The Prodigal’s Brother
Posted by Troy | Filed under Bible Study, Books
The older brother stalked off in an angry sulk and refused to join in [the celebration]. His father came out and tried to talk to him, but he wouldn’t listen. The son said, “look how many years I’ve stayed here serving you, never giving you one moment of grief, but have you ever thrown a party for me and my friends? Then this son of yours who has thrown away your money on whores shows up and you go all out with a feast!”
His father said, “Son, you don’t understand. You’re with me all the time, and everything that is mine is yours—but this is a wonderful time, and we had to celebrate. This brother of yours was dead, and he’s alive! He was lost, and he’s found!” —Luke 15:28-32 —The Message
The targets of this story [of The Prodigal Son] are not “wayward sinners” but religious people who do everything the Bible requires.
Jesus is pleading not so much with immoral outsiders as with the moral insiders. He wants to show them their blindness, narrowness, and self-righteousness, and how these things are destroying both their own souls and the lives of the people around them. It is a mistake, then, to think that Jesus tells this story primarily to assure younger brothers of his unconditional love.
No, the original listeners were not melted into tears by this story, but rather they were thunderstruck, offended, and infuriated.
Jesus’s purpose is not to warm our hearts but to shatter our categories.
—Tim Keller, The Prodigal God
Tags: Faith, Parable, Tim Keller
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