Tell me, O Pharisee, why do you grumble because Christ did not scorn to be with publicans and sinners, but purposely provided for them this means of salvation? To save people, he yielded himself to emptiness, became like us, and clothed himself in human poverty.

St. Luke did not idly present three parables in a row. By the parables of the sheep that strayed and was found, the coin which was lost and was found, and the son who was dead and came to life,^[1] we may cure our wounds, being encouraged by a threefold remedy. A threefold cord will not be broken.^[2] Who are the father,^[3] the shepherd and the woman? They are God the Father, Christ and the church. Christ carries you on his body, he who took your sins on himself. The church seeks, and the Father receives. The shepherd carries. The mother searches. The father clothes.^[4] First mercy comes, then intercession, and third reconciliation. Each complements the other. The Savior rescues, the church intercedes, and the Creator reconciles. The mercy of the divine act is the same, but the grace differs according to our merits. The weary sheep is recalled by the shepherd, the coin which was lost is found, the son retraces his steps to his father and returns, guilty of error but totally repentant.^[5]

There is a breadth of patience in our Lord’s parables, the patience of the shepherd that makes him seek and find the straying sheep. Impatience would readily take no account of a single sheep, but patience undertakes the wearisome search. He carries it on his shoulders as a patient bearer of a forsaken sinner. In the case of the prodigal son, it is the patience of his father that welcomes, clothes, feeds and finds an excuse for him in the face of the impatience of his angry brother. The one who perished is rescued, because he embraced repentance. Repentance is not wasted because it meets up with patience!

Let us rejoice that the sheep that had strayed in Adam is lifted on Christ. The shoulders of Christ are the arms of the cross. There, I laid down my sins. I rested on the neck of that noble yoke. The sheep is one in kind, not in appearance, because we are all one body^[1] but many members. It is written, You are the body of Christ, and members individually.^[2] The Son of man came to seek and save what was lost.^[3] He sought all, because as in Adam all men die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.^[4]

When one ailing sheep lags behind the others

And loses itself in the sylvan mazes,

Tearing its white fleece on the thorns and briers,

Sharp in the brambles,

Unwearied the Shepherd, that lost one seeking,

Drives away the wolves and on his strong shoulders

Brings it home again to the fold’s safekeeping,

Healed and unsullied.

He brings it back to the green fields and meadows,^[1]

Where no thorn bush waves with its cruel prickles,

Where no shaggy thistle arms trembling branches

With its tough briars.

But where palm trees grow in the open woodland,

Where the lush grass bends its green leaves, and laurels

Shade the glassy streamlet of living water

Ceaselessly flowing. HYMN ^[1]

Leaving those that have not strayed, the good Shepherd seeks you. If you will surrender yourself, he will not hold back. In his kindness, he will lift you up on his shoulders, rejoicing that he has found his sheep that was lost. The Father stands and awaits your return from your wandering. Only turn to him, and while you are still afar off, he will run and embrace your neck. With loving embraces, he will enfold you, now cleansed by your repentance. . . . He says, Truly I say to you that there is joy in heaven before God over one sinner who repents. If any one of those who seem to stand will bring a charge that you have been quickly received, the good Father himself will answer for you. He will say, It is fitting that we should celebrate and be glad, for this my daughter was dead and is come to life again. She was lost and is found.

The price of the soul is faith. Faith is the lost drachma that the woman in the Gospel seeks diligently. We read that she lit a candle and swept her house. After finding it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, inviting them to rejoice with her because she has found the drachma that she had lost. The damage to the soul is great if one has lost the faith or the grace that he has gained for himself at the price of faith. Light your lamp. Your lamp is your eye,^[1] that is, the interior eye of the soul. Light the lamp that feeds on the oil of the spirit and shines throughout your whole house. Search for the drachma, the redemption of your soul. If a person loses this, he is troubled, and if he finds it, he rejoices.

