Church Fathers Commentary Luke 15

St. Ambrose of Milan: You had learned from what came before not to be preoccupied with the business of this world or to prefer transitory things to eternal ones. But because human frailty cannot keep a firm step in such a slippery world, the good Physician has shown you a remedy even for when you fall. The merciful Judge has not denied the hope of pardon, which is why the Gospel adds, Then drew near to him all the publicans.

Glossa Ordinaria: This refers to those who collect or farm the public taxes, and who make a business of pursuing worldly gain.

Theophylact of Ohrid: For this was His custom—the very reason He had taken on the flesh—to receive sinners just as a physician receives the sick. But the Pharisees, who were the truly guilty ones, murmured in return for this act of mercy, as it follows: And the Pharisees and Scribes murmured, saying...

St. Gregory the Great: From this we may gather that true justice feels compassion, while false justice feels scorn, even though the just are rightly accustomed to repel sinners. But one action proceeds from the swelling of pride, and another from a zeal for discipline. For the just, while outwardly they do not spare rebukes for the sake of discipline, inwardly cherish the sweetness of charity. In their own minds they place those whom they correct above themselves, by which means they keep their flock in line through discipline, and themselves in line through humility.

On the contrary, those who pride themselves on a false justice despise all others and never condescend in mercy to the weak. Thinking themselves not to be sinners, they are all the worse for it. Such were the Pharisees, who, in condemning our Lord for receiving sinners, with parched hearts reviled the very fountain of mercy.

But because they were so sick that they did not recognize their own sickness, the heavenly Physician answers them with gentle remedies so that they might know what they were. For it follows, And he spoke this parable to them, saying, “What man of you having a hundred sheep, and if he lose one of them, does not go after it...” He gave a comparison that a person could recognize in himself, though it referred to the Creator of humanity. For since one hundred is a perfect number, He Himself had a hundred sheep, seeing that He possessed the nature of the holy angels and of men. For this reason, He adds, Having a hundred sheep.

St. Cyril of Alexandria: From this we can understand the extent of our Savior’s kingdom. For He says there are a hundred sheep, bringing to a perfect sum the number of rational creatures subject to Him. The number one hundred is perfect, being composed of ten decades. But out of these, one has wandered: namely, the human race which inhabits the earth.

St. Ambrose of Milan: Rich, then, is that Shepherd of whom we all are the hundredth part. This is why it follows, And if he lose one of them, does he not leave...

St. Gregory the Great: One sheep, then, perished when humanity, by sinning, left the pastures of life. But the ninety-nine remained in the wilderness, because the number of rational creatures—that is, of Angels and men who were formed to see God—was lessened when humanity perished. This is why it follows, Does he not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness... for in truth, He left the companies of Angels in heaven. Humanity forsook heaven when it sinned. And so that the whole flock of sheep might be made perfectly complete again in heaven, the lost one was sought for on earth, as it says, And go after that...

St. Cyril of Alexandria: But was He then angry with the rest, and moved by kindness toward only one? By no means. For they are in safety, defended by the right hand of the Most Mighty. It was fitting for Him, rather, to pity the one that was perishing, so that the total number would not remain imperfect. For when the one is brought back, the flock of one hundred regains its proper form.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Alternatively, He spoke of those ninety-nine whom He left in the wilderness to signify the proud, who bear a kind of solitude in their minds because they wish to stand apart by themselves, lacking the unity needed for perfection. For when a person is torn from unity, it is by pride. Desiring to be his own master, he does not follow the One who is God. But God directs all who are reconciled by repentance—which is obtained through humility—back to that One.

Gregory of Nyssa: But when the shepherd found the sheep, he did not punish it; he did not drive it back to the flock. Instead, by placing it upon his shoulders and carrying it gently, he reunited it with his flock. This is why it says, And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

St. Gregory the Great: He placed the sheep upon His shoulders because, by taking human nature upon Himself, He bore our sins. But having found the sheep, He returns home; for our Shepherd, having restored humanity, returns to His heavenly kingdom. This is why it follows, And coming home he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.’ By His friends and neighbors, He means the companies of Angels. They are His friends because they keep His will in their steadfastness, and they are His neighbors because, by constantly attending to Him, they enjoy the brightness of His presence.

Theophylact of Ohrid: The heavenly powers are thus called sheep because every created nature, when compared with God, is like the beasts. But because they are rational, they are called friends and neighbors.

St. Gregory the Great: We must observe that He does not say, “Rejoice with the sheep that is found,” but “with me,” because truly our life is His joy, and when we are brought home to heaven, we complete the celebration of His joy.

St. Ambrose of Milan: Now the angels, since they are intelligent beings, rejoice with good reason at the redemption of humanity, as it is written: I say to you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repents, more than over ninety and nine just persons who need no repentance. Let this serve as an incentive to goodness, so that a person may believe that his conversion will be pleasing to the assembled angels, whose favor he ought to seek and whose displeasure he ought to fear.

