Ninth Sunday after Trinity 2026
On this 9th Sunday after Trinity, we consider the pervasiveness of idolatry and its varied forms. In all idolatry the heart desires something else, something that is ultimately unsatisfying. It prefers a thing, whether made with human hands as a crass idol or a concept like absolute freedom and autonomy. Whatever the label, idolatry reflects a desire to live according to one’s own terms.
Our Old Testament Lesson is found in Ezekiel Chapter 14 and it is the constant drumbeat of the Old Testament prophets. In the preceding chapters, the prophet has a vision of the departure of the glory of God. In a terrifying vision, Ezekiel sees the shekinah, which is the glorious presence of the Lord, departing from the Temple, from the most holy place. Even as the glory departs, even as God leaves the Temple, there is an assurance that God will spare a remnant - those who are in exile (Ezekiel 11:11-13).
There is a promise of a new heart much like Jeremiah envisions in Jeremiah 31:31-34. Spiritual renewal from the inside out - with a desire to draw near to God and obey him readily with a joyful heart. Even as the destruction of the Temple is promised, God himself will be a sanctuary to those who seek him.
So this is the context in Ezekiel as we look at our Old Testament Lesson in Chapter 14 - the leaders of God’s people came to Ezekiel with an expectation that he would tell them what God wanted them to do and God refuses to tell them what to do because of the multitude of their idols. Instead of what they wanted to hear through Ezekiel - God tells them the painful truth - they are alienated from God by their “great idolatry”/idols/other gods/ things that they love more than Him. The word that God gives them is, “Repent, turn and renounce” - all your detestable practices.
It is probable that Ezekiel’s audience had left off physical idolatry but were still embracing spiritual idolatry, which God derided as a ‘great idolatry’ which was detestable and needed to be repented from. The Church Fathers believed this text spoke to the sin of hypocrisy - having an exterior righteousness while harboring in one’s heart other loves that competed with the Lord’s rightful worship. In keeping this love for things other than God, they were alienated internally from God and had a wrong sense of comparative righteousness - sort of like the Pharisee and Publican in one of Jesus’s parables. The Pharisee uses the Publican as a measure of comparison: crowing before the Lord about his tithing, his fasting, all the things that made him better than the publican. The publican, aware that he was devoid of any merits before God, pleaded mercy which he received from the Lord, while the Pharisee went home still burdened with his sins and encumbered by the self-deceit of hypocrisy.
Our Old Testament Lesson ends at verse 10 but verse 11 wraps up the section in the text. There we read of God’s promise that his people will “no more stray…” will “be no more polluted with transgression.” They will repent and He says, ‘truly, they will be my people and I will be their God.’
This brings us to our Epistle for today where St. Paul takes the Corinthians back to Israel’s journey in the Wilderness. He is careful to draw a parallel between Israel and the Church when he begins our passage with “Brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how all our fathers were under the cloud and passed through the sea.” Notice St. Paul, the Jew of all Jews, speaks to these Gentile Corinthians as brethren, and Israel in the Exodus as “our fathers”. The story of Israel is the story of the Church. The temptations of Israel in the Wilderness are also the temptations of the Church in the present.
St. Paul speaks to the objective blessedness of Israel’s provision by God - all were under the cloud - given shade and cover from the heat of the sun and the leading of God through the cloud of God’s glorious presence. All passed through the sea - out of Egypt, being saved through the very same waters that brought death to Pharaoh and his armies. All were baptized through the Red Sea. All were provided with bread from heaven - day by day and were refreshed with water from a source that followed them. God had objectively blessed them and was leading them to a land of unrivalled abundance. St. Paul tells us that with many God was not pleased. Why? What was Israel’s response? They demonstrate by their actions that they loved other things more than the God of their redemption. Many died on the way to the promised land because of their idolatry - worshipping the Golden Calf; even when they weren’t making new idols to worship, they joined in the worship of other gods through sexual immorality.
Remember how Balaam was paid by Balak, the king of Moab, to curse Israel but Balaam was able to only pronounce blessing upon them. Although Balaam could only bless with his words, he instructed Balak to send the Moabite women to invite Israel’s men to feast in honor of their gods. Worship of false gods in the ancient world was often accompanied by sexual immorality. The purpose of Balaam and the Moabites was to draw Israel into false worship. St. Paul says that God judged them with over 20,000 Israelites dying in one day.
If this weren’t enough, many who weren’t destroyed by the Golden Calf incident and the Moabite idolatry, complained against God’s miraculous provision - we read that they “loathed”, they hated manna. They wanted something else. The heart of idolatry is the desire for something else instead of the Lord. The failure of Israel in the Wilderness took the form of their desiring some. They even desired to return to their past slavery rather than go forward with God because they had a biased memory of the past.
These kinds of idolatry are present in Israel’s journey through the Wilderness and they are temptations for us.
