The Lost Brother, Part 2 | God’s Rescue Mission

Starting back in verse 11 of Luke 15, Jesus has been telling this story. It’s the third part of a single parable that he delivered in response to the Pharisees and the scribes and these religious leaders were criticizing Jesus because he was receiving the tax collectors and the sinners, who were all coming to him and he had the audacity to even eat with them, which showed that table fellowship demonstrated his acceptance with them, his reconciliation with them that they were in company with him and he with them.

So this was offensive to them as religious leaders in that society they counted them to be unclean and if he, mixing with them, if he was doing that, then he himself was unclean, and that’s how they hoped to disparage him, that’s how they hoped to diminish his visibility and his ministry. So, verse 3, he told them this parable.

This parable, singular. Luke tells us this is one single parable, everything that follows from verse 3. There are three parts, but it is a single parable with a single message, and it is this message. God the Father rejoices to send his son to seek lost sinners, having found them, to save them, and to bring them back home and celebrate the grace of God.

That’s the message of Luke 15. That’s the single message you get when you combine all three of these, we might call them mini parables; a shepherd seeks his lost sheep and finds it and rejoices with his friends; a woman seeks a lost coin and finds it and rejoices with her friends and now, we see a father who seeks his lost son and he finds him and he rejoices with his friends. He rejoices with all who will share in his joy.

And as we’ll see today, there is one holdout to that joy, that celebration. There’s one exception. There’s one who refuses to share his joy, and that’s the eldest son. That’s the brother of the prodigal, the one who has really hidden his heart from others. He’s the one who indulges himself in more respectable sins. He’s the one who plays the hypocrite, and himself is in such desperate need of salvation. Verse 25. “Now his older son was in the field and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music, and dancing.”

This picks up the theme of distance, right? That we already saw in the younger son. He’s so far out that it takes a while before he can even hear the music and the dancing, the symphonia, and the chorus. Those are the two Greek words. Symphonia, meaning a group of musicians who play a variety of instruments. In their day, it would have been lyres and dulcimers and flutes. There’d be a drum to keep time for the chorus. The chorus was leading that traditional round dance that the guests would participate in. Musicians would play the drum, kept time, the guests dance.

And this is all happening, by the way, when the older son is out in the field, he’s ostensibly doing what he’s supposed to be doing. He’s a nobleman, so he’s a master of his father’s estate, so you, you know he’s not doing any manual labor out there. He’s got no calluses on his hands, he’s more like supervising the farm workers, you know, carrying the clipboard, drinking sips of coffee, you know the type. Doing that all day, barking orders. Without his knowledge, without any consultation with him whatsoever, a party has started back at the house and he has no idea.

Why? Because he is far away. Somewhat distant on what’s apparently a very large estate, there’s a vast acreage here and he’s far away. He’s in the back 40. And the distance here is more than geographical. The distance here is relational. This is a metaphor. Jesus is foreshadowing here. He is showing us that the older son, like his younger brother, he’s also at a great distance from the father. It’s far enough away that he has no clue what’s going on back at home. Relationally he’s got no idea of what’s going on in the father’s world and in the father’s heart.

As the older son came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing, in verse 26, says he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. If he were close to his father, drawing near to the house and hearing the festivities, don’t you think that would lift his heart? Build his anticipation? He, I mean he’d be eager to get back and see why his dad threw a party excited about jumping into the mix.

His aim would be to get right in the house as soon as possible. Talk with his father, figure out what’s going on and after all as the master of the house, he’s got a very important role to play in serving this great banquet. He’s got to get up to speed. He’s got to get educated in a hurry because he wants to serve his father’s interest.

If he were close to the father drawing near the house, hearing his, those festivities would build his anticipation, wouldn’t it, and he’d be anticipating joy not, not dark thoughts. Upon arriving home, his first priority should be to go to his father to know the meaning. He should go to his father to get the reason to get the explanation of what’s going on, and then he can enter into his joy and then he can serve the purpose of glorifying his father’s work and his father’s grace.

But instead, verse 26, he summons a servant. The relational distance between the father and the eldest son is even more clearly revealed. The tension builds and grows here as we come into a point for your outline. The young boy’s simple explanation, the young boy’s simple explanation. I know the ESV translates it as servant. He summons a servant, but it’s best translated as young boy here.

The word is pais or paidas that can refer to social status like a servant or a slave, but since all the slaves are going to be inside the house attending to the party, not hanging around outside the house, this refers to a group of boys. It says one of the boys, so there’s a masculine forms here, plural boys, so these are male children and he called over to himself one of the young boys. So who are these boys who are hanging around outside the house? They’re the villagers’ kids. We can imagine that as young boys do, they had overheard earlier in the day on the way to the father’s house. They overhear their parents talking about the dramatic events that day.

