Videos from Fr Claudio Doglio
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Conversion and Salvation
They informed Jesus about a recent event. Pilate had some Galileans killed for committing an unlawful act in the Jerusalem temple. They asked Jesus whether their sin had caused the Galileans’ deaths. Jesus made a clear distinction between that political action and the Galileans’ responsibility. He said they were no more sinful than others, just as those 18 masons who died in a construction accident were no more sinful than all the residents of Jerusalem. But Jesus concludes: “If you are not converted, you will all perish in the same way.”
The topic of conversion is central to the evangelist Luke. Without conversion, there is ruin—either conversion or death. Conversion means changing direction. Luke uses two Greek verbs to express this idea. One is ‘epistrefo,’ a verb that evokes the image of a road. When traveling, we change direction if we realize we’ve taken the wrong route; we must reverse and make a U-turn.
This is the idea of conversion. If I want to reach my goal and realize I’ve taken the wrong path, I must change direction and choose the right one. There’s another, much more beautiful verb that Luke uses—the verb ‘metanoete’—which indicates a change of mind, a shift in mentality. True conversion requires changing the way of thinking. Changing your mindset is anything but easy, and it’s impossible to change people’s thoughts, right?
Let’s consider the people we know in our environment, such as family members… We often believe that ‘the other’ will never change their mind. But can I change my mind? Can I change how I think? Can I be converted? Yes. History shows us that conversion is possible. Some people have truly changed their mindset. Something has happened to them that transformed them. According to Luke, the story of salvation is realized through God’s mercy, which intervenes in people’s lives by changing their thinking. Mercy is therapy. Healing isn’t just a relief; it’s a cover that hides what’s distorted. Mercy is healing. It aims to cure. The goal is to transform the sinner into a saint.
In chapter 15, the evangelist Luke presents three parables known as the parables of mercy. The lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son demonstrate God’s work of saving humanity and exemplify mercy, as highlighted by Jesus’ willingness to dine with sinners.
This is how the evangelist describes the three parables: “The tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to him, but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying, ‘This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.’” What bothers them is that eating with sinners means adopting their mentality and putting oneself on their level. Going to their house and eating with those kinds of people is a shame. Jesus, on the other hand, believes it is a pedagogical and medicinal way. He does not adapt himself to them; he does not go to approve them but to offer them the possibility to change. He goes to look for sinners. We must never forget that the search for the sinner is not for the sinner to remain a sinner. God’s mercy does not approve of sin, but it does not allow sinners to remain as they are. He goes to look for them so he can bring them home.
“What man among you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the lost one until he finds it? And when he does find it, he places it on his shoulders with great joy. Upon returning home, he calls his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’” God is the shepherd who searches for that one lost sheep. Just one percent; 99% are okay and don’t need salvation, so is just one percent a sinner? That percentage doesn’t add up. Ninety-nine percent are righteous and don’t need saving, and only one percent are sinners. The ratio doesn’t match. It’s not based on our calculations or experience. It’s true that the “99” probably refers to the angelic realm, and the only ‘one’ lost sheep is humanity. ‘One’ represents all. Adam is the lost sheep, meaning humanity itself. God leaves the angels in their safe world to enter the messy, bloody world of man. He carries humanity on His shoulders by taking up the cross and guiding humanity through resurrection to the heights of God.
“Or what woman having ten coins and losing one would not light a lamp and sweep the house, searching carefully until she finds it?” Luke often presents female figures alongside male ones. To the persistent friend, he compared the insistent widow with the shepherd who seeks the sheep; he used the example of the woman searching for the coin, an image in the masculine world and an image in the feminine world, to convey the same point. The woman searching for the lost coin represents the wisdom of God entering history to save that coin; Adam, who bears the image and likeness of God after receiving His footprint, lost it on earth, in the dust, beneath something. It must be recovered. This is conversion as an action of God, who seeks the sinner to bring about change.
The third parable, that of the lost son, is more comprehensive and presents not only a missing son and nine others who stay home, but two sons—one older and one younger. One remains at home, while the other chooses to leave. Between the two sons stands the father. It is precisely the relationship between the father and these two types of sons that Jesus aims to illustrate as a model of mercy.
The youngest son leaves home seeking independence but fails. He becomes destitute and is forced to tend pigs. For an Israelite, this is the worst possible situation. He has likely gone abroad, squandered his fortune, and fallen into a beastly life. Hungry, he decides to return. This is not a typical model; we don’t often use it directly as an example of conversion, even catechistically, to introduce the theme of transformation to children: “I shall get up and go to my father.” … The son chooses to return home because he is hungry and his stomach is empty, thinking that ‘many of my father’s hired workers have more than enough food, and here I am starving. So I will go back and tell him: treat me like a servant, but give me food.’
