The Missing Character

The Parable of the Prodigal Son
Luke 15:31 (ESV)
"Son you are always with me and everything I have is yours"

So, tonight in my last post dealing with the parable of the prodigal son, I want to look at the character that Jesus leaves out of the story. I will admit up front, that most of the thoughts from this post come from Tim Keller's book, "The Prodigal God" and his chapter entitled "the True Elder Son".

So, when you look at the context of this parable in the chapter of Luke and what Jesus is doing the day He teaches from this parable, you will realize that the parable of the prodigal son comes right after 2 more parables, the parable of the lost sheep and the parable of the lost coin. In both of the parables that come before the prodigal son something is lost and than someone goes and looks for what is lost and celebrates when the lost item is found. When we get to hearing the parable of the prodigal son we are waiting to see who is going to go out and look for the younger lost brother. But we do not see anyone who goes out and looks like in the previous parable. Why?

When we get into the parable the older brother gets angry when the father celebrates the return of the younger lost son. Why? One of the biggest reasons that the older brother gets upset when the feast begins is as the father explains, after the younger son leaves and takes his part of the inheritance, everything that the father has left is and will belong to the older brother. So when the father gives the feast and celebrates the younger son return it is part of what the older brother is supposed to get. Than the father re-instates the younger son's status back in the family, so now the older brother must give up another portion of what is now his and give it up to the younger lost brother. So the older brother is now upset because this younger rebellious lost son is costing him big in what is his. Why does Jesus make this so explicit and point to this in the end and why does the parable end with the older brother upset at his cost?

I believe the reason Jesus does what He does in this story is that He is showing us and pointing to a true older brother. Jesus is trying to get us to yearn for a perfect loving older brother. An older brother that will chase after us and come and look for us when we are lost. An older brother that is free with His blessings and is willing to give up whatever it would cost to welcome us back into the family of God. Jesus is pointing to Himself and desires us to see that we need Him. Jesus is the perfect older brother, the one who will find us when we are lost and bring us back. Jesus is the perfect older brother who will give up whatever it will cost to have us back, even if it will cost Him his life. Jesus in this parable is leaving Himself out and He wants us to realize that and yearn for Him to be in it. The missing character in Jesus and He is the missing character in our lives unless we give Him the place He needs in our lives.

Do not let Jesus be the missing character from your life, like He is in the parable of the prodigal son.