Speaker 1: Welcome to Hill Country Homilies. Weekly homilies from Holy Annunciation
Speaker 1: Orthodox Church in Liberty Hill, Texas. Holy Annunciation is an
Speaker 1: old calendar Orthodox church sharing the faith of the Apostles
Speaker 1: and the love of Christ with all who seek His truth. Now,
Speaker 1: let's listen to this week's homily.
Speaker 2: The Name of the Father and Son the Holy Spirit
Speaker 2: Gord to Jesus Christ. Set if you wish, my beloved
Speaker 2: brothers and sisters in Christ. This second Triodean Sunday, we
Speaker 2: hear the gospel parable of the Prodigal Son. I'm not
Speaker 2: gonna lie. This parable may be my favorite parable to
Speaker 2: preach on, because there's just so much in it that
Speaker 2: we can work with. It follows very nicely, the parable
Speaker 2: the Publican and the Pharisee is. If last Sunday calls
Speaker 2: us to humility, this Sunday calls us to act on
Speaker 2: our humility by turning it into repentance to our father.
Speaker 2: In this parable, the younger son of Prodigal demands his
Speaker 2: inheritance from his father early, and we're told that he
Speaker 2: goes into a far country where he squanders the entirety
Speaker 2: of his inheritance with reckless and licentious living. And he
Speaker 2: finds himself desperately alone and on the brink of death
Speaker 2: from hunger and facing that, he turns homeward, And as
Speaker 2: he comes, his father doesn't wait for an apology, but
Speaker 2: he runs out to embrace him and restores him his
Speaker 2: prior dignity with his robe in his ring and a
Speaker 2: grand celebration. And meanwhile, the older brother, who faithfully served
Speaker 2: his father for all those years, is filled with resentment
Speaker 2: at the reception that his brother is received. And this
Speaker 2: parable challenges us on many levels to examine our own hearts.
Speaker 2: Are we the younger brother who needs to humble himself
Speaker 2: and repentance and return home? Are we the older brother
Speaker 2: whose devoted service to the father has driven us to
Speaker 2: hatred or envy of those that do not serve in
Speaker 2: the same way. Now, in understanding this parable, in examining ourselves,
Speaker 2: I want to start a place that is a little
Speaker 2: different than where we usually start. Usually when we talk
Speaker 2: about this parable, we start with the youngest son demanding
Speaker 2: his inheritance from his still living father, a most presumptuous act,
Speaker 2: to be sure, and we would talk about how the
Speaker 2: church fathers understood this demand that was basically his own
Speaker 2: free will, that he demanded, so that he would proceed
Speaker 2: to waste that great gift abundantly. But I wanted to
Speaker 2: start instead at what happened once he received his portion
Speaker 2: of his inheritance, because we are told that after receiving
Speaker 2: his inheritance not many days later, the younger son gathered
Speaker 2: everything together and took his journey into a far country.
Speaker 2: And read this, I think there's kind of this intuitive idea.
Speaker 2: The son's about to go live in a way that
Speaker 2: his father will greatly disapprove of, and so he removes
Speaker 2: himself far, far away, far from his view. And we
Speaker 2: read this and with it there's this sense of distance
Speaker 2: that's created by him going to the far country. But
Speaker 2: that's a little bit of a dangerous misunderstanding of this
Speaker 2: parable because the fathers tell us that when the scripture
Speaker 2: says he goes to the far country, they's not talking
Speaker 2: about geographic distance. They're not talking about a physical separation.
Speaker 2: But the fathers tell us, as Euthemius the Great said,
Speaker 2: the younger son's journey is not a separation of place,
Speaker 2: but by separation in point of virtue. That is, the
Speaker 2: youngest son's journey is the same journey each of us
Speaker 2: undertake when we choose to sin, because sin separates us
Speaker 2: from God. Not in terms of proximity, though it might
Speaker 2: be helpful to think of it that way, but in
Speaker 2: the sense that our sin necessarily removes us from union
Speaker 2: with God, because God can have no union with that
Speaker 2: which is not pure. This separation, whether it's millimeters or miles,
Speaker 2: in a physical sense, is grievous from the beginning, because
Speaker 2: it is the spiritual separation of man and God. Saint
Speaker 2: Augustine said, the far country is forgetfulness of God, a
Speaker 2: forgetful which is mutual. For inasmuch as the sinner forgets God,
Speaker 2: God in his turn, is in a manner forgetful of
Speaker 2: the sinner. The far country is more than distance. It
Speaker 2: is a spiritual alienation from God. Today, we don't need
Speaker 2: to even physically leave our house to enter the far country.
