|
The Elder BrotherWe will discuss the elder brother this week as we continue in the “Tale of Two Sons” Campaign. We have previously discussed and debated the section of the parable where the younger brother demanded his share of the inheritance from the father, which resulted in the father dividing his wealth between the two brothers. The younger son sold off all his property and inheritance and left his family and country behind. The younger son squandered all his wealth and decided to return home to the father planning to ask for a job as a craftsman. Before the younger son could state his plan or ask forgiveness, the father ran to meet him and greeted him with love and grace. The father then ordered a huge celebration for his son who was “found”. The Elder Son Luke 15:25-26 (KEB) “Now the elder son was in the field, and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the boys and asked what was meant.” As the elder brother returned from supervising the work in the fields, he heard music as he reached the edge of the village. As he got close to his home, he realized the music and festivities were coming from his home and the entire village was there celebrating. Imagine what the elder brother was feeling as he walked up the road to a party at his house. When the elder brother stops outside the house and demands to know what is going on, a boy from the village responds: Luke 15:27-28a (KEB) “And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come home, and your father has killed the fatted calf because he recovered him with peace.’ Then he became angry and refused to go in.” Kenneth Bailey says, “Shalom includes good health, but it also means ‘reconciliation’. If the father has already received the prodigal ‘with peace’ then the two of them are reconciled – and the older son’s point of view is already lost.” The elder brother isn’t asked his opinion as to how the younger brother should be received back into the family. If the party was just to celebrate the return of the younger brother, the elder brother could have joined in and continued to disagree with the father. But the father had received the younger brother with reconciliation, so if the elder brother joins the party he must also agree with the reconciliation. The elder brother has a very important role in the family. He sits at the head of the table and manages the servants, and sees to it that the guests are happy. By refusing to join the celebration, the elder brother is not only embarrassing the father, but leaving his father in an awkward position in front of his guests. Luke 15:28b “So his father came out and began to plead with him.” As the father goes outside to talk to the elder son, the crowd goes along and waits for the father to be angry and punish the elder son for his bad behavior. As the crowd watches, the father instead pleads and begs with the elder son to join the celebration. The elder son chooses to be rude and refuses to participate in the reconciliation. His goal is to discredit the reconciliation in front of the whole village, creating chaos and more scandal in the community. Luke 15:29-30 (KEB) “But he answered his father, ‘Listen for all these years, I have been working like a slave for you and I never disobeyed your commandments, yet you never gave me even a young goat so I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours comes back, who has devoured your living with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him.” The elder son accuses the father of favoritism. He paints himself outside of the family, as a victim. He refuses a partnership with his father and declines his place at the table as the elder brother. He falsifies the meaning of the banquet, turning it from a celebration of the father who went out and found the son, into an inappropriate celebration of the younger son. He despises his younger brother. Bailey writes “The party is not in honor of the prodigal. The party is taking place because the father recovered his son with shalom!” In the first two parables in Luke 15 (the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin), the celebration is about the person who went out and found the lost item, not a celebration for the lost item itself. Insight: The elder son is consumed with envy, pride, bitterness, sarcasm, anger, resentment, self-centeredness, hate, stinginess, self-satisfaction and self-deception. Yet he appears to see his actions as a righteous search for honor. Kenneth Bailey writes “Jesus offers a brilliant analysis of how a self-righteous spirit can dominate and poison a person.” The father is looking for sons (and daughters) and will pay the price. In this parable, the father pays the price by giving up his property, humiliating himself in front of the entire community, and giving everything to reconcile with his sons. Luke 15:31-32 (KEB) “And the father said to him, ‘Beloved son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. And to celebrate and rejoice was necessary, for this your brother was dead and come to life, he was lost and has been found.” Open Ending: Repentance has been redefined and has now been restated as “the acceptance of being found”. Everyone (including the self-righteous) and the sinners must ‘accept being found’ by the father to be at his table. Questions for thought:
Feel free to forward this article. |
