Chapter Fifteen
Lk. 15:1. Tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to Him to hear Him.
Lk. 15:2. The Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying: He receives sinners and eats with them.
The Lord, allowing tax collectors and sinners to come to Him, as a physician to the sick, was doing that for which He had become incarnate. But the Pharisees, themselves truly sinners, responded to such love for mankind with grumbling. For they considered the tax collectors abhorrent, even though they themselves devoured the houses of widows and orphans.
Lk. 15:3. He told them this parable:
Lk. 15:4. What man of you, having a hundred sheep, and having lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it?
Lk. 15:5. And having found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
Lk. 15:6. And, coming home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them: Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost sheep.
Lk. 15:7. I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who have no need of repentance.
What then does the Lord do? He was merciful both toward the tax collectors and toward those very ones who reproached His mercy. He does not turn away even from these, as from incurable murmurers, but with gentleness He heals them, telling them the parable of the sheep, and from a real and vivid example persuading and restraining them from being vexed at such an outpouring of goodness. For if over one sheep, an irrational creature not created in the image of God, when it is found after being lost, there is so much joy, then how much more should there be joy over a rational man, created in the image of God? The parable, evidently, by the ninety-nine sheep means the righteous, and by the one sheep, the fallen sinner. But some understand the hundred sheep as all rational creatures, and the one sheep as man of rational nature, whom, when he had gone astray, the good shepherd sought out, leaving the ninety-nine in the wilderness, that is, in the higher, heavenly place. For heaven, far removed from worldly turmoil and filled with all peace and stillness, is a wilderness. The Lord, having found this lost sheep, laid it on His shoulders. For "He bore our infirmities" and sins (Isa. 53:4), and without being burdened He took upon Himself all our loads; He paid all that we owed, and easily and without labor He saved us and brought us to His very home, that is, to heaven. And "He calls together His friends and neighbors," perhaps the Angels, whom we also understood as the sheep, in a twofold sense. Since, on the one hand, every created being in relation to God is, as it were, without reason, the Heavenly Powers can be called sheep. But since, on the other hand, they are rational, that is, endowed with reason, and appear to be nearer to God than the rest of creation, the ranks of the angelic Powers can be understood as friends and neighbors.
Lk. 15:8. Or what woman, having ten drachmas, if she loses one drachma, does not light a candle and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it,
Lk. 15:9. And having found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying: Rejoice with me, for I have found the lost drachma.
Lk. 15:10. So, I say to you, there is joy among the Angels of God even over one sinner who repents.
And by "woman" understand the wisdom and power of God the Father, His Son, who lost one drachma out of the rational creatures made in His image, that is, man, and lights a lamp — His flesh. For just as a lamp, being of earth, illuminates with the light it receives what is covered in darkness, so too the flesh of the Lord, earthly and like ours, shone with the light of the Divinity by which it was assumed. And "the house was swept," that is, the whole world was cleansed from sin, for Christ took the sin of the world upon Himself. And "the drachma," that is, the royal image, "was found," and there was joy both for Christ Himself who found it and for the Heavenly Powers, who are His friends and neighbors: "friends," since they do His will; "neighbors," since they are bodiless. And I would ask, are not all the Heavenly Powers His friends, while the neighbors are the nearest of them, such as thrones, cherubim, and seraphim? For pay attention to the expression: "she calls together her friends and neighbors." It evidently points to two distinct things, although this may not seem particularly important.
Lk. 15:11. He also said: A certain man had two sons;
And this parable is similar to the preceding ones. It too, under the image of a man, presents God as truly loving of mankind; under the two sons, two classes of people, that is, the righteous and sinners.
Lk. 15:12. And the younger of them said to his father: Father, give me the portion of the estate that falls to me. And the father divided the estate between them.
Righteousness is the ancient portion of human nature, and therefore the elder son does not break away from paternal authority. But sin is an evil that was born afterwards; and therefore the "younger" son, who grew up with sin that came afterwards, breaks away from parental authority. And in another sense: the sinner is called the "younger" son, as an innovator, apostate, and rebel against the father's will. "Father, give me the portion of the estate that falls to me." The "estate" is rationality, to which free will is also subject. For every rational being is free. The Lord gives us reason so that we may use it freely, as our true estate, and He gives it to all equally, for all are equally rational and self-governing. But some of us use this dignity in accordance with its purpose, while others render the gift of God useless.
Lk. 15:13. After not many days, the younger son, having gathered everything together, went to a far country and there squandered his estate, living dissolutely.
By our "property" one can understand everything in general that the Lord has given us, namely: heaven, earth, every creature in general, the Law, the prophets. But the younger son saw heaven and deified it; saw the earth and honored it, while he did not wish to walk in His Law and did evil to the prophets. The elder son, however, made use of all these things to the glory of God. The Lord God, having given all this in equal measure, allowed each to walk and live according to his own will, and compels no one who does not wish to serve Him. For if He had wished to compel, He would not have created us rational and free. The younger son squandered all of this together. And what was the cause? That he "went into a far country." For when a person departs from God and removes from himself the fear of God, then he squanders all the divine gifts. Being close to God, we do nothing worthy of destruction, as it is said: "I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved" (Ps. 16:8). But having gone far off and departed from God, we do and suffer every possible evil, as the words say: "behold, those who are far from You shall perish" (Ps. 73:27). So it is no wonder that he squandered his property. For virtue has one limit and is something unified, while vice is manifold and produces much temptation. For example, courage has one limit, namely: when, how, and against whom one should employ anger, while vice has two forms — cowardice and recklessness. Do you see how reason is squandered and the unity of virtue is destroyed?
Lk. 15:14. And when he had spent everything, a great famine arose in that country, and he began to be in want;
When this estate has been squandered and a person lives neither according to reason, that is, according to natural law, nor follows the written Law, nor listens to the prophets, then a severe famine sets in (for him)—not a famine of bread, but a famine of hearing the word of the Lord (Amos 8:11). And he begins to "be in want," since he does not fear the Lord but stands far from Him, whereas for those who fear the Lord "there is no want" (Ps. 34:10). Why is there no want for those who fear the Lord? Because he who fears the Lord greatly delights in His commandments, therefore glory and riches are in his house, and he rather of his own will scatters and gives to the poor (Ps. 112:1, 3, 9). So far is he from want! But whoever has gone far from God and does not have His dread countenance before his eyes will, unsurprisingly, experience need, since no Divine word is at work within him.
Lk. 15:15. And he went,
That is, he went far and became entrenched in malice,
Lk. 15:15. Joined himself to one of the citizens of that country,