Speaker 2: We enter it every time we prefer our smartphones to prayer,
Speaker 2: every time we chase fleeting pleasures while neglecting the divine services.
Speaker 2: Every time we measure our worth by social media our
Speaker 2: likes rather than our standing before God. In our culture
Speaker 2: of instant gratification and digital distraction, we're constantly feeding on
Speaker 2: those empty husks of entertainment, consumerism, virtual relationships while starving
Speaker 2: ourselves spiritually. Yet even here in this self imposed exile,
Speaker 2: Christ waits when removes himself from the providential care of God.
Speaker 2: By our wilful separation from him, we find ourselves in
Speaker 2: the same positions the prodigal. We live a life of
Speaker 2: waste and consumption as we live bereast of the grace
Speaker 2: that God has prepared for us. But these are self
Speaker 2: willed wounds that we suffer, and because they are of
Speaker 2: our own doing, that same will permits us that permitted
Speaker 2: us to turn away from God can bring us back
Speaker 2: in repentance. And the first step home is recognizing that
Speaker 2: we have wandered away, because in these days and in
Speaker 2: this place we can suffer severe spiritual malnourishment, even as
Speaker 2: we live in material abundance. Now, brothers and sisters, if
Speaker 2: we can rouse ourselves from our spiritual separation from God,
Speaker 2: then this is where we reap the good news of
Speaker 2: the Parable. Because in the Parable we see the younger
Speaker 2: son came to the resation that he's dying outside of
Speaker 2: life with his father. We're told that he came to himself,
Speaker 2: that he saw his true human state, and he realized
Speaker 2: what he had to do, and he struggles with this,
Speaker 2: He struggles with the words that he's going to say
Speaker 2: and the position he's going to ask to subjugate himself
Speaker 2: to just to live again in the care of his father.
Speaker 2: And he's willing to trade his position for that of
Speaker 2: a servant. And probably every last one of us knows
Speaker 2: that feeling of when we have to drag ourselves to
Speaker 2: our parents and confess some great error or wrong that
Speaker 2: we've committed. Worrying, dread, anxiety, all those filled the moments
Speaker 2: before that meeting. But here we see that as the
Speaker 2: prodigal journey's home, and while he is still a great
Speaker 2: way off, his father saw him and had compassion. He ran,
Speaker 2: and he fell on his neck that as he put
Speaker 2: himself on his face before him, and he kissed him.
Speaker 2: The reception the prodigal had not so much has dared
Speaker 2: to hope for. And consider how truly remarkable this green
Speaker 2: is because in those times, in that culture, elderly men
Speaker 2: of status did not run. It was considered as shameful
Speaker 2: and undignified. Yet the father runs to the son, abandoning
Speaker 2: all propriety. This is the overflowing bounty of God's love.
Speaker 2: He doesn't wait for us to complete our repentance, to
Speaker 2: polish up our confession, or to prove ourselves worthy of
Speaker 2: his mercy. He rushes towards us while we're still a
Speaker 2: great way off, and he heals us with his love.
Speaker 2: Saint Gregory of Nissa says that the Father is reconciled
Speaker 2: to the prodigal as soon as he resolved to repent.
Speaker 2: This kind of unconditional love is almost foreign to our
Speaker 2: modern culture. We see things as earned, as deserved, as merited.
Speaker 2: We see w wars being conditioned based on performance, on appearance,
Speaker 2: or on utility, and it's easy, albeit dangerous, to bring
Speaker 2: that same approach to our spiritual life. We can fall
Speaker 2: into things that we must earn God's mercy through enough
Speaker 2: prostrations or perfect fasting or eloquent prayers. But the Gospel
Speaker 2: shatters that kind of idea. God's love isn't a reward
Speaker 2: for the righteous, it isn't a gift to the perfect,
Speaker 2: but it is free to the broken, and we don't
Speaker 2: earn it. No sooner did that prodigal turn his face
Speaker 2: toward the Father than he was fully enveloped in the
Speaker 2: love he had for him from the beginning. And it's
Speaker 2: not only the unconditional love of the Father that we
Speaker 2: take hope in, but also the unlimited forgiveness that he offers.
