Loss and return

Meaning

The lost sheep and ox and the lost son occur in the main treatise's catalogue of familiar parables. Part IV: the spiritual comparison · unit 2 argues that visible, earthly examples make divine mysteries easier to understand; these examples follow accounts of the Church, stewardship and the kingdom. The English renders the son by the familiar designation 'prodigal son' but preserves the unusual pairing of sheep and ox. The lexicon should not silently repair that pairing to a different biblical list. This unit invokes recognisable patterns of loss and restoration without retelling each narrative or assigning every animal a chemical counterpart.