Other Sunday and Holy Day Readings
24th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (Cycle C)
Readings:
Exodus 32:7-11, 13-14
Psalm 51:1-2, 10-11, 15, 17
1 Timothy 1:12-17
Luke 15:1-32
Abbreviations: NJB (New Jerusalem Bible), IBHE (Interlinear Bible Hebrew-English), NABRE (New American Bible Revised St. Joseph Edition), IBGE (Interlinear Bible Greek-English), or LXX (Greek Septuagint Old Testament translation). CCC designates a citation from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The word LORD or GOD rendered in all capital letters is, in the Hebrew text, God's Divine Name YHWH (Yahweh).
God reveals His divine plan for humanity in the two Testaments, which is why we read and relive the events of salvation history contained in the Old and New Testaments in the Church's Liturgy. The Catechism teaches that the Liturgy reveals the unfolding mystery of God's plan as we read the Old Testament in light of the New and the New Testament in light of the Old (CCC 1094-1095).
The Theme of the Readings: Forgiveness for Sinners
Today's Bible readings address God's mercy in response to
our willingness to confess our sins as a condition for restoring our broken
relationship with Him. In the First Reading, the Israelites had committed a
great offense against God by creating the image of a golden calf as the focus
of their worship (Ex 32). When God threatened them with destruction, Moses interceded
on their behalf, begging the Lord to accept their repentance and forgive them. God
granted Moses's petition to spare the Israelites, not because of their merit
but because of the plea for mercy from His covenant mediator and the earlier promises
to the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In his role as the covenant
mediator, Moses's intercession foreshadowed the New Covenant mediator, Jesus
Christ, who prayed on the altar of the Cross for sinners (Lk 23:34) and is
still praying for us in the heavenly Sanctuary: Therefore, he is always able to save those who approach God
through him, since he lives forever to make intercession for them (Heb 7:25
NJB).
Psalm 51, in today's Responsorial Psalm, is the most famous of the seven Penitential Psalms, offering prayer to remove the personal, social, and spiritual disorders resulting from sin. Psalm 51 is a fulfillment of Psalm 50:14-15 in which God promised His people: Offer praise as your sacrifice to God; fulfill your vows to the Most High. Then call on me in time of distress; I will rescue you, and you shall honor me.
In the Second Reading, using his life as an example, St. Paul assured St. Timothy that God could make good use of every life to advance His Kingdom. Paul referred to himself as a sinner who was forgiven his many sins, including the persecution of Christians, through the saving work of God the Son. Despite past sins, God can save us when we seek His mercy and forgiveness and humbly submit our lives to Him.
In the Gospel Reading, Jesus answered the criticism of the Pharisees, who accused Him of associating with sinners. He told them about mercy, forgiveness, and the patience of God in the three parables of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, and the Lost Son. When a person becomes lost to God through sin, the Lord makes every effort to return that lost one to His covenant family, the Church. And when that one sinner repents and returns to the covenant community, God rejoices in his restoration, for our Lord's desire is that all should come to repentance, salvation, and knowledge of the truth (1 Tim 2:3-4; 2 Peter 3:9).
In human relationships, the refusal to admit wrongdoing and seek forgiveness in a renewal of trust in a relationship becomes a barrier to love and friendship. It creates the same void in our relationship with our heavenly Father. We should begin every day with the opening prayer for this Mass, asking: "Almighty God, our creator and guide, may we serve you will all our heart and know your forgiveness in our lives. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen."
The First Reading Exodus 32:7-11, 13-14 ~ God's Righteous
Anger in the Event of Israel's Sin of the Golden Calf and Moses's Petition for God's
Forgiveness
7 The LORD said to Moses, "Go down at once to your
people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, for they have become
depraved. 8 They have soon turned aside from the way I pointed out to them,
making for themselves a molten calf and worshiping it, sacrificing to it and
crying out, 'This is your God, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of
Egypt!' 9 I see how stiff-necked this people is," continued the LORD to Moses. 10
"Let me alone, then that my wrath may blaze up against them. Then I will make
of you a great nation." 11 But Moses implored the LORD, his God, saying, "Why,
O LORD, should your wrath blaze up against your own people, whom you brought
out of the land of Egypt with such great power and with so strong a hand? [...] 13
Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and how you swore to them by
your own self, saying, 'I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars
in the sky; and all this land that I promised, I will give your descendants as
their perpetual heritage.'" 14 So the LORD relented in the punishment he had
threatened to inflict on his people.
