'... Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and
put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: 23. And
bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it....'
--LUKE XV. 22, 23.
God's giving always follows His forgiving. It is not so with us. We
think ourselves very magnanimous when we pardon; and we seldom go on
to lavish favours where we have overlooked faults. Perhaps it is right
that men who have offended against men should earn restoration by acts,
and should have to ride quarantine, as it were, for a time. But I
question whether forgiveness is ever true which is not, like God's,
attended by large-hearted gifts. If pardon is only the non-infliction
of penalty, then it is natural enough that it should be considered
sufficient by itself, and that the evildoer should not be rewarded
for having been bad. But if pardon is the outflow of the love of the
offended to the offender, then it can scarcely be content with simply
giving the debtor his discharge, and turning him into the world
penniless.
However that may be with regard to men, God's forgiveness is
essentially the communication of God's love to us sinners, as if we
had never sinned at all. And, that being so, that love cannot stay
its working until it has given all that it can bestow or we can
receive. God does not do things by halves; and He always gives when
He forgives.
Now that is the great truth of the last part of this immortal
parable. And it is one of the points in which it differs from, and
towers high above, the two preceding ones. The lost sheep was
carried back to the pastures, turned loose there, needed no further
special care, and began to nibble as if nothing had happened. The
lost drachma was simply put back in the woman's purse. But the lost
son was pardoned, and, being pardoned, was capable of receiving, and
received, greater gifts than he had before. These gifts are very
remarkably detailed in the words of our text.
Now, of course, it is always risky to seek for a spiritual
interpretation of every point in a parable, many of which points are
mere drapery. But, on the other hand, we may very easily fall into the
error of treating as insignificant details which really are meant to
be full of instruction. And I cannot help thinking--although many
would differ from me,--that this detailed enumeration of the gifts
to the prodigal is meant to be translated into the terms of spiritual
experience. So I desire to look at them as suggesting for us the
gifts of God which accompany forgiveness. I take the catalogue as
it stands--the Robe, the Ring, the Shoes, the Feast.