1 Now the publicans and sinners drew near unto him to hear him.
2 And the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying: This man receiveth sinners and eateth with them.
3 And he spoke to them this parable, saying:
4 What man of you that hath an hundred sheep, and if he shall lose one of them, doth he not leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after that which was lost, until he find it?
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VERS. 4.-- *Who of you,* etc. In what went before thou hadst learned to renounce negligence, to shun arrogance, to take up devotion, not to be held fast by worldly occupations, not to prefer things that fall to things that abide. But because human frailty cannot keep a firm footing on so slippery a world, the physician there shows a remedy against error also, namely, that the judge does not deny the hope of pardon. *A hundred sheep.* Because the number of a hundred is a perfect number. God had a hundred sheep, that is, a perfect number, when he created the substance of angels and of men; but one perished, when man by sinning forsook the pastures of life: therefore, because the number of the rational creature was diminished by the perishing of man, he seeks man on earth that the sum may be made whole. *Doth he not leave.* As if he said: You murmur, because I receive sinners, but I came not save to gather those going astray, as each one of you labours to bring back a straying sheep.
5 And when he hath found it, lay it upon his shoulders, rejoicing?
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VERS. 5.-- *He layeth it upon his shoulder.* He set the sheep upon his shoulders, who, taking up human nature, himself bore our sins: whence the shoulders of Christ are the arms of the cross; there he laid down our sins, on that neck of the noble gibbet he rested.
6 And coming home, call together his friends and neighbours, saying to them: Rejoice with me, because I have found my sheep that was lost?
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VERS. 6.-- *And coming.* When man was repaired, the shepherd returns to heaven; there he finds the choirs of angels. They are friends, because in their steadfastness they keep his will continually; and they are neighbours, because they enjoy the brightness of his vision. And note that he does not say: Rejoice with the sheep that is found, but *with me,* because his joy is our life.
7 I say to you that even so there shall be joy in heaven upon one sinner that doth penance, more than upon ninety-nine just who need not penance.
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VERS. 7.-- *I say to you.* In the ninety-nine, the number of the just is understood; in the one sheep, that of sinners. *Joy.* The angels, because they are rational, rejoice over a man reconciled to them, which sets us on fire toward uprightness: let us do what is pleasing to them, whose patronage we ought both to court and whose offence we ought to fear. *Than over.* If in the ninety-nine just who have not erred nor need penitence the angels are understood, it seems a greater thing to justify the impious than to create and preserve the just, because although each is of equal power, here there is greater mercy and greater joy.
8 Or what woman having ten groats, if she lose one groat, doth not light a candle and sweep the house and seek diligently until she find it?
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VERS. 8.-- *Or what woman.* The woman, that is, the Wisdom of God, had ten drachmas, when she created men and angels to her own image. But she lost one, when man withdrew from the likeness of his Creator. But the Wisdom of God kindled a lamp to seek with, when she appeared in the flesh, because a lamp is a light in an earthen vessel, that is, the Word in flesh. And when this shone forth among men, it overturned the house, because it troubled the consciences of men concerning their own guilt, and so the drachma is found again, while in man the likeness of the Maker is repaired. *Having ten drachmas.* The nature of angels and of men, which the Lord willed to subsist unto eternity, he created to his own likeness. Ten drachmas therefore the woman had, when to the nine orders of angels man was added, that the tenth number of the elect might be completed. And that number did not perish from its Creator even after the fault, because the Wisdom of God, flashing with miracles through the flesh, repaired it from the light of the earthen vessel. *She calleth together.* The friends and the neighbours are the powers above, which are near to God in the measure that they contemplate him more nearly. And she calls them, while through the showing of the grace bestowed upon men she kindles them more vehemently to the love of herself.
9 And when she hath found it, call together her friends and neighbours, saying: Rejoice with me, because I have found the groat which I had lost.
10 So I say to you, there shall be joy before the angels of God upon one sinner doing penance.
11 And he said: A certain man had two sons.
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VERS. 11.-- *A certain man.* By the two parables set before, he intimates how greatly he himself with the angels rejoices over the salvation of the penitent. In this third one he not only shows the joy, but also rebukes the murmur of the envious.
12 And the younger of them said to his father: Father, give me the portion of substance that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his substance.