After the ratification of the Sinai Covenant, Moses spent forty days on the summit of Mt. Sinai. There he received the instructions for building God's earthly Sanctuary that was to be a copy of the heavenly Sanctuary, the commands for ordaining a hereditary priesthood, and the instructions for establishing a twice-daily liturgical sacrifice and worship service. At the end of this period, Moses also received the Ten Commandments written on two stone tablets. The tablets contained the same commandments God gave the Israelites in the theophany on Mt. Sinai (Ex 20; 25-31). After many days of Moses's absence, the Israelites began to believe that he was dead and decided to make an image of a Golden Calf to worship as their god who brought them out of slavery in Egypt (Ex 32:1-4). They wanted to offer worship to a god they could see instead of a god who was an invisible presence. In Exodus 32:7 of our reading, God ordered Moses to return to his sinful people. Notice that God does not call them "My (Yahweh's) people" but "your people." The event of the Golden Calf is a violation of the first two of the Ten Commandments (Ex 20:3-7) and the beginning of a breach between God and the Israelites caused by the people's rebellious disobedience.
8 They have soon turned aside from the way I
pointed out to them, making for themselves a molten calf and worshiping it, sacrificing
to it and crying out, 'This is your God, O Israel, who brought you out of the
land of Egypt!'
Some scholars have suggested that the golden image did not
represent Yahweh. Still, the people saw it as the footstool of the unseen God
in the same way the Ark of the Covenant functioned as the visible link between
the Israelites and the Lord, acting as a guide and the point of mediation. However,
this verse seems to refute that interpretation as Yahweh states the Israelites
have worshipped the idol and offered sacrifice to it. God's anger and judgment
on Israel are apparent in His statement.
9 I see how stiff-necked this people is," continued the
LORD to Moses. 10 "Let me alone, then that my wrath may blaze up against them.
Then I will make of you a great nation."
God's reference to "these people" is a repeat of the
Israelite's disrespectful reference to His covenant mediator as "that Moses"
(Ex 32:1) at the beginning of their decision to break the covenantal command not to
make a graven image/idol. In the literal Hebrew translation, God characterized
the Israelites as "stiff-necked," an image of willful disobedience and
obstinacy derived from untrained oxen that resisted the guidance of their
master plowing his field. God is the Master, and He expects His people to be obedient
servants who do not pull against His guiding hand. Behaving like "stiff-necked"
oxen will become one of the recurring images of the prophets in depicting
Israel's stubborn refusal to submit to their Master, Yahweh. See the chart "Symbolic Images of the Old Testament Prophets").
In judging Israel sin as idolatry, God told Moses He would destroy Israel and make
a "great nation" through his descendants (verse 10). God's phrase "great nation"
recalls the divine promise Yahweh made to the Patriarchs
(see Gen 12:2; 18:18; 46:3;
also see CCC 2112-13).
The creation of the Golden Calf idol and the people's decision to worship it was Israel's collective fall from grace. It was a rebellion against the covenant command to make no graven images and not to bow down to an image in worship (Ex 20:4-6; 20:23). God would repeat the command after He forgave the Israelites (see Lev 19:4; Dt 5:8; 27:15). The problem was that Yahweh took Israel out of Egypt, but Egypt remained in the people because the sins of Egypt remained in the thoughts of the people and was reflected in their actions (Ex 14:12; 16:3; Acts 7:39-43). The incident of the Golden Calf was a mortal sin because the idol was created with knowledge of the covenant breach and the intent to worship it. Mortal sin presupposes knowledge of the sinful character of the act in opposition to God's law with deliberate consent (see CCC 1857 and 1859). The violation of the covenant command was equally Aaron's (Israel's high priest) sin and the people's sin. This breach of the covenant remained a barrier between God and His people until the coming of the Redeemer-Messiah (Ex 33:3; Jer 31:31-34).
Exodus 32:11, 13: The Intercessory Prayer of Moses
11 But Moses implored the LORD, his God, saying, "Why, O
LORD, should your wrath blaze up against your own people, whom you brought out
of the land of Egypt with such great power and with so strong a hand? [...] 13 Remember
your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and how you swore to them by your own
self, saying, 'I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the
sky; and all this land that I promised, I will give your descendants as their
perpetual heritage.'"
