The Parable of the Prodigal Son

To the Pharisees and scribes who criticize him for welcoming sinners, Jesus responds with parables. A man has two sons. The younger one demands his share of the estate, sets off for a distant country, and squanders everything in wild living. A severe famine strikes: reduced to feeding pigs, he longs to fill his stomach with the pods they eat. Coming to his senses, he decides: “I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.” He is still a long way off when his father sees him: filled with compassion, he runs, throws his arms around his neck, and kisses him. The best robe, a ring, sandals, the fattened calf: it is time to celebrate, because “this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.” But the older son, coming in from the fields, becomes angry and refuses to go in. The father comes out and pleads with him: it was right to rejoice.