Many among us grew up with allegorical interpretations of these parables. The sheep, the coin, the son all represent the sinner who is lost then found and saved by God.
My friends, let us try to read the parables as parables about shepherds and sheep, women and coins, and fathers and sons. The shepherd is not God. Nor the woman. Nor the father.
The shepherd is responsible for sheep under her care. The woman is responsible for her coins. The father is responsible for his sons.
If sheep, coins, and sons go astray, we ask those responsible: why?
For so long our interpretations have shielded and protected those responsible for sheep, coins, and sons. It is time we ask the shepherd, the woman, and the father: why did you lose them?
For so long we have shielded and protected David and Eli from what happened with their "lost" sons. We still do so with today's Davids and Elis.
*Art, "The Prodigal Son," JESUS MAFA, Cameroon, 1970 (available at the vanderbilt divinity library revised common lectionary art galleries).