15 Dishonest tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus’ sermons; ² but this caused complaints from the Jewish religious leaders and the experts on Jewish law because he was associating with such despicable people—even eating with them!

^3-4 So Jesus used this illustration: “If you had a hundred sheep and one of them strayed away and was lost in the wilderness, wouldn’t you leave the ninety-nine others to go and search for the lost one until you found it? ⁵ And then you would joyfully carry it home on your shoulders. ⁶ When you arrived you would call together your friends and neighbors to rejoice with you because your lost sheep was found.

⁷ “Well, in the same way heaven will be happier over one lost sinner who returns to God than over ninety-nine others who haven’t strayed away!

⁸ “Or take another illustration: A woman has ten valuable silver coins and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and look in every corner of the house and sweep every nook and cranny until she finds it? ⁹ And then won’t she call in her friends and neighbors to rejoice with her? ¹⁰ In the same way there is joy in the presence of the angels of God when one sinner repents.”

¹¹ To further illustrate the point, he told them this story: “A man had two sons. ¹² When the younger told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now, instead of waiting until you die!’ his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons.

¹³ “A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and took a trip to a distant land, and there wasted all his money on parties and prostitutes. ¹⁴ About the time his money was gone a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. ¹⁵ He persuaded a local farmer to hire him to feed his pigs. ¹⁶ The boy became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the swine looked good to him. And no one gave him anything.

¹⁷ “When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired men have food enough and to spare, and here I am, dying of hunger! ¹⁸ I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, ¹⁹ and am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired man.”’

²⁰ “So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long distance away, his father saw him coming, and was filled with loving pity and ran and embraced him and kissed him.

²¹ “His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and you, and am not worthy of being called your son—’

²² “But his father said to the slaves, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. And a jeweled ring for his finger; and shoes! ²³ And kill the calf we have in the fattening pen. We must celebrate with a feast, ²⁴ for this son of mine was dead and has returned to life. He was lost and is found.’ So the party began.

²⁵ “Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working; when he returned home, he heard dance music coming from the house, ²⁶ and he asked one of the servants what was going on.

²⁷ “‘Your brother is back,’ he was told, ‘and your father has killed the calf we were fattening and has prepared a great feast to celebrate his coming home again unharmed.’

²⁸ “The older brother was angry and wouldn’t go in. His father came out and begged him, ²⁹ but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve worked hard for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to; and in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. ³⁰ Yet when this son of yours comes back after spending your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the finest calf we have on the place.’

³¹ “‘Look, dear son,’ his father said to him, ‘you and I are very close, and everything I have is yours. ³² But it is right to celebrate. For he is your brother; and he was dead and has come back to life! He was lost and is found!’”