Luke 15
Roberta Bondi, “Crucifixion,” Weavings (September/October 1994), p. 25 f.
Jonathan Merritt, “Lost: Microagressions and Our Common Condition,” Learning to Speak God from Scratch, p. 192-197
Learning to Speak God from Scratch
Kay Ryan, “Relief,” The New Yorker (January 23, 1995), p. 89
“Relief”
We know it is close
to something lofty.
Simply getting over being sick
or finding lost property
has in it the leap,
the purge, the quick humility
of witnessing a birth—
how love seeps up
and retakes the earth.
There is a dreamy
wading feeling to your walk
inside the current
of restored riches,
clocks set back,
disasters averted.
Wendell Berry, “Healing is Membership,” Another Turn of the Crank, p. 104
“Healing is Membership”
But this sort of logic is absolutely alien to the world of love. To the claim that a certain drug or procedure would save 99 percent of all cancer patients or that a certain pollutant would be safe for 99 percent of a population, love, unembarrassed, would respond, “What about the one percent?”
There is nothing rational or perhaps even defensible about this, but it is nonetheless one of the strongest strands of our religious tradition …
Wendell Berry, “Going to Work,” Citizenship Papers, p. 37
“Going to Work”
XXIII. … It is what I would call the affectionate or sympathetic mind. This mind is not irrational, but neither is it primarily rational. It is a mind less comfortable than the mind that aspires only to reason, and it is more difficult to define.
XXIV. It is defined, I think, in the parable of the lost sheep in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, and in the Buddhist vow: “Sentient beings are numberless, I vow to save them.” The mind given over to reason would lose no time in demonstrating mathematically that it “makes no sense” to leave ninety-nine sheep perhaps in danger while you go to look for only one that is lost. And surely it makes even less “sense” to vow to “save” all sentient beings.
Wendell Berry, “Two Minds,” Citizenship Papers, p. 37, 92-96
“Two Minds”
He also does what he does because he has a particular affection for that particular sheep. …
The Rational Mind can and will rationalize any trade-off. The Sympathetic Mind can rationalize none. (p. 93)
This is from an article by Bernard E. Rollin in Christian Century, December 19–26, 2001, p. 26:
A young man was working for a company that operated a large, total-confinement swine farm. One day he detected symptoms of a disease among some of the feeder pigs. As a teen, he had raised pigs himself … so he knew how to treat the animals. But the company’s policy was to kill any diseased animals with a blow to the head—the profit margin was considered too low to allow for treatment of individual animals. So the employee decided to come in on his own time, with his own medicine, and he cured the animals. The management’s response was to fire him on the spot for violating company policy.
The young worker in the hog factory is a direct cultural descendant of the shepherd in the parable, just about the opposite and perhaps incomprehensible to the “practical” rationalist. (p. 94)
Wendell Berry, “2012 – IV,” This Day, p. 381
“2012 – IV”
George A. Buttrick, “The God of the Lost (I),” The Parables of Jesus, p. 176-187
Joachim Jeremias, “The Lost Sheep,” Rediscovering the Parables, p. 105 f.
J. Barrie Shepherd, “Lost and Found,” Seeing with the Soul, p. 145-149
1-2 Luke 5:29-30
3-7 Psalm 119:176; Ezekiel 34:11-16; Thomas 107
3-7 Wendell Berry, The Gift of Good Land, p. 278 f.
The Gift of Good Land
And because this mind is understood only as a cause, its primary works are necessarily abstract. We should remind ourselves that materialism in the sense of the love of material things is not in itself an evil. As C. S. Lewis pointed out, God loves material things; He invented them. The Devil’s work is abstraction—not the love of material things, but the love of their quantities—which, of course, is why “David’s heart smote him after that he had numbered the people” (II Samuel 24:10). It is not the lover of material things but the abstractionist who defends long-term damage for short-term gain, or who calculates the “acceptability” of industrial damage to ecological or human health, or who counts dead bodies on the battlefield. The true lover of material things does not think this way, but is answerable instead to the paradox of the parable of the lost sheep: each is more precious than all.
3-7 John Dominic Crossan, The Historical Jesus, p. 351
4-7 Jane Mary Trau, “The Lost Sheep: A Living Metaphor,” The Bible Today (September 1990), p. 277-283
7 Christina Rossetti, “The Covenant Threshold,” Goblin Market and Other Poems, p. 37
1 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” 3 So he told them this parable: 4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has 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? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.’ 7 Just 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.