St. Gregory the Great: He states that there is more joy in heaven over the converted sinner than over the just who remain steadfast. This is because the just, for the most part, do not feel oppressed by the weight of their sins. They indeed stand in the way of righteousness, but they still do not anxiously long for the heavenly country and are frequently slow to perform good works, confident that they have committed no grievous sins.

On the other hand, those who remember certain iniquities they have committed are sometimes pricked to the heart and, from their very grief, become inflamed with love for God. Because they recognize they have wandered from God, they make up for their former losses with subsequent gains.

Therefore, the joy in heaven is greater, just as a battle commander loves the soldier who, after turning from flight, bravely pursues the enemy more than the one who never turned his back but also never performed a brave act. Likewise, a farmer loves the land that, after bearing thorns, yields abundant fruit more than the land that never had thorns but never produced a plentiful crop.

However, we must be aware that there are very many just people in whose lives there is so much joy that no penitence of even the greatest sinners can be preferred to them. From this we can understand what great joy it causes God when a just person humbly mourns, if it already produces joy in heaven when an unrighteous person, through repentance, condemns the evil he has done.

St. John Chrysostom: In the preceding parable, where the human race was described as a wandering sheep, we were shown to be the creatures of the Most High God, who made us—and not we ourselves—and we are the sheep of His pasture. Now, a second parable is added, comparing the human race to a lost piece of silver. By this, He shows that we were made in the royal likeness and image—that is, of the Most High God. For the piece of silver is a coin bearing the king’s image, as it is said, Or what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one...

St. Gregory the Great: The one signified by the shepherd is also signified by the woman, for it is God Himself—God and the wisdom of God. The Lord formed the nature of angels and men to know Him and created them in His own likeness. The woman had ten pieces of silver because there are nine orders of angels; so that the number of the elect might be filled, man, the tenth, was created.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Alternatively, by the nine pieces of silver, just as by the ninety-nine sheep, He represents those who, trusting in themselves, prefer themselves to sinners who are returning to salvation. For nine is one short of ten, and ninety-nine is one short of a hundred. To that one, He ordains all who are reconciled by repentance.

St. Gregory the Great: Because an image is impressed on the piece of silver, the woman lost the coin when humanity, created in the image of God, departed from the likeness of its Creator by sinning. This is why the parable adds that if she loses one piece, she lights a candle. The woman lit a candle because the wisdom of God appeared in man. For the candle is a light in an earthen vessel, and the light in an earthen vessel is the Godhead in the flesh.

After the candle is lit, the text says she “disturbs the house.” Truly, as soon as His divinity shone forth through the flesh, all our consciences were shaken. This word “disturbs” is not different from the word “sweeps” found in other manuscripts, because a corrupt mind, if it is not first overthrown by fear, cannot be cleansed from its habitual faults. But when the house is disturbed, the piece of silver is found, for the parable continues, she “seeks diligently until she finds it.” For truly, when a person's conscience is disturbed, the likeness of the Creator is restored in them.

St. Gregory of Nazianzus: When the piece of silver is found, He makes the heavenly powers—whom He made ministers of His divine plan—partakers of the joy. And so it follows, And when she had found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors.

St. Gregory the Great: For the heavenly powers are near to divine wisdom, as they approach Him through the grace of continual vision.

Theophylact of Ohrid: They are friends because they perform His will, and neighbors because they are spiritual. Or perhaps His friends are all the heavenly powers, while His neighbors are those who come nearest to Him, such as Thrones, Cherubim, and Seraphim.

Gregory of Nyssa: Alternatively, I suppose this is what our Lord sets before us in the search for the lost piece of silver: no advantage comes to us from the external virtues, which He calls pieces of silver, even if all of them are ours, as long as the one is lacking to the widowed soul—the one by which it truly obtains the brightness of the divine image.

Therefore, He first bids us light a candle, which is to say, the divine word that brings hidden things to light, or perhaps the torch of repentance. A person must search in his own house—that is, in himself and his own conscience. The lost piece of silver is the royal image, which is not entirely defaced but is hidden under the dirt, signifying the corruption of the flesh. When this dirt is diligently wiped away—that is, washed out by a well-lived life—that which was sought for shines forth.

Therefore, she who has found it ought to rejoice and call her neighbors to share her joy. These neighbors are the companion virtues—reason, desire, and anger—and whatever powers are found around the soul, which she teaches to rejoice in the Lord. Then, concluding the parable, He adds, There is joy in the presence of the angels over one sinner that repents.

St. Gregory the Great: To practice repentance is to mourn over past sins and not to commit acts that would cause future mourning. For a person who weeps over some sins while still committing others does not yet know how to repent, or is a hypocrite. He must also reflect that by doing this he does not satisfy his Creator. Since he has done what was forbidden, he must deny himself even what is lawful. In this way, he who remembers offending in the greatest things should blame himself even in the least.

