3.18 The Prodigal Son

XVIII. THE PRODIGAL SON.

Luke 15:11 - Luke 15:32. The words “ and He said “ form the only connecting link between this parable and the preceding. It has been called the “ pearl of the parables,” and it is, perhaps, the most beautiful of them all because it sets forth in the clearest light and in the most affecting manner the depths of the Divine love and compassion for sinners who repent. It is the last of a trilogy, of which each member exhibits strong affinities with the others, and the subject in the main continues the same.

We feel, however, that there is here no repetition, so fresh and new is the mode of treatment. On the contrary, there is a distinct advance on both of those which precede it. Unlike the lost sheep, the prodigal son goes astray deliberately and of set purpose, and is thus responsible for his departure from THE PARABLES OF JESUS 188 his father’s house, and for all his subsequent aberrations, and yet his father weleomes him back with a passionate joy which as far surpasses in its intensity the joy of the man who recovers his lost sheep, or that of the woman who finds the missing coin, as a father s love surpasses the attachment which men have to mere material possessions. The lesson of the parable is obvious. If an earthly father receives back with tenderness and joy a son who has shown himself unworthy of his love, and has brought disgrace upon him, how much more will Our Heavenly Father forgive us our sins provided only that we return to Him by a sincere repentance! If we view the parable as a whole, the impression which it makes upon us is not lacking in distinctness.

It is only when we begin to examine the narrative point by point, and insist on seeking in each one of the points for a definite spiritual meaning, and expect that perfect consistency which in a figurative history is not required, that we find ourselves in diiliculties, and also in danger of losing sight of that delightful spontaneity of thought and depth of feeling which lend the parable its peculiar charm.

184 THE PARABLES OF JESUS In other words, there is no room here for allegorization. TJie parable falls into two parts: verses 11 to 24 treat of the sin, return, and reception of the prodigal by his father; while the conduct of the elder brother is the subject of verses 25 to 32. A certain man had two sons, the younger of whom, apparently feeling life at home monotonous and dull, asked his father to give him that share of the inheritance which of right belonged to him; and the father, though under no obligation to part with his property during his lifetime, complied with his request.

According to Jewish law, the eldest son had a right to the land and to a double portion of other kinds of property; in this case, there fore, the portion that would legally fall to the younger son would be a third of his father’s movable goods. The language used implies that the father actually divided his possessions there and then between his two sons; but the complaint of the elder towards the end of the narrative shows that he did not avail himself of the division so to enter into possession of his share as to feel himself at liberty to dispose of it according to his pleasure. The young THE PARABLES OF JESUS 185 man, elated at being in possession of so much wealth, loses no time in gathering together all that he has received, and betakes himself with it to a far country, where, free from the restraint which his father’s presence would impose upon him, he yields himself up to the enjoyment of a licentious life. A commentator, who sees a reference in 19:12 to the visit of Archelaus to Rome, thinks that the far country may be Italy; but it is quite improbable that Jesus had any definite place in view. His new life is an expensive one: parasites and harlots help him to consume the property which he had brought with him, and he finds himself reduced to poverty. To make matters worse, the country of his choice is visited by famine, and the hapless man begins to feel the pinch of hunger. Without resources, and ignorant of any trade by which he might procure even a scanty livelihood, he is compelled to attach himself to one of the citizens of that country, who sends him into his fields to feed swine, an occupation for which no particular skill was needed. We must remember that Jesus was speaking to Jews, to whom the occupation in question meant the lowest depth of degrada- 186 THE PARABLES OF JESUS tion. Even by this abasement he can hardly obtain food enough to keep soul and body together, and he would fain have filled his belly with the pods of the carob-tree with which the swine were fed. From this latter statement we may infer that the food supplied him was either quite insufficient in quantity, or inferior in quality to that which was given to the swine. It was a saying among the Jews that Israel could be brought to repentance only when reduced to the necessity of feeding on the produce of the carob-tree. In the fields, with no companion but the unclean animals, he has leisure enough to realize to the full his sad condition. The contrast between his former happiness in his father’s house and his present misery forces itself upon him and intensifies his wretchedness. He feels “ the sharpest pang of all, the remem brance in present misery of a former happy time.” A further contrast takes shape in his thoughts: “How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, while I here perish with hunger.” He takes a sudden resolution: “ I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him: “ Father, I THE PARABLES OF JESUS 187 have sinned against heaven and before thee, I am no longer worthy to be called thy son; make me as one of thy hired servants.” He will address him as father, not for the purpose of basing a claim on the relation which the term contained, but as the unpremeditated expression of his filial love newly awaked.

