Luke 15:1-23

¹Then all the tax collectors and ‘sinners’ were getting close to Him to hear Him.

²Well the Pharisees and the scribes started complaining, saying, “This man welcomes ‘sinners’ and eats with them.”

³So He told them this parable, saying:

⁴“What man among you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not abandon the ninety-nine in the wild and go after the lost one until he finds it?

⁵And upon finding it he joyfully puts it on his shoulders.

⁶And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost!’

⁷I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous ones who have no need of repentance.

⁸“Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it?

⁹And when she finds it, she calls together her friends and neighbors saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I lost!’

¹⁰Just so, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

¹¹Then He said: “A certain man had two sons.

¹²And the younger one said to the father, ‘Father, give me the appropriate share of the estate.’ So he divided the property between them.

¹³Not many days later the younger son, having converted it all, journeyed to a distant country; and there he squandered his wealth living dissolutely.

¹⁴But when he had spent it all, there was a severe famine throughout that country, and he began to be in need.

¹⁵Then he went and attached himself to a citizen of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs.

¹⁶He would gladly have filled his stomach with the carob pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

¹⁷But when he came to himself he said: ‘How many of my father's hired servants have an abundance of bread, while I am dying of hunger!

¹⁸I will get up and go to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you,

¹⁹and I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired servants.’

²⁰“So he got up and went to his own father. But while he was still a good ways off, his father saw him and was moved with compassion—he ran and fell on his neck and kissed him!

²¹Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

²²But the father said to his slaves: ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet.

²³And bring in and kill the fatted calf, and let us eat and celebrate;