Sunday of the Prodigal Son: The Day of Our Salvation

Can I ask the Sunday school to please come here? I want to just get in close with you guys. Let’s come to the tas or the chancel area of the church because I have to tell you about today’s story. It’s very important.

During Lent, every Sunday has a very special story associated with it. Last Sunday’s story was a story about how Adam and Eve had to leave paradise. I’m sure you guys have heard that story before. And today is a different story. Today is the story of the prodigal son. Have you guys heard this story before? Some of you have, some of you haven’t? Okay. Well, I’m going to go over it again. If you’ve heard the story, maybe you’ll hear something new when I tell it to you, if you’ve heard it before. And then we can talk about what we learned from it.

The prodigal son is a special story that Jesus told. It’s called a parable, which means he didn’t read about it in a newspaper. He told it to his followers because he wanted to teach them something. And in this parable, Jesus Christ tells us about a family. And in this family, there was a father, and there were two sons. Now, there was an older son and a younger son.

Who here knows what an inheritance is? Can anybody tell me what that is? Have you heard that word before? Leon? It’s something that’s passed down from parents to children, right? Something that’s passed down from parents to children. And usually, a person has to receive an inheritance after their parents have died. Now, the younger son knew that his dad was pretty rich. He was very excited about all the money that he could get one day because of his inheritance. He was so excited about it that he didn’t really want to wait. So he went to his dad and he said, “Can you give me now what I would receive if I would wait until after you pass away? Give me my inheritance now,” is what he was asking.

Do you think that was a very nice question to ask? No. Why not? Sako? He seems to be — feels like he was being greedy. I think that is correct. Sydney? He wanted money. He just wanted money to do whatever he wanted to do. Artem? Yeah, I’m sure all of these things are true, but Artem brought up a good point, which is he was asking his dad to give him something that he would have gotten if his father had died, so it was like telling his dad, like, “I wish you were dead,” essentially, right? Because the money’s more important to me.

Now, what do you guys think the dad did? Sydney? Well, if I was the dad, I would say, “No. I don’t think you’re ready for this.” But I think that dad was very wise, and he realized that his son needed to learn a lesson. So actually, the dad said yes. He said, “Here’s all the money that would be yours.” And the son took that money, and he left his home.

What do you guys think he did? You think he bought a house? That would have been a wise investment. He did not do something as wise as this. What do you think he did? Maria? Yeah, he did a lot of partying. He went out there. He said, “I could buy all the candy in the world.” He bought it, and he ate it up. He said, “I could go do whatever I want, wherever I want, with whoever I want. I’ve got enough money so that I can do whatever I want all the time.” And that’s exactly what he did.

Does that sound like fun? No. Why not? Sydney? So he wasn’t going to have good friends, which is a very, very wise guess, because the Bible tells us that, yeah, he didn’t have good friends, and the people that were in his life didn’t actually love or respect him. They were just there because he had money, right? And so he had some pretty unhealthy relationships.

Artem, you raised your hand. You forgot what you were going to say? Anybody else? No? Well, I think for that reason and many more, despite the fact that he got everything he wanted, he ended up being very unhappy. Yes, he didn’t have any good friends or family around him, no matter what he did. And the things that he thought would make him happy, they didn’t really make him happy, right? He didn’t have what he really needed.

And what else happens when you spend a lot of money? Anybody else want to guess? Artem? So when you use too much of your money, you can’t buy houses or things that matter or things that you actually need. That’s a very, very good answer. Sydney? He’s going to get poor. Yeah. Wow, you guys are great. We’re having a, like a personal finance class today in church. That’s right. He’s wasting his money, and he doesn’t have anything left. Wasting his money. And so what happens is, when you waste your money, as the parents say, it doesn’t grow on trees, right? Eventually, it’s going to go away.

So what happened in the end, after he got everything he wanted? It’s like when you get that video game and you love it for five minutes, and then you forget about it and move on to the next thing. Diana, you raised your hand? He lost all the things that he really cared about. Sako? Let me catch everybody up, because Sako’s completely right. What happened is he used all of his money. And he was really embarrassed, because he knew that he did the wrong thing, and he couldn’t go back to his dad. So he had to get a job so that he could live, and he ended up getting a job at a farm.

Does anybody remember what job he had at the farm? Maria? He had to clean up after the pigs in the end. This is a guy that came from a very comfortable life. And at that time, to be somebody who had to clean up after the pigs, not only does it not sound like a horrible job, it was basically considered the absolute worst job in the world to have. Nobody could ever respect you if your job was to clean up after pigs. And this is what this guy ended up doing.

Now, Sako jumped ahead in the story to a part that’s very important. When he realized that his life was so bad, it didn’t matter how embarrassed he was or humiliated, his life would be better if he just went back to his dad and said sorry. And he told his dad, “I don’t care. I’ll do anything you want me to do. But if you just take me back where I belong, then I will accept it.” So when he was at that lowest moment in his life, he said to himself something that was very important. He said, “I’m going to tell my dad that I have sinned against God, and I have sinned against you.”

Now, what do you think that’s called when somebody says they’re going to say that? It means that he admitted doing something very wrong. Is there another name that we have for that, that you guys might have heard before? Taking responsibility for our actions, sure. Anybody else think of another way of referring to that? To reflect, okay. Thank you. Well, in the church, we would call that a confession. Confession is something like what we do every time we come into church before we take communion, and we read on those papers. You guys remember those papers, right? They’re right over there, right? And then we start talking about all the sins that we committed. That’s what he did.

