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THE KING’S BUSINESS
That is the God o f the Bible. The fatherabout the man or the woman who is far did not wait until he was washed and dressed before he kissed him, neither does God. The son made his confession, but when he got to the point o f saying, “Make me as one o f thy hired servants,” the father stopped him. God will hear nothing o f that. However far away we have been, He will make us sons. Then there was “ the best robe” (Isa, 61:10; Zech. 3:3-5; Phil. 3:9 R. V .), and “a ring,” pledge o f sonship (Eph. 1:13, 14; Gal. 4 :6 ), and “ shoes” (Eph. 6:15). Then to crown all, there was the “ca lf;” the fatted one,” and feasting and merriment. A feast awaits every wan down in sin. The father had no apologies to make for his treatment o f the son who was once dead and was now alive again; rather, he tenderly shows the elder brother that his treatment was Just the treatment that was “meet” or necessary. No other treatment could by any possibility be afforded by a true father,' or by a true brother either for that matter, to one who was dead and was now alive again, who was lost and now found, but how seldom we are ready to treat the wanderer that way. W e will admit him into our churches, but he must be received on suspicion. There is a lesson for us all in this part o f the parable. Thursday, January 20 . Luke 16 : 1 , 2 . derer returning to God. Wednesday, January ig. Luke 15 : 25 - 32 .
Here we pass from a glad picture to a sad one, from the picture o f the father’s forgiving love to a picture o f the elder brother’s envy. Alas, the parable has many present-day fulfillments. Many a man who has been moral, and conscientious and relig ious all his days, instead o f rejoicing over the reclaiming and pardeming, and clothing and feasting o f the one who has been down and out, is bitter over it, and thinks that he himself is not fairly treated. O f course the elder brother here represents primarily the Pharisees who murmured because Christ received publicans and sinners. There are many o f the same ilk today. Though the younger son had gone further away from the father in his outward con duct, the elder brother, in his selfishness and envy and jealousy had gone quite as far away in heart. And today the moral and religious man who grudges the sinner’s welcome back to God is as far from God in heart as the man who goes down into the vilest sin. God is love (1 John 4 :8 ), and the one who does not love is far from G od; just as far really in heart as the vicious or the depraved. The elder brother spoke o f his younger brother who had gone far stray as “ This, thy son.” There is a won derful touch o f love in the father’s reply, “ This, thy brother.” The wanderer was just as much his brother as he was the father’s son. How often we forget that
This parable was spoken to the disciples o f Jesus. It was directed especially against the sin o f covetousness (v. 14). Its main purpose is to teach us to so use our money here while we have it, that It will bring us recompense in the eternal world after we are gone (v. 9 ). Jesus, o f course, did not intend to hold up the unrighteous steward’s action for imitation in every respect, but merely uses him to teach this one point, that as “a son o f this world” (v. 8 R. V .) is shrewd so to use-the money committed to him as to provide for the future time when his stewardship is taken from him, much more, “a son o f the light” (v. 8 R. V .) should also be shrewd to so use the money committed to him that when his earthly stewardship is taken from him (i. e.^at death), he will have provided for a future eternity. Many have found great difficulty in this passage, but all difficulties disappear if we bear in mind the purpose o f the parable. That Jesus did not approve o f the unjust steward’s action from the moral standpoint, is evident from His speaking o f him as “the unrighteous ste ward” (v. 8 ). There are other parables where wicked or selfish men are held up by way o f contrast to show how muph more God or godly men may be expected to act in some way suggested by their addon (Luke 18:6, 7; 11:5-8; Matt. 12:11,
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