But we may forget that the older brother didn't sin in staying with his father. Unlike his younger brother, he had been faithful to their father. He did right, but he did it for the wrong reason. This was exposed when his younger brother came home:
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. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!His sin lay in his not having his father's heart for the lost. By choice he stayed outside the party his father was throwing for his brother's homecoming. The older brother's self-righteousness consoled him. That good-for-nothing brother was back and was given a heroes' welcome. What's wrong with the world! Am I the only one who sees this injustice?!
Would we rather feel superior or feel forgiveness? The parable makes us count the cost of the gospel. We should want to be faithful, but in being faithful their is a temptation to be prideful. Let's be faithful but love mercy, because we all need both.
1 comment:
Dr. Heckel,
Interesting take on this parable. I never quite looked at it from the angle of having a "heart for the lost".
In some way, I see the sin of the older and younger brother as the same. Once the younger son came to himself and decided to go back to the father, he still wanted to work as a servant to gain the father's favor. The older brother thinks that working for his father is his justification. Works vs. Grace
It seems almost impossible that older brother could rejoice with the father or have a heart for the lost because he doesn't even realize that his own sonship is not based on what he deserves but on the father's love and mercy.
It reminds me of the parable of the laborers in the vineyard (Matt 20) and Chrysostom's Easter homily on that text.
Thanks for the thoughts,
Diana
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