This second parable compares what was lost to a drachma. It is as one out of ten, a perfect number and of a sum complete in the accounting. The number ten also is perfect, being the close of the series from the unit upwards. This parable clearly shows that we are in the royal likeness and image, even that of God over all. I suppose the drachma is the denarius on which is stamped the royal likeness. We, who had fallen and had been lost, have been found by Christ and transformed by holiness and righteousness into his image. . . .

A search was made for that which had fallen, so the woman lighted a lamp. . . . By the light, what was lost is saved, and there is joy for the powers above. They rejoice even in one sinner that repents, as he who knows all things has taught us. They keep a festival over one who is saved, united with the divine purpose, and never cease to praise the Savior’s gentleness. What great joy must fill them when all beneath heaven is saved and Christ calls them by faith to acknowledge the truth? They put off the pollution of sin and freed their necks from the bonds of death. They have escaped from the blame of their wandering and fall! We gain all these things in Christ.

The shepherd is rich. We are his hundredth portion. He has innumerable flocks of angels, of archangels, of dominions, of powers, of thrones,^[1] of the others whom he left on the mountains. Since these are rational, they fittingly rejoice in the salvation of people. Although this also may be of benefit as an incentive to honesty, if each believes that his conversion would be pleasing to the hosts of angels, whose protection is to be sought and whose displeasure feared. Be a source of joy to the angels. May they rejoice in your return.

The woman did not idly rejoice to find her coin. The coin, having the image of the emperor, is not ordinary.^[1] The image of the King is the register of the church. We are sheep. Let us pray that he would be pleased to place us beside the water of rest.^[2] We are sheep. Let us seek pastures. We are coins. Let us have a price. We are sons. Let us hurry to the Father.^[3] Let us not fear because we have squandered the inheritance of spiritual dignity that we received on earthly pleasures.^[4] Since the Father conferred on the Son the treasure that he had, the wealth of faith is never made void.^[5] Although he has given all, he possesses all and does not lose what he has bestowed. Do not fear that perhaps he will not receive you, for the Lord has no pleasure in the destruction of the living.^[6] Already meeting you on the way, he falls on your neck, for the Lord sets the fallen right.^[7] He will give you a kiss, that is, the pledge of piety and love. He will order the robe, ring and the shoes to be brought.^[8] You still dread harshness, but he has restored dignity. You are terrified of punishment, but he offers a kiss. You fear reproach, but he prepares a banquet.^[9] Let us now discuss the actual parable.

What is the object of the parable? Let us examine the occasion that led to it so we will learn the truth. The blessed Luke had said a little before of Christ the Savior of us all. . . . The Pharisees and scribes made this outcry at his gentleness and love to people. They wickedly and impiously blamed him for receiving and teaching people whose lives were impure. Christ very necessarily set before them the present parable. He clearly shows them that the God of all requires even him who is thoroughly steadfast, firm, holy, and has attained to the highest praise for sobriety of conduct to be earnest in following his will. When any are called to repentance, even if they have a bad reputation, he must rejoice rather and not give way to an unloving irritation because of them.

It is the opinion of some that the two sons signify the holy angels and us earth dwellers. The elder one, who lived soberly, represents the company of the holy angels, while the younger and prodigal son is the human race. Some among us give it a different explanation, arguing that the older and well-behaved son signifies Israel after the flesh. The other son, who chose to live in the lust of pleasures and moved far away from his father, depicts the company of the Gentiles.

He had two sons, that is, two peoples, the Jews and the Gentiles. Prudent knowledge of the law made the Jewish people his older son, and the folly of paganism made the Gentile world his younger son. Just as surely as wisdom brings distinguished gray hairs, so does foolishness take away the traits of an adult. Morals and not age made the Gentiles the younger son. Not years but understanding of the law made the Jews the older son.

He divided his means between them. The son is as impatient as the father was kind. He is weary of his father’s own life. Since he cannot shorten his father’s life, he works to get possession of his property. He was not content to possess his father’s wealth in company with his father, and he deserved to lose the privileges of a son.

