When He Came to Himself

A Reflection On Luke 15:11-32

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

Today, the second Sunday of Triodion, the Church, in her wisdom, reminds us of the importance of repentance: turning our lives away from sin and returning to God. At its core, repentance is a change in how we live, yet it is not based on one single decision but on the continual choices we make throughout our lives. Our actions have positive and negative consequences, yet the message of today’s Gospel tells us how radical the process of repentance is for Christians in the midst of the decisions we make day by day, for we have a path through Christ to true salvation through repentance. Through the salvation offered in Christ, we are not slaves to the consequences of sin, for He has come and dissolved sin’s effects through His transfigurative presence.

In today’s Gospel, our Lord tells us a parable of a father and his two sons. For the sake of today’s reflection, we shall focus on the son who falls away as a prodigal or reckless individual. At its core, the message of this Gospel is that of love, and the repentance necessary to receive it. Yet this openness is not evident in the son at the beginning of the narrative.

We hear that the younger son asks his father ‘Father, give me the share of the property that falls to me.’ For context, traditionally, an inheritance is given after a father has died, so by asking the father to give him his share now, the son tells the father he is dead to him.

Yet we see in the father’s response a temperate action: rather than fighting with the Son, he grants his request. Then we hear that the son takes what is now his, goes off to a far land, and squanders everything. To make matters worse, a famine hits the land, leading to the son starving in his poverty, as he is taken on as a hired hand feeding pigs.

Looking at the state of the son, how could the father have given in to his request without a fight? This is his son; he has shown a foolish streak by asking for his inheritance now, so he should have known he would spiral out of control. One may conclude that, to show love to his son, the father should have denied his request or at least debated it with him. Yet when we consider the father’s actions, we see they were motivated by love for his son. Rather than conforming his son to his own image, he gives him the freedom to grow into the man he is becoming, thus recognizing the honour within him.

The son is given the freedom to choose, and, clearly, in his starving state, when he desires to eat the pods fed to the pigs, he has chosen poorly. Yet it is this series of poor decisions that leads to a moment of clarity.

We hear that the son “came to himself,” and when he did, 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.’ In his self-consciousness, the son sees where his life has led him. Yet, in his own words, he has also experienced a different reality in his father’s house.

In his father’s house, the son sees how he treated his most lowly servants, with honor and distinction. While he was there, he could not see this from his self-elevated position; now that life has humbled him and he finds himself in poverty and pen, the seeds of goodness planted in him have taken root. It took struggle and failure for the son to come to this realization. Yet the love the father showed to all around him planted seeds that now flourish in this realization.

The son then sets out for home to serve his father, showing us his intent is not to be treated as a son but as a slave. Now we may think that the father should reject the son upon his return, or at least enslave him. Remember, by asking for his inheritance, the son has basically said to his father, “You are dead to me.” Yet rather than rejecting his son, we hear, “when his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.” Welcoming his son home with open arms, the father shows he still values his son, because all along he saw his son’s value was greater than his actions. The value he saw was his innate dignity as his beloved son and the potential for clarity within him.

The son insists on being received as a servant, indicating that a genuine change has come over his character. Before he had elevated himself, he now approaches his father with a softened, humbled heart, desiring to make right what he has done.

Yet the father does not receive him as a servant; instead, we hear that he restores him to his valued position, putting “a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet” while calling for the fatted calf to celebrate his return. The father thus shows his love to the son in action as the son humbly approaches him with an open heart to receive his true gift, greater than the wealth that was squandered.

This parable speaks of more than the story of a father and his sons, for it shows us the mercy that God has for all of us. In one way or another, we are all the prodigal son, for we often, through our actions, separate ourselves from God our Father, who values us and offers each of us the inheritance of eternal life in His household.

God grants to us all His creation as His inheritance, yet our true inheritance is found in His presence. We debase ourselves when we mistreat others and misuse the gifts of all creation, including the very life God has granted us, rejecting our Father and all the goodness He provides. We are not the sum of our poor actions, for through His Son, God pursues us when we leave His flock to return each of us to His sheepfold.

Our life has greater value than the actions that separate us from God, for our Father is always waiting at the border of His household for us to come to ourselves. We come to ourselves when we see the impact of squandering the gifts God gives us in life. When we live for our careers, wealth, or status, separated from God and one another, we devalue ourselves by identifying ourselves with what we do or achieve. Yet when our life is crushed to the ground by hardship, we are left to ask: where does our actual value lie?

Our actual value is not found in what we achieve in this life. Instead, our value is found in the value God places on all of us by calling us His beloved people. Yes, we may devalue ourselves through our actions as the prodigal son. Yet, we can also come to ourselves, recognise where this life of separation has led us, and return to our Father who offers us actual value in His household.

When we return to our Father, He elevates us as the father does the once lost son. When our heavenly Father does this for us, we see that we are truly fulfilled in His presence. This is why God the Father sent us His only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, so He can lead us from the pig pen of sin to the Father’s loving embrace.

The roadmap for repentance has been given to us all, and now it is our choice whether we will come to ourselves and turn from our prior life, or remain in the pen of sin. We will have moments when we fall, for repentance is a continual process. Yet we must never forget that the Son is always with us, offering us the path to return to our Father.

As we celebrate the second week of Triodion, let us remember that, regardless of how lost we may believe ourselves to be, the Son has been sent to us to seek and save the lost. God values us so much that He calls us His people, and when we are lost in our own sin, He offers us Himself through His Son to return us to our elevated state in His household. So let us recall the ways we may be devaluing ourselves in our actions, and rather than becoming despondent over our sin, let us offer our struggles to our Lord, who elevates and welcomes us back into His household. For our Lord has truly come to save the lost, by lowering Himself in humble service even in the grave to raise us to His loving and saving presence.

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