What had happened? The younger son showed up. He narrowly escaped by this much the village banishment due to his father’s timely intervention, shameful intervention even, he showed his legs running across town. Summed up in a simple report that we get from the child, the young boy in verse 27. Elder son draws near to the house, he hears the music, and it says he called one of the young boys and asked him what these things meant. “He said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf. Because he has received him back safe and sound.’”

Notice what the young boy highlights here. Notice what stands out to him. First the simple, straightforward, report, “Your brother has come and your father has killed the fatted calf.” Notice he uses relational terms. Familial terms, your brother, your father. This is for him about family. This boy has brothers too. He has a father. He sees this reunion as a good thing, right?

Second, notice this simple, straightforward explanation for the father’s celebration here. “Your father has killed the fatted calf,” why is that? “because he’s received him back safe and sound.” This is a good thing. Younger brother estranged from father. They’ve come back. He’s received him safe and sound. That’s a good thing.

If there’s anything that we know from the context, when the younger son arrived, he was not in a safe and sound condition, nor did he have good hygiene. But all those external issues, his hygiene, his smell, his filthy clothes, his hunger, his weakness, his tiredness from the long journey, that wearing himself out, the being penniless and broke, all those things are manifestations externally of a much deeper, profound problem spiritually, aren’t they? He is unsound spiritually. He is unsound relationally. The relationship to his father is unhealthy. It is fundamentally unsound and broken.

This is the context is a relational rupture between the father and the son. Uses relational terms, this kid uses relational terms as report back to the older son, father, brother. So when the young boy tells his eldest son, your brother has come, and “Your father has killed the fatted calf” and adds this explanation “because he’s received him back, safe and sound,” he’s not talking about hygiene. He’s not talking about physical safety. He’s not talking about financial wholeness and soundness.

Even this young boy knows, that’s not what prompted this great celebration, reconciliation is. This young child is giving the simple, straightforward report of the truth. This young boy is answering the elder brother’s inquiry in verse 26, telling him what these things meant, here is the meaning. The broken relationship between your brother and your father is now restored. The relationship is no longer broken apart, it’s reconciled.

The two are at peace with one another. It’s good news, right? I mean, it’s the very best of news. I mean, if there’s any reason to throw a party, we’ve got so many superficial reasons for throwing parties, but look, this is a reason. I’m guessing this kid, this young boy, he is fully expecting on delivering this very simple, straightforward report to the older brother. He’s expecting a huge smile to form on the older brother’s face, his eyes to light up, for him to go rushing into the house to find his father, out of just unmitigated joy. Embrace his brother, he’ll rejoice over his father’s wisdom and pulling off the impossible, reconciling his lost son, the party will go on.

That’s not what we see, is it? What seems so simple and straightforward to a young boy is completely lost on an older resentful brother. Brings us to a Point: The brother’s resentful disposition. The brother’s resentful disposition verse 28, “but he was angry and refused to go in.” Okay, now why might that be? Hearing this simple report, “your brother has come,” well, that’s the first thing that started his stomach churning. The acids are starting to flow inside of his stomach, his brother has returned.

His brother’s departure raised plenty of questions in the community for him to answer. Created some real problems in the management of the family’s holdings in this state in the enterprises of the family. Took a third of the chunk of money away from the family estate, that he could no longer use to invest, get credit and all the rest. Created a lot of problems this kid.

Hearing the second fact of the report, “Your father has killed the fatted calf.” Well, that reminded him right in his face, of the financial component of this whole fiasco, for which his younger prodigal brother is fully to blame. His father’s extravagance in throwing a party, it’s a painful reminder of his brother’s extravagance, and why they’re here in the first place. That which adversely affected his profit and loss statement, he’s come home and his father’s just joining in.

Deeper still, for the brother, the older brother, it’s not the financial loss of just one fatted calf that troubled him. What bugged him was the reason for it. Your father’s killed the fatted calf because he’s received him back safe and sound. He’s received him back in peace. In other words, he’s angry because the father of his own initiative of his own accord, reconciled this relationship.

As, Kenneth Bailey puts it this boy, quote, “Tells the older son that the father has received a sinner, is in process of sitting down with and eating with him, this is precisely the complaint of the Pharisees against Jesus.” End quote. The older brother here, he’s a picture of the Pharisees and the scribes, who are making the same complaint that Jesus receives, sinners and eats with them. He has got the same gripe against his father. His father never checked with him; he’s the oldest son.

He’s the master of the house now. It’s been decided. Didn’t check with him before deciding to reconcile with his younger son. I mean, what were the arrangements, by the way? Where’s the contract signed with his blood, about his future here, what provisions are in the contract and why was he not consulted? He is the eldest, is going to be expected to rejoice with his father’s decision and honor his father in public. But in his heart, he despised his father.

He hated this decision. He is the eldest, he’s going to be even, worse for him, he’s going to be required, expected to act as master of ceremonies at the feast. Guess what? He gets to serve the guest of honor. Guess who that is? Ah, the younger son, sitting there next to his father, his father there being honored as well with the trophy next to him holding up his trophy for redemption.