Let us make some inquiries. What reason brought the son to such actions? What bold prospect raised his spirits to make so startling a request? What reason did he have? Clearly the Father in heaven cannot be bounded by any limit, or shut in by any time, or destroyed by any power of death. The son could not await his father’s death to get his wealth, so he conceived the desire to get his pleasure from the generosity of his father while he was still alive. The father’s bounty proved that the insult lay in his request.

You see that the divine inheritance is given to those who ask. You should not think that the Father was guilty because he gave to the younger son. There is no frail age in the kingdom of God nor is faith weighed down by years. He who made the request surely judged himself worthy. If only he had not departed from his Father, he would not have known the hindrance of age. After he went abroad, he who departed from the church squandered his inheritance. After, it says, leaving his home and country, he went abroad into a distant country. What is farther away than to depart from oneself, and not from a place?. . . Surely whoever separates himself from Christ is an exile from his country, a citizen of the world. We are not strangers and pilgrims, but we are fellow citizens of the saints and of the household of God,^[1] for we who were far away have come near in the blood of Christ.^[2] Let us not look down on those who return from a distant land, because we were also in a distant land, as Isaiah teaches. To them that dwelled in the region of the shadow of death, light has risen.^[3] There is a distant region of the shadow of death, but we, for whom the Spirit before our face is Christ the Lord,^[4] live in the shadow of Christ. The church therefore says, Under his shadow I desired and sat down.^[5]

That younger son in your Gospel did not help himself with horses, or chariots, or ships, or fly away on visible wings or journey by walking. Through prodigal living in a distant region, he wasted what you, a kind father, had given him as he set out. You were kind in making him this gift, yet kinder still to him when he returned in need. To be in the realm of lustful passion is the same as to be in the realm of darkness, and that is the same as to be far away from your face.

A mighty famine came there in that country. It was not a famine of fasts but of good works and virtues. What hunger is more wretched? Certainly whoever departs from the Word of God hungers, because man lives not by bread alone but by every word of God.^[1] Whoever leaves treasure lacks. Whoever departs from wisdom is stupefied. Whoever departs from virtue is destroyed. It was fitting that he begin to be in need, because he abandoned the treasures of wisdom and the knowledge of God^[2] and the depths of heavenly riches. He began to want and to suffer starvation, because nothing is enough for prodigal enjoyment. He who does not know how to be filled with eternal nourishment always suffers starvation.

He went and attached himself to one of the citizens. Whoever attaches himself is in a snare. That citizen is the prince of this world.^[1] He is sent to the farm bought by the man who excused himself from the kingdom.^[2] He feeds the swine, those into which the devil sought to enter, those he cast into the sea of the world as they lived in filth and foulness.^[3]

He went and joined one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his farm to feed swine. This is the experience that comes to one who refuses to trust himself to his father but delivers himself to a stranger. He flees from a most generous provider and endures a severe judge. A deserter from affection, a refugee from fatherly love, he is assigned to the swine, sentenced to them, and given over to their service. He wallows in their muddy fodder. The rush of the restless herd bruises and soils him so he perceives how wretched and bitter it is to have lost the happiness of peaceful life in his father’s house.

There are those who interpret the swine as being the flocks of demons, the husks as the lack of virtue of worthless people and the boastful words of those who cannot do good. By the empty allure of philosophy and the noisy applause for eloquence,^[1] they show ostentation rather than any usefulness. These cannot be lasting pleasures.

It was the same with the younger son who squandered his property and wasted his father’s property living among prostitutes. Despite all this, he did not lose his honorable title of son. In the land of captivity, having rejected his father, he rather remembered, How many hired servants are at this moment in my father’s house who have more than enough bread, but here am I perishing from hunger. He was still a sinner. He had sinned to such an extent that he had thrown to the winds with his misdeeds the entire inheritance he had received from his father. He still called God his father. This indicates that the grace of the Spirit, which authorizes him to call God Father, did not depart from him.

