Luke 15: 11 32 The Lost Son, The Forgiving Father
Target year level: Year Two
Scripture text
Luke 15:11-32
11 Then Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.’ So he divided his property between them. 13 A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and travelled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. 14 When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. 16 He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. 17 But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! 18 I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.”’ 20 So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. 21 Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; 24 for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate.
25 “Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. 27 He replied, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.’ 28 Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!’ 31 Then the father said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.’”
New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition
Introduction
Although the story is traditionally referred to as "The Prodigal Son", this title is not found in the gospel, and many commentators have argued that it would be better called "The Lost Son", showing its parallels to the parables of the "Lost Sheep" and "Lost Coin" which immediately precede it in Luke 15: in all three the theme is the concern of God for the repenting sinner rather than the unfailingly righteous. Indeed, many people with no other exposure to the word prodigal mistakenly believe it means lost: it actually means extravagant. Others have argued that the parable might be better called the story of "The Two Sons", to emphasise the role of the elder son, and the lesson against envy and narrow-mindedness that it contains.
From the first consent of the father to the launching of an elaborate party in the end, this story contains many twists and turns all of which make the point that God's love overcomes the reckless, despairing wanderings of his children. In the end love conquers all, a theme Dante will use in his Divine Comedy.
The story is one of several very well-known parables of Jesus that are only found in Luke's gospel, and like the others, it expresses Luke's distinctive theology of the unconditional love and grace of God. The forgiveness of the son is not conditional on good works, since he has plainly done nothing good from start to finish of the story, nor even on any expression of remorse of his sins, because the story does not report that the Prodigal expresses any. However, most Christian theologians would argue that Jesus was not suggesting that repentance is unnecessary, because remorse for misdeeds is only one part of repentance. The correct understanding of the term as it is used in the New Testament (and, indeed, in the Hebrew Bible) is a change in the direction of one's life—which the Prodigal Son literally demonstrates.
The Eastern Orthodox Church traditionally reads this story on the Sunday of the Prodigal Son, which in their liturgical year is the Sunday before Meatfare Sunday and about two weeks before the beginning of Great Lent. One common kontakion hymn of the occasion reads,
I have recklessly forgotten Your glory, O Father;
And among sinners I have scattered the riches which You gave to me.
And now I cry to You as the Prodigal:
I have sinned before You, O merciful Father;
Receive me as a penitent and make me as one of Your hired servants.
World behind the text
In his Rabbinic Commentary on the New Testament, Samuel Lachs offers the possibility about a Jewish version of this parable:
The Parable of the Prodigal Son, or the Two Sons, most likely goes back to Jewish sources, but no exact parallel survives. Some parallel phrases have been traced to Ahikar and some of the ideas to Philo. More cogent proof is the fact that in a Genizah fragment the Gason R. Aha quotes Sanh. 99a, not extant in toto in our texts, in which R. Abbahu cites a parable of "a king with two sons, one who went in the proper way, the other who went out to 'evil culture." Abrahams comments, "This looks like a reminiscence of Luke's Parable, and it may have been removed from the Talmud text by scribes more cognizant than Abbahu was of the source of the story."
This story is really about Luke's perception of the relation between gentiles and Jews in the household of God. It is Luke's description of the church as being willing to accept both the older brother, the faithful brother, the Jews, alongside of the prodigal son, the gentiles, who had lived a terrible life away from the father for so long but now in the church are being welcomed back with open arms. Luke's vision is of a unified humanity in the church that brings all of God's children back together.
World of the text
Though the parable of the Lost Son is much more detailed, the climax of its first half is the same as the two parables that precede it in Ch 15 [the lost sheep, and the lost coin]. The son was genuinely prodigal: emigrating to a "far country," a Gentile land, he wasted his assets in loose living, ignoring the moral claim which his father still had on his property. When he had exhausted his resources, instead of seeking charity at a Diaspora synagogue, he worked for a Gentile, rendering impossible the observance of such Jewish ordinances as the Sabbath. Not only did he become a despised herdsman, but a swineherd. He lived in gross impurity and had become, according to the standards of the quest for holiness, a non-Jew, and his father's statement, "This my son was dead," was correct in an important sense: his son had ceased to be a Jew.
