Greetings fellow sojourners of the Truth!
I gotta be honest with you, when I started reading our Luke passage, I thought 'blah blah blah, I've read this before a hundred times, what new thing could I possibly see.' Again, I am humbled.
I've got problems with this passage. Here we've got a wayward kid, taking his fathers hard earned money, that was meant for after his fathers death, throwing it all to high living, fast women and just plain rebellion. As far as I'm concerned, he deserves what he got. Feeding pigs is nasty business. It's gross. And for a Jew it was more than just gross, it was unclean. They didn't associate themselves with unclean things. If you were unclean you couldn't be around people or go in the temple. This boy is desperate, clearly. But he must've known who his father was, even in spite of what he had done. He must've known his father was a merciful man, otherwise he wouldn't have even tried to go back. We've read the story, the boy does go back, his father is more than merciful, he is actually quite generous in the face of his sons flagrant rebellion. The father throws a party and from what I read in scripture, it is quite the shindig. Food, singing and dancing. And they waste no time in throwing this partay. In fact, in their haste, they fail to alert the older brother, working his butt off in the fields, that his irresponsible little brother has returned.
Older brother is ticked. Indignant. I would be too. I mean, here we have the older brother, responsible, working in the fields like a hired servant, patiently waiting the day when his inheritance is given to him. And the younger brother shirks his duties, tromps off to waste his inheritance on trash. Then younger brother comes home and the father doesn't even mention his wayward living, but rather turns a blind eye.....
Or does he.
It is subtle, but it's there. The father does mention it, but he doesn't linger on it. Note:
24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’The father does not gloss over his sins. If my father said I was once dead and lost to him, that would make an impact on me. For a long time this son was dead to him. The son he raised to be better, the son he knew, the son he invested his good morals in, was indeed dead. The son basically said the father was dead to him when he took his inheritance and the father, in a way, reminds him of that with this statement. In essence, the sons sin is turned around on him.
But as soon as the father reminds the son of his sin, he follows it with mercy and redemption. That reminder of the sin will always remain with the son, but, because this father is so good at what he does, he coupled the sin with the redemption. So that when the son remembers the sin, he will also remember the forgiveness. I believe that's sometimes why people remain in sin, because they have sinned. When I eat sweets it's so much easier to keep eating them. But when we are reminded of our sin and our forgiveness I think its easier to climb out of the muck.
I don't want to forget about the older brother. In some ways I can recognize with this man. I don't have children old enough to rebel against me in this manner, yet. But I do have a brother. He has a past. And while his return from prodigal living is slow in coming, he has turned his life around greatly. I am happy, very happy that he has. But in a lot of ways while my brother was rebelling my parents paid so much more attention to him. Lots of time and money was spent on him. I hated the whole deal. I truly can empathize with the older brother. It's unfair. And the fathers answer seems weak. I cannot reconcile the end of this story. Yes, I get the forgiveness of the father, but it's the brother I have trouble with.
We sometimes cannot understand what the Father does, but we can live in gratefulness that our brothers and sisters are not in control of our salvation.
I pray as we near Easter that the mercy and forgiveness of the Cross is made rich and full in your hearts and minds.
Tomorrow's passage: Judges 19-21, Luke 16
6 comments:
Great post, Kathryn. I think the "older brother" resonates with many Christians, particularly the ones who've been Christians practically all their lives. The ones who attended Sunday school, church, youth group, and Bible study all their lives ~ living "right" and denying themselves all the fun the world seemed to be having ~ have a hard time accepting that Christ ALSO lets 5-minute Christians into heaven. Hardened sinners with death-bed confessions get the same welcome. I think we all struggle a bit with that.
We discussed this earlier this year (and probably last year, too!) with the Parable of the Vineyard Workers, which gives us a better view of God's perspective, I think. It makes sense, but from a human standpoint, it still feels a little unfair!
(Tammy made a good point when we looked at that Matthew passage earlier this year when she said the story wasn't about rewards, but about God's GRACE.)
I think I've become more and more convicted lately of the "older brother" syndrome.
No, it doesn't seem "fair". But that's because we're looking at it from our eyes, not the eyes of a Holy and merciful God.
We "older brothers" are quite happy to receive God's grace for our "lesser" sins and be proud of our older brother status.
Kinda like the Pharisees. (Ouch, I know.)
And then we proceed to look down on our wayward brother who is doing stuff we would NEVER do. (halo)
And then, after praying for so long and so hard that he would repent and return to the fold - when our prayer is finally answered, and he returns - we resent him for it! We resent the party that God throws for him! What nerve is that?! What pride, what hypocrisy?!
We have been living in sweet communion with God because of His mercy to us for so long that we've taken it for granted. Not only have we taken it for granted, we have the audacity to think it's something we earned and that we somehow deserve it more than our wayward brother does.
Ah, human nature! Isn't is lovely? Great post, Kathryn. I can understand the feelings of the older brother as well. However, I think this also highlights the fact that we can't earn a place in heaven. The older brother, though he obeyed his father and did everything he was supposed to do can't get into heaven on that alone. We SHOULD obey and follow God's laws, but the most diligent followers are no better than the wayward son if there is no LOVE for God and repentance of our sin, which I know we all acknowledge we have, regardless of how long we've been Christians.
By the way, did anyone else wonder how Samson could possibly have stayed with Delilah, much less told her the truth, after she tried THREE TIMES to disable him so that the Philistines could kill him? Either he was somewhat lacking in brain what he had in spades in brawn, or she was something spectacular in some way. Obviously, she was the quintessential nag, to say the least.
Ah ha ha, just read the comments on yesterday's post... obviously Tammi wondered about Samson as well! lol
oh, this parable has always spoken to me personally because I had/have a prodigal "son" in my life and I am the older "brother". I feel the same anger that the older brother feels and maybe it's partly because my sister has not yet returned and yet she is celebrated anyway. I really need to get over this because I know it's not right.
The whole Samson and Delilah story always made me curious too as to why Samson would give away his secret after being tested. He must have known that she would act on the knowledge.
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