Luke 15:1–32 ESV – Bible Gateway
My first reaction on reading this passage again was to think what dolts the Pharisees were for not thinking they were sinners also. This was because I saw this in light of my modern understanding of the term. Brant Pitre points out:
But that’s not what the word “sinners” means in the gospel. In the gospels, when you hear them talk about sinners, it’s a technical expression. It refers to people who were violating the Law of Moses, who were violating the Torah, and they were doing it in a public way and in a grave way. So people whose sins were both public and grave. [1]
Tax Collectors also routinely extorted money from people, and so the term “Tax collector and sinners” was meant to be a term related to those violating the Law of Moses. Where the Pharisees erred was in mercy in seeing them as hopeless causes and not as their neighbors needing their prayer and help.
They basically complain or grumble (see 5:30; 19:7), just like Israel’s wilderness generation who grumbled against God and Moses (Exod 15:24; 16:7).
Jesus defends his outreach to sinners with a parable—probably referring to all three “lost and found” parables in Luke 15. The lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son correspond to the tax collectors and sinners. The man with the sheep, the woman with the coins, and the father with the two sons are used to describe how God reaches out to such sinners through Jesus’ ministry. Besides the image of finding something or someone lost (15:4, 8, 24, 32), what unites the three parables is the resulting joy (15:5–7, 9–10, 22–24, 32).[2]
One aspect of the parable of the lost sheep is that it sets up a situation so common that normally no attention would be paid to it. A sheep wandering off from the flock was such a common occurrence in the daily life of a shepherd. It is quite a disproportionate response to celebrate the return of one such loss. It is also a common occurrence in life for us to also to wander off from the community that sustains us.
St Gregory the Great’s comments:
“He put the sheep on his shoulders because, on taking on human nature, he burdened himself with our sins”[3]
The following parable of the lost coin is also a common occurrence. The silver coin was a drachma, the value of a denarius, and approximately the value of a day’s work for an agricultural worker.[4] Again, a seeming overaction to run to the neighbors to rejoice about finding it.
Another aspect of the second parable is one John Bergsma brings up:
Someone else is rejoicing in front of the angels. Who is that? God himself. But in keeping with Jewish piety, Jesus uses circumlocutions to speak of the divine rejoicing.[5]
Now we come to what is commonly called the Parable of the Prodigal Son, and there has been plenty of homilies and commentaries and why the common title might not be the best. As Brant Pitre references, “whatever you call the parable has an effect on the way you interpret it because it puts a certain emphasis somewhere.”[6] This is true, and what you read can be narrowed by the interpretive lens you use. Others have come up with titles that emphasize the merciful father or the two sons. Brant Pitre proposes “The Parable of the Lost Son” because it is the last of three parables emphasizing this point, and the language of lost is used in the parable itself. I like the both/and approach here in that all of these titles accurately emphasize parts of this complex parable.
First off, looking at the issue of inheritance, Rev. Pablo T. Gadenz, in his commentary, writes:
An inheritance was typically distributed after death (Num 27:8–11), but it was possible, though not advised, to do so while a person was still alive (Sir 33:20–24). However, the younger son takes the initiative here with his demand: give me my share. For him, the father might as well be dead. Under no obligation and despite the shame incurred, the father nonetheless complies out of respect for the younger son’s free decision. Since the firstborn son would receive a double portion (Deut 21:17), the younger son apparently received a third of the property. The remaining two-thirds is destined for the older son, so the father does not exaggerate when he later says, “Everything I have is yours” (Luke 15:31).[2]
The son was willing to sunder his relationship with his father and go off to a far country and live a life of the flesh. To show no concern for his relationships with his family and to be like the Epicureans, who argued that pleasure was the chief good in life. A version of YOLO, ’You Only Live Once.“ As we would expect, this did not go well for him to live a life of dissipation. When he hits rock bottom, He decides that he will arise and return to the father. The repeating of arise or ”get up“ is ”one of the verbs used for Jesus’ resurrection (18:33; 24:7, 46). Thus, by his repentance, the “dead” son is already coming “to life again” (15:24, 32).”[2] He sees the effects of his sin as exile and that it is leading him into despair. He has descended to live as a beast, even envying the very food he feeds the pigs.
