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The Parable of the Lost Sheep

Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. ²And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

³ So he told them this parable: ⁴“Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? ⁵When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. ⁶And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ ⁷Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

The Parable of the Lost Coin

⁸ “Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? ⁹When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ ¹⁰Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

The Parable of the Prodigal and His Brother

¹¹ Then Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons. ¹²The 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. ¹³A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. ¹⁴When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. ¹⁵So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. ¹⁶He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. ¹⁷But 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! ¹⁸I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; ¹⁹I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.” ’ ²⁰So 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. ²¹Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ ²²But 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. ²³And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; ²⁴for 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. ²⁶He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. ²⁷He replied, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.’ ²⁸Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. ²⁹But 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. ³⁰But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!’ ³¹Then the father said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. ³²But 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 Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

This parable is nothing else than a confirmation of the preceding doctrine. ⁵²⁰⁵²⁰ “De la doctrine que nous venons de voir;” — “of the doctrine which we have just now seen.” In the first part is shown how readily God is disposed to pardon our sins, and in the second part (which we shall afterwards treat in the proper place) is shown the great malignity and obstinacy of those who murmur at his compassion. In the person of a young prodigal who, after having been reduced to the deepest poverty by luxury and extravagance, returns as a suppliant to his father, ⁵²¹⁵²¹ “Retourne pour demander pardon a son pere;” — “returns to ask pardon from his father.” to whom he had been disobedient and rebellious, Christ describes all sinners who, wearied of their folly, apply to the grace of God. To the kind father, ⁵²²⁵²² “Aussi en la personne de ce bon pere il nous propose l’affection de Dieu;” — “also in the person of this good father he holds out to us the affection of God.” on the other hand, who not only pardons the crimes of his son, but of his own accord meets him when returning, he compares God, who is not satisfied with pardoning those who pray to him, but even advances to meet them with the compassion of a father. ⁵²³⁵²³ “Mais les previent par sa bonte et misericorde paternelle;” — “but anticipates them by his fatherly goodness and compassion.” Let us now examine the parable in detail.

Luke 15:12. And the younger of them said to his father. The parable opens by describing a mark of wicked arrogance in the youth, which appears in his being desirous to leave his father, and in thinking that he cannot be right without being permitted to indulge in debauchery, free from his father’s control. There is also ingratitude in leaving the old man, ⁵²⁴⁵²⁴ “Delaissant le bon vieil hemme de pere;” — “leaving the good old man his father.” and not only withholding the performance of the duties which be owed to him, but crippling and diminishing the wealth of his house. ⁵²⁵⁵²⁵ “Mais aussi diminue le bien de la maison, et en emporte une bonne partie;” — “but also diminishes the wealth of the house, and carries off a good part of it.” This is at length followed by wasteful luxury and wicked extravagance, by which he squanders all that he had. ⁵²⁶⁵²⁶ “Tout ce qu’il avoit eu du pere;” — “all that he had got from his father.” After so many offenses he deserved to find his father implacable. ⁵²⁷⁵²⁷ “Il avoit bien merite de trouver puis apres un pere rigoreux, et qui teint son coeur contre luy iusqu’au bout;” — “he had well deserved to find afterwards a father who was severe, and who kept his heart shut against him to the end.”

Under this image our Lord unquestionably depicts to us the boundless goodness and inestimable forbearance of God, that no crimes, however aggravated, may deter us from the hope of obtaining pardon, There would be some foundation for the analogy, if we were to say that this foolish and insolent youth resembles those persons who, enjoying at the hand of God a great abundance of good things, are moved by a blind and mad ambition to be separated from Him, that they may enjoy perfect freedom; as if it were not more desirable than all the kingdoms of the world to live under the fatherly care and government of God. But as I am afraid that this allusion may be thought overstrained, I shall satisfy myself with the literal meaning; not that I disapprove of the opinion, that under this figure is reproved the madness of those who imagine that it will be advantageous for them to have something of their own, and to be rich apart from the heavenly Father; but that I now confine myself within the limits of a Commentator. ⁵²⁸⁵²⁸ “Pource que ie me tien maintenant dans mes limites, et ne veux point passer l’office d’expositeur;” — “because I now keep myself within my limits, and do not wish to go beyond the duty of an expositor.”

Christ here describes what usually happens with young men, when they are carried away by their natural disposition. Destitute of sound judgment, and maddened by passion, they are ill fitted for governing themselves, and are not restrained by fear or shame. It is therefore impossible but that they shall abandon themselves to every thing to which their sinful inclination prompts them, and rush on in a disgraceful course, till they are involved in shameful poverty. He afterwards describes the punishment which, in the righteous judgment of God, generally overtakes spendthrifts and prodigals. After having wickedly squandered their means, they are left to pine in hunger, and not having known how to use in moderation an abundant supply of the best bread, they are reduced to eat acorns and husks. In short, they become the companions of swine, and are made to feel that they are unworthy to partake of human food; for it is swinish gluttony ⁵²⁹⁵²⁹ “C’est une gourmandise plustost convenable a des porceaux qu’a des hommes;” — “it is a gluttony more suitable to swine than to men.” to squander wickedly what was given for the support of life. ⁵³⁰⁵³⁰ “Pour subvenir aux necessitez de ceste vie;” — “to supply the necessities of this life.” As to the ingenious exposition which some have brought forward, that it is the just punishment of wicked scorn, when those who have rejected delicious bread in the house of our heavenly Father are driven by hunger to eat husks, it is a true and useful doctrine; but in the meantime, we must bear in mind the difference that exists between allegories and the natural meaning. ⁵³¹⁵³¹ “Mais cependant il faut tousiours aviser quelle difference il y a entre les allegories et le vray sens naturel d’un passage;” — “but yet we must always consider what difference there is between allegories and the true natural meaning of a passage.”