15:1 ησαν δε εγγιζοντες αυτω παντες οι τελωναι και οι αμαρτωλοι ακουειν αυτου 15:2 και διεγογγυζον οι φαρισαιοι και οι γραμματεις λεγοντες οτι ουτος αμαρτωλους προσδεχεται και συνεσθιει αυτοις 15:3 ειπεν δε προς αυτους την παραβολην ταυτην λεγων 15:4 τις ανθρωπος εξ υμων εχων εκατον προβατα και απολεσας εν εξ αυτων ου καταλειπει τα ενενηκοντα εννεα εν τη ερημω και πορευεται επι το απολωλος εως ευρη αυτο 15:5 και ευρων επιτιθησιν επι τους ωμους εαυτου χαιρων 15:6 και ελθων εις τον οικον συγκαλει τους φιλους και τους γειτονας λεγων αυτοις συγχαρητε μοι οτι ευρον το προβατον μου το απολωλος 15:7 λεγω υμιν οτι ουτως χαρα εσται εν τω ουρανω επι ενι αμαρτωλω μετανοουντι η επι ενενηκοντα εννεα δικαιοις οιτινες ου χρειαν εχουσιν μετανοιας
George A. Buttrick, “The God of the Lost (I),” The Parables of Jesus, p. 176-187
John Dominic Crossan, The Essential Jesus, p. 120, 165
Joachim Jeremias, “The Lost Coin,” Rediscovering the Parables, p. 106 f.
J. Barrie Shepherd, “Lost and Found,” Seeing with the Soul, p. 145-149
2 Malachi
9-10 Francis Patrick Sullivan, “The Mannequin’s Bus,” A Time To Sow, p. 176
9 Imaging the Word, Vol. 2, p. 30-33
8 “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? 9 And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost.’ 10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
15:8 η τις γυνη δραχμας εχουσα δεκα εαν απολεση δραχμην μιαν ουχι απτει λυχνον και σαροι την οικιαν και ζητει επιμελως εως οτου ευρη 15:9 και ευρουσα συγκαλειται τας φιλας και τας γειτονας λεγουσα συγχαρητε μοι οτι ευρον την δραχμην ην απωλεσα 15:10 ουτως λεγω υμιν χαρα γινεται ενωπιον των αγγελων του θεου επι ενι αμαρτωλω μετανοουντι
George A. Buttrick, “The God of the Lost (II),” The Parables of Jesus, p. 188-201
Dom Helder Camara, “Prodigal son who art in heaven:,” A Thousand Reasons for Living, p. 27
“Prodigal son who art in heaven”
Son who saved yourself by trusting
serving since as an example
to millions of prodigals
son who knew the horror of absence
the emptiness of sin
and yearning for his father’s house
help me to pray this agonizing night
for prodigal parents
whose sin consists
in turning Christ’s parable upside down
by erasing the Father’s image in themselves.
Dom Helder Camara, Through the Gospel, p. 110
Antonio Cisneros, “Sunday in Saint Christina’s in Budapest and Fruitstand Next Door,” Divine Inspiration, p. 244
Tom Clark, “Isaiah, John, and Luke,” Communion, p. 435-450
John Cowan, Taking Jesus Seriously, p. 161
Taking Jesus Seriously
John Dominic Crossan, The Essential Jesus, p. 104-105, 162f.
John Dominic Crossan, “Parables of Reversal,” In Parables, p. 73-75
Richard Q. Ford, “Body Language,” Interpretation (July 2002), p. 300
“Body Language”
It is simplest to scapegoat the boy. To suspect otherwise requires one to scrutinize the father —a man who is so universally assumed to be a figure for God as to render his motives sacrosacnt. … As the son tries to leave home, could it be that he is carrying a cracked covenant between his father and himself, one no longer capable of sustaining growth?
To consider this astonishing possibility, one must return to the very beginning of the parable, to the father’s initial response when confronting his son’s imperious demand. Why does this generous father not support his son’s intent to emigrate with a substantial gift, instead of suddenly giving up control of his entire economic future to both his sons? Few fathers in any culture, in any era, behave this way. What impact might this sudden unloading of paternal responsibility have upon the weakly developed initiative of this younger son?
Where one decides to position the son may depend on where, in this parable, one chooses to locate God. If one questions the identification of God with the father and allows oneself to be more uncertain about where God is in this story, one can also entertain doubt about where to place the blame—and whom to forgive.
Joachim Jeremias, “The Father’s Love,” Rediscovering the Parables, p. 101 ff.
