Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32:  Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to  Jesus.  And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”  

So Jesus told them this parable: “There was a man who had two sons.  The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the wealth that will belong to me.’  So the father divided his assets between his two sons.  A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant region, and there he squandered his wealth in dissolute living.  When the younger son had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that region, and he began to be in need.  So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that region, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs.  The younger son would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, and no one gave him anything.  But when he came to his senses he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger!  I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you;  I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.”’  So the younger son set off and went to his father.  But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; the father ran and put his arms around his younger son and kissed him.  Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’  But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.  And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate, for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’  And they began to celebrate.

“Now the father’s elder son was in the field, and as he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing.  He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on.  The slave replied, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf because he has got him back safe and sound.’  Then the older son became angry and refused to go in.  His father came out and began to plead with him.  But the older son answered his father, ‘Listen!  For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command, yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends.  But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your assets with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!’  Then the father said to his older son, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.  But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.’”