And was desirous to fill his belly. This means that, in consequence of hunger, he no longer thought of his former luxuries, but greedily devoured husks; for of that kind of food he could not be in want, when he was giving it to the swine There is a well-known saying of Cyrus who, having for a long time suffered hunger during a flight, and having been slightly refreshed by eating coarse black bread, declared that he had never tasted savory bread till now; so the young man who is here mentioned was compelled by necessity to betake himself with appetite to husks The reason is added, because no man gave to him; for the copulative conjunction and (καὶ) must, in my opinion, signify because, ⁵³²⁵³² “Car selon mon avis ce mot et se doit resoudre en Car, ou Pource que;” — “for in my opinion this word and must mean For, or Because.” and what is here said does not refer to husks, which he had at hand, but I understand the meaning to be, that no man pitied his poverty; for prodigals who throw away the whole of their property are persons whom no man thinks himself bound to relieve, — nay more, as they have been accustomed to squander every thing, men think that nothing ought to be given to them. ⁵³³⁵³³ “Il semble que ce qu’on leur donne soit autant de perdu;” — “what is given to them appears to be as good as thrown away.”

17. And when he came to himself. Here is described to us the way in which God invites men to repentance. If of their own accord they were wise, and became submissive, he would draw them more gently; but as they never stoop to obedience, till they have been subdued by the rod, he chastises them severely. Accordingly, to this young man, whom abundance ⁵³⁴⁵³⁴ “L’aise et la trop grande abondance;” — “ease and too great abundance.” rendered fierce and rebellious, hunger proved to be the best teacher. Instructed by this example, let us not imagine that God deals cruelly with us, if at any time he visits us with heavy afflictions; for in this manner those who were obstinate and intoxicated with mirth are taught by him to be obedient. In short, all the miseries which we endure are a profitable invitation to repentance. ⁵³⁵⁵³⁵ “Ce sont autant d’avertissemens proufitables, par lequel Dieu nous convie a repentance;” — “they are so many profitable warnings, by which God invites us to repentance.” But as we are slow, we scarcely ever regain a sound mind, unless when we are forced by extreme distress; for until we are pressed by difficulties on every hand, and shut up to despair, the flesh always indulges in gaiety, or at least recoils. Hence we infer, that there is no reason to wonder, if the Lord often uses violent and even repeated strokes, in order to subdue our obstinacy, and, as the proverb runs, applies hard wedges to hard knots. It must also be observed, that the hope of bettering his condition, if he returned to his father, gave this young man courage to repent; for no severity of punishment will soften our depravity, or make us displeased with our sins, till we perceive some advantage. As this young man, therefore, is induced by confidence in his father’s kindness to seek reconciliation, so the beginning of our repentance must be an acknowledgment of the mercy of God to excite in us favorable hopes.

⁵²⁰ “De la doctrine que nous venons de voir;” — “of the doctrine which we have just now seen.”

⁵²¹ “Retourne pour demander pardon a son pere;” — “returns to ask pardon from his father.”

⁵²² “Aussi en la personne de ce bon pere il nous propose l’affection de Dieu;” — “also in the person of this good father he holds out to us the affection of God.”

⁵²³ “Mais les previent par sa bonte et misericorde paternelle;” — “but anticipates them by his fatherly goodness and compassion.”

⁵²⁴ “Delaissant le bon vieil hemme de pere;” — “leaving the good old man his father.”

⁵²⁵ “Mais aussi diminue le bien de la maison, et en emporte une bonne partie;” — “but also diminishes the wealth of the house, and carries off a good part of it.”

⁵²⁶ “Tout ce qu’il avoit eu du pere;” — “all that he had got from his father.”

⁵²⁷ “Il avoit bien merite de trouver puis apres un pere rigoreux, et qui teint son coeur contre luy iusqu’au bout;” — “he had well deserved to find afterwards a father who was severe, and who kept his heart shut against him to the end.”

⁵²⁸ “Pource que ie me tien maintenant dans mes limites, et ne veux point passer l’office d’expositeur;” — “because I now keep myself within my limits, and do not wish to go beyond the duty of an expositor.”

⁵²⁹ “C’est une gourmandise plustost convenable a des porceaux qu’a des hommes;” — “it is a gluttony more suitable to swine than to men.”

⁵³⁰ “Pour subvenir aux necessitez de ceste vie;” — “to supply the necessities of this life.”

⁵³¹ “Mais cependant il faut tousiours aviser quelle difference il y a entre les allegories et le vray sens naturel d’un passage;” — “but yet we must always consider what difference there is between allegories and the true natural meaning of a passage.”

⁵³² “Car selon mon avis ce mot et se doit resoudre en Car, ou Pource que;” — “for in my opinion this word and must mean For, or Because.”

⁵³³ “Il semble que ce qu’on leur donne soit autant de perdu;” — “what is given to them appears to be as good as thrown away.”

⁵³⁴ “L’aise et la trop grande abondance;” — “ease and too great abundance.”

⁵³⁵ “Ce sont autant d’avertissemens proufitables, par lequel Dieu nous convie a repentance;” — “they are so many profitable warnings, by which God invites us to repentance.”