Two Brothers, Two Lessons

There are countless sermons when it comes to the prodigal son, but often I feel that the focus is more heavily placed upon the brother who left his father and came back. This is not to say that the lesson here is any less important, after all I am sure we can all think of times that we have wondered away from God wishing to seek out our own desires. However, I do believe that there is a lesson that we can all learn from the brother who stayed.

As a short recap, in Luke 15:11-32, Jesus uses a parable to teach those around Him that God cares for those who come to Him. In this, Jesus uses a father and his two sons. One son decides that he no longer wants to wait for his inheritance, he wants to start living life on his terms and so he asks his father for his share (Luke 15:12). This son then proceeds to squander his inheritance to the point that he has to hire himself out to the citizens of a foreign country (Luke 15:14-15). This son was not treated well by his employers and in a country suffering from famine, the son recognized that those his father employed had more than enough to meet their needs. This lead the son to return home with the intention of asking his father for forgiveness. The father gladly accepts his son back and in short throws a party to welcome his wondering son home.

The lesson that we can learn from this son is that God’s grace is more than sufficient, it does not matter how often or what we have done to sin against Him, if we come before our Heavenly Father with a sincere heart begging for forgiveness, He will forgive. The key in this lesson is recognizing that we have sinned and asking God for forgiveness to restore that relationship.

Now here is where the passage of scripture that I want to discuss comes into play.

“Now his older son was in the field, and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 And he summoned one of the servants and began inquiring what these things could be. 27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has received him back safe and sound.’ 28 But he became angry and was not willing to go in; and his father came out and began pleading with him. 29 But he answered and said to his father, ‘Look! For so many years I have been serving you and I have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you never gave me a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends; 30 but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you slaughtered the fattened calf for him.’ 31 And he said to him, ‘Son, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.’”

The older son returns home from working the fields, after picking up more work because of his brother's absence, to find that his father has killed the fattened calf an act that was reserved for an important time. There is music and dancing going on, and so naturally the older son asks what has happened, only to be told that his brother who squandered his father’s gift has returned home. This is where the warning for believers takes place.

There are some who would look at the measure of an individual who has recognized their sin and need for a savior but only see the past that person brings. They forget that all have sinned in the sight of God (Romans 3:23) and fail to see how God could love such a person as that. In fact, this is the very issue that Jesus is correcting in this story.

“Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near Jesus to listen to Him. 2 And both the Pharisees and the scribes began to complain, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

Luke 15:1-2

We are all the brother that wondered, most of the world still fails to see their sin and so they are still squandering the gifts that God has and wishes to give to them. Others, have seen that they need a savior and so return home as the second son did by accepting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. But it is sad to say that some who profess to follow Jesus spend so long looking at the past of an individual that they fail to see that God has forgiven those sins just as He forgave theirs. These people mistakenly believe that there is no way that God could accept those who wondered from Him, and forget that they failed God as well. For those who think this way, I pray that you do not harden your heart like the older son, but instead see each person who has genuinely been saved as the Father does. “But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.’” Luke 15:32.

Seek the truth and encourage one another,

Alex