This stupid prodigal brother, the older brothers got to serve that. No wonder he’s angry. The verb, orgizo, to become furious, to be enraged. He’s lost his temper here. He’s seething in his anger. Again, back to Jesus’ audience, they’re fully sympathetic. I mean they get this; they are with the elder brother at this point. This is their man. He’s the one who stayed. He’s a hard worker. He’s out in the field. He’s the one who always knows what propriety demands. He’s the one who knows what decency requires. He is ready at all times to do his duty and serve his father’s honor. Now they’ve got a problem, don’t they? The audiences has sympathized with the elder son, but now they’re caught on the horns of a dilemma.

Should he swallow his pride and honor his father here, or should he stick with his principles and refuse to enter, but shaming his father? Well we, not left wondering. Jesus says, “He refused to go in.” Imperfect tense there, so it’s a continuous idea in the past tense, so it’s he was refusing to go inside, like as in repeatedly, as in over and over refusing.

This indicates that there were repeated attempts to get him to come inside to take his position to play his role. Slaves and servants probably came out and appealed to him. Some of the guests, even friends of his father. No one could get him to soften his hard heart. We’ve got a real public relations problem here with this family. I mean this is, this is dysfunction, high order.

When the elder brother returned from the field, the meal had not yet been served. Festivities had commenced. But everyone is waiting, mixing, mingling, dancing, enjoying music, enjoying some finger foods, and all the rest. But they’re waiting for the elder son to return as the master of the state he had a leadership role to play. He’s the one who starts the official celebration.

He’s the one who kicks off the serving of the formal meal. No one is going to eat until he kicks things off. Worse than that though, not only are they hungry, but by refusing to come in and start the meal and at least greet the guests, the eldest son has shamed his father, and he’s done so in public. I mean, his younger brother had shamed his father in private. He’s doing it in public. Airing his grievances with all these guests inside. People of the village whom his father had invited this is shameful behavior.

By the time the news of his, of his impudence, his insolence, reached the ears of the father, that his older son’s arrival, his anger, his refusal to enter listen everybody knew about it. You know how small towns are, everybody knows. Demonstrating his protest against his father’s clear wishes, this is neither the time nor the place, but the disdain that he shows to his father here is palpable. His contempt for his father is now visible. What was hidden in his heart, is now made known, shameful treatment of his father is now public. There’s no hiding it now. He truly has traded places with his brother. Not as the prodigal, no, but as a contemptuous, angry rebel of a son, he’s a malcontent.

Look how he answered his father, in verse 29, “Look,” or more literally, it’s behold, like pay attention to me. Listen to what I have to say. Look at me when I’m talking to you. That’s the force that it’s coming out with. He doesn’t even pay his father the courtesy of addressing him. Just starts commanding him.

Even his brother, the shameful prodigal, verse 21, even he called him father. By contrast, he can’t even muster a modicum of respect to address his dad to call him father. He just jumps straight into his complaint. He is so angry. This is years of bitterness welling up within him that he’s hidden, he’s kept repressed, he’s shoved down, he’s stifled, and now it’s ready to blow. “Look these many years I’ve served you. I’ve never disobeyed your command. You never gave me a young goat that I might celebrate with my friends. When this son of yours,” Can’t call him his brother, “when this son of yours came, who’s devoured your property with prostitutes, you kill the fatted calf for him.” Lips are dripping with contempt for his father.

There’s a litany of contrast to portray himself as the hero, everyone else as villains in this bitter diatribe. “I have served you, but he has devoured your property with prostitutes. I never disobeyed your command, but you don’t reward me for my obedience, not even a young goat.” I can’t even get a young goat out of you, but you killed the fatted calf for him. All I wanted was to celebrate with my friends, all good upstanding noble people like me. But he, he devours your money with prostitutes and all their ilk. The very worst of company.

 Don’t you see the contrast here? His little speech is saturated with self-righteousness. Bitter contempt for his father. Blinded isn’t he by pride? Which is always the way with self-righteous hypocrites. They’re deluded in their bloated self-estimation. He takes the very worst view possible of his father. He ignores all his father’s goodness, all his many kindnesses. In fact, he’s standing there as master of the house, why, because his father built up an entire state and handed him a double portion of it free. Instead of magnifying his father’s goodness, he accuses him of a profound and lifelong injustice. For any of you who are not yet Christians. Before it’s too late, will you repent of your pride? Your self-righteousness, your works. Will you receive the gift, his free salvation.

Let’s pray. Our Father, we do plead for those who are lost and perishing, whether they are in the condition of the prodigal or the older brother, or anywhere in between, we pray father that you would show grace even now. We pray that your saving grace would be abundant, drawing sinners to yourself. Pray that sanctifying grace would be plenteous as well as we who are Christians need to hear this over and over and to remember that we owe everything to you. We are the trophies. You’re the one who earned everything. You’re the one who did it all. To you be all the glory and honor and majesty in power forever and ever, in the name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.