The Parable of the Prodigal Son, the Gospel Reading for this Sunday, is one of the most celebrated and commented on passages from the New Testament. The story is the third of three parables about God's boundless forgiveness in the Gospel of Luke, the first two being the Parable of the Lost Sheep and the Parable of the Lost Coin. These specific lessons are not necessarily instructions on how we are to manage human affairs but are about how God acts towards us. All three parables depict the unfathomable love of God for us.
Interpretations of the Parable of the Prodigal Son have usually focused on the younger, dissolute brother, as evidence by how the parable is named. But Pope Benedict XVI had proposed that we rename the passage to the Parable of the Two Sons, since they both show problematic behavior. The sins of the younger son are certainly more glaring. In his cultural context, respect for and deference to elders was paramount. A person's identity was, moreover, defined by belonging to a family and by attachment to ancestral land. By leaving his family and the land behind, he cuts himself off from all his relations and friends. By asking for his inheritance up front, he shows that he wishes his father dead and destroys completely their relationship.
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