48. His father therefore went out etc. After the described impatience of the son in conceiving indignation, here secondly is shown the clemency of the father in placating the indignation, where three things are introduced. First indeed, on the part of the father, a pious address: second, on the part of the son, an insolent response: third, a placating persuasion is subjoined.
First therefore, as to the most pious address of the father, he says: His father therefore went out and began to entreat him . The father goes out to external things through condescension, according to that passage of Habakkuk 3: "You went forth for the salvation of your people and for salvation with your Christ"; namely, this going forth is nothing other than to manifest himself outwardly in the flesh: Isaiah 62: "For Zion's sake I will not be silent, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until her just one goes forth as a splendor" etc.
And because this going forth was from great piety to save man, therefore he says: He began to entreat him: Hebrews 12: "God offers himself to you as to sons." He entreats, therefore, even if we are disdainful toward him, according to that passage of Isaiah 30: "You shall hear the word of one admonishing behind you: This is the good way, walk in it." Whence God the Father himself is not indignant against the indignant son, but rather entreats and consoles him, so that what is said in Isaiah 66 may be fulfilled: "As a mother caresses someone, so I will comfort you"; and not without reason, because, as is said in 2 Corinthians 1, "he is the father of mercies and the God of all consolation, who consoles us in all our tribulation." Whence in Jeremiah 3 it is said concerning this address: "Therefore at least from now on call me: My Father, you are the guide of my virginity" etc. And thus is fulfilled that passage of Job 19: "I entreated the sons of my womb."
49. (Vers. 29.). Second, as to the insolent response of the son, he adds: But he answering said to his father: Behold, so many years I serve you: where he responds insolently, both because he boasts of his own justice, saying that he served his father for a long time, although the Father himself has no need of our service, according to that passage of the Psalm: "I said to the Lord: You are my God, for you have no need of my goods"; and Job 35: "Moreover, if you act justly, what will you give him, or what will he receive from your hand?" He makes a display of himself, therefore, in this, that he boasts of having done great things for his father. He also makes a display of himself in this, that he says he did nothing against him, when he adds: And I never transgressed your commandment. And in this he justifies himself, although the Apostle says in 1 Corinthians 4: "I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not justified in this." Against that arrogance it is said in 3 Kings 8: "There is no man who does not sin"; and 1 John 1: "If we say that we have no sin, we are liars"; because it is said in Romans 3: "All have sinned and are in need of the glory of God."
He therefore displays his own righteousness, and accuses the father of harshness as well, when he adds: And you never gave me a kid, that I might feast with my friends: as if to say: you have always been harsh to me and never gave me any interior consolation that would be indicative of your love. And yet God does this by a just and hidden judgment, according to that passage of Ecclesiastes nine: "There are just men and wise men, and their works are in the hand of God: and yet man knows not whether he is worthy of love or of hatred, but all things are kept uncertain for the future." But this man, not heeding the hidden judgments of God, accuses the father of harshness, as if he were saying that passage of Job thirty: "You are changed to me into a cruel one, and in the hardness of your hand you oppose me." In this, therefore, he accuses the father of harshness.
50. (Verse 30.) Likewise he reproaches the father's clemency, when he adds: But after this son of yours: as if to say: not my brother; just as the Lord said out of indignation in Exodus thirty-two: "Go down from the mountain, for your people have sinned," yours, he says, not mine; because on account of his fault I disdain to acknowledge him as brother.
Whence he adds: Who has devoured his substance with harlots, has come, and thus he would be worthy of wrath, because he is prodigal, unclean, and foul, and therefore deserving to be destroyed; the Psalm: "You will destroy all who commit fornication against you"; and Lamentations one: "Jerusalem has become as one polluted with menstrual blood among them. The Lord is just, for I have provoked his mouth to wrath." You have killed for him the fatted calf, showing the highest benevolence, which he shows when he gives someone devotion concerning the benefit of the Lord's passion, according to that passage of Song of Songs one: "A bundle of myrrh is my beloved to me; he shall abide between my breasts. A cluster of cypress is my beloved to me in the vineyards of Engaddi." You have killed for him, that is, you have given through devotion, as if he had been slain for him alone, just as Paul also said in Galatians two: "But that I now live in the flesh, I live in the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and delivered himself for me"; whence he also prefaced: "I am nailed to the cross with Christ."