This son’s motive to return to the father is still quite imperfect. He was motivated primarily to place himself in a better position as he realized his previous circumstances were materially better. On his way, he is practicing his speech in how he would be able to reconcile with his father. Still, sin has taught him some humility as he is not just blaming the famine for being brought low. Willing to work as a hired worker without any entitlement.
That he had been in a far-off country was no deterrent to his father, who still saw him when he was a long way off. He allows his son to start his apology but quickly moves into celebration mode. He knows his son is not perfectly contrite, but just like with us, the Father takes any movement towards contrition and will give us the grace to make that deeper. Just as in confession, sorrow for sin, even on the level of the fear of hell, is enough to be forgiven. The father’s reaction seems to be overblown, yet this is the level of mercy with which we are all treated. In the wiping away of sin, we also come to life again.
The father’s gifts have many interpretations, and this is a sampling from the Church Fathers.
(St. Ambrose, Archbishop of Milan, A.D. 374) He rightly returns to himself, because he departed from himself. For he who returns to God restores himself to himself, and he who departs from Christ rejects himself from himself.
(St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, A.D. 396). (de Quæst. Ev. l. ii. q. 33.) Or the best robe is the dignity which Adam lost; the servants who bring it are the preachers of reconciliation.
(ut sup.) Or the ring on the hand is a pledge of the Holy Spirit, because of the participation of grace, which is well signified by the finger.
(St. Ambrose, Archbishop of Milan, A.D. 374). Or the robe is the cloke of wisdom, by which the Apostle covers the nakedness of the body. But he received the best wisdom; for there is one wisdom which knew not the mystery. The ring is the seal of our unfeigned faith, and the impression of truth; concerning which it follows, And put a ring on his hand.
If the parable had ended here, it would have already seemed complete and not as challenging. Jesus then tells of the older son working in the field and hears the celebration. Instead of the joy of seeing his younger brother again, he is filled with envy thinking he was being treated unjustly. He is not willing to acknowledge any relationship with his lost brother. He has followed all the rules and been obedient. Perhaps rather sterile obedience to follow the rules because that was what was expected and not one out of love. Possibly jealousy of the previous lifestyle of his brother.
The father reassures him that everything he has is also his. The parable ends, and we are left wondering about the elder son’s reaction to this. This ties it back to how Jesus was replying to the Pharisees and scribes with the themed parables. How to view this was left to the original audience and for us. It was meant as a challenge when we are also small-hearted and can only see someone’s previous sins. When we are proud of the rules, we keep and have a similar merciless attitude towards others.
At what level do we adopt the father’s generosity?
From John Bergsma’s commentary:
Living in the “new creation” of Christ means operating by the father’s “logic” of love, forgiveness, and familial communion, both in our relationship to God and our relationships with others, both with those who seek reconciliation with us (the younger son) and with those who do not want reconciliation (the older son).[7]
This parable on a meta-level involves a history of the Tribes of Israel where the younger son is the northern kingdom which had split off and quickly started to worship other gods. “The “older son” is Judah (the oldest patriarch not cursed by his father Jacob), the head of the southern kingdom of Judah, which to external appearances was more faithful to the LORD and still lived in the land of Judea, surrounding Jerusalem and the Temple (the “house of the Father”). [7]” The Church Fathers would go on to interpret the younger son as the gentiles, and the oldest as Israel—an interpretive scheme fitting other parables Jesus taught.