These verses are the first of three intercessory prayers
Moses will make on behalf of the children of Israel. If God intended to prompt
Moses to remember the covenant promises to the Patriarchs with the phrase
"great nation," Moses's intercessory prayer in this passage proves that the
plan worked. Exodus 32:11-14, together with 34:1-10, comprise the Synagogue
Torah reading at the afternoon worship services on fasting days other than Yom
Kippur (JPS Commentary: Exodus, page 205). Moses's intercessory prayer
and petition to God on Israel's behalf in verses 11-14 mentions four
considerations:
14 So the LORD relented in the punishment he had
threatened to inflict on his people.
God accepted Moses's petition to spare Israel not because of
Israel's merit but because of the plea for mercy from His covenant mediator and
His promises to the Patriarchs. As the covenant mediator, Moses's intercession
foreshadowed the New Covenant mediator, Jesus Christ, who prayed on the altar
of the Cross for sinners (Lk 23:34) and is still praying for us in the heavenly
Sanctuary: Therefore, he is
always able to save those who approach God through him, since he lives forever
to make intercession for them (Heb 7:25 NJB).
God forgave Israel. However, as a corporate covenant people, Israel was still held accountable for its collective transgression (Ex 32:33-34). Then and now, humble confession and willing accountability for sin through penance set the sinner on the path to restoration of fellowship with God (Hosea 6:6; CCC 1422-1424, 1446).
Responsorial Psalm 51:3-4, 12-13, 17, 19 ~ Presenting God
a Contrite Heart
Response: "I will rise and go to my Father."
3 Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness; in the
greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense. 4 Thoroughly wash me from my guilt
and of my sin cleanse me.
Response:
12 A clean heart create for me, O God, and a steadfast
spirit renew within me. 13 Cast me not out from your presence, and your Holy
Spirit take not from me.
Response:
17 O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall proclaim your
praise. 19 My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit; a heart contrite and
humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
Response:
Psalm 51 is the most famous of the seven Penitential Psalms and a prayer for removing personal, social, and spiritual disorders that sin has brought. The psalm is attributed to King David when Nathan the prophet confronted him after his sin with Bathsheba and when David planned the death of her husband (2 Sam 11:1-12:25). Its position in the Book of Psalms is a response to the charges against David in the previous psalm (Ps 50). The entire psalm is a fulfillment of Psalm 50:14-15, in which God says: "Offer praise as your sacrifice to God; fulfill your vows to the Most High. Then call on me in time of distress; I will rescue you, and you shall honor me." Therefore, the two psalms were always recited together in the same penitential service in Temple worship.
The psalmist begins by asking God to take away his sins, followed by the confession that he is a sinner (verses 1-2). In verses 12-13, the psalmist pleads with God to renew and restore him and for God's Spirit to continue with him, giving him access to God's presence. In verses 17 and 19, the psalmist expresses that communion with God will result in his praise of the Lord's mercy with a contrite and humbled heart (verse 17). The psalmist's spirit of humility and contrition is an offering that pleases God.
The Second Reading 1 Timothy 1:12-17 ~ God's Mercy and Forgiveness
12 I am grateful to him who has strengthened me,
Christ Jesus, our Lord, because he considered me trustworthy in appointing me
to the ministry. 13 I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and arrogant, but
I have been mercifully treated because I acted out of ignorance in my unbelief.
14 Indeed, the grace of our Lord has been abundant, along with the faith and
love that are in Christ Jesus. 15 This saying is trustworthy and deserves full
acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Of these I am the
foremost. 16 But for that reason I was mercifully treated, so that is me, as
the foremost, Christ Jesus might display all his patience as an example for
those who would come to believe in him for everlasting life. 17 To the king of
ages, incorruptible, invisible, the only God, honor, and glory forever and
ever. Amen.
St. Paul sent two letters full of fatherly advice to St. Timothy (1 Tim 1:3; 2 Tim 2:17). This passage is from St. Paul's first letter to St. Timothy when Paul placed him in authority as the Pastor of the Christian community at Ephesus in Asia Minor. Paul wrote to him from Rome, where Paul was imprisoned for two years (as the ancients counted) before he was released (c. AD 61-62 or 62-63). As a young man, Timothy joined St. Paul's missionary team in Acts 16:1-3 when Paul recruited him from his hometown of Lystra in Asia Minor. Timothy was the son of a Jewish-Christian woman named Eunice (2 Tim 1:5) and a pagan Greek father (Acts 16:1). He became one of Paul's most faithful companions, accompanying Paul on his second and third missionary journeys (Acts 16:3; 19:22). He mentions Timothy as a co-sender in six of his letters (1 & 2 Thes, 2 Cor, Phil, Phlm, and Col), and in the list of fellow Christians who sent their greetings to the Christians in Rome, Timothy is listed first (Rom 16:21). Paul also sent Timothy as his emissary on several missions (see Acts 19:22; 1 Cor 4:17; 1 Thess 3:2).
