Zetemata

Luke 15

The chapter in full, then the passages inside it that are worth stopping on — what each one claims, what the Greek or Hebrew shows, and how the reading is arrived at.

Luke 15 WEB
  1. 1 Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming close to him to hear him.
  2. 2 The Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, "This man welcomes sinners, and eats with them."
  3. 3 He told them this parable:
  4. 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?
  5. 5 When he has found it, he carries it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
  6. 6 When 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!'
  7. 7 I 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.
  8. 8 "Or 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?
  9. 9 When 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!'
  10. 10 Even so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner repenting."
  11. 11 He said, "A certain man had two sons.
  12. 12 The younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of your property.' So he divided his livelihood between them.
  13. 13 Not 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.
  14. 14 When he had spent all of it, there arose a severe famine in that country, and he began to be in need.
  15. 15 He went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed pigs.
  16. 16 He wanted to fill his belly with the pods that the pigs ate, but no one gave him any.
  17. 17 But 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!
  18. 18 I will get up and go to my father, and will tell him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight.
  19. 19 I am no more worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired servants."'
  20. 20 He 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.
  21. 21 The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'
  22. 22 "But the father said to his servants, 'Bring out the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet.
  23. 23 Bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let's eat and celebrate;
  24. 24 for this, my son, was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found.' Then they began to celebrate.
  25. 25 "Now his elder son was in the field. As he came near to the house, he heard music and dancing.
  26. 26 He called one of the servants to him and asked what was going on.
  27. 27 He said to him, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and healthy.'
  28. 28 But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and begged him.
  29. 29 But 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.
  30. 30 But when this your son came, who has devoured your living with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.'
  31. 31 "He said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.
  32. 32 But it was appropriate to celebrate and be glad, for this, your brother, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.'"

Luke 15 gathers three parables into one answer to one complaint. Tax collectors and sinners are crowding around Jesus (15:1); the Pharisees and scribes murmur that "this man welcomes sinners, and eats with them" (15:2). What follows is not a defense but an argument: three pictures of loss and recovery, each ending in a party, each pressing the same question — what does it cost God to get someone back, and who objects to the celebration?

15:4-7 The lost sheep

A man with a hundred sheep loses one and leaves the ninety-nine "in the wilderness" — not a place of safety but of danger — to go after it "until he found it" (15:4). The search is not casual; it is relentless and it is risky. When he finds it, he does not drive it home but carries it: "he carries it on his shoulders, rejoicing" (15:5). The application in 15:7 is the barb: "there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance." This is not arithmetic about numerical value — heaven does not prefer sinners to the righteous — it is a statement about where joy concentrates: at recovery, not at status quo. Ezekiel 34:11 and 34:16 stand behind the image: Yahweh himself promises to search for his scattered sheep and bind up the broken, against shepherds who fed themselves instead of the flock. Jesus is claiming that role. Psalm 119:176 gives the sheep's own confession — "I have gone astray like a lost sheep" — the position the Pharisees refuse to occupy.

15:8-10 The lost coin

A woman with ten drachmas loses one and searches the house, "diligently until she found it" (15:8) — sweeping a dirt floor by lamplight for a coin worth perhaps a day's wage. The value of the coin is modest; the intensity of the search is not scaled to its price. Verse 10 repeats the moral almost verbatim from 15:7, but shifts the location of the joy: not merely "in heaven" but "in the presence of the angels of God." The repetition across two parables with different objects — an animal that can wander on its own, a coin that cannot move at all — forecloses a common evasion: the sinner's "responsibility" for being lost is not the point of either story. Both are found by someone else's initiative.

15:11-24 "This your brother was dead, and is alive again"

The younger son demands his inheritance early — effectively asking his father to treat him as already dead, since Jewish inheritance normally followed death — and the father grants it (15:12). The far country, the famine, and finally feeding pigs (15:15) mark the descent as complete for a Jewish audience: no lower point was imaginable than tending unclean animals and starving for their food. Verse 17, "he came to himself," is often read as sincere repentance and just as often read by careful commentators as a calculation of self-interest — he plans a servant's speech, not a son's, and reasons from hunger, not from remorse. The text does not resolve which motive dominates; what it does not leave ambiguous is what happens next. The father sees him "while he was still far off" (15:20) — meaning the father was watching, had been watching — and the verb is decisive: "ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him," before the son finishes his prepared speech. A man of the father's status did not run; running exposed the leg and was undignified. The father's dignity is the first thing he spends. The robe, ring, and sandals (15:22) are not sentiment but restoration of standing — a returning slave gets none of these; a son does. Verse 24 gives the theological center in miniature: "was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found." John Chrysostom's comment on almsgiving elsewhere in Luke — "There is more mercy in Christ than sin in us," in Sibbes's phrase from a different text but the same claim — names exactly what the running father embodies: mercy that outpaces the offense before the offense is even confessed.

