Luke 15:1-32 is a series of parables on the mercy of God. It is a mercy that seeks out the lost and gives life to those who have died in sin. We have had the occassion to write about the parable twice and both for Lent: in Year B and this year (Year C). What we are going to do in this article is to see how Luke 15:1-32 appears in the lectionary and, from the way it is paired with other readings, draw some new nuances of meaning from often recalled passages.
Luke 15:1-32 or parts of it that stress either the parables of the Lost and Found or The Parable of the Forgiving are found quite a number of times. In the Sunday/Feastday Lectionary, Luke 15:1-32 appears whole or in part in Lent and Ordinary Time of Year C. For the feast of the Sacred Heart, two selections from Luke 15 are given as one of the eight possible gospel readings for the day. In the Weekday lectionary, selections from Luke 15 are offered during the weekdays of Lent and on the Thursday of the 31st week of OT. Below is a table of these appearances.
Luke 15:1-32: A Review
Luke 15 is a series of parables Jesus pronounces in answer to those who object that he should allow publicans and sinners to approach his person. The first two parables deal are about objects that are lost and the rejoicing that follows when these are found. The third parable is a familial story about a father and a son who went away. When this son repents and returns, the father welcomes him and celebrates the event with a big feast. There is another son, the one who stayed behind, who objects to the way the other son is welcomed. In the person of this "sinless" son, Jesus invites the Pharisees and scribes who object to the way he treats sinners and publicans, to see themselves and to decide whether they would go with the God of Compassion revealed in the person of Jesus, or not.
Structurally, the first two parables prepare for the third one. The diagram below shows how the three parables are similar
Each of the main actions in the first two parables -- an object lost, the object found, the rejoicing of the one who finds -- have their correspondence in the son who went away (lost), his repentance, return and acceptance of the father (found), the way he is welcomed back (rejoicing.). The third parable however does more than repeat what is found in the first two ones. A lost sheep and a lost piece of silver coin do not decide to return, but a lost son would. The process that leads to his return begins from the time he leaves his father's house. As he goes farther from the father, the son degrades himself until his condition is worse than the slaves in his father's house and the pigs whose food he begins to covet. His return transforms him back to his former status as son and he becomes a cause for the rejoicing of his father. While Jesus does not explicitly say that the father sought his son the way the shepherd seeks out the lost sheep, he does however say that the father was the one who first sees the son returning. The scene of the discovery of the returning son suggests that the father had been searching the horizons for the one who was lost, waiting for his return. And when he does see the son, he breaks all protocol to meet him: he runs, embraces him and -- we can imagine him doing so -- shouts with glee as he gives orders to his slaves to dress up the young lad in the garb of an owner; he doesn't even allow his son to finish his prepared speech.
While no one would object to someone seeking the lost sheep or a lost coin, there are those who will sympathize with the other son's objections at the generosity of the father.
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.
But when your son returns who swallowed up your property with prostitutes,
for him you slaughter the fattened calf.
A calf was fattened in preparation for a big event, usually a wedding or perhaps even the birth of an heir. It could have been for the wedding of the older son. If this were the case, who wouldn't feel the affront that the obedient one felt? But the response of the father was an invitation to him to rejoice and welcome the retuning son.
My son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours.
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 father invites the older brother to look at the other not as one who returns broke, but as one who has been dead and has come back to life. This phrase is repeated twice in the episode of the son's return, in v. 24 and here (v. 32). "He was dead but now is alive" is presented as synomimous with "He was lost and now is found". Stylistically, this last phrase ties up vv. 11-32 with the parables preceding it. The phrase "he was dead but now is alive" introduces something new. Implicit in the father's invitation is the idea that there has been mourning in the house (at least, perhaps in his part) at the loss, the going away of the younger son! A sheep that is lost or a drachma that is lost may cause anxiety, but not mourning and grief. This idea, implicit in the phrase "he was dead" justifies the celebration with the fattened calf and the father's exuberant joy.
The father's invitation to the older son -- the one who remained obedient -- is an invitation to the Pharisees and the scribes who are introduced in verses 1-2 as people who didn't like the fact that publicans and sinners came to Jesus. It is an invitation for them to see these people the way the father sees his returning son so that they too may appreciate why the kingdom that Jesus proclaims is open to the repentant and why Jesus himself welcomes them, like a doctor who seeks those who are sick (cf. Luke 5:31-32).
In the Liturgy
Given Luke 15's emphasis on Jesus' attitude towards sinners and the theological justification for this attitude, it is no wonder that in Lent, portions of the chapter are presented with the theme of God's mercy and forgiveness.
