“The Parable of the Lost Son” is one of my favorite Bible stories. There was no Children’s Church in the congregations where I grew up, so every Sunday I sat with my parents in the sanctuary for worship. I liked the hymns and was able to participate in the prayers, but the sermons were just over my head. So when the pastor stepped into the pulpit, I would reach for the pew Bible and start reading my favorite stories. Every. Sunday. So I got to know this parable quite well.
Grab your family Bible and read through this wonderful story again. You’ll find it in Luke 15:11-31.
It’s a great story, right? You can almost see the big screen version, complete with dramatic music as the father runs toward his lost-now-found son. It almost brings a tear to your eye. After all, everyone loves a reunion story.
But I have a confession to make.
When I was ten, sitting in those wooden pews reading this story…I agreed with the older son. Each time I got to verse 25, my head would start to nod slightly and my chin would set in indignation as I read big brother’s complaints. It wasn’t fair. This kid took half of his father’s property and wasted it. It was gone. And now, after he’s fallen on his face and come crawling back…he gets a party??? Unbelievable! And then you add insult to injury when you realize that his faithful first-born, the one who stayed and worked and served his father, was never once celebrated. Not even a little.
I was so certain this brother was right, and it confused and frustrated me when I read what the father said. I mean, it was obvious that Jesus was saying the father made the right choice, that the older brother was wrong in his thinking. But why? What in the world makes this story fair?
Well, I’ve got a few more decades on me now, and I’ve come to realize something. It’s not fair. Not one thing about this story is fair.
It’s not fair that the younger son took his inheritance early.
It’s not fair that he spent it on wild parties.
It’s not fair that a famine hit right in the middle of everything.
It’s not fair that the father took the son in and dressed him like an heir to the empire.
It’s not fair that he got a huge party thrown in his honor.
None of it’s fair—and I’m so glad for that! My young, tween heart was so caught up in the rules of the world, focusing only on what was just…kind of like the older brother. I was certain that people who broke the rules and made bad life choices deserved to be punished. And they do. But I forgot that I was a rule-breaker, too. True, I had been attending church since before I could walk. But that didn’t make me perfect. It didn’t mean I was righteous. It only meant I was eligible for the Perfect Attendance Award in Sunday school. I didn’t deserve that party any more than you younger son did.
Thankfully, though, God is both just AND gracious. He knows that every sinner deserves a death sentence, but he also loves those sinners—his children—with an undeniable passion. So he did the most unfair thing of all: he sent Jesus.
It’s not fair that Jesus had to leave heaven.
It’s not fair He had to suffer through the struggles of life just to show us how to live in relationship with the Father.
It’s not fair He was arrested and beaten.
It’s not fair He suffered a horrible death on the cross.
It’s not fair He carried the burden of all our sins: your sins, my sins, every sin.
It’s not fair He had to endure hell.
And it’s not fair that since He was able to beat death, we no longer have to be punished.
It’s not fair at all. But I’m so glad it’s the way it is!!!
Sometimes we can be tempted to cop an “older brother” attitude. We look at the people around us who are struggling with big sins, making majorly unholy life choices, and we think, “They don’t deserve God’s grace! They deserve to be punished.” It’s true. They don’t. But we need to remember…neither do we.
Let’s work to shake of that older brother attitude and try to be like the father, the Father, whose love embraces everyone willing to come back to him!
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