His father said to him, “Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. —Luke 15:31
The prodigal son has an older brother who remains at home. He doesn’t fight his father, flee from home, or find pleasure in the world in the same way as the prodigal son. He sticks around the father, stays at home, and sets his sights on the homesite.
The portrait of the wandering son is an easy snapshot. Spoiled kid that that spends all his spending money. But the picture of the waiting son, the older brother, is more complicated. He seems like a settled guy whose settled on settling down to work for his father. But from the response he gives when his wandering brother receives a welcome home party, we are greeted with a surprise as we peer into a window of his character:
His “contentment” is filled with resentment.
The difference between the two sons: the younger son resents his life and wanders off. The older son resents his life but waits around at home. Resentment comes in different forms. For the older son, his resent is packaged in perfect-appearance wrapping paper that makes him appear content.
🍃🍃🍃
We resent the life when we don’t see the blessings it contains.
We resent the life when we don’t see the life we have in itself is a blessing.
We resent the life when we don’t see the Giver of the life as a Blesser.
The younger brother who runs from his father is thought of as ungrateful because he doesn’t see the love of the father or the abundance in blessings that the father provides for him. But upon closer examination, the older brother who has remained close to the father at home, doesn’t see the life he has as a blessing either.
Even though his father encourages him that “everything I have is yours,” (Luke 15:31), the older brother cannot reconcile his resentment to this reminder of grace and generosity. The older son stays at home out of a response to responsibility, not from a tank of thankfulness. “All these years, I have slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you asked me to do.” (Luke 15:29) When we live life out of obligation to the flesh instead of glorification for God, it becomes a moral duty, not a sacred devotion.
🍃🍃🍃
The wandering son waits to come home. The waiting son wanders in his mind while at home. One brother runs with his feet. The other brother runs with his head. In privste, his head is filled with thoughts of discontent. One brother runs from the life. The other brother resents the life.
Two figures are manifested here. The wandering. The waiting. Instead, of these two voices, there’s a third way-better choice: The worshipping. Be the one in Christ who isn’t wandering or waiting in the flesh, but worshipping in the spirit.
The wandering child runs. The waiting child resents. The worshipping child of God reaches for the Father. Be the worshipping child. Run to the father and rest in His waiting instead.
🍃🍃🍃
©️2020 Jordan Su