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VERS. 12.-- *And he said,* etc. As God has no other by whom he may be formed, by whom he is denied, so this man wishes to use his own power, that he may live with none forming him, none ruling him. *Father, give.* The half of the patrimony is given to those who ask, nor is it the fault of the father who gives to the younger. No age is weak in the kingdom of God, nor is faith weighed down by years, unless indeed he who asks has judged himself unfit. If this man had not withdrawn from his father, he would have known no hindrance of age, but having journeyed into a far country he deservedly wastes the patrimony. *And he divided.* To the faithful, by imparting the protection of his grace which they desired: but to the unfaithful, by granting only the natural benefit of native wit, with which they were content.
13 And not many days after, the younger son, gathering all together, went abroad into a far country: and there wasted his substance, living riotously.
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VERS. 13.-- *Not after many.* Not long after the institution of the human race, it pleased the soul to carry off with it free choice, as a kind of power of its own nature, and to desert him by whom it was founded, trusting in its own strength. And it consumes those strengths the more swiftly, the more it deserts the giver. This is the prodigal life, which loves to pour itself out and to range abroad in outward shows, leaving him who is more inward to it
14 And after he had spent all, there came a mighty famine in that country: and he began to be in want.
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VERS. 14.-- *And he began.* Because nothing is enough for prodigal pleasure, because pleasure always has a hunger of itself; deservedly therefore is he in want who has left behind the treasures of wisdom and the height of heavenly riches.
15 And he went and cleaved to one of the citizens of that country. And he sent him into his farm to feed swine.
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VERS. 15.-- *To one of the citizens.* That one of the citizens is he who, being set over earthly concupiscences by the desert of his own depravity, is called the prince of the world. Who sends him into a farm, because he subjects him to the greed of worldly substance. He feeds swine, when he works those things in which unclean spirits rejoice. *That he might feed swine.* The swine is an unclean animal, which delights in filth; so the devil, who is fed in idols with the blood of cattle, and with the death of man himself. He sent him therefore into the farm, that is, made him his own servant, that he might feed swine, sacrificing to him his own soul.
16 And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.
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VERS. 16.-- *And he desired.* The food of demons is drunkenness, fornication and the like, which are enticing and provoke to their own use. Nor have the wanton any other care save to fill their belly, *whose god is their belly*. But he cannot be satisfied with them, because pleasure always has a hunger of itself. *No man gave unto him.* Because when the devil makes any man his own, he takes no further trouble for an abundance of vices, knowing him to be already dead.
17 And returning to himself, he said: How many hired servants in my father's house abound with bread, and I here perish with hunger!
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VERS. 17.-- *How many hired servants.* They who with an eye to the reward to come are busy to work worthy things, are refreshed with the daily nourishment of grace from above. But he perishes of hunger who, living outside the father's house, that is, without faith, seeks the blessed life in empty philosophy.
18 I will arise and will go to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee.
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VERS. 18.-- *Father, I have sinned.* Although God knows all things, yet he awaits the voice of confession. Without danger thou mayest disclose what thou knowest is already known: thou hast a cause why Christ should intercede for thee, nor has he died for thee in vain; the Father too has a cause for pardoning, because what the Son wills the Father also wills.
19 I am not worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.
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VERS. 19.-- *Make me,* etc. He does not presume to aspire to the affection of a son, who does not doubt that all that is the Father's is his own, but he desires the station of a hired servant, now about to serve for wages, and yet he testifies that he cannot earn even this except by the father's condescension. There is a difference between a slave, a hired servant and a son. A slave, etc., *as far as* which after the father's kiss he most nobly disdains.
20 And rising up, he came to his father. And when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him and was moved with compassion and running to him fell upon his neck and kissed him.
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VERS. 20.-- *But when he was yet a great way off,* etc. Before he understood God, but yet when he was already seeking him dutifully, yet was not yet returning worthy in works, through the Word incarnate he anticipates the son's return. He came to the earth before that man came to the house of confession, not deserting the Word itself, but in the Word condescending as far as our pilgrimage. The arm, that is, the Son, he humbled into the embrace of the one returning. The father fell upon the son's neck, when he laid upon him the light yoke of his own love, and kissed him, that there might be shown what is said elsewhere: *Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth*. Returning, he receives the kiss of charity from the father, when through grace he is made certain of pardon.
