IN unison with the principles our Lord was unfolding, do now all the publicans and sinners draw near to Him; they perceived they were welcome, that there was grace to receive them. They who needed blessing could appreciate the largeness and fullness of the offer of it, and they who did not, “the Pharisees and scribes, murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.” The gracious Lord wearies not in reiterating to them the manner of His grace, and, in fact, in vindicating it. The great point established by the two parables is, that it became the Shepherd of Israel to look for a lost one, and, faithful to His trust, to spare not Himself till He finds it; cost what it may, the sheep must be found; and, doubtless, the greater the task, the greater the joy in accomplishing it; there is great joy in finding the sheep, for it had wandered into dark and dangerous places. This is intrinsically the grace of God, to “rejoice more over one sinner that repenteth, than over ninety and nine which need no repentance.” God loves the heart that needs Him. The woman, searching for the piece of silver, tells the same tale, only with this difference, that the power which is effectual in the search is in the hand of another. The Son of God, as the Shepherd, searches—the Holy Ghost in the Church searches—and the Father, in the open arms of His love, receives the found one. This the narrative of the prodigal son fully ‘elates.
The Jew had never understood the heart of the Father. One treading on the threshold of such blessing could say: “Show us the Father and it sufficeth us.” (John 14.) The only-begotten Son had declared it, and it is only in the Spirit of the Son we can understand it. The deeply interesting details of this grace are disclosed here. The two-fold response it produces is illustrated by the “two sons.” “The younger son” early desires independence, and seeks at a distance from hue Father to enjoy it: abundance of gifts bound not his heart to the giver, but they abide not always. Every element separated from its source is terminable. He forsook the fountain, and he began to be in want. Such was Israel when, having wandered from God, they sought for help from Egypt and Assyria. He “JOINED himself to a citizen of that country,” and they took away all his labor, (see Ezek. 23:2929And they shall deal with thee hatefully, and shall take away all thy labor, and shall leave thee naked and bare: and the nakedness of thy whoredoms shall be discovered, both thy lewdness and thy whoredoms. (Ezekiel 23:29),) and left him naked and bare; “and he would fain have filled his belly with the husks.” “No man gave unto him.” Now, on the verge of destitution, when there was no eye to pity, when every human aid and means are sped—then, in that moment of bitterest anguish, a thought (unseenly sent, but surely felt) of the Father’s love enters his soul; the one he had slighted, above whom all others were preferred, is now to be sought as his only friend; no question as to acceptance—no one knows the Father and doubts it. You may not know the measure of it, but as to the fact there can be no question. It simply depends on His goodness and my need; if either is questionable, then may the acceptance be. This is the great point pressed here—the Father’s arms, open and advancing towards the returning and desolate wanderer.
Though I do not doubt that in its main features this narrative presents the return of Israel in the latter day, as described in Hosea 13, yet I apprehend that a new purpose of present mercy is taught here, as affecting the desolate and hopeless wanderers of Israel of this day. The restored one here is not established in his forfeited, but redeemed inheritance; he is introduced into a place and portion not ever appertaining to him. The Father’s house is to be the future sphere of all his glory and enjoyment. Wondrous grace! Where sin abounded, grace much more abounded. To him who forfeited his large estates of natural blessings, and now a desolate beggar—even to him are the doors of God’s everlasting house thrown open. God commands His servants now to carry out the full intentions of His love. Paul understood this commission; he desired “to present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.” God will accomplish His purpose. “They began to be merry.” This hapless one is rescued from the direst want, to abide with God in holy everlasting joys; but, instead of all with one voice acknowledging and applauding this unheard-of mercy, there are found within the nearest ties of nature the most hostile and averse to it. The elder brother is the open enemy of grace; for the mere reputable, well-conducted and prudent of the earth, have no appreciation of this new and wondrous acceptance and elevation. He could not catch the air of the anthem of grace; he could not sing the new song with the risen, heavenly, but once lost prodigal; “he would not go in.” Such were the Pharisees of our Lord’s day; but even to such the hand of mercy is still stretched out. The Father, in the person of Jesus, has come out, and entreated the self-satisfied Jew—offered him a participation in this glorious grace—grace that he does not understand—grace that he never expected or desired; the utmost of his wish only reached to “make merry with his friends.” Into his heart it never entered that God would share His joys with him. God graciously vindicates His own course, an unanswerable one to any Jewish caviler, adding the promise yet surely to be fulfilled to Israel “Son, thou art ever with me, and all I have is thine.” Even God, the gracious God, could say no more!