first situation because now we have positioned ourselves in God’s place.
Take note as to how the elder son reacted. He acted so proudly and vainly that he did not want to go to his father in person and ask him what all the noise was about, but he sent the servant instead. And when he came to his father he did not say “my brother”, but said “this son of yours” (just like Adam) who spent his property with harlots. The question is how did he know about his brother, how he lived and why he spent the inheritance when they had no contact? It is obvious that he was interested in his brother’s life, but not to pray for him, so that his brother would leave the life of sin and be saved, but with an impure heart he judged and condemned him. From here, another psychological question arises, did he secretly want such a life?!? (We can freely ask this same questions of ourselves). Consequently of the aforementioned, these two brothers are in the same state of apostasy from God. One abandoned, and the other rejected, their father.
The example of the older son shows us that although he stayed with his father, this did not help him much in his spiritual development. Although this man says of himself that he remained to serve him and did not break any of his commandments, nevertheless, his thoughts, his feelings and deeds did not match those of his father. This means that he had a wrong attitude towards his father and his obedience was only formal, external. If he had been humble, he would have had the mercy and love of his father and would have rejoiced at the return of his fallen brother. Humility is the basis of every virtue, and without humility there is no proper pious life.
Pride is the greatest sin of all sins as well as the mother of all sins. And we should be most vigilant of it. Vanity, high opinion for ourselves, envy, jealousy, gossip, and all other sins come from pride. Overwhelmed by pride and all the subsequent passions previously listed, he refused to come and sit at the table with his brother, with his father and all the servants to celebrate and rejoice for his brother, for his brother was “lost and found, and he was dead and now is alive again.”
Those Christians who go to church and obey the rules of the Church, but do so outwardly and incorrectly without inner repentance and humility, can be recognised as the older son and still remain in the same place (stage), though they are falling down, because in the Christian life there is no status quo. In all honesty, let us be careful not to find ourselves in such a situation.
All of us have found ourselves to be like this prodigal son who fell away from his father but repented and returned, or, like the other ungrateful son who stayed on his father’s estate but had a high opinion of himself and pride and he eventually fell out of his community. God is the one who does not measure, God is the one who constantly gives, “everything mine, is yours, son”. He is waiting for our repentance. Our relationship with God and our neighbour, i.e. whether we will accept God and call Him our Father and the neighbour our brother, determines whether we will be His sons and family or not. The decision is ours.
Fr. Gavril Galev
Abbot of the monastery “St. Clement of Ohrid”,
Kinglake, Melbourne, Australia
20 / 02 / 2022