15:25-32 The elder brother's complaint

The parable does not end at the party; it ends with the son who never left. He hears music from outside, learns the reason, and refuses to go in (15:28) — a public snub the father again absorbs by coming out to him, as he had run to the other. The brother's protest in 15:29-30 is precise and telling: he claims never to have "disobeyed a commandment," yet asks for a goat "that I might celebrate with my friends" — his complaint is not about righteousness but about a party he wanted for himself. He will not name the returned son "brother"; he says "this your son" (15:30). The father's answer refuses the ledger entirely: "you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours" (15:31) — everything the elder son thinks he lacks was already his, unasked. The parable ends without resolution: does the elder son go in? Luke does not say, and that silence is deliberate. The Pharisees and scribes of 15:2 are the elder brother, standing outside a party they were always invited to, objecting to whom it is for. The story does not answer for them; it leaves the door open and the question standing.

What the chapter asks

The chapter is Luke's answer to a complaint about table fellowship, and it refuses to concede the premise that welcoming sinners needs defending. It claims instead that a search that costs the searcher — wilderness, lamplight, a father's dignity — is what recovery has always looked like, and that heaven's joy runs toward the found, not toward those who never needed finding. What it will not let stand is the alternative: resentment dressed as righteousness, refusing the feast because someone else was let in. The parable ends outside an open door, and does not say who goes through it.

The verses this turns on

Luke 15:1 WEB
Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming close to him to hear him.
discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904

Ἦσαν δὲ αὐτῷ ἐγγίζοντες πάντες οἱ τελῶναι καὶ οἱ ἁμαρτωλοὶ ἀκούειν αὐτοῦ.

  • Ἦσαν εἰμί verb · imperfect active indicative, 3rd person plural G1510
  • δὲ δέ conjunction G1161
  • αὐτῷ αὐτός personal pronoun · dative singular masculine G846
  • ἐγγίζοντες ἐγγίζω verb · present active participle, nominative plural masculine G1448
  • πάντες πᾶς adjective · nominative plural masculine G3956
  • οἱ ὁ article · nominative plural masculine G3588
  • τελῶναι τελώνης noun · nominative plural masculine G5057
  • καὶ καί conjunction G2532
  • οἱ ὁ article · nominative plural masculine G3588
  • ἁμαρτωλοὶ ἁμαρτωλός adjective · nominative plural masculine G268
  • ἀκούειν ἀκούω verb · present active infinitive G191
  • αὐτοῦ. αὐτός personal pronoun · genitive singular masculine G846

Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.

See also 5
  1. 1 Timothy 1:15 The saying is faithful and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.
  2. Matthew 9:10 As he sat in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples.
  3. Luke 5:29 Levi made a great feast for him in his house. There was a great crowd of tax collectors and others who were reclining with them.
  4. Matthew 21:28 But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first, and said, 'Son, go work today in my vineyard.'
  5. Ezekiel 18:27 Again, when the wicked man turns away from his wickedness that he has committed, and does that which is lawful and right, he will save his soul alive.
Luke 15:2 WEB
The Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, "This man welcomes sinners, and eats with them."
discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904

καὶ διεγόγγυζον οἵ τε Φαρισαῖοι καὶ οἱ γραμματεῖς λέγοντες ὅτι Οὗτος ἁμαρτωλοὺς προσδέχεται καὶ συνεσθίει αὐτοῖς.

  • καὶ καί conjunction G2532
  • διεγόγγυζον διαγογγύζω verb · imperfect active indicative, 3rd person plural G1234
  • οἵ ὁ article · nominative plural masculine G3588
  • τε τέ particle G5037
  • Φαρισαῖοι Φαρισαῖος noun · nominative plural masculine G5330
  • καὶ καί conjunction G2532
  • οἱ ὁ article · nominative plural masculine G3588
  • γραμματεῖς γραμματεύς noun · nominative plural masculine G1122
  • λέγοντες λέγω verb · present active participle, nominative plural masculine G3004
  • ὅτι ὅτι conjunction G3754
  • Οὗτος οὗτος demonstrative pronoun · nominative singular masculine G3778
  • ἁμαρτωλοὺς ἁμαρτωλός adjective · accusative plural masculine G268

Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.

