| Our pre-Lenten journey brings us this Sunday to the parable of the Prodigal Son, perhaps the most well- known of the Gospel parables. It has also been called the parable of the “Compassionate Father”, focusing not so much on the younger son’s sins but on the mercy shown him by a forgiving, loving parent. Yet I also can see another title – the parable of the “Arrogant and Self-Righteous Brother.” The late Father Henri Nouwen, author and Professor of Theology at Harvard Divinity School, wrote a book entitled The Return of the Prodigal Son (1992). He focuses on an often-neglected part of the story dealing with the elder brother of the prodigal. “Outwardly, the elder son was faultless. But when he confronted his father’s joy at the return of his younger brother, a dark power erupts in him and boils to the surface. Suddenly, there becomes glaringly visible, a resentful, proud, unkind, selfish person, one that had remained deeply hidden” (pg. 71). Today’s Gospel parable is also about that “dark power.” For a number of the Fathers of the Church, this “dark power” in the elder son varied from envy (Tertullian), and jealousy (St. Ambrose), to pride and a scorn for sinners (St. Nikolai of Ochrid). St. Cyril of Alexandria reminds us that Christ delivered this parable immediately after the Pharisees and Scribes murmured against Him for eating with sinners. “The elder son,” he wrote, “sullied all his own virtues through pride and judgmentalism.” (Orthodox Tradition, XII, pg. 74) In his self-righteousness, the older brother thought he was morally superior to his debased sibling. His attitude said, “I could never do anything like that.” As he looked at his brother, he felt neither empathy nor sympathy. He was not thinking: “You know, I could have been that arrogant, selfish, and ungrateful. I could have wandered off into that miserable life. I could have sunk to the humiliation of eating with the pigs.” He never once tried to “step into” the regret, remorse, and psychological trauma of his younger brother. In his self-righteousness, he had neither love nor mercy for him. Notice he did not even call him “my brother” when he spoke to their father. He called him “this son of yours” (v. 30). The parable suggests he knew some details of his brother’s wayward activities. Yet, there had been no mission of mercy to rescue him and bring him home. If one has never known the need for mercy for himself, he is not apt to show mercy to others. His own brother being alive and well meant nothing to him. His main concern was recognition and reward for his service and obedience to his father. Consider three lessons from todays Gospel: there is in each of us a “Prodigal Son”; it is easier to excuse the elder brother in us; and mercy received is the result of mercy given.
Prodigal Son in Each of Us. The German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said “There is no crime of which I consider myself incapable.” Today’s parable underscores that in every one of us is the potential to sin, to turn our backs on a loving Father, to walk away from the joy and promise of heaven to the “dregs and pigpens” of human existence. There is always the foreboding threat in each of us that we will cast aside true happiness and yield instead to the darker angels of our nature. According to the Eastern Church Fathers, sin is not a violation of an impersonal law or code of behavior, but a rejection of the life offered by God – much in the way of our spiritual ancestors Adam and Eve. Orthodox theologian, the late Fr. John Romanides expressed it this way: “What then is the inheritance of humanity from Adam and Eve if it is not guilt?” The Orthodox Fathers answer as one: death. (I Corinthians 15:21) Man is born with the parasitic power of death within him.” Keeping this in mind, we are able to understand others’ sins, failings, and imperfections because we see them in ourselves. We are, in fact, on a spiritually level playing field – unlike the elder brother who allowed self-righteousness to cause a blindness to his own sinfulness. We are called to heed the words of Jesus: “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” (Matthew 7:5)
Easy to Excuse the Elder Brother in Us While we readily identify with the Prodigal Son, there is also an elder brother in each of us – who is judgmental, satisfied and proud, and critical of others’ sins and failings. Self-righteousness cannot exist without producing an attitude of moral superiority and a lack of mercy. The elder brother of the prodigal in Jesus’ parable is a living picture of these characteristics that always draw life from an arrogant self-righteousness. St. Gennadius of Constantinople counsels us: “To judge sins is the business of one who is sinless, but who is sinless except God? Whoever thinks about the multitude of his own sins in his heart never wants to make the sins of others a topic of conversation. To judge a man who has gone astray is a sign of pride, and God rejects the proud. On the other hand, one who every hour prepares himself to give answer for his own sins will not quickly lift up his head to examine the mistakes of others.” We must learn the habit of spiritual understanding – to refrain from judging others however “right” we think we are, to hold our tongues from criticism, to surrender spiritual pride and superiority, to always remember that the younger brother dwells in us as well and therefore we can never be justified in being self-righteous. Six times in Matthew 23, Jesus condemns the scribes and Pharisees for rigidly adhering to their legalistic traditions in order to make themselves look better to others. Jesus’ condemnation of the self-righteous was clear and convincing! Remember His words: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick do. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mark 2:17) Everyday, our prayer must be the prayer said before Holy Communion: “I believe, O Lord, and I confess, that Thou art truly Christ, Son of the Living God, who didst come into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the first!”
Mercy Received is the Result of Mercy Given Our Holy Father St. Maximus the Confessor tells us “Christ’s death on the Cross is the judgment of judgment.” The Saint is telling us that in the supreme expression of mercy, the Crucifixion, God revealed His compassion, the tenderness of His heart, and His forgiving nature towards sinful humanity – sacrificing His Son in the process. Judgment (self-righteousness) died on the Cross with its victim. Death would no longer hold sway over the human soul. The Cross of Jesus tells us about a God who pursues and embraces the lost, the rejected, the “wretched of the earth” (anawim). The bottom line for us – mercy will come to us only if we show mercy to others, compassion if we are compassionate. We must be seen to have a piece of the merciful heart of God in us and find ways every day to break it open in the lives of others – and ourselves. The Epistle of St. James is clear about this: “For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.” (James 2:13) Mercy triumphs over judgment. We are called to show compassion to the sinner, to understand his plight, to enter his/her pain, to find concrete ways to be merciful – and to surrender that “dark power” of our ego, our pride, our criticism, our self-exalted, self-righteous impulses. Abbess Theosemni, of the Holy Monastery of Chrysopiyi in Crete teaches: “We have to respect other people, whether they make mistakes or not. We shouldn’t destroy them, shouldn’t wound them and berate them. Because what love requires is this: to exculpate them, to love them and to take all the blame ourselves.” Are you big enough to take on your brother’s and sister’s sin? Is judgment and blame easier for you to show than mercy and forgiveness? Do we forget the Lord’s words: “For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you?” (Matthew 7:2) May your hearts not be hardened as you seek to show the mercy of the One who continually shows it to you! Your faithful servant, Fr. Dimitrios |
