Then the story describes the sin. The younger son travels to a distant country, spends all his money and ends up feeding the pigs. He has lost his country and family, his possessions, and because pigs are unclean animals to the Jews, he has lost his religion as well. He is separated from everything that makes him who he is. He is truly lost in sin.
Now comes the judgement. He has lost everything and no-one gave him anything. He has nothing else to lose and at last, he knows it. He comes to himself and faces his predicament. It is the turning point of the story, the point at which repentance begins - and repentance is subject of my sermon today.
Our prodigal son chooses to change his life. Lonely, in exile, poor and feeding the pigs is to be no life for him. So he decides to make a change, and that is one aspect of repentance - deciding to make a change. And the way this idea is treated in the Bible is that the change is always for the better. And anyone can repent in this way - even God. In the book of the prophet Jonah, God was going to destroy the city of Nineveh because of its wickedness, but after the King of Nineveh proclaimed a fast and sat in sackcloth and ashes, God "repented of the evil which he had said he would do to them; and he did not do it." So, in God's case, repentance meant a change of mind.
But there is a deeper meaning to repentance. It is not just a change of mind, it is a turning away from evil. Again, from the prophet Jonah, the king of Nineveh made this decree, "Let everyone turn from their evil ways and from the violence in their hands."
And the other side of this change is that if you turn away from evil, you turn towards good. This is often spoken of in a parable, the parable of the journey. A good person is said to walk in the way of righteousness, while an evil person follows the path of wickedness. So when a person leaves the path of evil, they walk with God in the paths of righteousness. In fact to walk with God is the same thing as being righteous - we cannot be unrighteous if we walk with God. This is the image we use in the baptism service when we promise to repent of our sin and turn to Christ.
But let's go back to the prodigal son. After his moment of judgement in the pig pen, he made the choice to leave that life and return to his father. But he is alienated from his father and cannot expect a welcome - he acknowledges what is wrong with his life. "I have sinned against heaven and against you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son." Here is another facet of repentance - it is a recognition of the separation which has occurred - a recognition of how far apart we have grown. In the words of the psalm, it is an acknowledgement of sin. The church calls such an acknowledgement confession. This is not always easy to do. In the Bible people showed the anguish of their confession and the sincerity of their repentance by dressing in sackcloth and putting ashes on their heads. Maybe we don't do this today, but repentance can still be hard.
To give a modern example, in May, many people remember Sorry Day. This is a day to acknowledge the great gap in understanding and culture between the Aboriginal People and People who have migrated to Australia. Some people cannot take part because of the fear of where it may lead or because they deny responsibility for the past. It is important to see that Sorry Day is not only an expression of regret for past injustice but also hope for the future. It is an acknowledgement of sin which looks towards a future of reconciliation.
The prodigal son had that in mind when he decided to go to his father and confess his sin. "Treat me like one of your hired hands." he said. He did not expect to be welcomed and given a new robe, sandals, a ring on his finger and a feast, but he did expect some sort of new relationship with his father. His repentance and confession would lead to some sort of new and better future.
Our parable today shows that the prodigal son received far more than either he or anyone else was expecting. He was expecting forgiveness, but he received much more. In human terms all that he had lost was restored to him, relationships, wealth, status, community. But this is a parable, and parables talk about how God works. So in God's terms what the prodigal son received was salvation; and that will be the topic for next Sunday.