See also 5
  1. Matthew 9:11 When the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?"
  2. Luke 7:39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, "This man, if he were a prophet, would have perceived who and what kind of woman this is who touches him, that she is a sinner."
  3. Luke 19:7 When they saw it, they all murmured, saying, "He has gone in to lodge with a man who is a sinner."
  4. Luke 5:30 Their scribes and the Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, "Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?"
  5. Acts 11:3 saying, "You went in to uncircumcised men and ate with them!"
Luke 15:4 WEB
"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?
discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904

Τίς ἄνθρωπος ἐξ ὑμῶν ἔχων ἑκατὸν πρόβατα καὶ ἀπολέσας ἐξ αὐτῶν ἓν οὐ καταλείπει τὰ ἐνενήκοντα ἐννέα ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ καὶ πορεύεται ἐπὶ τὸ ἀπολωλὸς ἕως εὕρῃ αὐτό;

  • Τίς τίς interrogative pronoun · nominative singular masculine G5101
  • ἄνθρωπος ἄνθρωπος noun · nominative singular masculine G444
  • ἐξ ἐκ preposition G1537
  • ὑμῶν σύ personal pronoun G4771
  • ἔχων ἔχω verb · present active participle, nominative singular masculine G2192
  • ἑκατὸν ἑκατόν numeral (indeclinable) G1540
  • πρόβατα πρόβατον noun · accusative plural neuter G4263
  • καὶ καί conjunction G2532
  • ἀπολέσας ἀπόλλυμι verb · aorist active participle, nominative singular masculine G622
  • ἐξ ἐκ preposition G1537
  • αὐτῶν αὐτός personal pronoun · genitive plural neuter G846
  • ἓν εἷς adjective · accusative singular neuter G1520

Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.

See also 5
  1. Ezekiel 34:16 "I will seek that which was lost, and will bring back that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick; but I will destroy the fat and the strong. I will feed them in justice."'
  2. Ezekiel 34:11 "'For the Lord Yahweh says: "Behold, I myself, even I, will search for my sheep, and will seek them out.
  3. Matthew 18:12 "What do you think? If a man has one hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, doesn't he leave the ninety-nine, go to the mountains, and seek that which has gone astray?
  4. Luke 19:10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost."
  5. 1 Peter 2:25 For you were going astray like sheep; but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
Luke 15:5 WEB
When he has found it, he carries it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904

καὶ εὑρὼν ἐπιτίθησιν ἐπὶ τοὺς ὤμους αὐτοῦ χαίρων,

  • καὶ καί conjunction G2532
  • εὑρὼν εὑρίσκω verb · aorist active participle, nominative singular masculine G2147
  • ἐπιτίθησιν ἐπιτίθημι verb · present active indicative, 3rd person singular G2007
  • ἐπὶ ἐπί preposition G1909
  • τοὺς ὁ article · accusative plural masculine G3588
  • ὤμους ὦμος noun · accusative plural masculine G5606
  • αὐτοῦ αὐτός personal pronoun · genitive singular masculine G846
  • χαίρων, χαίρω verb · present active participle, nominative singular masculine G5463

Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.

See also 5
  1. Hebrews 12:2 looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
  2. Isaiah 46:3 "Listen to me, house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, that have been carried from their birth, that have been carried from the womb.
  3. Isaiah 40:10 Behold, the Lord Yahweh will come as a mighty one, and his arm will rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.
  4. Micah 7:18 Who is a God like you, who pardons iniquity, and passes over the disobedience of the remnant of his heritage? He doesn't retain his anger forever, because he delights in loving kindness.
  5. Luke 19:9 Jesus said to him, "Today, salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham.
Luke 15:7 WEB
I 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.
discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904

λέγω ὑμῖν ὅτι οὕτως χαρὰ ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ ἔσται ἐπὶ ἑνὶ ἁμαρτωλῷ μετανοοῦντι ἢ ἐπὶ ἐνενήκοντα ἐννέα δικαίοις οἵτινες οὐ χρείαν ἔχουσιν μετανοίας.

  • λέγω λέγω verb · present active indicative, 1st person singular G3004
  • ὑμῖν σύ personal pronoun G4771
  • ὅτι ὅτι conjunction G3754
  • οὕτως οὕτω adverb G3779
  • χαρὰ χαρά noun · nominative singular feminine G5479
  • ἐν ἐν preposition G1722
  • τῷ ὁ article · dative singular masculine G3588
  • οὐρανῷ οὐρανός noun · dative singular masculine G3772
  • ἔσται εἰμί verb · future middle deponent indicative, 3rd person singular G1510
  • ἐπὶ ἐπί preposition G1909
  • ἑνὶ εἷς adjective · dative singular masculine G1520
  • ἁμαρτωλῷ ἁμαρτωλός adjective · dative singular masculine G268

Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.

