The parable of the Prodigal Son has been called the pearl of parables. While it may be

unwise to attempt comparisons between passages in Holy Writ, there is, nevertheless, in

this parable, great appeal to the heart and much to move the feelings as one follows the

progress of the prodigal both upon his disastrous outward journey, and during his return

to love and restoration.

It is not by accident that this parable is recorded by Luke, for it is consonant with his

practice of choosing always the evangelical aspect of his subject. Where Matthew's

narrative is of the birth at Bethlehem of the "King", Luke delights to tell the good tidings

of the birth of a "Saviour". Matthew of course pursues his definite purpose, for he

proclaims the King and the kingdom, but Luke, the right-hand man of the apostle Paul,

has a different object in view. It is he alone who traces the genealogy of Christ to God

through Adam and, again, it is he alone who records the parable of "The Good

Samaritan", a parable that could have no place in the Gospel of the Publican who went

down to his house "justified" rather than the Pharisee; a blessed anticipation of the

doctrine of Romans and of the confession of Phil. 3: 1-9.

Perhaps the affection in which this parable has ever been held is because it is the

parable of the FATHER, a word that is used twelve times in the narrative. It was the

mission of Christ to reveal the Father:

He declared Him in His life, for the Son of God is the "express image of His Person".

His declaration to the enquiring disciples was: "He that hath seen Me, hath seen the

Father"; He declared Him in His gospel, in His discourses and in His parables, and here,

in the parable of the Prodigal Son, we may learn something of the nature and character of

Him to Whom we cry, "Abba, Father".