Nevertheless, when the son returned, what did the father do? Like the shepherd (Lost Sheep) and the woman (Lost Coin), he celebrated his return and, significantly, arranged for a festive banquet. As responses to the protests of his opponents, these parables were both a defence of Jesus' behaviour and an invitation to his opponents to join in the celebration. Jesus defended his table fellowship as festive celebrations of the return of the outcasts (who were also children of Abraham). The defence, however, was also an invitation to his opponents, as suggested by the parabolic form.
Unlike a straightforward defence or indictment, the parables of Jesus frequently functioned to lead people to see things differently by inviting them to make a judgment about an everyday situation and then to transfer that judgment to the situation at hand. The parables sought to bridge the gap between speaker and hearer, frequently accomplishing this by being cast in the form of a question, explicitly or implicitly: what will a shepherd do when he finds a lost sheep? Will he not celebrate? By appealing to the normal reactions of ordinary human beings when they recover something of value (whether a sheep, a coin, or a child), Jesus implicitly asks his hearers, "Do you not see that it makes sense to celebrate?"
The invitation became explicit in the second half of the parable. Just as the lost son in the first half of the parable has a historical equivalent (the outcasts who had become as non-Jews), so the elder son in the second half has his equivalent: he represents the protesters. Like them, he has been dutiful, consistently obeying his father's commands; like them, he was outraged by the acceptance of the younger son.
The words spoken to the elder son were implicitly directed to Jesus' opponents. They repeat, gently and imploringly, the justification for the festive celebration: "Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to make merry and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost and is found." As the climax to a spoken parable in a setting of actual controversy over table fellowship, the final words hang in the air trailing an unexpressed question. Will the elder son join the festivity? Or will he let his own standard of proper behaviour prevent him from joining the celebration? Will the protesters' commitment to the quest for holiness make them adamant that outcasts such as these cannot be part of the people of God? For them to have accepted the invitation would have required a seismic change in their understanding of what the people of God were intended to be, a radical reorientation of both their perception and their animating vision, one that would fundamentally transform their social world.
Lost and Found, Rejoice and Celebrate
These four words best describe the fundamental theme of the three parables found in Luke 15: the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, and the Lost Son. Some points to note about the links between these three stories and in regard to the Lost Son in particular:
- All three parables end with similar statements:
- Verse 7: I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.
- Verse 10: In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.
- Verse 32: But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.
- The audience for all three parables are tax collectors and sinners. Thus, the stories offer comfort, especially in the face of the Pharisees and scribes' grumbling that Jesus welcomes sinners and eats with them (compare 5:30, 37; 7:34, 39). The fact that tax collectors and sinners listen to Jesus while the leadership does not is a cultural reversal of expectation.
The Lost Sheep:
The Lost Coin:
- This parable parallels the first but the search is a little more extensive. Disciples should diligently engage in the search for sinners on behalf of the Master they serve. Jesus provides a clear example for us to follow. Finding lost "sheep" and missing "coins" is a disciple's priority. Jesus involved himself with sinners; so should disciples.
The Lost Son
- Because of the basic nature of parent-child relationships, as well as sibling rivalry, the story has a human poignancy that makes it one of the most touching of all of Jesus' parables. The major issue is repentance before God and God's willingness to forgive. The parable is Jesus' final defence of the offer of good news in the face of official criticism of his association with sinners.
- In this parable the father breaks with accepted cultural codes by initiating the reconciliation with his son.
- In Jewish thinking a father should not divide the estate too early. Sirach 33:19-23 begins, "To son or wife, to brother or friend, give no power over yourself while you live; and give not your goods to another so as to ask for them again." Nevertheless, in this parable the father grants the son's request.
- The note of joy about the son's return is crucial in the passage, as is the father's restoration of sonship privileges. The son has come from destitution to complete restoration. That is what God's grace does for a penitent sinner.
- The parable has two major points. First, repentance means an absolute reversal of status. The lost son has become a family member again. The father's acceptance of the penitent son is total. This is God's grace. This is why God pursues sinners. Second, others should have joy when the penitent returns. Reconciliation involves not only God and the individual but also the individual and the community.