when this thy son came, who hath devoured thy living with harlots,
thou killedst for him the fatted calf. 31 And he said unto him,
Son, thou art ever with me, and all that is mine is thine. 32 But
it was meet to make merry and be glad: for this thy brother was
dead, and is alive _again_; and _was_ lost, and is found.

The precious and matchless parable of the Prodigal Son belongs naturally
to Luke. Its literary charm, its tender beauty, its deep human interest,
its breadth of sympathy, its perfect picture of the grace and love of God,
all are in peculiar accord with the purpose and genius of this Gospel.

The parable is linked with two others, the teachings of which it includes
and completes: the parables of the Lost Sheep and of the Lost Coin. The
occasion of all three parables was the censure passed by the Pharisees
upon Jesus because of his association with social outcasts and his cordial
welcome to penitent sinners. Jesus rebuked his enemies by showing that it
is natural to rejoice in the recovery of a lost sheep or a lost coin or a
lost son: much more, then, must God rejoice in the recovery of a lost
soul. Evidently they who fail to share his joy must be out of sympathy and
fellowship with him.

The first parable reveals the love of God in depicting his compassion for
the distress and helplessness of the sinner. The second shows how precious
a lost soul is in the sight of the loving God. Both of them picture his
yearning and patient effort for the recovery of the sinner and his
abounding joy in the restoration of the lost. The statement that "there
shall be joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over
ninety and nine righteous persons, who need no repentance," is not to be
interpreted too literally. It does not mean that God finds more
satisfaction in a repentant sinner than in a sinless saint. Jesus was here
referring definitely to the penitent publicans and to the self-righteous
Pharisees. God did not take delight in the sins of the former, nor did he
regard the state of the latter as perfect, even taking the Pharisees at
their best and regarding them as faithful to the laws of God. Whatever its
motive, morality is always better than lawlessness and impurity. However,
a repentant sinner who understands the grace and mercy of God is always
more pleasing to him than the Pharisee, proud, critical, and unloving,
however correct he may be in his moral behavior.

This truth is mad