Gospel: Luke 15:1-3,11-32

 

Chapter 15 of Luke’s Gospel includes the following information: the Pharisees and Scribes complained saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them”. Luke presents these three parables which are bound together by the same theme: the lost sheep, the lost drachma, the lost son. This last parable constitutes the theme of today’s Gospel.

 

The father divides everything between the two and each receives his part. To receive the inheritance is not any merit of ours. It is a gratuitous gift. The inheritance of the gifts of God is distributed among all human beings. All receive something of the inheritance of the Father, but not all take care of it in the same way. 

 

The need to find some food makes the young man lose his freedom. The situation in which he finds himself makes the young man remember how he was in his father’s home. Finally, he prepares the words which he will say to his Father. The younger son wants to fulfill the law as the Pharisees and the Scribes of the time of Jesus wanted. At the time of Luke, some Christians who converted from Judaism submitted themselves to the yoke of the Law.

 

The father does not want his son to be his slave. He wants him to be his son! This is the Good News which Jesus has brought to us! A new robe, new sandals, a ring! The one who experiences the gratuitous and surprising eruption of the love of God in his life becomes joyful and wishes to communicate this joy to others. The salvific action of God is a source of joy: “Rejoice with me!”.