In verses 12-14, using his life as an example, Paul assures Timothy that God can make good use of every life to advance His Kingdom. He can do this despite past sins when one seeks God's mercy and forgiveness and submits one's life to the Lord. Paul refers to himself as a sinner who has been forgiven his many sins through Jesus Christ (verse 15). Paul persecuted Christians for the Jewish Sanhedrin, imprisoning men and women and voting in favor of condemning them to death (Acts 8:1-3; 9:2; 22:4; 26:10). He did this out of his arrogance and ignorance (verse 13). The Old Testament acknowledges the difference between sins done in ignorance and those done with the knowledge of evil intent, with only sins of ignorance being capable of atonement before the coming of Christ (Lev 5:18; 22:14; Num 15:22-31). Yet, verse 13 suggests that Paul was still appalled at the extent of his former sins against Christ and His Church. However, Paul believed in the grace of Christ to forgive and wrote: "where sin abounded, grace has abounded all the more" (Rom 5:20, NABRE).
Paul refers to the moment of his conversion as a "strengthening" (verse 1). Spiritually, he was weak until his conversion experience, in which he was "made strong" through the intervention of Christ (Acts 9:1-8; 22:3-16; 26:2-18). Because of Jesus's meritorious death on the Cross, Paul received forgiveness and was grateful for God's abundant grace and mercy (verses 14-16). We must all demonstrate this same gratitude since we are all sinners and have fallen short of the glory of God. And yet we, like St. Paul, have the assurance that we can be made righteous through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, as St. Paul wrote in his letter to the Roman Christians: all have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God. They are justified freely by his grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as an expiation, through faith, by his blood, to prove his righteousness because of the forgiveness of sins previously committed, through the forbearance of God to prove his righteousness in the present time, that he might be righteous and justify the one who has faith in Jesus (Rom 3:23-26). Paul ended this passage to Timothy with an exclamation of praise (doxology) that affirmed his belief in monotheism, offering praise to the one God who is "the king of ages" (also see the same title for God in Tob 13:7 and Sir 36:17). Everlasting life, God's gift to baptized New Covenant believers, is not merely an endless life; it is the very life of the eternal God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The Gospel of Luke 15:1-32 (short version 15:1-10) ~
Three Parables of God's Mercy and Forgiveness
Luke 15:1-7 ~ The Parable of the Lost Sheep
1 The tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to
listen to him, 2 but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying, "This
man welcomes sinners and eats with them." 3 So to them, he addressed this
parable. 4 "What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them would
not leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the lost one until he
finds it? 5 And when he does find it, he sets it on his shoulders with great
joy 6 and upon his arrival home, he calls together his friends and neighbors and
says to them, 'Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.' 7 I tell
you, in just the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who
repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance."
In chapter 15 of St. Luke's Gospel, Jesus gave three parable teachings to the crowds concerning God's patience and mercy in calling sinners to salvation by using common examples of daily life. St. Ambrose wrote: St. Luke did not idly present three parables in a row.... 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 (St. Ambrose, Exposition of the Gospel of Luke, 7.208).
In each parable, Jesus also answered the criticism of the Pharisees who accused Him of associating with sinners. The teaching He gave in response includes the Parables of the Lost Sheep (Lk 15:3-8), the Lost Coin (Lk 15:8-10), and the Lost Son (Lk 15:11-32). Of these three parables, St. Ambrose wrote: 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, we may cure our wounds, being encouraged by a threefold remedy. "A threefold cord will not be broken." Who are the father, 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 forgives. First mercy comes, then intercession, and third reconciliation. Each complements the other. The Savior rescues, the Church intercedes, and the Creator reconciles (Ambrose, Exposition of the Gospel of Luke, 7.207-8).
3 The tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to
listen to him, 2 but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying, "This
man welcomes sinners and eats with them." 3 So to them he addressed this parable.
