Today’s Gospel (Sept 11, 2022; Luke 15: 1-32) recalls the Pharisees persecution of Jesus for dinning with sinners, and his rebuke of their actions. Typically, this sermon focuses only on the Prodigal Son parable, and leaves out the context of the entire discourse. As such, many of the faithful receive great angst in the lesson of the Prodigal Son, and are denied the richness of the lessons our Lord, and the Holy Spirit, provides in Luke 15.

In the opening verses, the Pharisees rebuke Jesus for dinning with sinners and not themselves. Dinning with a person was a great honor, it is where deals got made and esteem both received and provided. It is still this way today. Who does not get upset when you are passed over during a family visit by a relative you want to both admire and be admired by?

Christ addressed the Pharisees in the Gospel today using The Lost Sheep and the Prodigal Son parables. First, we know the Pharisees were the self-proclaimed righteous of their day. The political and spiritual authority over the faithful. They were of course resentful some dirt poor, uncultured and poor lineage man would be preaching and turning souls to Christ rather then them. They realized the great works of Christ came from God, and wanted those glories provided only to them. They did not want to share any glory or power with those who were fallen away based on the religious laws of temple based Judaism.

In the Lost Sheep parable, the Shepard leaves his flock to find a lost lamb. He did not however leave the flock completely unattended. Any flock would have its rams, possibly dogs and other farm hands to care for it in his absence. The remaining flock still had tools to find its way to safety while the Shepard did his work finding the lost sheep. In fact, the flock may not even notice the Shepard was absent for a little while!

In seeing this Gospel in its entirety, we understand why the herd, the other farm hands, and master Shepard all rejoice together with the return of the lost sheep. There is no jealousy with the return of the lost. Those who never lost communion with the flock wanted for nothing, and gained strength with a returning member. This is how the truly righteous flock reacts when someone comes home to the church. It does not mean a mother would fail to scold her lost sheep, the sheep lost the chance to feast on some good fresh grass with the heard, or must pay a penance like be tied to its mother for a while. It just means we are happy to rejoice with the Shepard since a lost soul returned to the fold.

In the following parable of the Prodigal Son, we see a son willingly return to the father after great apostasy. In this story however, the outwardly righteous son allows the door of jealousy to open with his brothers return. The lost son receives what he needs to enter the house properly attired. The righteous son however allows vanity to creep out of his mind, and complains about the Father using his resources for the prodigal son. This is where the lack of context with the Lost Sheep hurts many righteous believers.

We know in both stories, the Shepard and the Father, represent respectively Christ and God in the Holy Trinity. In the first we know it is Jesus himself who tends to his lost sheep in the wild land of dangerous evils. In the second we see the Father remain in his estate, while the Holy Spirit works on the soul of the lost prodigal son while he is amongst the heathen. In one we see the hero working to save souls, in the other we do not. In one the righteous remain confident in their God’s graces without care, while in the second we see those striving for righteousness supposedly inside the salvation law concerned about a lack of God's Graces for themselves. Or maybe more succinctly, the sheep were confident of God’s Divine Mercy while the others were questioning the infinite scope of the same Divine Mercy.

The allusions to being properly attired before entering the house of God, and Heaven, abound in the Gospels. We are told those not properly attired, have enough lamp oil, and also those who respond to the invitation too late fall into hell when the Bridegroom returns and the party begins. So in the Prodigal Son, God attires his son properly on his return. In contrast the sheep were already properly attired in their hearts, and the party needs no delay. Maybe another way to think about it is the sheep recognized Jesus working amongst them, while the Prodigal Son did not recognize the true power of God the Father.

In this discourse Jesus directly handles the situation where he was amongst the people, and when he will be in Heaven with the Father. It shows us what is right, and what is wrong in our hearts when we choose to be his disciples. In both situations we must remain open to the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and continue to refine our souls to be worthy of Divine Mercy. The faithful need to hear both parables to know why Jesus provided them. Only in this way does the fuller context help us conform our souls to his will joyfully. He wants us all to be confident in his love, and in these two stories he shows us clearly the difference in the souls of those resting fully in him, those still needing help to find inner peace, and those who want to resist his call to a fuller holiness.