St. Ambrose of Milan: St. Luke has given three parables in succession: the sheep that was lost and found, the piece of silver that was lost and found, and the son who was dead and came to life again. He did this so that, invited by a threefold remedy, we might heal our wounds. Christ as the Shepherd bears you on His own body, the Church as the woman seeks for you, and God as the Father receives you. The first remedy is pity, the second is intercession, and the third is reconciliation.

St. John Chrysostom: In the parable, there is also a principle of distinction regarding the characters or dispositions of the sinners. The father receives his penitent son, who exercised the freedom of his will and so knew from where he had fallen. The shepherd, however, seeks the sheep that wanders and does not know how to return, and he carries it on his shoulders. This compares the foolish man, who was deceived by another’s guile and had wandered like a sheep, to an irrational animal. This parable is then presented as follows: But he said, A certain man had two sons.

Some say that the elder of these two sons represents the angels, while the younger represents humanity, which departed on a long journey when it fell from heaven and paradise to earth. They adapt what follows to the fall or condition of Adam. This interpretation seems lenient, but I do not know if it is true. For the younger son came to repentance of his own accord, remembering the past abundance of his father’s house. The Lord, however, by coming, called the human race to repentance because He saw that returning on their own to the place from which they had fallen had never entered their minds. Furthermore, the elder son is grieved at the return and safety of his brother, while the Lord says, There is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents.

St. Cyril of Alexandria: Some say that the elder son symbolizes Israel according to the flesh, while the other son, who left his father, symbolizes the multitude of the Gentiles.

St. Augustine of Hippo: This man with two sons, then, is understood to be God, who has two nations, as if they were two roots of the human race. The one is composed of those who have remained in the worship of God, and the other of those who have always deserted God to worship idols. From the very beginning of humankind, the elder son relates to the worship of the one God, but the younger asks that the part of the substance that falls to him be given to him by his father.

It is then said, And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ This is just like the soul, which, delighted with its own power, seeks what belongs to it—to live, to understand, to remember, to excel in quickness of intellect. All of which are gifts from God, but the soul has received them into its own power by free will. Then it says, And he divided to them his substance.

Theophylact of Ohrid: The substance of man is the capacity for reason, which is accompanied by free will. Similarly, whatever God has given us is to be considered our substance, such as the heaven, the earth, and universal nature, as well as the Law and the Prophets.

St. Ambrose of Milan: Now you see that the divine inheritance is given to those who seek it. Do not think it was wrong of the father to give it to the younger son, for no age is weak in the kingdom of God; faith is not weighed down by years. At least the one who asked considered himself capable, and I only wish he had not departed from his father or been hindered by his age. For it follows, And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together and took his journey into a far country.

St. John Chrysostom: The younger son set out for a distant country, not by departing locally from God, who is everywhere present, but by departing in his heart. For the sinner flees from God so that he may stand far away.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Whoever wishes to be like God by ascribing his strength to Him should not depart from Him, but rather cling to Him, so that he may preserve the likeness and image in which he was made. But if he perversely wishes to imitate God—in the sense that, just as God is governed by no one, he too desires to exercise his own power and live under no rules—what is left for him but to lose all warmth, grow cold and senseless, and, departing from truth, vanish away?

The detail that he left “not many days after,” gathering all he had and setting out for a far country—which is the forgetfulness of God—signifies that not long after the creation of the human race, the human soul chose by its free will to take its natural power with it and desert the One who created it. It trusted in its own strength, which it wastes all the more rapidly because it has abandoned the One who gave it. This is why the parable says, And there he wasted his substance with riotous living.

A riotous or prodigal life is one that loves to spend and lavish itself with outward displays while exhausting itself from within, because such a person pursues transient things and forsakes Him who is closest to them. As the story continues, And when he had spent all, there arose a great famine in that land. The famine is a lack of the word of truth.

It follows, And he began to be in want. Fittingly, he began to be in want, for he had abandoned the treasures of the wisdom and knowledge of God and the unfathomable depths of the heavenly riches. It follows, And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country.

One of the citizens of that country was a certain prince of the air, belonging to the army of the devil. His fields signify the nature of his power, about which it says, And he sent him into the field to feed swine. The swine are the unclean spirits that are under his command.

The Venerable Bede: To feed swine is to do those things in which the unclean spirits delight. It follows, And he would have filled his belly with the husks which the swine did eat. The husk is a type of bean, empty on the inside and soft on the outside, which does not refresh the body but only fills it, so that it weighs the body down rather than nourishes it.

St. Augustine of Hippo: The husks with which the swine were fed, then, are the teachings of the world, which loudly proclaim vanity. According to these teachings, people repeat in various prose and verse the praises of idols and myths about the gods of the Gentiles, with which demons are delighted. Therefore, when he longed to fill himself, he wished to find in those teachings something stable and righteous that could lead to a happy life, but he could not. As it says, And no one gave to him.

St. Cyril of Alexandria: But since the Jews are frequently rebuked in Holy Scripture for their many crimes, how can the words of the elder son fit this people, when he says, ‘Lo, these many years do I serve you, neither transgressed at any time your commandment’?