Now, when he went back home, he had practiced what he was going to say. “I’m going to tell my dad. I sinned against God, and I sinned against you. I’ll do whatever you want me to do.” What do you think the dad did when he saw him? Do you think the dad wanted to hear his apology? The dad hugged him. The dad forgave him. You said the dad said that he forgives him, but he should think more next time. Yes. Well, what’s interesting is even though the son had practiced how he was going to confess to his dad, as soon as his dad saw him — Sydney, as soon as his dad saw him, he didn’t even wait for him to confess. He ran up to him, just like Guy and I said, and gave him a big hug. He embraced him, and he gave him everything that he had before he left. He didn’t yell at him. He didn’t punish him. He didn’t do any of that. He was so happy that he came back. He said, “Whatever that you had before is yours now, and even more.” He gave him special presents. He gave him special clothes and a pretty ring and a really nice meal. Those things were very important back then.

So what do you guys think? What do you think the lesson is there? Why do you think the dad didn’t even wait for him to say sorry or punish him after he came back home? Sako? Probably the lesson is, do not be greedy but be responsible. Don’t be greedy and take responsibility for your actions. That’s a very important lesson. Thank you, Sako. I’m glad you learned that.

Well, let me ask you guys this. When somebody does something really bad, right, don’t you think that it’s right or fair that they should have to pay some sort of price for it, for what they did? No? Not necessary? What do you guys think? Does that sound right? What if somebody did something really bad to you? Would you just be like, “Hey, it’s okay”? No? Kind of yes and kind of no. What do you think? Idan, what do you think? Artem? You don’t think that’s fair? No? Guyane? Yes. So Guyane put her finger on one of the issues here, which I know why. She said if he has a brother, the brother’s going to be like, “That’s not fair.” And the Bible says that’s what the brother did. He got upset because he didn’t think it was fair, but the father’s the one in charge.

Sydney? The teacher? The dad? Okay. Artem? Where’s the mom? It’s a good question. To be continued. When things are going wrong, where’s the mom?

Here’s the thing, guys, and this is the lesson that I want you guys to take from this. The price that the son had to pay was the suffering that he caused himself, and what the father needed him to do was to admit that he had done something wrong, to confess. This is what the father wanted. Even though the son hadn’t said it, he had experienced it and felt it and decided that he knew that he was wrong. This is very important for us as Christians, too. When we make mistakes, and we all do, we shouldn’t be so judgmental of the prodigal son. Did anybody ever give you money that you wasted on bubblegum or video game or something like that? You wisely spent every dollar anybody ever gave you? We make mistakes, too. But what God is expecting us to do is to admit that we were wrong and to come back to Him. And whenever we do, He’s ready to receive us. Confession.

So next time when you — I want you to think of the prodigal son, and I want you to think about what he went through to get to the place where he could say, “I sinned against God and against you.” Because that’s what our Heavenly Father is waiting for us to do when we walk through these doors. God bless you guys. Please go back to your seats. We’re going to conclude in a short moment as I recap things for the grown-ups.

Մեր երկրորդ Կորնթացիների նամակի մեջ այսօր, երբ կարդում էինք Սուրբ Պողոսի նամակը՝ ուղղված Կորնթացիներին, այնտեղ առաջին նախադասությունների մեջ ինքը շտապականորեն կշեշտում է, որ այս է օրը մեր փրկության, այս է օրը, այսօր, և երեկ էր, և վաղը։ Այս պահին, այս վայրկյան, այս երկվայրկյանը այդ առիթն է, երբ հնարավորություն ունինք փրկություն ստանալու։ Երբ ես կպատմեի անարատ որդու պատմությունը մեր երիտասարդներուն ու երեխաներուն, ուրեմն անարատ որդու համար անհրաժեշտ էր հասնել այդ իրավիճակին, որ հասկանա, որ այդ վայրկյանը, երբ ինքը որոշեց խոստովանել, որ այդ էր իր պահը փրկության համար և գործ կատարեց։ Ինքը այդ վայրկյանին գործադրեց այդ որոշումը, այդ հասկացողությունը։ Բայց յուրաքանչյուրիս համար նույնն է։ Այս է պահը, այս վայրկյանը, այս երկվայրկյանը անմիջապես առիթ է մեզի համար փրկվելու, եթե պատրաստ ենք ապաշխարհելու։ Եվ դժվար է, համարձակ պետք է լինենք և հավատարիմ և պատրաստ ընդունել այդ փրկությանը, երբ մենք կկարծենք, թե արժանի չենք։

As I conclude our services today, I just hope that we all were able to once again refresh our relationship with the story of the prodigal son, the most powerful story of repentance and forgiveness that we can find in the living testimony of our Lord through the Gospels. And a reminder that as St. Paul has spoken to us through the lessons in the epistle reading for today, that it took so much for the prodigal son to get to that point where he realized that his salvation was at hand, and he was the only reason that he was not receiving it. It was right in front of him, but all he had to do was humble himself before his father to receive that which he needed. It was right there. Our salvation is at hand. Today is the day of our salvation. So we ask that God soften our hearts such that in that moment when we are ready, we can turn to Him on bended knee, confessing and being received into the heavenly kingdom for His glory. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.