We are unable to employ this term of address and call God Father, except through the authority of the Holy Spirit who is within us. It is well known that those who have not yet become God’s children by the holy rebirth of baptism are not authorized to use this term. They are not permitted to say, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. The apparent reason for this is that the Holy Spirit is not yet within them to give them this authorization. It is well known to all that, when they approach the holy mysteries, the newly baptized all repeat this prayer with confidence in accordance with the tradition handed down by our Lord, and then they proceed to the holy mysteries.

Jacob led out his sheep

And brought them to his father’s home;

A symbol for those with discernment,

A parable for those with perception

Is to be found in this homecoming:

Let us too return to our Father’s house,

My brothers, and do not become

captivated with desire

For this transient earth

—for your true city is in Eden.

Blessed indeed is that person

Who has seen his dear ones in its midst. HYMNS

Father, it says, I have sinned against heaven, and before you. This is the first confession before the Creator of nature, the Patron of mercy, and the Judge of guilt. Although God knows all things,^[1] he awaits the words of your confession. . . . Confess, so that Christ may rather intercede for you, he whom we have as an advocate with the Father.^[2] Confess, so that the church may pray for you and that the people may weep for you. Do not fear that perhaps you might not receive. The advocate promises pardon. The patron offers grace. The defender promises the reconciliation with the Father’s good will to you. Believe because it is the truth.^[3] Consent because it is a virtue. He has a reason to intercede for you, unless he died for you in vain.^[4] The Father also has a reason for forgiveness, because the Father wants what the Son wants.

He now comes back to his Father and cries, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. Every day in its prayer, the church testifies that the younger son has returned to his Father’s house and is calling God his Father. [The church] prays, Our Father, who art in heaven, I have sinned against heaven and before you.

I am no more worthy to be called your son. Cast down, he should not exalt himself that the merit of his humility may raise him. Make me as one of your hired servants. He knows there is a difference between sons, friends, hired servants and slaves. You are a son through baptism, friend through virtue, hired servant through labor, and slave through fear. Friends can even come from slaves and hired servants, as it is written, You are my friends, if you do the things that I command you. I do not now call you servants.^[1]

Christ chooses those who stand. Rise and run to the church. Here is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. He who hears you pondering in the secret places of the mind runs to you. When you are still far away, he sees you and runs to you. He sees in your heart. He runs, perhaps someone may hinder, and he embraces you. His foreknowledge is in the running, his mercy in the embrace and the disposition of fatherly love. He falls on your neck to raise one prostrate and burdened with sins and bring back one turned aside to the earthly toward heaven. Christ falls on your neck to free your neck from the yoke of slavery and hang his sweet yoke upon your shoulders.^[1]

He fell on his neck and kissed him. This is how the father judges and corrects his wayward son and gives him not beatings but kisses. The power of love overlooked the transgressions. The father redeemed the sins of his son by his kiss, and covered them by his embrace, in order not to expose the crimes or humiliate the son. The father so healed the son’s wounds as not to leave a scar or blemish upon him. Blessed are they, says Scripture whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.^[1]

The father runs out from far away. When we were still sinners, Christ died for us.^[1] The Father runs out. He runs out in his Son, when through him he descends from heaven and comes down on earth. With me, the Son says, is he who sent me, the Father.^[2]

He fell upon his neck. He fell, when through Christ the whole divinity came down as ours and rested in human nature. When did he kiss him? When mercy and truth have met each other, justice and peace have kissed.^[3] He gave the best robe, that which Adam lost, the everlasting glory of immortality. He put a ring upon his finger. That is the ring of honor, the title of liberty, the outstanding pledge of the spirit, the seal of the faith, and the dowry of the heavenly marriage. Hear the apostle: I engaged you to one spouse, that I might present you a chaste virgin to Christ.^[4] And sandals on his feet, etc. This is so that his feet might be in shoes when he preached the gospel, for how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace.^[5]

Give him a ring for his finger. The father’s devotion is not content to restore only his innocence. It also brings back his former honor. And give him sandals for his feet. He was rich when he departed, but how poor he has returned! Of all his substance, he does not even bring back shoes on his feet! Give him sandals for his feet that nakedness may not disgrace even a foot and that he may have shoes when he returns to his former course of life.