This, then, is the meaning of the parable. The Pharisees and Scribes rebuked Him because He received sinners. He, in turn, presented the parable in which He calls God the man who is the father of two kinds of sons (that is, the righteous and the sinners). The first group consists of the righteous who have followed righteousness from the beginning; the second consists of those who are brought back to righteousness through repentance.

St. Basil the Great: Besides, it is more characteristic of the elderly to have an old man’s mind and seriousness than his gray hairs. A person who is young in age is not to be blamed, but rather the one who is immature in his habits and lives according to his passions.

Titus of Bostra: The younger son, then, went away not yet matured in mind, and he asks his father for the part of the inheritance that falls to him, so that, in truth, he might not serve out of necessity. For we are rational animals endowed with free will.

St. John Chrysostom: Now, the Scripture says that the father divided his substance—that is, the knowledge of good and evil—equally between his two sons. This knowledge is a true and everlasting possession for the soul that uses it well. The substance of reason, which flows from God to people at their very birth, is given equally to all who come into this world. But after the experiences that follow, each person is found to possess more or less of this substance. For one person, believing that what he has received is from his father, preserves it as his inheritance, while another abuses it as something that can be wasted, by the freedom of his own possession.

The freedom of the will is shown in that the father neither held back the son who wished to depart, nor forced the other to go who wished to remain, so that he would not seem to be the author of the evil that followed. But the youngest son went far away, not by changing his location, but by turning his heart away. Hence it says, He took a journey into a far country.

St. Ambrose of Milan: For what is farther away than to depart from one’s true self—to be separated not by country, but by habits? For he who severs himself from Christ is an exile from his true country and a citizen of this world. Fittingly, then, does he waste his inheritance who departs from the Church.

Titus of Bostra: This is also why the prodigal was called one who wasted his substance: that is, his right understanding, the teaching of chastity, the knowledge of the truth, the recollections of his father, and the awareness of creation.

St. Ambrose of Milan: Now there arose in that country a famine, not of food, but of good works and virtues, which is a more miserable kind of fasting. For he who departs from the word of God is hungry, because man does not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. And he who departs from his treasures is in want. Therefore, he began to be in want and to suffer hunger, because nothing can satisfy a prodigal mind.

He went away, therefore, and attached himself to one of the citizens of that country. For he who becomes attached is caught in a snare. And that citizen seems to be a prince of the world. Lastly, he is sent to the farm of the one who, having bought it, excused himself from the kingdom.

The Venerable Bede: For to be sent to the farm is to be enslaved by the desire for worldly substance.

St. Ambrose of Milan: But he feeds swine like those into whom the devil sought to enter, living in filth and pollution.

Theophylact of Ohrid: In that place, then, he who surpassed others in vice becomes a feeder of swine—for example, pimps, chief robbers, and chief tax collectors, who teach others their own abominable works.

St. John Chrysostom: Or, one who is destitute of spiritual riches, such as wisdom and understanding, is said to feed swine—that is, to nourish sordid and unclean thoughts in his soul. He devours the material food of evil conduct, which is indeed sweet to one who lacks good works, because every work of carnal pleasure seems sweet to the depraved, while it inwardly weakens and destroys the powers of the soul.

This kind of food, being swine’s food and harmfully sweet—that is, the allurements of fleshly delights—is what Scripture describes by the name of husks.

St. Ambrose of Milan: But he desired to fill his belly with the husks. For sensual people care for nothing else but to fill their bellies.

Theophylact of Ohrid: To this person, no one gives a sufficiency of evil; for anyone who lives on such things is far from God, and the demons do their best to ensure that a satiety with evil never comes.

Glossa Ordinaria: Or, the phrase “no one gave to him” means that when the devil makes someone his own, he provides no further abundance for him, knowing him to be dead.

Gregory of Nyssa: The younger son had despised his father when he first departed and had wasted his father’s money. But over time, he was broken down by hardship. After becoming a hired servant and eating the same food as the swine, he returned, chastened, to his father’s house.

This is why it is said, And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, but I perish with hunger.

St. Ambrose of Milan: He rightly returns to himself, because he had departed from himself. For he who returns to God restores himself to himself, and he who departs from Christ rejects himself from himself.

St. Augustine of Hippo: He returned to himself when he brought his mind back from those external things that unprofitably entice and seduce, returning to the inner depths of his conscience.

St. Basil the Great: There are three distinct kinds of obedience. Either we avoid evil out of fear of punishment, and are thus servilely disposed; or, seeking the gain of a reward, we perform what is commanded, like mercenaries; or we obey the law for the sake of the good itself and our love for Him who gave it, and so have the disposition of children.

St. Ambrose of Milan: For the son who has the pledge of the Holy Spirit in his heart does not seek the gain of an earthly reward but preserves the right of an heir. These are also the good husbandmen to whom the vineyard is leased. They do not abound in husks, but in bread.

St. Augustine of Hippo: But how could he know this, having that great forgetfulness of God which exists in all idolaters, unless it was the reflection of someone returning to his right mind when the Gospel was preached? Such a soul might already see that many preach the truth, among whom are some not led by the love of the truth itself, but by the desire for worldly profit.

