The inner thoughts of the Jews, where the Father now speaks in hidden ways.
And he answered: Behold, I have served you for so many years, and I have never transgressed your command; and you have never given me a young goat, that I might feast with my friends. Behold, this son of yours has come, who has consumed his inheritance with prostitutes, and you have killed the fattened calf for him. Thoughts are inward, where the Father speaks in hidden ways; for he acts and responds within himself, not with the servant replying, but with the father in some way asking, gently admonishing: What is this? We hold the Scriptures of God, and we have not departed from the one God; we have not extended our hands to a foreign god: we know that one God, always worshipping him, who made heaven and earth; and we have not received a young goat. Where do we find the young goat? Among sinners. Why does this elder son complain that a young goat was not given to him? He was seeking to sin, from which he would feast; clearly, he was vexed about this. This is what the Jews now grieve over, this is what they realize and understand—that Christ was not given to them because they considered him a young goat. For they recognize their voice in the Gospel, in those former Jews saying: We know that this man is a sinner. He was the calf, but since you considered him a young goat, you remained without this feast. You never gave me a young goat; because the Father did not have a young goat whom he knew as the calf. You are outside: because you did not receive the young goat, now come in to the calf.
Jews who are serious and observe the law must be distinguished from Jews who are corrupt and seditious.
What then does the father respond? Son, you are always with me. The father testified that the Jews were near, who always worshiped one God. We have the testimony of the Apostle saying that they were near, but the Gentiles were far away. Speaking to the Gentiles, he said: Christ indeed came preaching peace to you who were far off, and peace to those who were near. Far off, like the younger son; showing that the Jews did not go far away to feed pigs, did not forsake the one God, did not worship idols, did not serve demons. I do not speak of all: lest you think of the lost and seditious Jews; let those come to mind, by whom these are reproved, grave, keeping the mandates of the Law, not yet entering the fatted calf, but already able to say: I have not transgressed your command; who, when he begins to enter, his Father says to him: You are always with me. Indeed, you are with me, because you have not gone far, but you are still badly outside the house; I do not want you to be away from our banquets. Do not envy the younger brother: You are always with me. Indeed, God did not attest to that which was perhaps less cautiously and boastfully said: I have never transgressed your command; but he said: You are always with me; he did not say: You have never transgressed my command. This is true, which God said, not what he perhaps rashly boasted of, although perhaps a transgressor in some things, but not departing from the one God; so that the father might truly say: You are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. Is it because they are yours that they are not your brother's? How are they yours? In common holding, not separate disputing. All, he says, that is mine is yours. What he says is his, he gives as if in possession. Did he subject heaven and earth, or the heights of the angels? It is not to be understood in this way; for indeed the angels will not truly be subject to us, to whose equality the Lord promises we will come in great reward: They will, he says, be equal to the angels of God. But there are other angels, about whom the saints will judge: Do you not know, says the Apostle, that we will judge angels? For there are always holy angels, there are transgressing angels; we will be made equal to good angels, we will judge bad angels. How then are all that is mine yours? Truly all of God's are ours, yet not all are subjected; for you say differently: My servant, differently: My brother. Whatever you say is mine, truly you say, when you speak the truth, it is yours; but is it with the same right a brother, as a servant? You say differently: My house, differently: My wife; differently you say: My children, differently you say: My father, my mother; apart from me, I hear, all are yours. You say: My God; but yet, my God, is He like my servant? Rather my God, like my Lord. Therefore, we have a superior, our Lord, whom we enjoy; we have all other inferior things, over which we rule. Therefore all ours, if we are His.
By what condition all things of the Father are ours.
All that is mine is yours, he says. If you are peaceful, if you are pleasing, if you rejoice at your brother's return, if our feast does not make you sad, if you do not remain apart from the house, even though you have already come from the field, all that is mine is yours. But we must feast and rejoice, because Christ died for the ungodly and has risen. For this is what was said: Because your brother was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found.