Luke 15 · WEB
The Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, and the Lost Son
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Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming close to him to hear him.
2The Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, "This man welcomes sinners, and eats with them."
3He told them this parable:
4"Which of you men, if you had one hundred sheep, and lost one of them, wouldn't leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one that was lost, until he found it?
5When he has found it, he carries it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
6When he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!'
7I tell you that even so there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance.
8Or what woman, if she had ten drachma coins, if she lost one drachma coin, wouldn't light a lamp, sweep the house, and seek diligently until she found it?
9When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the drachma which I had lost.'
10Even so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner repenting."
11He said, "A certain man had two sons.
12The younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of your property.' He divided his livelihood between them.
13Not many days after, the younger son gathered all of this together and traveled into a far country. There he wasted his property with riotous living.
14When he had spent all of it, there arose a severe famine in that country, and he began to be in need.
15He went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed pigs.
16He wanted to fill his belly with the husks that the pigs ate, but no one gave him any.
17But when he came to himself he said, 'How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough to spare, and I'm dying with hunger!
18I will get up and go to my father, and will tell him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight.
19I am no more worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired servants."'
20He arose, and came to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.
21The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'
22But the father said to his servants, 'Bring out the best robe, and put it on him. Put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet.
23Bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat, and celebrate;
24for this, my son, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.' They began to celebrate.
25"Now his elder son was in the field. As he came near to the house, he heard music and dancing.
26He called one of the servants to him, and asked what was going on.
27He said to him, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and healthy.'
28But he was angry, and would not go in. Therefore his father came out, and begged him.
29But he answered his father, 'Behold, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed a commandment of yours, but you never gave me a goat, that I might celebrate with my friends.
30But when this your son came, who has devoured your living with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.'
31He said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.
32But it was appropriate to celebrate and be glad, for this, your brother, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.'"
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Summary
When Pharisees and scribes complain that Jesus welcomes sinners, he answers with three parables of seeking and rejoicing — a shepherd who finds one lost sheep, a woman who finds one lost coin, and a father who runs to embrace a returning son. The climax of the third parable confronts the elder brother's resentment, exposing how religious people can be just as lost as the prodigal while standing in the father's house.
Themes
- God seeks the lost
- Heaven's joy over repentance
- The Father's lavish welcome
- Self-righteousness as a hidden lostness
- True repentance and homecoming
Key verses
- Luke 15:10 — “There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner repenting.”
- Luke 15:20 — “While he was still far off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.”
- Luke 15:32 — “It was appropriate to celebrate and be glad, for this, your brother, was dead, and is alive again.”
- Luke 15:7 — “Even so there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance.”
Context & background
Luke 15 unfolds in the travel narrative as Jesus moves through villages on his way to Jerusalem (modern Israel). Tax collectors collaborated with Roman occupiers and were treated as social outcasts; sharing a meal with them was a powerful sign of acceptance in first-century Jewish culture. Shepherding was common in the Judean and Galilean hills (modern Israel and the West Bank), and a drachma was roughly a day's wage. Pigs were unclean to Jews, so the prodigal hiring out as a swineherd in a Gentile "far country" (likely the Decapolis or further east, in modern Jordan and Syria) signals how far he had fallen.
Cross-references
- 2 Corinthians 5:18-20 — God reconciling the world through Christ.
- Ezekiel 34:11-16 — God himself promises to seek his lost sheep.
- Jonah 4:1-11 — A self-righteous prophet angry at God's mercy on outsiders.
- Psalm 23:1-3 — The Lord as shepherd who restores the soul.
- Romans 5:8 — While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.