ABSTRACT
The parable hinges on mediation, the mediation of the elder son. In the actual language of the New Testament, there is comparatively little about mediation. The problem of suffering is one of those ever-recurring riddles whose answer, hidden from the wise and prudent, is often revealed unto babes. Through the power of self-communication, possessed by all to whom we can attribute personality, and therefore pre-eminently by Christ. In the life and in the death of Christ, man saw God’s hatred to sin, God’s love to himself. To Christ, death was the final act of his obedience, the completion of his reconciling and redeeming purpose. On the cross were felt the consequences of the utmost human sin. The two thieves at the side of Christ suffered, but justly, and for their own misdoings; but he had done nothing amiss; he was bearing the sins of the world.