He had sinned against God by his evil life, and against his father by squandering his substance. Many thoughts, doubtless,occurred fo him to dissuade him from keeping his resolution: he would have to appear in rags before his former friends and acquain tances; he would be obliged to meet the reproachful gaze of his father, and, what was worse, the contemptuous stare of his correct brother. These thoughts were bitter, but his sense of his present misery is so keen that it prevails over all other considerations. He is now thoroughly chastened and humbled; he has taken his resolution and he will keep it, he rises and returns home. How short the time seems since he trod the same ground-in all the buoyancy of youth, in quest of pleasure! and now, disillusionized andrepentant, he seeks the home which he had so 188 THE PARABLES OF JESUS foolishly quitted. Meanwhile his father had not forgotten his absent son; it would seem as if he had divined what the end would be, and was keeping a look-out for the return of his lost child. He now descries him in the distance: unlike, indeed, his former self, but his rags and misery appeal more strongly to the father’s heart than a proud bearing and sumptuous apparel could have done. He runs forward to meet his child; he falls upon his neck and kisses him repeatedly; while the son sobs into his ear that confession of guilt from a heart overcharged with shame and sorrow: “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee: I am no longer worthy to be called thy son.” He had intended to add: “make me as one of thy hired servants;” but, as he feels himself held tightly in his father’s embrace, he will go no farther; he knows that he is forgiven, and that no more words are needed. His father heeds not the acknowledgment of guilt; for answer he calls to his servants: “ Bring forth the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet; and bring forth the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat THE PARABLES OF JESUS 189 and make merry: for this my son was dead, and is come to life again; he was lost, and is found.” Had the parable been only a parallel to 15:4-6 and 8 /, it could have ended here. An objection which could have no place in the two preceding members of the trilogy, however, arises and requires to be met. The behaviour of the father in pardoning with such facility his son’s licentious life is reprehensible, inasmuch as by equalizing the virtuous and the vicious it puts a premium on sin. The elder son, who had been merely mentioned before, now appears upon the scene, and affords his father the necessary opportunity of justifying himself. All this time he had been in the field busy, it would seem, with some useful task and as he draws near to the house, and hears the sound of music and dancing from within, he calls one of the servants and inquires what it all meant. The unexpected answer, “ thy brother is come, and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound,” fills him with anger. When he saw his brother depart bearing with him his full share of the 190 THE PARABLES OF JESUS paternal property, he believed that he was rid of him for ever, and he had no fear that he would one day return to be his rival in his father’s affections, or, what concerned him more, a channel for diverting his bounty from himself. No wonder, then, that he will not enter the banqueting-hall or take any share in the festivities. His father comes out and begins to expostulate with him, but to all his entreaties he has but the one reproachful answer: “ Behold, so many years do I serve thee, and I have never transgressed a commandment of thine, and thou hast never given me a kid that I might make merry with my friends; but as soon as this thy son is come who hath devoured his living with harlots, thou didst kill for him the fatted calf.” The speaker does not represent the Jews as distinguished from the Gentiles, nor the Pharisees among the Jews, nor is he a monster of selfishness: he is simply a type of the average man. The characteristic touches indicate this: he will not call the erring one his brother, but prefers to bring into prominence the relation of the latter to their father; and he betrays the fact that, like the ordinary THE PARABLES OF JESUS 191 man, he feels more keenly the poverty to which his brother’s evil courses have reduced him than the moral turpitude which they involve. His callousness, too, and utter lack of fraternal affection serve to place in a stronger light the storm of passionate joy with which his father has welcomed the prodigal home. He has accused the former of partiality and injustice, but the charge is undeserved; the exquisite delicacy and tact of the father’s answer is its sufficient refutation. He had already shown his love towards his younger son, and his words now reveal that he loves the elder no less. “ Child,” he says, “ thou art always with me “ note that “thou” is here emphatic “and all I have is thine, but it was fitting that we should make merry and rejoice: for this thy brother was dead, and is come to life again; he was lost, and is found.” We are not told whether the elder son yielded to the entreaties of his father, or whether the prodigal persevered in the new life so favourably begun; the words “it was fitting that we should make merry and rejoice “form the climax of the parable: like the two preceding ones, it ends upon a note of joy.

192 THE PARABLES OF JESUS TAGS: [Parables]