34th Sunday of the Prodigal Son
1 Corinthians6:12-20; Luke 15:11-32

In January 1697, as the Rev. Samuel Willard was approaching to preach a sermon in church, Judge Sewall approached him and handed him a paper which he asked the preacher to read to all the people present.

In that letter, the judge admitted that he had made a grave mistake when he convicted innocent people five years ago. He pleaded guilty, no one else was to blame, and asked for forgiveness from the people and from God. The pastor read the letter.

To be able to make such a public confession of his guilt, of his mistake, a person must be a sincere believer and make great spiritual efforts.

And, now, a modern, real-life example: A conventional car was driving down the road and passed a large truck, but when the driver saw another car coming fast, he quickly turned to the right, ahead of the truck. The driver of the big truck, having good brakes, avoided a collision, but in revenge, he passed the small passenger car and made a sharp turn in front of it.

Not long after, while waiting for the green light, the two vehicles, the passenger car and the truck, were standing side by side. The driver of the passenger car opened his window and apologized:

"It was my fault, because I pulled out in front of your truck, please forgive me. I had to do it, but it's my fault, because I should have looked first to see if anyone was coming towards me, and then passed.

- Forget it. You didn't jump out on purpose, I passed you and deliberately drove sharply in front of you to bug you, to get back at you. There could have been an accident. And I am sorry. I was wrong."

Those actions - the confession of one's faults, whether in church or on the road - revealed Christian consciousness and virtue before God.

These persons were able to gain a spiritual achievement. Such life examples can serve as a model for us to follow in all areas of our family, church, and social life, in our community with our neighbours, and in our work at the workplace.  Every person can make mistakes from time to time, but every honest person must also be willing to admit his or her faults before God and before people, and then many reasons for enmity, hatred, and many lawsuits will disappear.

Today's Gospel story illustrates how the younger son came to understand his guilt before his father, his family, and before God, how he was able to confess his guilt before his father and before God with all his heart. He admitted that he had sinned, admitted that he was no longer worthy to be called a son. In doing so, he conquered his self-love, was able to accept his humiliation, and this assured him of the restoration of family unity and unity with God.

The Lord Jesus Christ, while on earth in a human body, repeatedly called people to spiritual commitment, and said:

"For everyone who is exalted will be humbled, and everyone who is humbled will be exalted"
(Luke 18:14).

As we approach Lent, when we are to embark on the path of spiritual perfection, the Church of Christ sets before us the example of the prodigal son -- not to imitate his prodigal, sinful actions, but to imitate his sincere confession of his sins and transgressions before God and before people.

It is necessary that we gain determination and courage, find inner strength, and be able to say:

"I did wrong. I made a mistake... I offended... I broke God's commandments..."

If we do this, we will enter the path of spiritual moral renewal.

Perhaps among us, there are not those who have committed such sins and transgressions as the prodigal son, but there may be those among us who have squandered or wasted the spiritual treasures, talents, abilities that our Heavenly Father has given us, and which we have inherited as heirs of the culture of our people.

Among young people today there are those who have literally left their parents' homes and followed the deceptive calls of various fraudsters, but even if we personally did not leave our parents' homes like the prodigal son, there are many people who have left their Ukrainian Orthodox Church and gone astray to various sects. There are people among us who, although formally remaining in the Church of their people, have no time for it, neither in summer nor in winter--they have become rare guests in the house of the Church of their people.

There are many people who say that even though they rarely visit their Father's house, they have done nothing particularly evil. But such people forget or simply do not want to know that when the Church is something secondary to them, they no longer actually confess the one God, that they no longer serve the one God, but mammon, their whims. (Matthew 6:24)

As we approach Lent, we all should think about how and where we are straying, how we are departing from God's commandments. We must also have the spiritual courage to confess our faults to our neighbours and to God in Holy Confession. Our Heavenly Father will always be pleased to see us return to His House, to be united with Him, just as the father in the parable told by our Lord Jesus Christ was glad and comforted.
Amen.

Very Rev. Fr. Taras Slavchenko

Taras Slavchenko was born on March 8, 1918 in Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk region in Ukraine. After graduating from school and the Pedagogical College, he entered the language and literature faculty of the Scientific Pedagogical Institute. Having successfully completed it in 1938, he served as a teacher in a secondary school.

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