The goal is to eat; the son is willing to serve in exchange for food. When he returns home, the father doesn’t let him finish the sentence he had in mind. Instead, he welcomes him with mercy. The evangelist Luke says that the father saw him from afar and felt his insides move. It’s a strange verb; in Greek, it’s ‘esplancknice,’ which indicates deep, visceral love, usually maternal, and the same verb that describes the attitude of the Samaritan who helps the man robbed by thieves; it also characterizes Jesus meeting the widow at her son’s funeral. It is God’s mercy reaching out to man.
The merciful father goes out to meet him, embraces him, and restores his dignity as a son. As a symbolic gesture, he has him wear the dress (as the Greek text explicitly states); it is the dress of original grace, the sanctity of the very beginning, and it welcomes him to the table of the sons. The older son, who has stayed at home, symbolizes the religiously devoted person. Meanwhile, the younger one likely represents the pagan or rebellious crowd thatignores the Lord and turns away from Him.
The older brother represents Israel’s religious tradition: a devout person who has practiced since his youth, yet with a submissive attitude. When he hears that his brother has returned, he is displeased. When he learns that his father has welcomed him, he becomes angry and refuses to enter the house. In fact, the brother who stayed at home is outside and doesn’t want to come in to eat. He doesn’t want to come in and eat with that other… and the father also goes out to meet him.
There are two lost sons, each lost in a different way. Both are outside the house. The father goes out to invite them both back in. The eldest son protests, saying: “All these years I served you, and not once did I disobey your commands, yet you never gave me even a young goat to celebrate with my friends.” The verb ‘to serve’ appears again. It’s clear that the man did not have two sons but two servants. The flaw in both, though in different ways, is their servility rather than true sonship. ‘Treat me as a servant but feed me.’ ‘I serve you, and you haven’t fed me.’ At the heart of the parable is the simple idea of eating—filling one’s stomach and having something for oneself. It’s the natural image of selfishness; a human attitude focused on one’s needs. The father says this beautiful phrase to his eldest son: “Son, you are always with me.”
It is the centerpiece of the parable, revealing our dignity as sons and daughters: always being with the Lord. This defines our life, eternal life, and the fullness of our existence. Conversion is not merely the son returning home to eat but a change of mindset. The rebel must learn to trust his father, stay with him, and not use him merely for food. Those who live at home need to change their mindset, adopt the father’s way, and develop a welcoming, available attitude that values being over having. Conversion applies to both.
The model is the merciful Father. Conversion is possible. Luke highlights several stories of people being converted. An admirable example is Zacchaeus. In chapter 19, the evangelist Luke introduces this character, who is not just a tax collector but a boss of organized crime in Jericho, a leader of tax collectors, and thus an organizer of these tax-collecting operations for the Romans.
While Jesus passes through the city of Jericho, the last stop before heading to Jerusalem, Zacchaeus is eager to see Him because he has heard about Jesus. If he harbored other feelings in his heart, the evangelist does not mention them. He describes Zacchaeus as small in stature and clever. Not wanting to make himself known, he climbs a sycamore tree to see Jesus. It is a plant with a thick trunk and branches that extend widely downward, making it easy to climb and to look over the crowd from above, hidden by the leaves. He never imagined that Jesus would notice him and speak to him directly.
When he reached that sycamore tree, Jesus stopped and turned to the infamous, barely visible man. He called him by name: “Today I must stay at your house.” “Today” – Luke appreciates this adverb of time; he uses it often in key moments: “Today the Savior was born for you” … “Today these words (which Jesus read in the synagogue of Nazareth) have been fulfilled in your hearing.” “Today, we have seen wonderful things,” say those who witnessed the pardon of the paralytic. The thief crucified with Jesus hears: “Today you will be with me in paradise.” In Zacchaeus’s story, this adverb appears twice: “Today I have to stay at your house,” and he welcomes him joyfully. He came down quickly and made a point to greet him. Jesus entered the house of what we might call gangsters, not to approve but to transform. The encounter with Jesus’ mercy changes Zacchaeus, who tells the Lord: “Half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone, I shall repay it four times over.” This signifies a true conversion — a change in mindset, even in how he uses his money.
Another theme loved by the evangelist Luke is that he returns what he has taken dishonestly and then uses his possessions to give to charity. Is it possible for a criminal of such seriousness to change? It is a true miracle. People complain about Jesus… “He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner.” It seems that Jesus is conspiring with criminals. In reality, God’s mercy follows a path that goes down and gets dirty with sinful humanity, specifically to purify it, remove it from the mud, and lift it up. The mercy of Jesus breaks through into the heart of Zacchaeus, and a sinner like him changes his life. “Today, salvation has come to this house.”
Here, conversion is equated with salvation. God’s mercy rescues the sinner by transforming him and renewing his mind. This is the ‘metanoia’—the change of mindset that God’s grace offers and sinful man accepts. God’s mercy makes the wicked righteous. Zacchaeus serves as an example. A change of mind is possible; God’s mercy is a healing power that works.
And in my mind, does it work? If it doesn’t, the mercy given to me is meaningless. To be truly useful, I must allow myself to change. This is the ‘metanoia,’ the transformation asked of me, one I want to make possible through God’s mercy.