And the Lost Son goes on having a good life... per usual (The Parable of the Lost Son. The Lost Son. “the Loving Father” or “the Forgiving Father” )

You might know the story of the lost son. He asks his father for his inheritance, flees, and spends it recklessly. Hard times come, and he is left with nothing. Hitting rock bottom, starving, and realizing that even a hired hand on his father’s land isn’t in the state he is in, he is humbled and decides to go back and simply beg to be a hired hand. His father sees him coming and welcomes him with open arms—and a celebration. My response is not to discuss the lost son and his return. I am writing to discuss the brother of the lost son. The brother is pissed at how his brother’s return has unfolded. And how do we know this?

• He is angry.
• He refuses to go in.
• He voices a clear sense of unfairness and comparison

When his father comes out to him, the older son says:

“Lo, so many years I do serve thee, and never thy command did I transgress, and to me thou didst never give a kid, that with my friends I might make merry; but when thy son — this one who did devour thy living with harlots — came, thou didst kill to him the fatted calf.” 

(Luke 15:29-30 YLT)

Here he was, doing right by his father, serving him like a hired hand. It felt like there was nothing for him, not even a reward for all his hard work. Meanwhile, his brother parties himself into debt, and he gets a celebration in return. The atrocity! 

His dad realizes he is upset. He answers him:

“Child, thou art always with me, and all my things are thine; but to be merry, and to be glad, it was needful, because this thy brother was dead, and did live again, he was lost, and was found.” 

(Luke 15:31-32 YLT)

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I have come across this situation multiple times in my life—sometimes through my own reactions, and at times through the reactions of others. In all of the instances the theme is the same: “but what about me.” The one who follows the rules seems to always feel the sting when someone who has acted foolish or reckless gets the celebration. God has such a longing for us. And if you’re like me, it’s easy to think of the things you’re doing and the sacrifices you make. I resonate with the older son who lives by the book. I understand how it might seem that something so difficult for me can be so simple for another to attain. But that’s where what the father says in response to the older son is important. His words remind me that, in the end, it is not about me or you independently. This is about all of us. And how good it is that another heart has been moved, that someone who was living a dead life is now alive. And if we can see this, then maybe we can also hear what the father is trying to get the older son to understand: everything the father has is already his. He is already living in the reward. The one walking with the father is closer to the good life than the one who was off living for himself. Maybe, it only looks like the other person is getting more, because we stop recognizing what we already have. We can fall into living the day to day works so tightly that we miss the freedom and the opportunities right in front of us. What if we are living like slaves when we are sons, living bound when we are free? 

The father’s words pull us back: you are already with me, and all that is mine is yours.