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15.1-6
Now tax collectors and outcasts pressed around Jesus so that they could listen to him. In contrast, the Pharisees and scholars complained to each other, "This man welcomes outcasts and eats with them."

So Jesus aimed this parable at them, saying, "Which one of you if he owns a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, wouldn't leave the ninety-nine in an isolated place and go after the lost one until he finds it? And when he finds it he lifts it onto his shoulders and is happy. And when he gets home he asks his friends and neighbours over and says to them, 'Come and celebrate with me because I've found a sheep of mine that was lost.'"

15.8-9
Jesus said, "Suppose a woman who owns ten silver coins loses one of them. What does she do? Won't she light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she's found it? And when she finds it she calls her friends and neighbours over and says, 'Come and celebrate with me because I have found the silver coin I had lost.'"

15.11-32
Jesus said, "Suppose there was once a man who had two sons. The younger one said to him, 'Father, give me the share of the property which is due to me.' So he split his assets between them.

"Just a few days later the younger son collected his things and left home for a foreign country. He blew everything he had on an extravagant lifestyle. Just as he'd spent everything a severe famine swept through that country and he started to feel the pinch. So he went and got a job with one of the citizens of that country, who sent him out onto his farm to feed the pigs. He longed to satisfy his hunger with the carob pods the pigs usually ate. But nobody gave him anything.

"Eventually he came to his senses and said, 'Most of my father's employees have more than enough to eat and here am I starving to death. I'll get moving and approach my father and say to him, "I've messed things up and offended you. I don't deserve to be called your son, so you can treat me like an employee."'

"So he packed up and returned to his father. His father saw him coming quite a way off and felt great pity for him. He ran out and threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. His son said to him, 'Father, I have messed things up and offended you. I no longer deserve to be called your son.'

"But the father called to his servants, 'Hurry! Fetch out the best clothes and get my son dressed. Put a ring on his finger and get shoes onto his feet. Fetch the fattened calf and slaughter it. We'll have a party and celebrate because my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and has been found.' And so the party began.

"Now the man's elder son was out in the fields. He heard music and singing as he got close to the house. So he called over one of the lads and asked him what was going on. The boy answered him, 'Your brother has come back and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has got him back safe and sound.'

"The elder son felt angry and didn't want to go in. His father came out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, 'Look here! I've worked hard for you over many years and I've never once disobeyed you. And yet you've never given me even a young goat in order to celebrate with my friends. Then when this son of yours shows up, having squandered your estate and slept around with whores, you kill the fattened calf for him!'

"His father replied, 'Son, you've always been close to me, and everything I own is yours. But it's only right that we should be happy and celebrate, because this brother of yours was dead and is now back to life, and was lost and has now been found.'"

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