The Older Brother

Do you know the story of the Prodigal Son? Most people have at least heard the reference, even if they don't know the story. It's a beautiful story of redemption- my favorite kind of story. It's a weird redemption story though. In most stories the lost redeem themselves, but in this one the lost is redeemed before he even admits he's lost. It's also a weird story because there is another character in the story who just doesn't seem to have a real part to play, the older brother. Why the heck is the older brother in that story? If you don't know the story well, right at the end the Father's older son enters the scene. This is Mr. A1 Perfect Son who has been slaving away and following all the rules the whole time Loser Boy has been off partying. When he realizes that Loser Boy is getting a party for just showing up at home, he's more than a little hacked off about it. Can you blame him? Here he has been slaving away, following the rules as perfectly as he knows how and no one has bothered to recognize his efforts. The Father's response isn't especially helpful either. He doesn't suddenly realize that he's been neglecting Mr. A1 Perfect and offer to reward him in the manner he deserves; he doesn't even offer him any sympathy for pete's sake! Instead, all he says is "You are always with me and everything I have is yours." That sounds to me like he just affirmed that he's been taking his son for granted. The story is left unresolved as far as the older brother is concerned.

Thanks to
Dan Allender
I've been spending some time thinking about Mr. A1 Perfect. I think there are two groups of people that Jesus wanted to talk to when he snuck in the older brother bit of the story. Allender addresses the first group- Christians who don't have a lot of tolerance for the grace extended to all the Loser Boys of the world. They believe that grace is only for people who have jumped through the right hoops and then never mess up again. There's a lot that could be said to that group of people, after all that topic screams with the kind of irony that I enjoy.

I want to look, though, at a different group of people that Jesus might have wanted to talk to, a group of people that weren't even much in existence at the time he told the story. I think there are many nonreligous people who are also completely offended by the idea of grace. To them God and forgiveness don't make a bit of sense. Believing in a forgiving God just lets people pursue their worst behavior because they can just be forgiven for it later or better yet, they're forgiven for it before they even do it! If you're someone who just can't believe in God because the idea of being considered Loser Boy when you're doing the best you can, or if you can't believe in the grace of Jesus because it seems ridiculous to you that Loser Boy should get away with all the horrible things he's done, then I think Jesus might have been including you in his story.

Here's what he might have been saying to you. He might have been saying, "Relax! I've got this one. You are great and all that, but that's not why I love you. I love you because you're mine. Everything I have is yours. You're the one who insists on working so hard to get anyone to love you. I will love you for free, whether you work hard or not. My grace is for you too Mr. A1 Perfect, as abhorrent as that is to you, it's still true. You can keep on working hard to be fabulous, but when you're ready to rest, you can come to me, and all that I am is yours."

That's humbling, isn't it? I get that. True love IS humbling though. True love is always given whether you've earned it or not, and you have to humble yourself to receive it. Maybe that's why Jesus gives another teaching that so many Mr. and Mrs. A1 Perfects find difficult to take- become like little children. Children know how to accept love that they didn't earn. They even demand that you love them despite the fact that they just about killed you with those dang sharp cornered Legos that they left all over the floor. It's like that in the spiritual world too. If you want to see God, you're going to have to let the Grace of Jesus love you whether or not you've cleaned your plate, brushed your teeth and cleaned up your sharp cornered Legos.