“The Father’s Love”
The parable of the Prodigal Son is therefore not primarily a proclamation of the good news to the poor, but a vindication of it in reply to its critics. Jesus’ justification lies in the boundless love of God. But he does not remain on the defensive: the parable breaks off abruptly. …
The recognition that Luke 15:11-32 is primarily an apologetic parable, in which Jesus justifies his table companionship with sinners against his critics (cf. vv. 1f.), carries with it important consequences. (p. 104)
Stephen Mitchell, The Gospel According to Jesus, p. 39 & p. 223-229
The Gospel According to Jesus
One further question about the parable cries out to be asked, and Erik Erikson has asked it acutely:
… as one reviews this parable’s theme of the healing of the generational process, one cannot help asking: was there, in this earthly vision of the comparison, no mother, either dead or alive? And if alive, was she not called to say hello, too?
As in the parable, so in Jesus’ life. After he returned to his Father was there no mother to greet him?
Stephen Mitchell, The Gospel According to Jesus, p. 39 & p. 223-229
Stephen Mitchell, “The Prodigal Son,” Parables and Portraits, p. 23
Jaroslav Pelikan, The Illustrated Jesus through the Centuries, p. 13
Stanley Plumly, “Paraphrase of the Parable of the Prodigal Son,” Poetry Daily (September 21, 2006)
“Paraphrase of the Parable of the Prodigal Son”
A certain man has two sons,
as a king may have three daughters.
The younger of his sons says to the father,
give me the portion of goods that fall to me.
The youngest daughter will say to her father,
I love you in a portion that cannot be measured in goods.
And the father-king, if he is old,
may confuse, through pride, her meaning.
The father of the two sons divides his living between them,
with the result that the younger gathers all together
and takes a journey to a far country
where he wastes his substance with riotous living.
Her sisters, taking advantage of their father’s confusion,
may claim to love him without qualification of his living.
There arises a famine in that far land
and the younger son begins to be in want,
so much so that he takes up with the swine
of the herd he is tending and eats as they eat.
A king may punish an ungrateful child,
send her into exile into a far country.
He may deprive her of all his goods.
He may dote on her sisters.
At last the son comes to his senses
and returns home to his father’s fields,
knowing he has sinned: Father, he will say, I am no more
worthy to be called your son, make me as one of your servants.
But as the father sees him coming yet a great way off
he has compassion and runs to greet his prodigal son.
Bring forth the best robe and rings and shoes,
he instructs the servants, let us kill the fatted calf,
for this my son was dead, and is alive again,
he was lost and is found. The lost sister may not be found.
The king, like old Saturn, will be blind
to what surrounds him. He is a tragic figure,
and thus his true daughter must suffer her father.
A king will punish an ungrateful child. The elder son,
working in the fields, hears the music of the meal,
and goes and stands outside the house demanding explanation.
Lo, these many years I have served you and your commandments
yet you never killed for me the fatted calf.
My brother wastes his goods on harlots,
and for him you make a feast. Son, says the father,
you are always with me, all that I have is yours.
But it was meet that we should feast and be glad.
Your brother was dead and is alive again.
The king, however, cannot bring back his daughter,
nor any of the family he has broken. He will die,
like many of us, without children.
Bonita Raine, The Beatitudes in Modern Life, p. 42
Ku Sang, “Mysterious Wealth,” Divine Inspiration, p. 243
Léopold Séedar Senghor, “Return of the Prodigal Son,” Divine Inspiration, p. 245
John Shea, “All I Want is What is Mine” (p. 132-136), “The rejected heart and the envious heart” (p. 169-171), An Experience Named Spirit
John Shea, “Let Them Be Who They Will Be,” The Spirit Master, p. 229
J. Barrie Shepherd, “Fathers and Sons,” Seeing with the Soul, p. 150-154
Imaging the Word, Vol. 1, p. 162-165
11-32 Genesis 4:1-5, 25:23; Matthew 21:28-32
11-24 Jeremiah 31:16-20
20 Genesis 33:4; Mark 1:11
11-24 Jane Kenyon, “Happiness,” Otherwise, p. 3
“Happiness”
11-24 Pinchas Sadeh, “A Journey through the Land of Israel,” Pushcart Prize III, p. 114
“A Journey through the Land of Israel”
11-24 Thomas R. Haney, Today’s Spirituality, p. 132
11-19 H. E. Fosdick, The Meaning of Prayer, p. 34 f.
11-18 Rainer Maria Rilke, “The Departure of the Prodigal Son,” New Poems, p. 36-37
18 Carla De Sola, The Spirit Moves, p. 78 f.
20 Wendell Berry, “The Law That Marries All Things,” Collected Poems, p. 247
“The Law That Marries All Things”
20-24 Henri Nouwen, “The Vulnerable God,” Weavings (July/August 1993), p. 28-35
25-32 Dom Helder Camara, A Thousand Reasons for Living, p. 71
A Thousand Reasons for Living
25-32 John Shea, “The Prayer of the Older Brother,” The Hour of the Unexpected, p. 25
31 Oscar Romero, The Violence of Love, p. 33
11 And he said, “There was a man who had two sons; 12 and the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that falls to me.’ And he divided his living between them. 13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took his journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in loose living. 14 And when he had spent everything, a great famine arose in that country, and he began to be in want. 15 So he went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed swine. 16 And he would gladly have fed on the pods that the swine ate; and no one gave him anything. 17 But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, but I perish here with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ 20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was yet at a distance, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet; 23 and bring the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and make merry; 24 for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to make merry.
