Resentfulness
Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, “Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.” But he was angry and would not go in.
Luke 15:25-28
The final parable the Lord tells does not end in harmonious joy but conflict. The absent older son was not present when his younger brother returned destitute. He did saw not see where sin had taken him. Neither was he there to see the transformation which took place. He had lived in his father’s house all his life and enjoyed his father’s presence, love, wisdom and provision. But his heart was filled with resentment. Had he chosen to ask for his inheritance early, left his home to squander his riches, repented and returned home, he would have discovered the depth of his father’s love for him. However, he had experienced that love every day yet did not appreciate how much the father loved him. Instead, he objected to the joyful outpouring of the father’s compassion. So, he did not rush into the room and embrace his brother and welcome him home.
The older brother “was angry and would not go in” (v.28). This part of the parable exposed the mindset of the Pharisees, scribes, lawyers and rulers who despised Jesus. Self-righteousness and hypocrisy reigned in their hearts; they wanted to see the punishment of those who did not live up to their expectations and had no understanding of grace. This led them beyond their hatred of their brethren to the hatred of their Messiah, and they took pleasure in His rejection and suffering. The Lord contrasts the love of God with the joylessness and emptiness of hearts unmoved by matchless grace. So, the older son would not go into a home, his home, which overflowed with joy.
But his father “came out and pleaded with him”. The father wanted his son to understand and participate in the joy of salvation. Then the older son pours out his anger, not against his brother, but against his own father. “Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him” (vv.29-30). All those years in the father house, years of plentifulness, security, love, peace and hope are sadly reduced to an outburst of ungratefulness. The older brother does not describe his younger sibling as “my brother” but as “your son”. He distances himself from his brother and reveals the darkness in his own heart. But this darkness did not quench the overtures of the father’s love towards both of his sons, “Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours”. The father did not love the older son less. But he emphasises the righteousness of grace: “It was right that we should make merry and be glad” and reminds his older son of his relationship with his brother, “for your brother was dead and is alive again, was lost and is found”.
The younger son left the house resentful of what he saw as its restrictions and returned in repentance. The older son never left his father’s home but never appreciated the blessings of the life he lived, and all that love bestowed on him.
May the Lord protect us from resentfulness, ungratefulness and self-righteousness, and may we live in consciousness of the love of God, our Father. It is a love which causes us to be compassionate and teaches us how to “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15). It reinforces the precious relationships we enjoy within the family of God as His children and as brothers and sisters in Christ.