If we tie up the parables together, one of the themes we see is the proactive approach to finding those who are lost. The shepherd does not wait for the lost sheep to return, he goes out to find it. The woman does not just wait for the lost coin to hopefully show up later, she actively searches her house. The father does not just write off the lost son. He is actively waiting and hoping for his return. He sees his son returning while he is still a long way off. He has prepared himself for his return by not dwelling on the actual injustice in the way he was treated by him. He receives him with mercy because his heart is already filled with love for him. Instead of a stiff rebuke, he also him refreshments. We can gripe about what is lost, or we can actively work to resolve the situation. St. Monica knew this and followed her son around the ancient world and prayed for him instead of staying home and griping about what an undutiful son he was.
The last parable wraps us telling about the older brother’s reaction.
Others of us at Mass are the older brother. We think we are good, not in need of forgiveness, and God owes us something. We resent riff-raff hanging around, and in particular, we don’t want them in our churches or other places where we hang out. We older brothers have no joy in our lives because we really aren’t motivated by love, and we don’t understand the God of love and joy. We need conversion as much as the younger son. We need to recognize “younger sons” as siblings, as family members, and share God’s joy at their repentance and reconciliation. God is not a businessman, rewarding service in a tit-for-tat or quid pro quo manner. God is a father, who wants all his children to share his love and joy.[5]
Prominently these parables show us that Jesus is not satisfied with only the general salvation of souls. It is not a numbers game with him where he is satisfied by some arbitrary number of those saved. That there is an intense love for each and every one of us. If we let him, we can see the view from his shoulder as he carries us home.
As Peter Kreeft comments:
The Church is a family, and a very large family at that. Yet no matter how many good sheep are safe at home in the family, if there is just one lost sheep, ninety-nine saved is too few for the good shepherd and just one lost sheep is too many. Mother Teresa was asked why she didn’t take grants from governments and institutions for her work, and she replied that her work was to do what Jesus did, and Jesus always did his work “one person at a time.”[8]
Lastly, from the Catechism:
§1439 _The process of conversion and repentance_ was described by Jesus in the parable of the prodigal son, the center of which is the merciful father: the fascination of illusory freedom, the abandonment of the father’s house; the extreme misery in which the son finds himself after squandering his fortune; his deep humiliation at finding himself obliged to feed swine, and still worse, at wanting to feed on the husks the pigs ate; his reflection on all he has lost; his repentance and decision to declare himself guilty before his father; the journey back; the father’s generous welcome; the father’s joy—all these are characteristic of the process of conversion. The beautiful robe, the ring, and the festive banquet are symbols of that new life—pure, worthy, and joyful—of anyone who returns to God and to the bosom of his family, which is the Church. Only the heart of Christ who knows the depths of his Father’s love could reveal to us the abyss of his mercy in so simple and beautiful a way.
Sources
- Catholic Productions, Commentaries by Brant Pitre
- The Gospel of Luke, Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture, Rev. Pablo T. Gadenz
- Navarre, Saint Luke’s Gospel (2005)
- The Word of the Lord: Reflections on the Sunday Mass Readings for Year C – John Bergsma
- Peter Kreeft, Food for the Soul: Reflections on the Mass Readings Year C
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd Edition
- Photo by Ben White on Unsplash
- Catholic Productions, Brant Pitre, The Twenty-fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year C) ↩
- The Gospel of Luke, Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture, Rev. Pablo T. Gadenz ↩
- In Evangelia homiliae, 2, 14 ↩
- Navarre, Saint Luke’s Gospel (2005) ↩
- The Word of the Lord: Reflections on the Sunday Mass Readings for Year C, John Bergsma, The Twenty-fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time ↩
- Catholic Productions, Brant Pitre, The Fourth Sunday of Lent (Year C) ↩
- The Word of the Lord: Reflections on the Sunday Mass Readings for Year C, John Bergsma, The Fourth Sunday of Lent ↩
- Peter Kreeft, Food for the Soul: Reflections on the Mass Readings Year C, The Twenty-fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time ↩
