Church Fathers Commentary Luke 15:11-16

"And he said, A certain man had two sons: and the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of [thy] substance that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together and took his journey into a far country; and there he wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that country; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him." — Luke 15:11-16 (ASV)

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.