25 “Now his elder son was in the field; and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants and asked what this meant. 27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has received him safe and sound.’ 28 But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, 29 but he answered his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command; yet you never gave me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your living with harlots, you killed for him the fatted calf!’ 31 And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 It was fitting to make merry and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’”
15:11 ειπεν δε ανθρωπος τις ειχεν δυο υιους 15:12 και ειπεν ο νεωτερος αυτων τω πατρι πατερ δος μοι το επιβαλλον μερος της ουσιας και διειλεν αυτοις τον βιον 15:13 και μετ ου πολλας ημερας συναγαγων απαντα ο νεωτερος υιος απεδημησεν εις χωραν μακραν και εκει διεσκορπισεν την ουσιαν αυτου ζων ασωτως 15:14 δαπανησαντος δε αυτου παντα εγενετο λιμος ισχυρος κατα την χωραν εκεινην και αυτος ηρξατο υστερεισθαι 15:15 και πορευθεις εκολληθη ενι των πολιτων της χωρας εκεινης και επεμψεν αυτον εις τους αγρους αυτου βοσκειν χοιρους 15:16 και επεθυμει γεμισαι την κοιλιαν αυτου απο των κερατιων ων ησθιον οι χοιροι και ουδεις εδιδου αυτω 15:17 εις εαυτον δε ελθων ειπεν ποσοι μισθιοι του πατρος μου περισσευουσιν αρτων εγω δε λιμω απολλυμαι 15:18 αναστας πορευσομαι προς τον πατερα μου και ερω αυτω πατερ ημαρτον εις τον ουρανον και ενωπιον σου 15:19 και ουκετι ειμι αξιος κληθηναι υιος σου ποιησον με ως ενα των μισθιων σου 15:20 και αναστας ηλθεν προς τον πατερα αυτου ετι δε αυτου μακραν απεχοντος ειδεν αυτον ο πατηρ αυτου και εσπλαγχνισθη και δραμων επεπεσεν επι τον τραχηλον αυτου και κατεφιλησεν αυτον 15:21 ειπεν δε αυτω ο υιος πατερ ημαρτον εις τον ουρανον και ενωπιον σου και ουκετι ειμι αξιος κληθηναι υιος σου 15:22 ειπεν δε ο πατηρ προς τους δουλους αυτου εξενεγκατε την στολην την πρωτην και ενδυσατε αυτον και δοτε δακτυλιον εις την χειρα αυτου και υποδηματα εις τους ποδας 15:23 και ενεγκαντες τον μοσχον τον σιτευτον θυσατε και φαγοντες ευφρανθωμεν 15:24 οτι ουτος ο υιος μου νεκρος ην και ανεζησεν και απολωλως ην και ευρεθη και ηρξαντο ευφραινεσθαι
15:25 ην δε ο υιος αυτου ο πρεσβυτερος εν αγρω και ως ερχομενος ηγγισεν τη οικια ηκουσεν συμφωνιας και χορων 15:26 και προσκαλεσαμενος ενα των παιδων επυνθανετο τι ειη ταυτα 15:27 ο δε ειπεν αυτω οτι ο αδελφος σου ηκει και εθυσεν ο πατηρ σου τον μοσχον τον σιτευτον οτι υγιαινοντα αυτον απελαβεν 15:28 ωργισθη δε και ουκ ηθελεν εισελθειν ο ουν πατηρ αυτου εξελθων παρεκαλει αυτον 15:29 ο δε αποκριθεις ειπεν τω πατρι ιδου τοσαυτα ετη δουλευω σοι και ουδεποτε εντολην σου παρηλθον και εμοι ουδεποτε εδωκας εριφον ινα μετα των φιλων μου ευφρανθω 15:30 οτε δε ο υιος σου ουτος ο καταφαγων σου τον βιον μετα πορνων ηλθεν εθυσας αυτω τον μοσχον τον σιτευτον 15:31 ο δε ειπεν αυτω τεκνον συ παντοτε μετ εμου ει και παντα τα εμα σα εστιν 15:32 ευφρανθηναι δε και χαρηναι εδει οτι ο αδελφος σου ουτος νεκρος ην και ανεζησεν και απολωλως ην και ευρεθη