The older angery brother

Parable of the Prodigal Son

Luke 15:25-30

“Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶ So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ²⁷ ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’

²⁸ “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. ²⁹ But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. ³⁰ But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

So now we come to the second lost son in this parable. This lost son is the focus of the second half of the story, and I believe the real reason that Jesus was teaching from this parable. We will look at this son over the next 2 post because I believe he is that important for us to look at. If you go back and read the first few verse of chapter 15, you will see that Jesus is teaching not only to His disciples and other sinners, but also to the Pharisees. I think Jesus is teaching this story to pin point the Pharisees and more importantly the life of moralism. 

Moral conformity and living a life that looks morally good is the problem for the second lost son. This son is older, thinks he is wiser, and feels like he has more to loose than his younger brother. The older brother is furious because he feels that he has done everything the father has asked. The older son has played by the rules, done the good deed, and lived by the code of his fathers house. Yet, the older brother says, your other stupid, sinful, rebellious son shows up smelling like pigs and you just give him the world back. The older son is not liking his father's justice system. The older brother feels like the father has no right to make the decisions about this younger brother without consulting him because everything that the father has left is "technically" his anyway. The older brother is starting to show that he wants to be in control of the wealth and home of his father now too, just like his younger brother back in the beginning of the story. The older son is just as lost and alienated from his father as the younger rebellious son, he just did not know it. And the bottom line is both sons had the same heart. 

How many times do we realize we are like this older son? I would guess that on most days we do not associate ourselves with the older son. We look at our lives and see the sin and rebellion and start to think just like the younger son, realizing that we need God's forgiveness from direct rebellion and selfishness. But I truly believe that we are more like the older son than we think we are and I would even guess, as far as my life, that I am much more like the older son on most days and in more ways. How many times do I try and control what God does with his wealth and blessing? How many times do I try and tell God how to use His justice and mercy? When do I get upset and ask God why He had to bring back the rebellious child? How many times do I think God has made a mistake in saving others? How many times do I judge others for their sins and look down on others because I feel I am better? When we start to ask ourselves these questions we beginning to realize that we are just like the older son. And when we start to associate with the older son more it opens the door to a realization that we are more and more like him. 

In the next post we will discover more of the older lost son's problems and see how we are more like and just as lost from the father as he is.