Verses 1-3 set the stage: Jesus is teaching the crowds of
Jews who have come to hear Him preach and to see Him work miracles. Tax
collectors and other sinners were drawing near to hear Jesus teach. The people
despised the tax collectors who served the Roman authorities and regarded them
in the same class as other sinners. The Pharisees (the most influential
religious party in Judea) and the scribes (the teachers of the Law) were high-status
members of Jewish society. They also considered themselves to be among the
"righteous" and interpreted the Scriptures and the Law very rigidly, often
neglecting to follow the example of God's mercy and justice (Lk 11:39-52). They
criticized Jesus for His interaction with who they considered the ritually
unclean dregs of society. Jews were expected to keep themselves ritually clean
and fit for worship by avoiding anything that might transmit ritual
uncleanness. They saw themselves as "separated" (the meaning of the word "Pharisee")
and, unlike those who were acknowledged as "unclean" sinners not fit to enter
the Temple and offer God sacrifice and worship. The tax collectors and sinners
who were drawing near to hear Jesus and the Pharisees who began to complain are
representative of groups one and two in the Parable of the Great Feast (the
previous parable in Luke 14:15-24), and they are at the center of this
teaching. The Pharisees' complaint in verse 2, "This man welcomes sinners
and eats with them," repeats their challenge to Jesus in Luke 5:30 when
they said, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?"
The Parable of the Lost Sheep makes use of one of the reoccurring symbolic images of the Old Testament prophets, which is domesticated animals (see handout 2 from the study of the Gospel of Luke Lesson 10 or the chart on the Symbolic Images of the Old Testament Prophets). In Old Testament imagery, God is the Shepherd of the flock of His covenant people. One of the best examples of this imagery appears in Ezekiel chapter 34, where God promises to shepherd His people and restore them to Himself: For thus says the Lord GOD [YHWH]: "I myself will look after and tend my sheep. As a shepherd tends his flock when he finds himself among his scattered sheep, so will I tend my sheep. I will rescue them from every place where they were scattered when it was cloudy and dark. I will lead them out from among the peoples and gather them from the foreign lands" (Ez 34:11-13a, NABRE). In that same passage, God declares I will appoint one shepherd over them to pasture them, my servant David; he shall pasture them and be their shepherd. I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I the LORD, have spoken (Ez 34:23-24, NABRE).
Since Ezekiel gave this prophecy in the 6th century BC, and King David lived in the late 11th and into the 10th century BC, the prophet is referring to a Davidic descendant. Jesus of Nazareth is the fulfillment of the Ezekiel prophecies: Jesus is the son/descendant of David, and Jesus the Son of God is the "I myself" who come to gather the "lost sheep" of Israel (Mt 1:1; 10:6; Lk 1:32-33). Jesus is the fulfillment of the prophecy to gather back the lost sheep of Israel, and He is the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for His sheep (Jn 10:11-16).
| Symbolic Imagery of the Parable of the Lost Sheep (Lk 15:1-7) | |
| The lost sheep | Sinners |
| The sheepfold | The covenant community of the Church |
| The shepherd | Jesus Christ who went in search of the "lost sheep" of the house of Israel |
| Michal E. Hunt Copyright © 2013 | |
In this teaching, Jesus compared God the Son, a shepherd, and the lost sheep and sinners. God cares about all the sheep in His flock, and when one becomes lost, like a sinner, God, like any good shepherd, makes every effort to return that one to the fold. And when that one sinner is restored to the covenant community, God rejoices in his restoration.
Luke 15:7, I
tell you, in just the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner
who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of
repentance.
There is already joy in heaven over the salvation of the
other saved souls, but the salvation of every lost sinner is an additional joy
because it is a victory for the Kingdom in which all the flock can rejoice. The
whole purpose of Jesus's Passion was to sacrifice His life for sinners
(see CCC 545).
Luke 15:8-10 ~ The Parable of the Lost Coin
8 "Or what woman having ten coins [drachma] and losing
one would not light a lamp and sweep the house, searching carefully until she
finds it? 9 And when she does find it, she calls together her friends and
neighbors and says to them, 'Rejoice with me because I have found the coin that
I lost.' 10 In just the same way, I tell you, there will be rejoicing among the
angels of God over one sinner who repents."
A drachma was a Greek silver coin. The message of the teaching is the same as the Parable of the Lost Sheep—God's concern for the lost sinner and His desire that none should perish: This is good and pleasing to God our savior, who wills everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth (1 Tim 2:3-4, NABRE; also see 1 Pt 3:9).