21 And the son said to him: Father: I have sinned against heaven and before thee I am not now worthy to be called thy son.
22 And the father said to his servants: Bring forth quickly the first robe and put it on him: and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet.
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VERS. 22.-- *Bring forth quickly,* etc. The first robe, the garment of innocence, in which the first man was founded, but after the fault he knew himself naked, and took a garment of skin, that is, a mortal one. *A ring.* That is, the seal of faith, with which the promises are sealed in the hearts of believers. *In the hand.* That is, in working: that through works faith may shine out, and through faith works may be made firm. *And shoes.* That is, fortify the examples of those before you in the office of preaching, that both the work may be adorned by living well, and the course by preparing for things eternal.
23 And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it: and let us eat and make merry:
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VERS. 23.-- *Bring the calf.* Preach Christ and make known his death, that a man may both believe in his heart, by imitating him who was slain, and receive with his mouth the sacrament of the passion unto amendment.
24 Because this my son was dead and is come to life again, was lost and is found. And they began to be merry.
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VERS. 24.-- *And they began to feast.* Not only is the son refreshed for whom the calf was slain, but the father also and his servants, because the refreshment of God and of the saints is the salvation of sinners. And note that after the robe, the ring, the shoe were given, the calf is sacrificed, because unless a man has put on the hope of the first immortality, unless he has fortified his works with the ring of faith, unless he has preached that very faith by confessing it, he cannot take part in the heavenly sacraments.
25 Now his elder son was in the field and when he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing.
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VERS. 25.-- *Now his son was,* etc. The son, that is, the people of Israel, who had not gone far off to the worship of idols. Neither was he in the house, because he did not penetrate the inward things of the law: in the literal sense, content, working earthly things, awaiting earthly things. This is he who bought a field, and five yoke of oxen, who, pressed by the burden of the law, enjoys earthly senses, and took a wife in the affection of the flesh. *And when he came.* The son draws near to the house when someone among that people, understanding the law spiritually, condemns the labours of servile work, and considers the liberty of the Church. He hears music and a choir, that is, men full of the Spirit preaching the Gospel with concordant voices. He calls one of the servants, when he takes up some one of the prophets to read. And he questions him, while he searches in him what these feasts of the Church may be in which he does not see himself to be.
26 And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant.
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VERS. 26.-- *He asked.* And now Israel asks why God rejoices in the taking up of the Gentiles, and by reason of envy he does not know the father's will, and stands outside, although he is entreated through heralds.
27 And he said to him: Thy brother is come and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe.
28 And he was angry and would not go in. His father therefore coming out began to entreat him.
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VERS. 28.-- *Being indignant.* The Jews were indignant and complained, because Jesus feasted with the Gentiles. And still they are indignant at the salvation of the Gentiles and will not go in. But when the fulness of the Gentiles has come in, the father will go out to entreat Israel, when the calling of the Jews shall be made manifest.
29 And he answering, said to his father: Behold, for so many years do I serve thee and I have never transgressed thy commandment: and yet thou hast never given me a kid to make merry with my friends.
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VERS. 29.-- *Behold, so many years.* Following the righteousness of the law, he is not subject to the righteousness of God. For what greater righteousness of God is there than to pardon the penitent? *Thy commandment,* etc. As though it were not to transgress it, to envy another's salvation, or to boast oneself of one's righteousness.
30 But as soon as this thy son is come, who hath devoured his substance with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.
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VERS. 30.-- *Thou hast killed for him the calf.* They confess that Christ has come, but envy wills not to be saved. So it is of the Jew and the Gentile. But generally it can be taken of the just man and the sinner. *He hath devoured his substance,* etc. The harlots are the superstitions of the Gentiles, with whom he squanders his substance who, having left the wedlock of the Word of God, fornicates with the demon in foul greed. *Son, thou art always,* etc. He does not refute him as one lying, but approving his perseverance with himself, and inviting him to the full enjoyment of a mightier exultation. *All that is mine,* etc. In eternal blessedness, both the single things of all and all the things of each single one.
31 But he said to him: Son, thou art always with me; and all I have is thine.
32 But it was fit that we should make merry and be glad: for this thy brother was dead and is come to life again; he was lost, and is found.