Yet these do not preach another Gospel, as the heretics do, and therefore they are rightly called mercenaries. For in the same house there are men who handle the same bread of the word, yet are not called to an eternal inheritance but hire themselves out for a temporal reward.

St. John Chrysostom: After he had suffered in a foreign land all the things that the wicked deserve, constrained by the hardship of his misfortunes—that is, by hunger and want—he becomes aware of what had been his ruin. He realizes it was he who, through the fault of his own will, had thrown himself away from his father to strangers, from home to exile, from riches to want, and from abundance and luxury to famine.

He significantly adds, But I am here perishing with hunger. It is as if to say: "I am not a stranger, but the son of a good father and the brother of an obedient son. I, who am free and noble, have become more wretched than the hired servants, sunk from the highest pinnacle of exalted rank to the lowest degradation."

Gregory of Nyssa: But he did not return to his former happiness until, coming to himself, he had experienced the presence of overpowering bitterness and resolved to speak the words of repentance, which are added: I will arise.

St. Augustine of Hippo: For he was lying down. And I will go, for he was a long way off. To my father, because he was under a master of swine. But the other words are those of one meditating on repentance and a confession of sin, but not yet acting on it. For he does not now speak to his father, but promises that he will speak when he comes.

You must understand, then, that this "coming to the father" must now be taken to mean being established in the Church by faith, where a lawful and effectual confession of sins can yet be made. He says, then, that he will say to his father, Father.

St. Ambrose of Milan: How merciful! He, though offended, does not disdain to hear the name of Father. I have sinned; this is the first confession of sin to the Author of nature, the Ruler of mercy, the Judge of faith. But though God knows all things, He still waits for the voice of your confession. For with the mouth confession is made unto salvation, since the one who takes the weight upon himself lightens the load of error, and the one who anticipates the accuser by confessing shuts out the hatred of accusation.

It is in vain that you would hide from Him from whom nothing escapes; and you may safely reveal what you know is already known. Confess, rather, so that Christ may intercede for you, the Church plead for you, and the people weep over you. Do not fear that you will not obtain what you ask; your Advocate promises pardon, your Patron favor, and your Deliverer promises you the reconciliation of your Father’s affection. But he adds, Against heaven, and before you.

St. John Chrysostom: When he says, Before you, he shows that this father must be understood as God. For God alone beholds all things, from whom not even the simple thoughts of the heart can be hidden.

St. Augustine of Hippo: But was this sin "against heaven" the same as that which is "before you," so that by the name of heaven he described his father’s supremacy? I have sinned against heaven—that is, before the souls of the saints; but before you—in the very sanctuary of my conscience.

St. John Chrysostom: Or, by "heaven" in this place may be understood Christ. For he who sins against heaven (which, although above us, is still a visible element) is the same as he who sins against man, whom the Son of God took into Himself for our salvation.

St. Ambrose of Milan: Or, these words signify the heavenly gifts of the Spirit, which are impaired by the sin of the soul; or they signify that he ought never to have departed from the bosom of his mother, the heavenly Jerusalem. But being cast down, he must by no means exalt himself. Hence he adds, I am no more worthy to be called your son. And so that he might be raised up by the merit of his humility, he adds, Make me as one of your hired servants.

The Venerable Bede: He by no means lays claim to the affection of a son, who does not doubt that all things that are his father’s are his. Instead, he desires the condition of a hired servant, as one who is now about to serve for a reward. But he admits that he could not deserve even this, except by his father’s approval.

Gregory of Nyssa: The Holy Spirit has engraved this story of the prodigal son upon our hearts, so that we may be instructed how we ought to deplore the sins of our soul.

St. John Chrysostom: After he said, I will go to my father (which brought about all good things), he did not delay but undertook the whole journey, for it follows, And he arose, and came to his father. Let us do likewise, and not be wearied by the length of the way. For if we are willing, the return will become swift and easy, provided that we forsake the sin that led us out from our father’s house. But the father pities those who return, for it is added, And when he was yet afar off.

St. Augustine of Hippo: For before he perceived God from afar, while he was still piously seeking him, his father saw him. For it is well said that God does not see the ungodly and proud, as not having them "before his eyes." For people are not commonly said to be "before the eyes" of anyone except those who are beloved.

St. John Chrysostom: Now the father, perceiving his penitence, did not wait to receive the words of his confession, but anticipated his supplication and had compassion on him, as it is added, and was moved with pity.

Gregory of Nyssa: His meditation on his confession so won his father to him that he went out to meet him and kissed his neck; for it follows, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. This signifies the yoke of reason imposed on the mouth of man by the tradition of the Gospel, which annulled the observance of the law.

St. John Chrysostom: For what else does it mean that he ran, except that we, through the hindrance of our sins, cannot by our own virtue reach God? But because God is able to come to the weak, He fell on his neck. The mouth is kissed, as it is the source from which the penitent's confession proceeded, springing from a heart that the father gladly received.

