Scripture Notes: The Prodigal, Part 5 (Luke 15)

Imagine the scene, the merriment as a joyful father shines his joy upon the son he has back safe and sound, as a still-bewildered son basks in his father’s joy, as music rings out and food and drink flow freely. But one person is missing from the festivities. We have not heard of him since the very beginning of the story. There is another son, an older son, one who has not left his father’s house. In fact, he has been out working in the fields, and now he comes in and wonders what in the world is going on.

When the older son finds out that the party is for his good-for-nothing younger brother, that stupid kid who shirked his responsibilities and robbed the family and wasted all their hard-earned property on prostitutes, he is furious, and he will not even go inside. His grumbles probably run the gamut from what he would do to his brother (“Lowest rank among the servants...no wages until he pays back everything he took…”) to anger at their father (“How? How could he have let that, that, that prodigal come back? And throw a feast for him at that! It’s not fair!”). But there’s a good bit of self-pity going on at the same time (“Father never threw a party for me. He never gave me so much as a goat so I could have fun with my friends. All I do is work, work, work!”).

The older son says as much, right out loud, when his father comes out to plead with him. The father does not become angry. More than anything, he is rather sad, for his eldest son has misunderstood him and their relationship. “Son,” he says, “you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours” (Luke 15:31). The son does not realize this. He thinks himself a servant, but he is not. He is a son, fully and completely, a member of the family, an heir but also a sharer in the wealth right now. All he would have to do is open his mouth and ask and then reach out his hand to receive the gifts his father is waiting to give him. His father wants him to flourish, to thrive, to have all the very best. The older son has limited himself. 

The father ends with an explanation that is also an invitation. It is right to celebrate the return of his younger son, he says, for “your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found” (Luke 15:32). This is a cause for great joy. The past is left to the past. A person has returned, safe, repentant, whole, and ready to re-enter the family. He has learned from his sins. He has come to new insights. He has experienced the worst and rediscovered the best. Will the older brother join in the celebration?  We do not know, for Jesus ends His parable right there. Why? Because we have to make a decision, too. Will we accept our Father’s invitation to family life and family love?