Excerpted from 2025 Lenten Guide: The Year of the Lord, a Lenten Guide for Lectionary Year C from the North Carolina Council of Churches.
Luke 15:1-3, 11-32b
Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
So he told them this parable:
Then Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the wealth that will belong to me.’ So he divided his assets between them. A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant region, and there he squandered his wealth in dissolute living. When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that region, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that region, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. He would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, and no one gave him anything. But when he came to his senses he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.” ’ So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate, for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate.
“Now his elder son was in the field, and as he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. He replied, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf because he has got him back safe and sound.’ Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. But he answered his father, ‘Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command, yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your assets with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!’ Then the father said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.’ ”
The parable of the prodigal son follows two other parables about losing and finding. With this story, being lost is about being far from who we really are and who we are meant to be, both for the younger brother far from home and the older brother angry about his father’s overjoyed reception of the brother who was “lost and has been found.”
It’s worth asking where we find ourselves in this story. Are we the angry son and, if so, what are we angry about? Are we the lost son who eventually comes home and, if so, what compels us to stay away? Regardless of the anger or the abandonment, God welcomes us in and welcomes us back. This story offers an image of what it really means to be found. It’s a story of radical inclusion, unbounded generosity, and abundant hospitality. The father’s welcome is almost unimaginable in its extravagance, summoning us to release resentments, forego ego, and live into God’s Love. We might also consider ways we can mirror the generous Father.
Against the backdrop of Jesus’ recitation from Luke 4, the parable of the prodigal son illustrates tangible ways to live into those aims “bring good news to the poor, proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set the oppressed free” (vv.18-19). This mission of restorative justice is mirrored in the divine acceptance of the prodigal son.
These extravagant and even radical displays of restoration also belong to us. Reconciled through God to ourselves and one another, we become those who now promote the claims of the gospel. Many of us live out this welcome by working to protect the vulnerable or expose injustice. Examples include challenging predatory lending and freeing families from medical debt. Others of us answer the call by supporting the justice seeking people in our midst who face the consequences of speaking out. Whether we are frontline activists or behind the scenes supporters, the promise of unwavering acceptance empowers the work.
