Knowing The Word in Luke 15:25-32, The Older Brother

When Jesus turns to the elder brother, he shows his concern for the Pharisees and people like them. The older brother is evidently unaware of the situation while he is working for his father. His unwillingness to go in and enjoy the party for his younger brother is unmistakable in the likeness of the Pharisees to the ministry of Jesus. The older son distances himself from his brother and perhaps suggests the father is to blame for his brother’s sins. He is conscious of his own rectitude and completely self-righteous. He is the model son, serving as a slave, which means he does not know what it means to be a son. That is perhaps why he does not understand what being a father means. He does not understand his father’s joy and becomes a killjoy, although an unsuccessful one. The father reassures him that the property settlement stands. He has it all, but like the Pharisees, he does not realize the extent of his privileges. Jesus ends the story unresolved on the porch. Will his hears be like the older or younger brother? We can all still do the right thing as God’s love challenges our self-seeking. While there is no atonement in this parable, meaning we do not get the whole gospel, it is focused on the Father’s pardoning love. In the situation Jesus found himself, while it was important to make the point that God welcomed sinners, it was also important to emphasize that those who reject repentant sinners are out of line with God’s will and left outside of the banquet. This parable can also be seen as the younger brother representing the Gentiles who are far from the Father and the older brother as Israel.

25 “Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ 28 But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, 29 but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ 31 And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’”

Prayer: Almighty and Holy Spirit, the comforter, pure, living, true,—illuminate, govern, sanctify me, and confirm my heart and mind in the faith, and in all genuine consolation; preserve and rule over me that, dwelling in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, I may be and remain forever in the temple of the Lord, and praise him with a joyful spirit, and in union with all the heavenly Church.

Philip Melanchthon, 1497-1560