This parable defines the mission of Mother Church to cherish her children and to keep them within the fold of the covenant family. She is not willing for any of her children should be lost to sin.
| The Symbolic Imagery of the Parable of the Lost Coin (Lk 15:8-10) | |
| The woman | Mother Church |
| The collection of coins | The community of the faithful |
| The lost coin | The lost sinner |
| Michal E. Hunt Copyright © 2013 | |
Luke 15:11-32 ~ The Parable of the Lost Son
11 Then he said, "a man had two sons, 12 and the younger
son said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of your estate that should
come to me." So the father divided the property between them. 13 After a few
days, the younger son collected all his belongings and set off to a distant
country where he squandered his inheritance on a life of dissipation. 14 When
he had freely spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he
found himself in dire need. 15 So he hired himself out to one of the local
citizens who sent him to his farm to tend the swine. 16 And he longed to eat
his fill of the pods on which the swine fed, but nobody gave him any. 17 Coming
to his senses he thought, 'How many of my father's hired workers have more than
enough food to eat, but here am I, dying from hunger. 18 I shall get up and go
to my father, and I shall say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and
against you. 19 I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as you would
treat one of your hired workers." 20 So he got up and went back to his father. While
he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled
with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him. 21 His son said
to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer
deserve to be called your son.' 22 But his father ordered his servants, 'Quickly
bring the finest robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on
his feet. 23 Take the fattened calf and slaughter it. Then let us celebrate
with a feast, 24 because this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again;
he was lost, and has been found.' Then the celebration began. 25 Now the older
son had been out in the field and, on his way back, as he neared the house, he
heard sound of music and dancing. 26 He called one of the servants and asked
what this might mean. 27 The servant said to him, 'Your brother has returned,
and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has him back safe
and sound.' 28 He became angry, and when he refused to enter the house, his
father came out and pleaded with him. 29 He said to his father in reply, 'Look,
all these years I served you and not once did I disobey your orders; yet you
never gave me even a young goat to feast on with my friends. 29 But when you
son returns who swallowed up your property with prostitutes, for him you slaughter
the fattened calf.' 31 He said to him, 'My son, you are here with me always;
everything I have is yours. 32 But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because
your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been
found.'"
The parable of the Lost Son is the third in the series of Jesus's teachings on the mercy and patience of God. The Parable of the Lost Son is only found in the Gospel of St. Luke. It is also called the Parable of the Two Sons and the Parable of the Prodigal (wasteful) Son. However, a better title is probably the "Parable of the Merciful Father" since the father's mercy is the story's focus, and he is the pivotal figure. This parable answers the Pharisees' criticism of Jesus's interest in sinners. It is an insightful commentary on human conduct, illustrating the conflicts between free will and responsibility, estrangement and family love, and the theme of forgiveness and reconciliation. Above all, the parable teaches the gift of divine mercy to a lost sinner, the kind of people who were seeking Jesus, and the restoration He promised to those who repented and accepted the coming of His Kingdom.
In verse 11, Jesus begins His parable with the statement: "a man had two sons ...." He started by setting the contrast in the story between the character of the two sons. This younger son left because he thought he wanted the absolute freedom to live as he wished, without any obligations except to himself. The elder son, the father's heir, dutifully served the father and stayed at home. The parable divides into two parts: the estrangement of the younger son followed by his return and reconciliation with the father (verses 11-24) and the elder son's anger when his brother returns (verses 25-31). As in all of Jesus's parables, the elements of the story are symbolic and point to Jesus's teaching on our relationship with God and His kingdom and the estrangement caused by sin. Each of the people in the parable represents what is greater than the story presents:
| Symbolic comparisons in the Parable of the Lost Son (Lk 15:11-32) | |
| the loving father | God the Father |
| the father's home | the "kingdom" of the Old Covenant Church/Temple |
| the distant country | the secular world |
| the elder son | the religiously observant Jews |
| the younger son |
the repentant sinner and the estranged Gentile nations of the world |
| Michal E. Hunt Copyright © 2013 | |
In Exodus 4:22, God instructs Moses to tell the Egyptian Pharaoh: "Israel is my firstborn son." The people of the Sinai Covenant were collectively the children of God (in Ex 4:22, the word "son" is in the singular as in Wis 18:13). If Israel's status is God's firstborn son in the human family, then that status makes all other members of the human family the younger sons. In the story, the father extends his love to both sons in the same way Father God extends His love to sinners and His sons and daughters in covenant fellowship with Him. In the parable, the father continues to show his love toward the angry, older son (symbolically the Jews) despite his criticism of the father's decision to welcome back his brother (symbolically the Gentile nations) into the family. The parable stresses God's willingness to accept all repentant sinners into His kingdom. As Luke mentioned in 7:29-30, tax collectors and sinners who were baptized with the baptism of John [the Baptist] acknowledged the righteousness of God; but the Pharisees and scholars of the law [scribes], who were not baptized by him, rejected the plan of God for themselves. And as Jesus taught in Luke 13:30, "Look, there are those now last who will be first, and those now first who will be last," referring to the Jews who were the first to hear the good news of salvation but who would be preceded into the kingdom by the Gentiles who embraced Jesus as Lord and Savior.
