Prodigal Son And God’s Mercy

Prodigal Son And God’s Mercy — All that God looks for from us is the slightest opening and He forgives a multitude of sins.

There were two brothers, they divided their father’s goods between them. One stayed home while the other went to a foreign country, wasted all he had been given and then could not bear the shame of his poverty. The son who went away represents those who fall after baptism. This is clear from the fact that he is called a son, since no one is called a son unless he is baptized. Also, he lived in his father’s house and took a share of all his father’s goods. Before baptism, no one receives the Father’s goods or enters upon the inheritance. We can therefore take all this as signifying the state of believers.

What does he say after falling into the depths of evil? I will return to my father. The reason the father let him go and did not prevent his departure for a foreign land was so that he might learn well by experience what good things are enjoyed by the one who stays home. For when words not convince us, God often leaves us to learn from the things that happen to us. When the dissolute returned after going to a foreign country and finding out by experience what a great sin it is to leave the father’s house, the father did not remember past injuries but welcomed him with open arms. Why? Because he was a father and not a judge. And there were dances and festivities and banquets and the whole house was full of joy and gladness.

Are you asking, “Is this what he gets for his wickedness?” Not for his wickedness but for his return home; not for sin, but for repentance; not for evil, but for being converted. What is more, when the elder son was angry at this the father gently won him over saying: You were always with me, but he was lost and has been found; he was dead and has come back to life.

“When someone who was lost has to be saved it is not the time for passing judgment but only for mercy and forgiveness,” said the father.

Courtesy of Holy Myrrh-Bearers Church of Swarthmore.

Prodigal Son And God's Mercy

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