Peace Better Than Joy
“Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine” — Luke xv. 31.
The elder brother was surprised at the prodigal’s joy, surprised that such a joy should have u6 MOMENTS ON THE MOUNT.
been vouchsafed to him. He saw him in the experience of a rapture ‘which he himself had never possessed and could not now command, and it seemed for the time an incongruous thing. He had lived all his life in his father’s house, and had never strayed from the haunts of home, yet he had never known the ecstasy of the human spirit; his brother had only now wakened to the thought of home, and his heart was on fire with joy. Was the elder son inferior by reason of this greater calm? Not so thought the Father. “Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.” To Him the greater calm was a proof of greater nearness. It was just because there had been no interruption in the home-life that there was no place for ecstasy. This man had never seen aught but beauty, never heard aught but music; wherefore should he cry out in rapture at a scene or break forth into ecstasy at a song? God’s breath was in him every moment, every hour, every day; why should he be excited by that which to him was no new thing’? Verily, peace was from him a higher tribute than joy.
My soul, do not undervalue thy peace. Do not say that the calm that has never left a Father’s house is inferior to the flutter that has waked in coming home. It is not inferior, it is brighter, purer. He who has gone forth into the far country and wasted his substance in riotous living may in his return experience a joy of contrast which others cannot know, for the transition from midnight into day must indeed be dazzling, radiant. Yet methinks it is better to have the day without the night, the home without the exile, the calm without the storm. There may be less joy, but there will be more peace; there will be less marvel, but there will be more permanence. To breathe the breath of God as a natural atmosphere — that is the highest blessing, and the highest tribute of Infinite Love is this: “Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.”