Therefore this man by his insolent response both reproaches the father's clemency and accuses his harshness and displays his own righteousness, nor does he heed that "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble," as is said in James four. On account of which God is also sweet to sinners, so that he may rouse them to hope, and harsh to the just, so that he may incline them to humility; on account of which below in the seventeenth chapter: "When you have done all things that are commanded you, say: We are unprofitable servants," etc.
51. (Vers. 31.). Third, as to placating satisfaction, he adds: But he said to him: Son, you are always with me. Note here the most benign response of the father, because, although he could have accused the son of presumption, of indignation, of insolence, and of inhumanity, nevertheless he does not accuse him, lest he disturb him further, but lovingly soothes him, so as to calm him; because, Proverbs fifteen, "a soft answer breaks wrath." He does not therefore accuse the disturbed one, but sweetly and reasonably placates the angry one, praising, namely, the son's obedience in this, that he says: Son, you are always with me, that is, you always obey me, so that you are of the number of those to whom it is said below in the twenty-second chapter: "You are those who have remained with me in my trials"; so that you can say that word of the Psalm: "I have become as a beast of burden before you, and I am always with you." You are always with me, remaining in the house as a son; John eight, "The Son remains in the house forever."
He also placates by showing benevolence, when he adds: And all that is mine is yours, namely through the benevolence of charity, according to that word of First Corinthians three: "All things are yours, whether Paul, or Apollo, whether things present or things future. All things are yours, but you are Christ's, and Christ is God's"; because, as it is said in Romans eight, "He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not also with Him give us all things?" He means therefore to say that, although He does not display great things, nevertheless He reserves great things, according to that word of Isaiah sixty-four: "Eye has not seen, O God, apart from You, what You have prepared for those who wait for You." All things therefore belong to the just man, either in reality or in hope. For since some things are superior, some inferior, some equal; the superior things belong to the just man for enjoying: the Psalm: "God of my heart and God my portion forever." The equal things, namely the Angels, belong to the just for assisting; Hebrews one: "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent to minister for the sake of those who shall inherit salvation?" The inferior things belong to the just for using and ruling over: the Psalm: "What is man, that You are mindful of him, or the son of man, that You visit him?" "You have subjected all things under his feet," etc. And in this the wondrous benevolence of the father is made manifest.
52. (Verse 32.). He also placates by approving the mercy bestowed, when he adds: But it was fitting to feast and rejoice, namely because charity urges it, for it is charity that compels one to rejoice over what is good. Whence the Apostle, Second Corinthians five: "Whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God; or whether we be sober, it is for you. For the charity of Christ urges us." And just as it belongs to charity to burn over the scandal of another, according to that passage of Second Corinthians eleven: "Who is scandalized, and I am not on fire?" so also to rejoice and be refreshed by the remedy of another. Therefore he says: Because this your brother was dead and has come back to life, was lost and has been found: he was dead, by forsaking Christ, who says of himself, John fourteen: "I am the way, the truth, and the life"; and chapter one: "The life was the light of men." He was lost, by loving sin, because, Ecclesiasticus three, "he who loves danger shall perish in it." He came back to life, however, by returning to the grace of Christ: John eleven: "I am the resurrection and the life," etc. And he has been found, by returning to repentance, just as above in the same chapter the little sheep was found, and the lost drachma was also found. And therefore it was fitting to feast and rejoice, because, as was said above in the same chapter, "there is joy among the Angels of God over one sinner doing penance," joy also for the shepherd over the sheep, joy likewise for the woman over the drachma: therefore much more should there be joy for a brother over his brother and for a father over his son who has been found again.