St. Ambrose of Milan: He runs, then, to meet you, because He hears you meditating on the secrets of your heart within; and when you were still far off, He runs so that no one might stop Him. He also embraces you (for in the running there is foreknowledge, and in the embrace, mercy) and, as if by an impulse of paternal affection, falls upon your neck, so that He may raise up the one who is cast down and bring back to heaven the one who was loaded with sins and bent down to the earth.

I would rather, then, be a son than a sheep. For the sheep is found by the shepherd; the son is honored by the father.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Or, by running He fell upon his neck, because the Father did not abandon His Only-Begotten Son, in whom He has always been running after us in our distant wanderings. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself. To fall upon his neck is to lower to his embrace His own Arm, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. But to be comforted by the word of God’s grace with the hope of the pardon of our sins—this is to return after a long journey to obtain from a father the kiss of love.

But, already established in the Church, he begins to confess his sins, but does not say all that he promised he would say. For it follows, And the son said unto him... He wishes that to be done by grace, of which he confesses himself unworthy by any of his own merits. He does not add what he had said when meditating beforehand: Make me as one of your hired servants. For when he had no bread, he desired to be a hired servant—a status which, after his father's kiss, he now most nobly disdained.

St. John Chrysostom: The father does not direct his words to his son but speaks to his servants. For he who repents prays, indeed, but receives no answer in words; yet he beholds mercy at work. For it follows, But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him.

Theophylact of Ohrid: By the "servants" (or angels), you may understand ministering spirits, or priests who, by baptism and the word of teaching, clothe the soul with Christ Himself. For as many of us as have been baptized in Christ have put on Christ.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Or, the best robe is the dignity which Adam lost; the servants who bring it are the preachers of reconciliation.

St. Ambrose of Milan: Or, the robe is the cloak of wisdom, by which the Apostle covers the nakedness of the body. But he received the best wisdom, for there is one wisdom which did not know the mystery. The ring is the seal of our unfeigned faith and the impression of truth, concerning which it follows, And put a ring on his hand.

The Venerable Bede: That is, his works, so that faith may shine forth by works, and his works may be strengthened by faith.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Or, the ring on the hand is a pledge of the Holy Spirit, because of the participation of grace, which is well signified by the finger.

St. John Chrysostom: Or, he orders the ring to be given, which is the symbol of the seal of salvation, or rather, the badge of betrothal and the pledge of the nuptials with which Christ espouses His Church. The soul that recovers is united by this ring of faith to Christ.

St. Augustine of Hippo: But the shoes on the feet are the preparation for preaching the Gospel, so as not to touch earthly things.

St. John Chrysostom: Or, he bids them put shoes on his feet, either to cover the soles of his feet so that he may walk firmly along the slippery path of the world, or for the mortification of his members. For the course of our life is called a "foot" in the Scriptures, and a kind of mortification takes place in shoes, inasmuch as they are made of the skins of dead animals.

He also adds that the fatted calf must be killed for the celebration of the feast. For it follows, And bring the fatted calf. This is the Lord Jesus Christ, whom he calls a calf because of the sacrifice of a body without spot. But he called it "fatted" because it is rich and costly, inasmuch as it is sufficient for the salvation of the whole world. But the Father did not Himself sacrifice the calf, but gave it to be sacrificed by others. For the Father permitting, the Son consenting, He was crucified by men.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Or, the fatted calf is our Lord Himself in the flesh, loaded with insults. But in that the Father commands them to bring it, what else is this but that they preach Him? And by declaring Him, they cause the inner being of the hungry son to revive, though he is not consumed by hunger. He also bids them kill Him, alluding to His death. For He is, in effect, killed for each person who believes He was slain. It follows, And let us eat.

St. Ambrose of Milan: Rightly the flesh of the calf, because it is the priestly victim which was offered for sin. But he introduces him feasting when he says, Be merry, to show that the food of the Father is our salvation, and the joy of the Father is the redemption of our sins.

St. John Chrysostom: For the father himself rejoices in the return of his son and feasts on the calf, because the Creator, rejoicing in the acquisition of a believing people, feasts on the fruit of His mercy by the sacrifice of His Son. Hence it follows, For this my son was dead, and is alive again.

St. Ambrose of Milan: He is dead who was. Therefore the Gentile is not; the Christian is. Here, however, this might be understood as one individual of the human race: Adam was, and in him we all were. Adam perished, and in him we all have perished. Man himself is restored in that Man who has died. It might also seem to be spoken of one working repentance, because he does not die who has never lived. And the Gentiles, indeed, when they have believed are made alive again by grace. But he who has fallen recovers by repentance.

Theophylact of Ohrid: Thus, with respect to the condition of his sins, he had been despaired of; so, in regard to human nature, which is changeable and can be turned from vice to virtue, he is said to be "lost." For it is less to be lost than to die. But everyone who is recalled and turned from sin, by partaking of the fatted calf, becomes an occasion of joy to his father and his servants—that is, the angels and priests. Hence it follows, And they all began to be merry.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Those banquets are now celebrated, the Church being enlarged and extended throughout the whole world. For that calf, in our Lord’s body and blood, is both offered up to the Father and feeds the whole house.

