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Which Brother Am I?

From Leonard Buhler

February 23, 2012

Every so often I come across a book that radically changes my thinking. Timothy Keller’s The Prodigal God is a case in point – it left me absolutely stunned.

Timothy Keller’s main concept is that the story of the “prodigal” son in Luke’s gospel is not actually the story of one lost son; it’s the story of two lost sons. The younger brother is lost because he’s rejected his father and run away from home. The older brother is lost too, but in a more subtle way. He’s the “good” son, but he uses his goodness to try control his father. As in, “You owe me, because I do everything right.” The older brother is lost because of pride and self-righteousness.

Most of us, Keller points out, interpret this as a story about God’s grace and compassion, and the need for humble repentance. But we miss something. If you read Luke 15, there are two stories just ahead of this one. One is about a shepherd who goes in search of his lost sheep, and the second is about a woman who goes in search of her lost coin. So when we read this story, we should expect another search party. We should expect to find a firstborn son (like Jesus), so desperate to bring his younger brother home that he’s willing to make enormous sacrifices. Instead we find the older brother just standing there – judgmental and proud – not even willing to attend his brother’s welcome-home feast.

Really, this story is bent on asking us the question: which brother am I? Am I like Jesus, the True Elder Brother, willing to go out and bring the lost home to the Father’s banquet, whatever the cost? Or am I like the resentful older brother? More interested in myself, and less interested in the lost?

Tags: judgmental, pride, relationships