1 All the tax collectors and people who deviatea were coming close to listen to him, 2 and both the Pharisees and the scripture scholars were criticizing, saying, “This person welcomes people who deviate and eats with them!”
3 So Jesus told them this parable: 4 “Which one of you, if they have 100 sheep and lose one of them, wouldn’t leave the 99 in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until they find it? 5 When they find it, they place it on their shoulders, celebrating, 6 and when they come home, they call their friends and neighbors together, telling them, ‘Celebrate with me because I found my lost sheep!’ 7 I’m telling you, similarly, there will be more joy in the heavens at one person who has deviated, when they reorient their mind,b than at 99 people aligned with the Pathc who don’t need reorienting.
8 “Or what woman, if she has ten drachmasd and loses one, doesn’t light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 After she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, ‘Celebrate with me because I found my coin that was lost!’ 10 Similarly, I’m telling you, there will come to be joy among God’s messengers at one person who has deviated, when they reorient their mind.”
11 Then Jesus said, “Someone had two sons. 12 The younger one said to their father, ‘Father, give me the portion of what you have that will fall to me.’ So the father divided his resources between them. 13 After a few days, the younger son had gathered everything and left his homeland for a distant land. Once he was there, living a life that preserved nothing, he scatterede what he had. 14 After he had expended everything, there was a severe famine throughout that land, and he began to suffer deprivation. 15 He went and bound himselff to one of the citizens of that land, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He was longing to fill himselfg with the carob pods the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. 17 After coming to himself, he said, ‘I’m dying of hunger! 18 I’ll stand up, go to my father, and tell him, “Father, I deviated against the heavens and in your eyes. 19 I’m no longer fit to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired hands.”’ 20 And standing up, he came back to his father.
“While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and ached with compassion. Running to him, his father seized him in an embrace and kissed him over and over. 21 Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I deviated against the heavens and in your eyes. I’m no longer fit to be called your son.’ 22 But the father told his enslaved workers, ‘Hurry! Bring the finest robe and put it on him! Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet! 23 Get the fattened calf, and slaughter it. Let’s eat and celebrate 24 because my son was dead and came back to life! He was lost yet is found!’ And they began celebrating.
25 “The older son had been in the field. As he was coming toward the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 He called one of the enslaved workers and asked what was happening. 27 The enslaved worker told him, ‘Your brother is here, and your father slaughtered the fattened calf because he got him back healthy. 28 But the older son was furious and refused to go inside. So, his father came outside to address him, 29 but he answered his father, ‘Look! I’ve worked like a slave for you for many years and never avoided a single order of yours, yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who ate up your resources with prostitutes arrives, you slaughtered the fattened calf for him!’ 31 So, the father said to him, ‘My child,h you are always with me, and everything that’s mine is yours. 32 It was right to be joyful and celebrate because your brother was dead and came to life, was lost and is found.’”
Footnotes
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a Traditionally, ‘sinners.’ “People who deviate” describes people who live in a way characterized by actions that don’t follow the path traced out by Torah and lived out by Jesus. This shift emphasizes actions misaligned with the sacred path rather than an inherent sinful state. The Greek hamartolos is actually an adjective, not a noun, indicating that deviation is not an identity. Instead, it represents behaviors or conditions that “miss the mark” set by God’s path. ‘People who deviate’ fits with the idea that these could be people with behavioral issues, like tax collectors who routinely exploited the poor and sided with the enemy (Rome) for their own profit. However, it was applied to anyone who did not align with a sense of perfection as defined by Torah, so people who were chronically ill, or not followers of Yahweh, and others would also have been labeled ‘people who deviate’ through no fault of their own, but they still would have been treated as deserving status as second class citizens.
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b The Greek word metanoia is traditionally translated as ‘repent.’ The meaning of metanoia is ‘change the mind’ or ‘transform the mind.’ It does not mean ‘remorse’ or ‘guilt.’ The confusion comes from the Vulgate, the Latin translation of the Bible, which used paenitere, which means ‘to be penitent,’ which was a significant shift away from the Greek meaning. The use of ‘reorient’ here reflects the kind of transformation in view, and it also surfaces the Hebraic understanding of the concept that the biblical writers would have had in mind. The Hebrew word traditionally translated as ‘repent’ was shuv, which literally meant ‘turn around’ or ‘turn back.’
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c This word is dikaios, traditionally ‘righteous.’ The word is related to ‘just’ or ‘straight’ or ‘aligned’ and it usually refers to being aligned with Torah and justice, the path of the Lord. In this case, it is referring directly to alignment with God or the path traced out by Torah and lived out by Jesus.
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d A drachma was a coin worth the amount of money for a day’s wage. If we estimate $15/per hour and an 8-hour workday, that would make it equivalent to $120 each drachma.
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e This word indicates the imagery of scattering seed far and wide. It appears only twice in the Bible, here and in Luke 16:1. Jesus seems to be drawing a connection between what the lost son is doing here and what the manager is doing in chapter 16.
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f The Greek ekollethe (“bound himself”) comes from a verb meaning to glue or adhere, and it is often used in the Septuagint for Israel’s attachment to foreign nations and gods. Here it describes dependent labor with no negotiating position, something akin to indentured servitude to a foreigner in a foreign land. The imagery alludes to the Exile in Babylon: separation from land, people, and covenant identity. The son’s eventual turn toward home carries the resonance of return from exile, not merely a change of circumstances.
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g The Greek chortazo means something more specific than simply ‘eat’ and is not the usual word used for eating. It specifically means to fill or satisfy someone. It’s the word used in the beatitudes in Matthew 5:6 “they will be satisfied.” More significantly, it’s the same word used in Luke 16:21 for the Eleazar longing to fill himself with the scraps from the rich man’s table. Jesus seems to be drawing a direct connect between the lost son and Eleazar here in the description of his destitution and longing for bare necessities to be met.
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h Literally, just ‘Child,’ but it is meant to be tender and firm, not judgmental or patronizing. In English, adding ‘my’ gives it a closer impact to the meaning of the Greek.