0825. The Prodigal Son

The Prodigal Son

"And am no mere worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants" (Luk_15:19).

The prodigal son brings before us the humility that seeks a servant's place. Let us follow the same steps that were followed before.

1. The prodigal's pride. When the prodigal son came to maturity he said to his father, "Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me." He asked for all, and he took all which befell him. He cut the cables that bound him to his home. He spurned the advice of his father. He threw up his head with pride. His very act discovers him to us as a young man, self-centered, self-seeking, and self-confident.

2. The prodigal's humiliation. It was not quite as smooth sailing as the young man thought it would be. It was not long until his money was all gone and he had joined himself to a citizen of the country where he dwelt, and was sent into his fields to feed the swine. "He would fain had filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him."

Swine feeding is a mean enough task for any one, but particularly contemptible to a Jew. More particularly to a Jew who had been brought up in a home of wealth and of culture. The prodigal son had lifted his head up toward God and proudly gone his way. God had reached forth His hand and had thrown him down into the depth. This is just what God says He will do. "The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground?"

God brought the prodigal down,–down to a swine herd.

3. The Prodigal's exaltation. When the prodigal came to himself he remembered how many of the servants at home had bread enough and to spare, while he was perishing. Then he said, "I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against Heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son."

When the prodigal boy thus humbled himself and expressed himself as willing to stay out in the yard with the servants; when he came home humbled in shame, then his father exalted him. The father saw him, when he was yet a great way off, and he ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. The father ordered the best robe for him, a ring for his hand and shoes for his feet. The fatted calf was killed and they made merry. Have we not learned the lesson that the one who would come to God must humble himself, must fall upon his face? The elder son of this parable is like the Pharisee who thanked God for his virtues and denounced the publican. The prodigal is like the publican who would not lift up his face to God, but beat upon his breast and said, "God be merciful to me a sinner."

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR