LIVING WATERS
For the proclamation of the Gospel and the edification of the Body of Christ
In His Presence
"I will arise and go to my father..." (Luke 15:18).
How blessed is the vision the Lord gives of His word through His Body. Not of a particular man, who has a very small measure, but of the oil that runs down through the whole Body, from the Head (Ps. 133). Luke chapter 15 tells us mainly of the joy of the Lord, of the feast in heaven when a sinner repents, and of the joy of the Lord that we are in his presence.
The parable of the prodigal son shows us, among many other pearls, two that we would like to highlight today. The first concerns us sinners when we turn away from the Father. The second is the way the Father receives us when we repent and return to him.
By the testimony of the two brothers, the Spirit reveals to us through this parable two ways in which we turn away from the Father. To both of them the inheritance was divided, which was already something unusual, because only the firstborn had the right. But the parable shows that our Father is no respecter of persons, he makes no distinction between one brother and another brother; whatever he gives to one, he gives to the other as well.
All that the Lord created and gave to man is for our enjoyment, but not apart from him (1 Tim. 6:17). All that the Lord created for man, goods, food, drink, sex, and all things, are for his joy in the presence of God. The two sons showed, one in one way and the other in another, how sad and vile man is when he pretends to enjoy the things given to him by God, but without God himself.
The second pearl is the way the Father receives us when we repent and return to his presence. The prodigal son remembered how kind his father was to his hired servants. If the Lord is good even to the ungrateful and wicked, how much more to his children! His compassionate attitude also teaches those of us who are parents that when the son returned to his father, the father did not rebuke him or lecture him, but made a great feast. How often do we treat our children roughly, or push them away with our rudeness, instead of drawing them to us? Then they prefer the company of friends.
How our Father teaches us in this parable! He does not care whether someone spends or keeps like one son or another, but the desire to be in his presence, rejoicing with him in everything. In both cases, repentance was necessary.
Many, like the other son, think that serving God by keeping his commandments and living a religious life is all the Father's will, but it is not. He longs for us to rejoice and be glad with him, and his commandments are not burdensome.
Beloved, whether we find ourselves in one case or the other, it is necessary to repent and turn to the Lord, who is slow to anger and plenteous in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression (Num. 14:18). Let us serve him with gladness and not with groaning; for what is all that the Lord gives us worth if we do not rejoice in him? Let us turn to him, for in his presence there is fullness of joy (Ps. 16:11).