Speaker 2: The prodigal had wasted his life in the most heinous
Speaker 2: and licentious of sins, and he did that after first
Speaker 2: turning his back on the Father. Insult added to injury,
Speaker 2: as it were. But as soon as he began his
Speaker 2: journey of repentance, the Father was already receiving him with joy.
Speaker 2: This should be a great comfort to us all. There's
Speaker 2: no shame in returning to confession after months or years away. Remember,
Speaker 2: the Father is already running towards you. Your return doesn't
Speaker 2: depend on your worthiness, but on his relentless love for mankind.
Speaker 2: And if you think your sins are too great for God,
Speaker 2: it was parable, says Otherwise. Believing our sins to be
Speaker 2: unforgivable is the height of pride. How can we for
Speaker 2: a moment consider that our son is so great that
Speaker 2: they can overcome the omnipotent God. If any sin is
Speaker 2: truly unforgivable, then the person forgiving it or being asked
Speaker 2: forgiveness cannot be God God, because sin can never overcome God.
Speaker 2: Those kind of thoughts become a self important delusion. Nothing
Speaker 2: that we have done is so horrible that it puts
Speaker 2: us out of the reach of God's forgiveness. And finally,
Speaker 2: I want to say a word about the older brother.
Speaker 2: I like to mention because I think we're always in
Speaker 2: as much danger of being the older brother as we
Speaker 2: are of being the prodigal. The older brother was such
Speaker 2: a good and faithful servant. Imagine the heartbreak the father
Speaker 2: suffered at the younger brother's leaving. The older brother was
Speaker 2: sitting there bearing it with him the whole time, and
Speaker 2: patience and co suffering. And when the younger brother returned
Speaker 2: and was received with joy, the older brother cracked. Years
Speaker 2: of service and devotion bubbled out in envy and anger,
Speaker 2: and he tells the Father, these many years I served you,
Speaker 2: and you never gave me a kid to make merry
Speaker 2: with my friends. Here, the older brother represents the subtle
Speaker 2: danger of religious pride, serving God while resenting others, keeping
Speaker 2: the rules but losing love. He never left home, but
Speaker 2: his heart drifted away from the father as well. He
Speaker 2: saw his relationship with God as a transaction. I served,
Speaker 2: therefore I deserve. He couldn't celebrate his brother's return because
Speaker 2: he measured everything by merit, not mercy, and in this
Speaker 2: way he too became a prodigal. As Orthodox Christians, especially
Speaker 2: as we prepare to enter into great lent, we can
Speaker 2: fall into this trap. We maintain the traditions, we fast strictly,
Speaker 2: we attend services, yet we become judgmental towards those who
Speaker 2: are struggling or those who fall away. We can become
Speaker 2: so proud of our practice that we lose sight of
Speaker 2: our love for one another. We see a sinner return
Speaker 2: to the church, we must rejoice like the Father, rather
Speaker 2: than grumble and judge like the older brother. It's true.
Speaker 2: Orthodoxy is far more than the practices of the faith.
Speaker 2: It's embodying the very heart of the Father, weeping with
Speaker 2: those who weep, and rejoicing when the loss are found.
Speaker 2: Whether our brothers come at the first hour at the last,
Speaker 2: whether they've fallen away and returned, or entered for the
Speaker 2: first time into the House of our Lord. May God
Speaker 2: grant to each of us the peace, love, and discernment
Speaker 2: to celebrate with joy each soul that turns to God.
Speaker 2: May He grant us humility in our own struggle and
Speaker 2: an abundance of his grace as we prepare ourselves for
Speaker 2: the coming Linden season, and may we trust in the
Speaker 2: great forgiveness of our fathers. We undertake our own repentance
Speaker 2: in the name of the Father and Son the Holy Spirit. Amen,
Speaker 2: God to Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to Hill Country homble plea. For more information,
Speaker 1: visit Holy Annunciation Orthodox Church at www dot Denunciation, TX
Speaker 1: dot com and please join us again next week.