The parable of The Forgiving Father (Luke 15:1-3.11-32) is offered for reflection twice: for the fourth Sunday of Lent and on the Saturday of the second week of Lent. In the fourth Sunday of Lent it is paired with Joshua 5:9-11 which emphasizes the words "Today, I take away the shame you had in Egypt". Upon the entrance of the people of Israel into the promised land, the shame of their slavery in Egypt is taken away. It was at that moment too that God stopped feeding them with manna; for then, it was the moment that they can enjoy the fruits of the land flowing with milk and honey. This selection from Joshua ties up with the actions of the father who restores his repentant son to his status in the house. He had thought of asking the father to treat him as one of his slaves, but the father would not have anything of it. Instead, he gives him the clothing of the an owner: the ceremonial garb, the shoes and the signet ring are the clothings of the son of a freeman, not of a slave. In addition, the responsorial psalm for that day is from Psalm 33, with verse 9 as the response: "Taste and see how the Lord is good." The liturgy invites to repentance so that those who do repent may taste how good the Father is.
In the Saturday of the second week of Lent., the passage is paired with Micah 7:14-15.18-20 which is a prayer expressing hope in the mercy of God
Who is there like you, the God who removes guilt
and pardons sin for the remnant of his inheritance;
Who does not persist in anger forever,
but delights rather in clemency,
And will again have compassion on us,
treading underfoot our guilt?
This Old Testament selection prepares for the hope of the repentant son who was ready to be received as a laborer in the house of his father. He hoped for the least, what he received was more than expected. His father returned him to himself. He was prepared to be treated differently from what he was; the father restored him not only to his former status but to himself as son of that father.
The feast of the Sacred Heart remembers the message that Jesus tells Margaret Mary Alacoque as he showed them his heart wounded and bleeding: "Go tell them that I love them so much." That love is a love that would not allow anyone of his own to be lost. And so the parables of the lost and found (Luke 15: 3-7) are given as one of the eight possible Gospel readings for the day.
On the 24th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year C) Luke 15:1-32 or its portion, Luke 15:1-10 are offered as the longer and shorter readings of the day. The first reading is from Exodus 32:7-11.13-14 where Moses pleads with Yahweh not to destroy his people. God's anger was provoked by the incident of the Golden Calf, but Moses' words assuages Him. In his speech, Moses reminds Yahweh two things if he destroys His own people: the ridicule that can come from the Egyptians and the promise he made to Abraham. Here, what John Paul II has called the manly love of God -- His fidelity to the covenant promise -- is highlighted. This episode however anticipates the revelation of God's name as Mercy and Compassion in Exodus 34:2
Thus the LORD passed before him and cried out,
"The LORD, the LORD,
a merciful and gracious God,
slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity,
continuing his kindness for a thousand generations,
and forgiving wickedness and crime and sin..."1
The Pharisees and the scribes who object to the way Jesus treats sinners should also take their hint from Moses who pleads in behalf of the children of Israel. Zeal for the Law does not only seek punishment; it also seeks forgiveness and mercy. Thus, the attitude of Jesus who does not only welcome sinners but also seeks them out on the conviction that God desires "mercy, not sacrifice" (cf. Matthew 9:13, 12:12)
Finally, on the Saturday of the 31st Week in Ordinary Time Luke 15:1-10 is paired with Phil.3:3-8 which is part of Paul's profession of loyalty and gratitude to Christ. Here, he puts in a balance the benefits he gains from being a Jew on the one hand and those that he has received in Christ. He says: "I even consider everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have accepted the loss of all things and I consider them so much rubbish, that I may gain Christ". For Paul, his experience of the Risen Christ has divided his life into THEN and NOW such that all that he was as a Jew is far outweighed by the knowledge of Christ whose resurrection he too wishes to attain (cf. Phil. 3:10). The responsory of the Mass is taken from Psalm 104:3 "Let the hearts that seek the Lord, rejoice.". While the Lucan parable in 15:1-10 speak of those who seek what was lost, one can always see it from another perspective: those who find the Lord soon discovers that even before they resolved to seek the Lord, He has sought them first.
1The quotation continues of course:"...yet not declaring the guilty guiltless, but punishing children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation for their fathers' wickedness" but this too despite appearances is an act of mercy. Divine Justice guarantees the protection of the weak and the vindication of the just who suffer at the hands of the lawless. That He should visit the sins of the father until the third and the fourth generation (only!) is to be compared with how he continues "in kindness for a thousand generations."