Then he shall get up, come to his father, and confess to him, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me like one of your hired servants.

When he confesses like that, he will be considered worthy of more than that for which he prayed. His father neither takes him in like a hired servant nor treats him like a stranger. Oh no, he kisses him as a son. He accepts him as a dead man come back to life again. He counts him worthy of the divine feast and gives him the precious garment he once wore.

Now there is singing and joy in the father’s home. What happened is the result of the Father’s grace and loving kindness. Not only does he bring his son back from death, but also through the Spirit he clearly shows his grace. To replace corruption, he clothes him with an incorruptible robe. To satisfy hunger, he kills the fatted calf. The Father provides shoes for his feet so that he will not travel far away again. Most wonderful of all, he puts a divine signet ring upon his hand. By all these things, he begets him anew in the image of the glory of Christ.

And he killed for him the fattened calf. About that David sang: And it shall please God better than a young calf, that brings forth horns and hoofs.^[1] The calf was slain at this command of the Father, because the Christ, God as the Son of God, could not be slain without the command of his Father. Listen to the apostle: He who has not spared even his own son but has delivered him for us all.^[2] He is the calf who is daily and continually immolated for our food.

According to Luke, having a priestly character, the Gospel began with the priest Zechariah offering incense to God. The fatted calf was already being prepared which was to be sacrificed for the finding of the younger son.

The Father rejoices because my son was dead and has come to life again. He was lost and is found. He who was, is lost. He, who was not, cannot be lost. The Gentiles are not, the Christian is, according as it is written above that, God has chosen things that are not, that he might bring to nothing things that are.^[1] It is also possible to understand here the likeness of the human race in one man. Adam was, and we were all in him. Adam was lost, and all were lost in him.^[2]

If anyone says that the virtuous and sober son signifies Israel according to the flesh, we cannot agree to this opinion. In no way is it fitting to say that Israel chose a blameless life. Throughout the whole inspired Scripture, we see them accused of being rebels and disobedient. . . .

I think it is right to mention this also. Some refer to the person of our Savior as that fatted calf that the father killed when his son was called to conversion. . . . If any one imagines that the virtuous and sober son means the physical Israel, how can Israel honestly say that he never gave him a kid? Whether we call it calf or kid, Christ is to be understood as the sacrifice offered for sin. He was not sacrificed only for the Gentiles but also that he might redeem Israel, who by reason of his frequent transgression of the law had brought great blame on himself. The wise Paul bears witness to this, saying, For this reason Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people by his blood, suffered outside the gate.^[1]

The older brother, the older son coming from the field, the people of the law, hears the music and dancing in the Father’s house, yet he does not want to enter. The harvest indeed is abundant, but the laborers are few.^[1] Every day we see this same thing happen with our own eyes. The Jewish people comes to its Father’s house, the church. It stands outside because of its jealousy. It hears the harp of David echoing, and the music from the singing of the psalms, and the dancing carried on by so many assembled races. It does not wish to enter. Through jealousy, it remains outside. In horror, it judges its Gentile brother by its own ancient customs, and meanwhile, it is depriving itself of its Father’s goods and excluding itself from his joys.

The Father steps outside and says to his son, Son, you are always with me. How is he with his son? In the person of Abel, Enoch, Shem, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and all the holy men from which stems Christ’s Jewish lineage read in the Gospel when it says, Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, and so on.^[1]

All that is mine is yours. How is this? The law, prophecy, temple, priesthood, sacrifices, kingdom, and the gifts are for you. This is the greatest gift of all: Christ was born. Since you through your jealousy wish to destroy your brother, you are no longer worthy to possess your Father’s banquets and joys.