This brings us to our Gospel for today - a story one could argue - between two idolatrous sons and one loving, patient and reconciling Father. Many know this story well - a younger son tells his father to give him his inheritance early. In the culture of the time, it was equivalent to telling one’s father that you wished he were dead so that you could have his money. The father does what the younger son wants and gives him the inheritance. The younger son takes his inheritance and participates in riotous living among the Gentiles in the far country. In other words, the younger son commits a variety of sins that Paul describes in I Corinthians - very explicit immorality, idolatry, gluttony and so on.
Then we read of his reception when he comes to himself, when the younger son realizes how bad his circumstances truly are.
He repents, he leaves the far country, penniless, poorly clothed and returns to his father in repentance. We then read of the Father’s enthusiastic and loving reception of his younger son. He restored the son and had him properly clothed. The best robe was a sign of position and the ring …conveyed authority. The one who came home barefoot like a slave was given the shoes of a freeman. The fatted calf was a feast of restoration, a meal shared that signalled full acceptance.
How does the Father know the younger son has repented? Because that son comes home, speaking the words of repentance displaying the actions of repentance. The younger returned to the family where he belonged. Many focus on the younger prodigal son in a formal sense - his time away from home and living apart from the Father where he is alienated by distance and lifestyle.
The waywardness of the younger son is plainly seen. What do we make of the brother who stayed? We read that the father gave inheritance to each when the younger son left. ⅓ of the estate to the younger; ⅔ to the elder. The elder son has remained at home, but look at his attitude. He whines like the Israelites destroyed by the serpents. Just complains as they did when they expressed their loathing of the common manna. The elder brother complains about the generosity of the Father. The Father never gave a goat for a meal with my friends. This betrays a deep discontent of heart, a desire for something else. One son has repented from his alienation from the father and the other is unaware of his alienation because he is so focused on what the other brother is receiving (unmerited forgiveness from the Father) and what the elder believes he should have (a place of privilege because he did the right thing; that he might receive a token of the Father’s love so he could enjoy it with his friends, apart from the Father). There is no small amount of disdain that the Father has received the younger son.
Notice the characterization of the prodigal by the elder - he distanced himself by calling him, “your son” not “my brother”. The elder catalogs the sins of the younger and is scandalized that a feast was given on his return. He felt that more, perhaps extended groveling repentance was needed rather than receipt of a celebration. The reality is that the elder son was alienated from the Father by his unwillingness to forgive his brother - he was enslaved by his bitterness; moreover, he inflated own sense of worthiness. He was born into the family and the inheritance was the result of His Father’s wisdom, the Father’s skill. He didn’t earn his place in the family. Both sons owed a debt of gratitude to the Father, but it was the younger son who really felt the sense of it.
In all of this, the Father is consistent. He embodies the pleading heart of God for all of his children. God doesn’t cast either of them away. The younger gave evidence of his repentance. He left the land of idolatry and he came home. The parable leaves the path to repentance open for the elder, entitled son as well.
The Father urges him to join in the celebration that the younger son came home, and to leave the idolatry of his own pride.
Beloved, we are warned today about idolatry - loving anything more than God. We are also warned of the ways in which one can be ensnared in idolatry. I doubt that you have a shrine set up at home so that you participate in formal idolatry. The real challenge of idolatry happens in the competition for our affections - what our hearts truly desire. This is what God judged in our Old Testament Lesson. They had great idolatry that was an issue of the heart. Secret. Hidden to all but the Lord himself.
Some will give themselves over to seek pleasure and life apart from God in the far country. They need to repent. Others may harbor secret idols which are only known to God. Repentance is needed as well. And others may whine about God’s goodness when he gives them what they need rather than according to the sensuality of their own desires.
They are tempted to scrutinize others, blame God for unfairness when they draw near to Him after piercing His heart of love by their disobedience.
All need, all have room to repent. For we see the largeness of God’s receiving of sinners, those far away from the pews of this parish and those within them; those who have abandoned the Church and those who populate it every Sunday. So, let us examine our hearts and let us examine our lives. What is it that we really want, apart from God? What else are we actually serving with our time and resources? Are we affirming with our mouths a love for God while acting according to our own interests? Are we alienated from God on the outside or even in the hidden place of our thoughts and hearts?
Do you find yourself like the younger son, aware you need to repent but afraid of how you will be received?
Do you find yourself having a complaining spirit towards God, like the older son, full of bitterness because God has not worked things out the way you would prefer? There is no better time to return home - whether alienated by distance and neglect like the younger son and fearing rejection, or alienated from the Father because of bitterness or a complaining spirit like the older son. The Father has made the Feast, the Fatted Calf has been prepared, hearts should be merry for the Father loves us and wants all of us - near and far - prodigal and elder - to join together at His Table. Beloved, cast away all that keeps you from the Father and turn with all your heart to receive the love of God for all repentant sinners in this Holy Eucharist. Amen.