The younger son also embodies humankind of every age, beginning with Adam, the first to disdain his "Father's" gifts to run after what His Father told him to avoid, losing the inheritance of grace and original justice. Pope John Paul II wrote, "The parable indirectly touches upon every aspect of the breach in covenant love, every loss of grace and every sin" (Dives in misericordia, 5). Do not miss the significance that the younger son tended swine. Swine were unclean animals, and association with them was strictly forbidden for a member of the Sinai Covenant according to the Law (Lev 11:7; Dt 14:8). That the younger, estranged son was willing to tend swine shows how far he had traveled from the Law of God's covenant with Israel and the depths to which he had sunk into sin in his personal life.
The younger son's anxiety, hunger, and homelessness were the result of his rebellion and enslavement to sin (Rom 1:25; 6:6; Gal 5:1). He had lost the freedom of being a beloved son of his father and became one whose sin had placed him under the power of Satan (Rom 8:21; Gal 4:31; 5:13). In contrast to the unclean swine, the fatted calf his father offered in celebration of his younger son's return symbolizes the restoration of communion with the father and the father's household. In the same way, a repentant sinner becomes restored to "communion" with God the Father and with His "household" of the Church in the Sacrament of the Eucharist (CCC 1443).
The Pharisees and scribes to whom Jesus directed His parable were displaying the same anger and unwillingness to welcome back the repentant sinners to whom Jesus extends His mercy and forgiveness, like the elder brother, who would not welcome back his younger sibling. In addition, there is another comparison between the Jews of the Old Covenant. They jealously guarded their status as "firstborn sons" in refusing to welcome their "younger brothers" of the Gentile nations into the New Covenant in Christ Jesus (see verses 29-30). The father in the parable manifests his love for the elder, upright son (symbolic of the Jews of the Sinai Covenant). Still, he reminded his elder son and heir of the necessity of restoring the younger son to the family and celebrating his restoration in the communal family meal. Jesus subtlety warned His kinsmen of the Old Covenant faith that they must be prepared to welcome the repentant "younger brothers" of the Gentile nations into the family of the Kingdom He had come to establish with the sacred meal of communion with God, the Toda in Hebrew, and Eucharistia in Greek.
In the parable, the elder son had to decide: would he accept the father's rebuke and welcome his younger brother back into communion with the family, or would he reject his younger brother and harm his relationship with his father? Jesus doesn't tell us what decision the elder brother made. Still, we know that many Jews rejected the Divine Father's plan to restore the human family in Jesus's Gospel message of salvation. St. Paul wrote: For through faith you are all children of God in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendant, heirs according to the promise (Gal 3:26-29).
Catechism References (* indicates Scripture is either
quoted or paraphrased in the citation):
Exodus 32 (CCC 210*, 1857, 1859, 2577*);
32:15 (CCC 2058)
Psalm 51:1-2, 10-11, 15, 17 (CCC 1422-1424, 1446)
Luke 15:1-32 (CCC 1443*, 1846); 15:1-2 (CCC 589*); 15:7 (CCC 545); 15:11-32 (CCC 545*, 2839*); 15:11-31 (CCC 1700*); 15:11-24 (CCC 1439); 15:18 (CCC 1423*, 2795*); 15:21 (CCC 2795*); 15:23-32 (CCC 589*); 15:32 (CCC 1468)
God takes the initiative in redemption (CCC 604*, 605*, 1846*, 1847*, 1848*)
The Prodigal Son as an example of conversion (CCC 1439, 1700, 2839*)
The Prodigal Son and the Sacrament of Penance (CCC 1465, 1481)
Michal E Hunt, Copyright © 2013; revised 2022 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.