The tax collectors and sinners, however, were all crowding round to listen to him,
and the Pharisees and scribes complained saying, 'This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.'
So he told them this parable:
Then he said, 'There was a man who had two sons.
The younger one said to his father, "Father, let me have the share of the estate that will come to me." So the father divided the property between them.
A few days later, the younger son got together everything he had and left for a distant country where he squandered his money on a life of debauchery.
'When he had spent it all, that country experienced a severe famine, and now he began to feel the pinch;
so he hired himself out to one of the local inhabitants who put him on his farm to feed the pigs.
And he would willingly have filled himself with the husks the pigs were eating but no one would let him have them.
Then he came to his senses and said, "How many of my father's hired men have all the food they want and more, and here am I dying of hunger!
I will leave this place and go to my father and say: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you;
I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired men."
So he left the place and went back to his father. 'While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with pity. He ran to the boy, clasped him in his arms and kissed him.
Then his son said, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son."
But the father said to his servants, "Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.
Bring the calf we have been fattening, and kill it; we will celebrate by having a feast,
because this son of mine was dead and has come back to life; he was lost and is found." And they began to celebrate.
'Now the elder son was out in the fields, and on his way back, as he drew near the house, he could hear music and dancing.
Calling one of the servants he asked what it was all about.
The servant told him, "Your brother has come, and your father has killed the calf we had been fattening because he has got him back safe and sound."
He was angry then and refused to go in, and his father came out and began to urge him to come in;
but he retorted to his father, "All these years I have slaved for you and never once disobeyed any orders of yours, yet you never offered me so much as a kid for me to celebrate with my friends.
But, for this son of yours, when he comes back after swallowing up your property -- he and his loose women -- you kill the calf we had been fattening."
'The father said, "My son, you are with me always and all I have is yours.
But it was only right we should celebrate and rejoice, because your brother here was dead and has come to life; he was lost and is found." '
The the Gospel today, Jesus told his followers including the Pharisees and scribes about the parable of the Prodigal son. In the story, it shows how the son admitted his sins and how he find courage to go back to his father to seek forgiveness. What is significant in this story is that even though the father knew that his son returned out of desperate need, he accepted his son with open arms. The father is very happy to see his son returning home. The father even throw a feast with the return of his son.
But why did the son returned to his father? The son knew that his father has a good heart. He knew that his father still love him. The son realize this when he hit bottom and nowhere else to go. The son realize that his father love him so much and that unconditional love gave him the strength and motivation to return to his father and ask for forgiveness.
The Gospel today teaches us the unconditional love of the Lord our God. Even though we push him away and abandon him and rejected our God the Father, he is still there waiting for us to return to him. Our God is a loving God. He even gave his only begotten son to save us from sins. All we have to do is to admit our sins and ask for forgiveness. We must open our hearts to the Lord and return to him as his beloved sons.
