Wait, Where is your Brother?

The Parable of the Prodigal Son. 

A familiar passage. Two Brothers living with their daddy.

The younger decides to be rebellious, asked for his share of the estate, and indulges in wild living. However, the money quickly fades away and so do his shallow friends and is forced to work the worst possible job for a jewish boy: Feeding the dirty, Unclean Pigs.

The Younger Son decides he would be better off as a servant in his father's household than working with the pigs. So he returns home expecting to work off his debt (he even memorizes his speech that he wants to delievery to his father). However, he is meet by the unconditional compassion of his father. FORGET THE SPEECH my Son who was lost is now found, he was blind but not he can see.

Meanwhile back at the ranch. The Older Son has been working his tail off for many years. He is in the field working when he hears music. "What,why is there music?," he must wonder. So the Older Son asked one of the servant what was going on. He then informs the older Son, Yes, your lost brother, your rebellious brother, your lazy brother, but yes your brother is HOME. We must celebrate.

But does the Older Son want to celebrate? Of course not! He has been working and this lazy son of gun comes home and gets the party?


 "Which of the two sons is truly lost?"

Is it the brother that rebels, realizes his folly, and returns Home or The brother that stays by his father side through thick and thin but refuses to welcome home his lost brother?


Remember this is a story!!!!!

 By the way, this is a story. So why is Jesus telling this to His First Century Audience?

His audience were two groups of people: 1) Sinners and tax collectors and 2) Pharisees (religious people that thought they had it all together).

The Younger Son was meant to symbolize the Sinners and tax collectors while the Older Son was meant to symbolize the Pharisees and teachers of the law.

And the Father was meant to symbolize God, our Almighty Father.


Who was lost in this story?

The easy answer? Both. The Younger Son for rebelling and the Older Son for not accepting his younger brother back into the family...

But 

Something stuck out to me the last time I read this story. A Story I have read over a hundred times.

Why did no one go get the Older Brother? Think about it this way. Imagine you had a relative from California. They have been gone for three years but now they have returned. Wouldn't you make sure you retrieved the brother?

Yet, He was overlooked. They killed an animal, cooked it, and already started eating and dancing by the time the older brother realizes what had happen.

I get it. The story is suppose to hold the Older Brother as the religious type who doesn't think they need Jesus because they can merit their own salvation. They have "Earned it!"

Welcome All?

No one went out to get the older Brother....yet he was so far away from God.

But that's what we need. When we are operating in a mindset of "I GOT THIS!" A mindset of Pride. The thing we need most is for those that have encountered the forgiveness and love of God to reach out and remind us of his goodness.

Arrogance does not work in the kingdom of God and is in need of a Savior. And sometimes those are the hardest people to include in our community. And to be honest they are the ones we give up on too quickly.

We say things like, "Fine, if they think they can do it themselves, let them try!"

So Jesus finished telling the story to two vastly different people group's. And they didn't love each other. And they didn't accept the other but they could.

What if they chose love?

What if the Pharisees said "We welcome you tax collectors in! You are not perfect but neither are we. You have rebelled but you are welcomed in!"

Or Maybe the Tax collectors started by saying, "I know Jesus seems to be more focused on saving us but we know you need that same grace. We welcome you into our community. We have a lot to learn from you about obedience to God's law."


HELP US JESUS!!!

 More times than not you don't see that happen! Why? Why are we so stubborn. We see the other group as immoral, corrupt, or at the very least misinformed.

Can you believe what Democrats believe about..... Or can you believe what Republicans believe about....

Or maybe its not political maybe it's religious vs non-religious people... or Rich vs Poor, or black vs white.. or even one type of Christian Religion vs another.

If I went into St Leos saying I have all the answers because I was raised in a Protestant church I would rob myself of learning what they have to offer.

Maybe its time to let down our shields. Maybe its time to stop thinking we have all the answers. But we can trust in the God who has all the answers. And welcomes ALL in. If God welcomes all who am I to exclude anyone from His love?