See also 5
  1. Luke 15:10 Even so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner repenting."
  2. Luke 5:32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."
  3. Luke 15:32 But it was appropriate to celebrate and be glad, for this, your brother, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.'"
  4. Matthew 18:13 If he finds it, most certainly I tell you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine which have not gone astray.
  5. Proverbs 30:12 There is a generation that is pure in their own eyes, yet are not washed from their filthiness.
Luke 15:8 WEB
"Or 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?
discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904

Ἢ τίς γυνὴ δραχμὰς ἔχουσα δέκα, ἐὰν ἀπολέσῃ δραχμὴν μίαν, οὐχὶ ἅπτει λύχνον καὶ σαροῖ τὴν οἰκίαν καὶ ζητεῖ ἐπιμελῶς ἕως οὗ εὕρῃ;

  • Ἢ ἤ particle G2228
  • τίς τίς interrogative pronoun · nominative singular feminine G5101
  • γυνὴ γυνή noun · nominative singular feminine G1135
  • δραχμὰς δραχμή noun · accusative plural feminine G1406
  • ἔχουσα ἔχω verb · present active participle, nominative singular feminine G2192
  • δέκα, δέκα numeral (indeclinable) G1176
  • ἐὰν ἐάν conditional G1437
  • ἀπολέσῃ ἀπόλλυμι verb · aorist active subjunctive, 3rd person singular G622
  • δραχμὴν δραχμή noun · accusative singular feminine G1406
  • μίαν, εἷς adjective · accusative singular feminine G1520
  • οὐχὶ οὐχί particle G3780
  • ἅπτει ἅπτω verb · present active indicative, 3rd person singular G681

Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.

See also 5
  1. Luke 19:10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost."
  2. Ezekiel 34:12 As a shepherd seeks out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered abroad, so I will seek out my sheep. I will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.
  3. John 10:16 I have other sheep which are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will hear my voice. They will become one flock with one shepherd.
  4. John 11:52 and not for the nation only, but that he might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.
  5. Ephesians 2:17 He came and preached peace to you who were far off and to those who were near.
Luke 15:11 WEB
He said, "A certain man had two sons.
discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904

Εἶπεν δέ Ἄνθρωπός τις εἶχεν δύο υἱούς.

  • Εἶπεν λέγω verb · aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular G3004
  • δέ δέ conjunction G1161
  • Ἄνθρωπός ἄνθρωπος noun · nominative singular masculine G444
  • τις τὶς indefinite pronoun · nominative singular masculine G5100
  • εἶχεν ἔχω verb · imperfect active indicative, 3rd person singular G2192
  • δύο δύο numeral (indeclinable) G1417
  • υἱούς. υἱός noun · accusative plural masculine G5207

Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.

Luke 15:12 WEB
The younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of your property.' So he divided his livelihood between them.
discussed above
Greek Nestle 1904

καὶ εἶπεν ὁ νεώτερος αὐτῶν τῷ πατρί Πάτερ, δός μοι τὸ ἐπιβάλλον μέρος τῆς οὐσίας. ὁ δὲ διεῖλεν αὐτοῖς τὸν βίον.

  • καὶ καί conjunction G2532
  • εἶπεν λέγω verb · aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular G3004
  • ὁ ὁ article · nominative singular masculine G3588
  • νεώτερος νέος adjective · nominative singular masculine G3501
  • αὐτῶν αὐτός personal pronoun · genitive plural masculine G846
  • τῷ ὁ article · dative singular masculine G3588
  • πατρί πατήρ noun · dative singular masculine G3962
  • Πάτερ, πατήρ noun · vocative singular masculine G3962
  • δός δίδωμι verb · aorist active imperative, 2nd person singular G1325
  • μοι ἐγώ personal pronoun G1473
  • τὸ ὁ article · accusative singular neuter G3588
  • ἐπιβάλλον ἐπιβάλλω verb · present active participle, accusative singular neuter G1911

Punctuation is editorial — the manuscripts carry none.

See also 4
  1. Deuteronomy 21:16 then it shall be, in the day that he causes his sons to inherit that which he has, that he may not give the son of the beloved the rights of the firstborn before the son of the hated, who is the firstborn;
  2. Mark 12:44 for they all gave out of their abundance, but she, out of her poverty, gave all that she had to live on."
  3. Psalm 17:14 from men by your hand, Yahweh, from men of the world, whose portion is in this life. You fill the belly of your cherished ones. Your sons have plenty, and they store up wealth for their children.
  4. Luke 15:30 But when this your son came, who has devoured your living with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.'

From the interpretive tradition

Not to share our own wealth with the poor is theft from the poor and deprivation of their means of life; we do not possess our own wealth but theirs.
John Chrysostom Homily II father · eastern public domain
There is more mercy in Christ than sin in us.
Richard Sibbes The Bruised Reed, ch. 2 pastor · puritan public domain

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