1 Corinthians 6:12-20
Luke 15:11-32
Having acknowledged our sins and sought the Lord’s forgiveness, we now see that we are called to action. We must return to God, our Father, who willingly and lovingly accepts us if only we make the slightest motion to return home to Him. This is the theme of the third Pre-Lenten Sunday.
The Gospel lesson for the Sunday of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32).
“There was a man who had two sons; and the younger of them said to his father, `Father, give me the share of 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 fed on 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.'”
We are presented with a young man, who against his father’s advice, had taken all his possessions, wasted them through foolishness, resorted to tending pigs in order to make a living, and found himself sharing the food which they refused to eat. But “he came to himself” and remembered life as it was at his father’s house. He got up and returned home, hoping only to be accepted as a servant. His father ran to meet him. He kissed his son, clothed him regally, and celebrated his return with much festivity for, in the words of his father, “my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.”
