Commentary on the Gospel of
All is Grace
Why does, in Jesus’ parables, a man always has two sons, and neither of them is perfect? Neither in the parable of the prodigal son nor in today’s parable do the sons come off as perfect. Perhaps that is the truth: there are no perfect sons or daughters in this side of life. A glance through the Scriptures is enough to convince us that none of the great patriarchs or prophets or kings or apostles is a paragon of virtues; in fact, many of them did terribly roguish things! It is here the words of Lord Illingworth, a character in Oscar Wilde’s 1893 play, A Woman of No Importance take on a deeper meaning: “The only difference between the saint and the sinner is that every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.” We are saved by God’s grace, not by our virtues. We just need to respond to this grace, as the younger son in the story does, the impulse for which also comes from grace.
