Likewise I say to you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents. And He said, A certain man had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that is coming to me. And he divided his living to them.
And not many days afterward, the younger son gathered all together and went away into a far country. And there he wasted his property, living dissolutely. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land. And he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country. And he sent him into his fields to feed pigs. And he was longing to fill his belly with the husks that the pigs ate, and no one gave to him. And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father abound in loaves, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, Father, I have sinned against Heaven and before you and am no more worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.
And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said to him, Father, I have sinned against Heaven and before you, and am no more worthy to be called your son. But the father said to his servants, Bring the best robe and put it on him. And put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf here and kill it. And let us eat and be merry, for this my son was dead and is alive again, he was lost and is found. And they began to be merry.
And his elder son was in the field. And as he came and drew near the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has received him safe and sound. And he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and entreated him.
And answering he said to his father, Lo, these many years I have served you, neither did I transgress your commandment at any time. And yet you never gave me a kid so that I might make merry with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your living with harlots, you have killed for him the fattened calf. And he said to him, Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.
Luk 15:10-32 MKJV
This this is known as the Parable of the Prodigal Son. One of my Bible students called me and asked, “What is the meaning of the older brother who was complaining?” I replied, “Great question. This is a good example of how a label can blind us to the more important things.” And then I explained to him, “If this were known as the Parable of A Caring Father’s Joy or simply A Father’s Joy, the answer to your question would be fairly obvious. Because the label focuses on the dark rather than the light it takes people’s focus off of the forgiving father and his joy, which was really Jesus’ primary objective in telling the parable. He wanted His listeners to know about God’s loving mercy and how wonderful it is when someone comes out of the dark back into the light.
Once we shift our focus from the son’s foolishness to the father’s caring nature, then it is easy to see that the older brother’ s complaining was because his eyes were not on his father’s love, forgiveness, and joy, nor even the fact that his brother had been saved from a life of debauchery, but only on his own selfish desires.
So what can we learn from this? Several things.
- First of all, learning to think of this as the Parable of A Father’s Joy, will get us focused on the light.
- We can examine all of the labels we take for granted to see if they point us in the direction that Jesus wants us to look.
- We can become conscious of the labels we apply to others to see if we are looking at the light or the dark. We may find that we are being judgmental without being aware of it.
- And we can remind ourselves of Philippians 4:8 which reads,
“Finally, brothers; Keep thinking about whatever things are true, serious, righteous, chaste, lovable, well spoken of, virtuous, and praiseworthy.”
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