Three quotes about the Prodigal Son
February 3rd, 2007 ~ La Vida IglesiaAs I said back here, I tend to wonder who I would be in a parable. Tomorrow we will all hear the parable of the Prodigal Son as we count down the Sundays to Lent, and at some point I’m bound to wonder whether I’m more like the wandering son or his steadfast but envious brother. I suppose the answer for this one — and ultimately for all the parables — is that at different times I’ve been different characters. I am the prodigal son when I sin and repent; I’m his brother when I judge others and am envious and self-righteous.
There is a lot to consider in this parable, so I went on a short inventory. Here are some of the words of wisdom I found about it.
The Forgiving Father
“Then he shall get up, come to his father and confess to him, ‘I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me like one of your hired servants.”When he confesses like that, he will be considered worthy of more than that for which he prayed. His father neither takes him in like a hired servant nor treats him like a stranger. Oh no, he kisses him a a son. He accepts him as a dead man come back to life again. He counts him worthy of the divine feast and gives him the precious garment he once wore.
“Now there is singing and joy in the father’s home. What happened is the rsult of the Father’s grace and loving kindness. Not only does he bring his son back from death, but also through the Spirit he clearly shows his grace. To replace corruption, he clothes him with an incorruptible robe. To satisfy hunger, he kills the fatted calf. The Father provides shoes for his feet so that he will not travel far away again. Most wonderful of all, he puts a divine signet ring upon his hand. By all these things, he begets him anew in the image of the glory of Christ.
– St. Athanasius, Festal Letter VII
Return from Exile
“On the third Sunday of preparation for Lent, we hear the parable of the Prodigal Son (lk. 15-11-32). Together with the hymns of this day, the parable reveals to us the time of repentance as man’s return from exile. The prodigal son, we are told, went to a far country and there spent all that he had. A far country! It is this unique definition of our human condition that we must assume and make ours as we begin our approach to God. A man who has never felt that he is exiled from God and from real life will never understand what Christianity is about. And the one who is perfectly “at home” in this world and its life, who has never been wounded by the nostalgic desire for another Reality, will not understand what repentance is. …
“It is easy to confess that I have not fasted on prescribed days, or that I’ve missed my prayers, or become angry. It is quite a different thing, however, to realize suddenly that I have defiled and lost my spiritual beauty, that I am far away from my real home, my real life, and that something precious and pure and beautiful has been hopelessly broken in the very texture of my existence. Yet this, and only this, is repentance, and therefore it is also a deep desire to return, to go back, to recover that lost home. I received from God wonderful riches … I received the knowledge of God and in Him the knowledge of everything else and the power to be a son of God. And all this I have lost, all this I am losing all the time, not only in particular sins and transgressions, but in the sin of all sins: the deviation of my love from God, preferring the “far country” to the beautiful home of the Father.”
– Fr. Alexander Schmemann, Great Lent
Where to go at the end of the road?
“The prodigal son, having claimed his own share of the inheritance, lost everything in this world and was deprived of all the joys of life: he lost his fatherland, his family’s support; he did not have a piece of bread left and was entirely alone: all the roads of this world were closed to him. ‘Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil’ (Rom. ii. 9). And it is at this very point that the divine miracle is performed — in the very confinement there is liberation; in the very grief, salvation.
“Among us too there are people who have reached the limits of grief. it seems to them that destruction is all around them — let them be comforted. When man reaches this point when all roads are closed to him horizontally, then the road upwards opens before him. If compressed on all sides, water rises; so the soul, compressed, imprisoned, walled in by grief, rises to heaven.
“We are fortunate if we detach ourselves inwardly, in time and on our own initiative, from the broad way of worldliness, if neither the comforts of life, nor riches, nor success, fill our hearts and lead us away from that which is essential.”
– Fr. Alexander Elchaninov, The Diary of a Russian Priest
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February 4th, 2007 at 9:32 am
The Prodigal Son is my favorite bible story. I will be blogging about it this week. It can make me cry…especially if Dn. Tom Braun is reading it…I lose it.
February 4th, 2007 at 4:02 pm
Parable-blogging: Excellent!
The way that people read a passage can make a lasting impression (even though we’re not supposed to get all tied up in individualities and all that). Years ago, Dn. Tom read the passage in Hebrews 11 about our forefathers and what they went through (”they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated — men of whom the world was not worthy …”) and he got all choked up for just a moment. Whenever I hear that passage, I think of it being read that way.
Similarly, in another church, one of our deacons was from a working class background and not highly educated. When he got up to the podium on Pascha to do St. John Chrysostom’s homily, he looked at all of us and started speaking in words that came straight from his heart — without reading any notes. He had memorized it word-perfect from beginning to end. As much as I’ve always loved that homily, I think I love it more having heard it that way once.
February 5th, 2007 at 4:00 pm
Interesting comments on how the reader affects our perception of the parable, as well.
Thank you.
I do like the Prodigal Son a lot, and, I do recognize myself as the Prodigal more than I’d like to admit, like the Pharisee. I also think the Prodigal’s brother is an interesting figure, and I have tendancies towards acting like him as well.
February 5th, 2007 at 5:02 pm
I’ve been thinking about the brother since I wrote the entry, because the more I think about it, the more I realize that his wrongdoing is much more nuanced than the prodigal’s. It’s especially interesting to think that Christ told this parable to the Pharisees at the same time He was basically telling them that the Gentiles were about to be asked to the party and that they (the Pharisees) weren’t going to like it. But also giving the divine point-of-view, in a way that’s both touching and wonderful.