One of the prodigal son
Father does not hold accountable, come on
Last Sunday, on the Sunday of the Pharisee and the tax collector, a living triangle appeared before us: first, a Pharisee, second, a tax collector, third, the one to whom the prayer is offered, that is, God. Today we have before us another triangle: a younger son, an older son, a father who is an image of the heavenly Father.
The Pharisee, who knew the laws, said: (I am not like that tax collector), and the older boy said to his father: Why do you treat this son of yours who took your provisions and spent them with prostitutes? Why do you treat him better than me, I who kept your commandments, I who did not disobey a commandment of yours?
The tax collector last Sunday, when he examined himself and realized that he was a sinner, said: The only prayer I should raise to God is a prayer of mercy and forgiveness: (I am a sinner). And the younger son who left his father's house and went to live as he pleased, this son realized at some point after his dignity had deteriorated to a level lower than that of pigs, and he asked himself: (Why all this? And why do I not return to my father?). And so he returned.
The third person in the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector is silent and does not speak. God, before whom the Pharisee prayed and before whom the tax collector prayed, does not hear his voice, but Luke the Evangelist confirms that as a result of the tax collector’s prayer before the silent one, he returned to his house justified: (For whoever humbles himself will be exalted, and whoever exalts himself will be humbled).
Here in today’s Gospel, the father speaks, and his conversation with his young son is different from his conversation with his older son. With his young son, he did not say a word of reproach after everything that had happened. What he said to him: My son, you were living in this house in the best possible way, but you tore the family apart, divided the livelihood, and left us suffering for your departure. Who are those whom you believed loved you more than us? Who in your eyes are more worthy of you than we are? The father did not say these words, because – as the Evangelist Luke says – as soon as he saw his young son return, he forgave him, embraced him, and kissed him. It is clear that the father, when receiving his son, did not conduct an internal trial, and did not give time for any questioning: Was he right? Did he have the right to do so? Does he deserve to be welcomed or not? What is the effect of his return on the family? On the house? Is he good or bad?
The father did not leave any room for any of these questions, but immediately rushed and without hesitation, embraced his son, kissed him, and forgave him.
The evangelist wants to tell us: Forgiveness and pardon are attributes of God’s nature and are not one of the practical aspects of His essential attributes. They are a principle, not a branch. God is forgiving above all else. The Father does not turn away a supplicant nor disappoint a repentant person. This is His nature, so He hastened to receive the returnee without hesitation.
It has been said of Him that He is a judge, but first He is loving, first He is forgiving and pardoning. And every one of His attributes comes after this attribute, not before it. All this is reversed if we look at Him from our position as fathers. We are judged, while the Father from whom life and dignity come is not judged. What do we give? What do we give our children? What example do we set for them? Their life with us is one of continuous judgment, continuous prohibition and continuous command, but woe to them if they meet that by holding us accountable, and woe to them if they judge us: How do we live? What do we say? How do we behave? If they see the connection between what we say and what we do, between what we show and what we conceal.
Our children today desire their father as a father and their mother as a mother. Some fathers and mothers beg their children and use them as a pretext to show their strength and dominance. The image we have of the Father, the Great Father, depicts him as welcoming and welcoming, welcoming the sinner, welcoming the apostate, and welcoming the returnee. Here I wonder: Why did the younger son say to himself: (I am returning to my father’s house?) Didn’t he know that he was the one who divided the house and divided the livelihood?! He knew that, but he also knew that his father’s house would remain open to him?! If he had not realized that his father’s love cannot be measured by a scale, would he have thought of returning? Why did the solution of suicide, for example, not occur to him? That is in fact because he is fully aware that the door of his father’s house is wide open at all times.
Luke the Evangelist focuses in his Gospel on speaking to the young element. And this young man’s first action did not surprise us at all: Father, I want to leave you, give me my share, I want to go and take my livelihood. The mentality of our generation is no longer like yours, you are a reactionary group, you are a group that does not respect personal freedoms, and I want to make my own way. We are aware of this and it is not something new to us. As for the purpose for which this Gospel was written and this parable was given, it is to address the young man who walked a path that he thought was the path of dignity and found it to be the path of humiliation, degradation and decline, to the young man who thought that man’s responsibility in his life stopped at this taking, squandering and enjoying, to the young man who thought that life was only with its appearances, joys and pleasures, to the young man who thought all of this. The Gospel reminds this young man and tells him: Do not forget that your Father’s house is open. Come to return, return to the truth, return to what is right, return to justice. Return is not reactionary. Return to the truth is progress, it is blossoming, because it is a new light that shines in the heart of man, this light that we often fight because it is (return) and (return). This return is the expression that the Holy Gospel uses as a synonym for the word (repentance).
No one in this universe repents completely, no one truly admits that he is a sinner. Some people may do so, they may confess sin with their lips, but the heart remains full of pride, it remains tightly closed to change. Repentance is for the heart to change in itself. We are not serious about wanting to change and be renewed. The one who changes is Christ, and the one who renews is Christ, and every change or renewal that is not from Him is superficial, external, and unsuccessful. Who among us has brought about a change and renewal in his food, drink, clothing, work, way of life, or in his home through Christ? But no matter what, the Father who did not hold his little one accountable in the Gospel will not hold us accountable. I say to those who have not yet come to know Christ, I say to them: The Father does not hold accountable, come. Come. When you withdrew, you found swine, harlots, and mire, but when you return, you will find joy in heaven and earth for a dead person who has lived and a lost person who has been found.
{Delivered in Latakia, Sunday 3/2/1975}.