The Venerable Bede: While the Scribes and Pharisees were murmuring that He received sinners, our Savior told them three successive parables. In the first two, He hints at the joy He and the angels have in the salvation of penitents. But in the third, He not only declares His own joy and that of His angels, but He also rebukes the murmuring of those who were envious. For He says, Now his elder son was in the field.

St. Augustine of Hippo: The elder son is the people of Israel. Though he had not gone into a distant country, he was nevertheless not in the house but in the field. This signifies that he was occupied with the paternal inheritance of the Law and the Prophets, but chose to labor for earthly things. But coming from the field, he began to draw near to the house; this means that after the toil of his servile works was condemned by those same Scriptures, he began to contemplate the liberty of the Church.

From this it follows: And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. This represents people filled with the Holy Spirit, preaching the Gospel with harmonious voices. It follows: And he called one of the servants... This means he takes one of the prophets to read. As he searches the text, he is, in a sense, asking why these feasts—at which he finds himself present—are being celebrated in the Church.

The prophet, his Father’s servant, answers him. For it follows: And he said to him, Your brother has come... It is as if the prophet said, "Your brother was in the farthest parts of the earth, and for this reason, the rejoicing of those who sing a new song is all the greater, because His praise is from the ends of the earth. For the sake of him who was far off, the Man who knows how to bear our infirmities was slain, for those who had not been told of Him have now seen Him."

St. Ambrose of Milan: But the younger son, representing the Gentile people, is envied by Israel, the elder brother, for the privilege of his father’s blessing. The Jews did this because Christ sat down to eat with the Gentiles, as it follows: And he was angry, and would not go in...

St. Augustine of Hippo: He is angry even now, and is still unwilling to enter. Then, when the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, his Father will go out at the proper time so that all Israel may also be saved, as it follows: Therefore his father came out and entreated him. For at some point, there will be an open calling of the Jews to the salvation of the Gospel. He calls this manifestation of their calling the "going out of the father" to entreat the elder son.

The elder son's answer involves two questions, for he says to his father: Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time. Regarding the commandment he claims not to have transgressed, it is clear this does not refer to every command, but to the most essential one: that he was never seen to worship any god other than the one true God, the Creator of all. This son should not be understood to represent all Israelites, but only those who never turned from God to idols. For although he might desire earthly things, he sought them from God alone, even if he did so alongside sinners. Hence it is said, I was like a beast before you, yet I am always with you.

But what is this kid that he never received to celebrate with? For it follows: You never gave me a kid... The name "kid" may signify the sinner.

St. Ambrose of Milan: The Jew demands a kid, while the Christian desires a lamb; therefore, Barabbas is released to them, but for us, a lamb is sacrificed. This is also reflected in the kid, because the Jews have lost the ancient rite of sacrifice. Alternatively, those who seek a kid are waiting for the Antichrist.

St. Augustine of Hippo: But I do not see the point of this interpretation. It is very absurd to think that the one to whom it is later said, You are always with me, would have wished for this from his father—that is, to believe in the Antichrist. Nor can we rightly understand that son to represent any of the Jews who are to believe in the Antichrist.

And how could he feast on that "kid"—who is the Antichrist—if he did not believe in him? But if "to feast upon the slain kid" means to rejoice at the destruction of the Antichrist, how can the son say this was never given to him, since all the sons will rejoice at his destruction? His complaint, then, is that the Lord Himself was denied to him as a feast, because he considers Him a sinner. For since Christ is a "kid" to that nation which views Him as a violator and profaner of the Sabbath, it was not fitting that they should celebrate at His banquet. His words, "with my friends," are understood in terms of the relationship between the leaders and the people, or between the people of Jerusalem and the other nations of Judea.

St. Jerome: Or, he says, You never gave me a kid, meaning that no blood of a prophet or priest has delivered us from Roman power.

St. Ambrose of Milan: Now the shameless son is like the Pharisee who justifies himself. Because he had kept the law in the letter, he wickedly accused his brother of having wasted his father’s substance with harlots. For it follows: But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood...

St. Augustine of Hippo: The "harlots" represent the superstitions of the Gentiles. With them, he wastes his substance, who, having left the true marriage of the one true God, goes whoring after evil spirits out of foul desire.

St. Jerome: Now in what he says, You have killed the fatted calf for him, he confesses that Christ has come, but his envy prevents him from wishing to be saved.

St. Augustine of Hippo: But the father does not rebuke him as a liar. Instead, commending his steadfastness, he invites him to the perfection of a better and happier rejoicing. Hence it follows: But he said to him, "Son, you are always with me."

St. Jerome: Or, after noting, "This is boasting, not truth," the father does not agree with him but restrains him in another way, saying, "You are with me by the law under which you are bound." This is not to say he had not sinned, but that God continually drew him back through chastening. Nor is it surprising that one who hates his brother would lie to his father.

