He didn't come to his senses.
(The pictures included are from Rembrandt's "Prodigal Son". The one above is the whole picture: the Father, the lost son, the disapproving brother, the servants and, in the top left corner, his mother. The picture below zooms in on the disapproving older brother.)In Jesus' parable of the Lost Son, the initial focus is on the younger brother, the one who wasted his possessions and landed up far from his father and the privileges he'd taken for granted. This son "comes to his senses" and comes home to find himself unexpectedly received like royalty when he expected to be given the status of a slave.
But what does "came to his senses" mean?
The other (older) son in the story helps us.He doesn't "come to his senses".
What was it that he didn't see?
The older brother was with the Father, but he never enjoyed the relationship. Look at his description:
- "I've been slaving!
- - I have never disobeyed.
- - - But you never gave me even a goat for a feast!"
Is the older son describing your take on religion?
- have you been slaving away at rituals and good works?
- have you been the goody goody who never puts a foot wrong?
- and yet it feels like God never sees what you do?
The Father tells the older son: "All you needed was to realise that while you were with me, you had and could have had anything. All I have is yours. I offered you privilege and all you saw was duty."
The danger with Lent is that we can be like the older brother: working hard and trying to impress God our Father, when all He wants for us is to bask in His love.
As you read the passage below:
- Do you know that you are loved?
- Do you know that Jesus already did everything for you on the cross?
- Do you know that your "subtracting" or your "adding" over Lent won't make Him love you more than he already does?
| Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 'Your brother has come,' he replied, 'and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.' 28 The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, 'Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!' 31 'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' " (Luke15:25-31) |
