Luke 15
25“Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working. When he returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house, 26and he asked one of the servants what was going on. 27‘Your brother is back,’ he was told, ‘and your father has killed the calf we were fattening and has prepared a great feast. We are celebrating because of his safe return.’
28“The older brother was angry and wouldn’t go in. His father came out and begged him, 29but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve worked hard for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. 30Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the finest calf we have.’
31“His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you and I are very close, and everything I have is yours. 32We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!’” (Luke 15:25-32, NLT)
The Daily DAVEotional
In a previous post, Revisiting the Story of the Prodigal Son, I shared what the story of the Prodigal Son reveals to us about God, particularly the depth of His love.
In that story, the younger son commits the most egregious act of disrespect imaginable. The father does not stop him, but simply allows him to follow his own path. The father also does not shield his son from the consequences of his misguided choices.
The younger son pursues a life of hedonism, squandering all of his father’s money and wasting his life. But the text says that “he came to his senses”, which means that he repented.
He returned to his father fully expecting to be admonished and punished. Instead, he’s greeted with joy and a loving embrace. He was immediately reconciled and fully restored positionally in the family.
The point of the story is to demonstrate the incredible depth of God’s love and compassion for us. There is nothing we can do that would be so bad that God would not run to us with open arms if we were simply to “come to our senses” and return to Him.
But there’s more to this story, and that’s what this post is about. The younger son was the rebel, the black sheep of the family. But there’s another son, the older son. The loyal and dutiful son.
While the younger son completely disrespected his father and blew his father’s wealth on wild living, the older son stayed home, submissively serving his father as cultural etiquette required.
So what’s the problem? It seems like the older son is the example we’re supposed to follow.
Not exactly.
Have you ever wondered why this part of the story is included? If Jesus simply wanted to illustrate the depth of God’s love, why not just end the story after the younger son returns and is accepted back into the fold by the father?
Jesus clearly had more to say about who He is AND who we are and there’s a reason why Jesus gives us this insight into the older son.
You see, the younger son was the rebel, the wild child. A select group of people will read this story and see themselves as the younger son. But not everyone identifies as a black sheep within their family. Hence Jesus gives us another son in the story, one who is NOT a black sheep at all.
The older son is not lifted up in this story as someone we should emulate because he actually suffers the SAME problem as the younger son. Both sons are disconnected from their father – they just express it in different ways.
While the younger son is brash and disrespectful, the older son is reserved and compliant, But the older son clearly did not demonstrate love and appreciation for his father. That becomes quite evident as soon as the younger son returns home.
Notice the older son’s reaction. The text says he’s angry. I imagine the older son as the type who always does what he’s told but doesn’t express much emotion, until something triggering occurs that causes him to erupt.
That’s the scenario here. The older son isn’t happy the younger son returned, nor is he happy that his father is joyful at his brother’s return. He’s upset at the whole thing, jealous really, that his brother is getting so much favorable treatment.
What’s telling about the older son is what he valued. He’s upset that he never got to have a party with his friends, but his younger brother, the black sheep, is being celebrated for bad behavior.
Have you ever experienced that?
You work your tail off but don’t get the results you want. Meanwhile, some knucklehead you know screws around and seems to break all the rules, and they somehow get rewarded despite their indiscretions.
It doesn’t seem fair does it?
But that’s exactly what Jesus is trying to highlight. The older son stayed with the father, which really is its own reward. The older son missed it completely. The father is the treasure, but the older son was hoping for some other material treasure instead.
The older son suffers from a lack of perspective. The father tells him, “look you and I are very close, and everything I have is yours.”
The father is reminding his son that he has an inheritance.
The older son was not looking toward his future inheritance. Instead, he was coveting some present material reward.
So there you have it. There’s a younger son who is the screw up and there’s the older son who is privately jealous and envious. Both take their relationship with their father for granted. Instead of enjoying the relationship with their loving father, each seeks contentment and pleasure through material means. The younger son is overt in his desire to “live it up” while the older son is more indirect in his thirst for worldly satisfaction.
Which of the sons are you?
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Reflection
When is a time in your life when you rebelled against God and went your own way? What prompted you to wander away?
What keeps you from “coming to your senses” when you find yourself disconnected from God?
Which son do you resonate with more – the younger son or the older son? What are some reasons for your choice?
God is the treasure in this story, though neither son really saw their relationship with their father as something to cherish. How would you rate your own relationship with God? How much do you see God as a treasure?
In what ways can you cultivate a relationship with God that is not centered on duty? How do you think you can develop your heart and passion to see God as a treasure, instead of viewing Him as someone who can help you in some material way?
Photo by Muhmed Alaa El-Bank on Unsplash
The Lowedown 