St. Ambrose of Milan: But the kind father still desired to save him, saying, You are always with me—either as a Jew in the law, or as a righteous person in communion with Him.

St. Augustine of Hippo: But what does he mean by adding, And all that I have is yours, as if these things were not his brother’s also? It is that perfect and immortal children view all things in this way: that what each one has is the possession of all, and what all have belongs to each one. For just as desire obtains nothing without a sense of lack, so charity possesses nothing with a sense of lack.

But how can he have "all things"? Are we to suppose that God has subjected even the angels to the possession of such a son? If you understand "possession" to mean that the possessor of a thing is its lord, then certainly not all things are his, for we shall not be the lords of angels, but their companions. Again, if this is how possession is understood, how can we rightly say that our souls "possess" truth? I see no reason why we may not truly and properly say so, for we do not speak in such a way as to call our souls the "mistresses" of truth.

Or if the term "possession" hinders us from this meaning, let it be set aside. For the father does not say, "You possess all things," but All that I have is yours—still, not in the sense that you are its lord. For that which is our property may be food for our families, an ornament, or something of that kind. And surely, if he can rightly call his father his own, I do not see why he cannot also rightly call his own what belongs to his father, just in different ways. For when we have obtained that blessedness, the higher things will be ours to contemplate, equal things will be ours to share in fellowship, and the lower things will be ours to rule. Let the elder brother, then, most safely join in the rejoicing.

St. Ambrose of Milan: For if he ceases to envy, he will feel that all things are his—either as the Jew, possessing the sacraments of the Old Testament, or as a baptized person, possessing those of the New Testament as well.

Theophylact of Ohrid: Or, to take a different approach, the character of the complaining son represents all those who are offended by the sudden spiritual progress and salvation of others, just as David introduces one who took offense at the peace of sinners.

Titus of Bostra: The elder son, then, as a farmer, was engaged in husbandry—digging not in the land, but in the field of the soul, and planting trees of salvation, which is to say, the virtues.

Theophylact of Ohrid: Or, he was in the field—that is, in the world—pampering his own flesh so that he might be filled with bread, and sowing in tears so that he might reap in joy. But when he discovered what was happening, he was unwilling to enter into the shared joy.

St. John Chrysostom: But it is asked whether one who grieves at the prosperity of others is afflicted by the passion of envy. We must answer that no saint grieves at such things; rather, he looks upon the good things of others as his own. Now, we must not take everything in the parable literally. Instead, we should draw out the meaning the author intended and search for nothing further. This parable, then, was written so that sinners would not despair of returning, knowing that they will obtain great things. Therefore, He introduces some who are so troubled by these good things that they are consumed with envy, while those who return are treated with such great honor that they themselves become an object of envy to others.

Theophylact of Ohrid: Or, by this parable our Lord reproves the attitude of the Pharisees, whom, for the sake of argument, He calls just. It is as if to say, "Let it be that you are truly just and have transgressed none of the commandments. Must we, for this reason, refuse to admit those who turn away from their iniquities?"

St. Jerome: Or, in another way, all human justice is injustice when compared to the justice of God. Therefore Paul says, Who will deliver me from this body of death? And for this reason, the Apostles were moved with anger at the request of the sons of Zebedee.

St. Cyril of Alexandria: We ourselves sometimes experience this. For while some live a most excellent and perfect life, another is often converted to God even in his old age, or perhaps washes away his guilt through God’s mercy just as he is about to die. But some people reject this mercy out of a restless timidity of mind, not taking into account the will of our Savior, who rejoices in the salvation of those who are perishing.

Theophylact of Ohrid: The son then says to the father, "For nothing I left a life of sorrow, constantly harassed by sinners who were my enemies, and you have never ordered a kid to be slain for my sake (that is, a sinner who persecuted me), so that I might enjoy myself for a little while." Such a "kid" was Ahab to Elijah, who said, Lord, they have killed your prophets.

St. Ambrose of Milan: Or else, this brother is described as coming from the farm—that is, engaged in worldly occupations—and so ignorant of the things of the Spirit of God that he ultimately complains that a kid was never slain for him. For the Lamb was sacrificed not for the sake of envy, but for the pardon of the world. The envious person seeks a kid, but the innocent one seeks a lamb to be sacrificed for him.

He is also called the "elder" because a person quickly grows old through envy. Therefore, he also stands outside, because his malice excludes him. For this reason, he could not hear the dancing and music—which is not the lustful fascination of the stage, but the harmonious song of a people, resounding with the sweet joy for a sinner who is saved.

For those who consider themselves righteous are angry when pardon is granted to one who confesses his sins. Who are you to speak against your Lord, arguing that He should not forgive a fault, when you yourselves pardon whomever you please? But we ought to favor the forgiveness of sin after repentance, lest while we begrudge pardon to another, we ourselves fail to obtain it from our Lord. Let us not envy those who return from a distant country, seeing that we ourselves were also once far off.