Luke 15:11-32

THE PARABLE OF THE PRODIGAL SON. ‘The crown and pearl' of all our Lord's parables. It is an advance from the two which precede it. The case of the sinner is represented as more aggravated: his guilt greater, his wretchedness more profound. Hitherto the illustrations have been borrowed from actions prompted by self-interest ; now love enters. The sheep, the coin, were valuable, but here a human being is the lost one. Only here, therefore, can the history of the wandering soul and its return be portrayed in its successive steps, and only here can the mercy of God be presented so as to reveal His heart of love. The form of the parable answers to its higher truth. But admiration of its beauty does not necessarily imply a like return to the Father's house. Farther this single parable, with all its beauty and pathos, does not set forth the whole scheme of salvation in a single parable. The time was not ripe for revelation in regard to the purpose of our Lord's death; nor was the audience one at all prepared to receive such truth. The main lesson for them (the Pharisees) was that God is merciful to sinners; and this is the fundamental truth of the whole scheme of salvation (Ephesians 2:4). This accords with the view taken of the three parables, as presenting the mercy of God: in the first the son appears as shepherd ; in the second, the in working spirit; in this, the Eternal Father with His heart of love. This is the order of the application of God's mercy to sinners. The main lesson of the parable for ourselves, appears when we call it (as it really is) the parable of the Penitent and Returning Prodigal Son. How to repent and return learn from the cross.