Begrudging Brother Syndrome
This past week at our Vacation Bible School, we talked about several of Jesus’ kingdom parables. This past Sunday, I followed up with some extended thoughts on what has come to be known as the parable fo the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32). There’s several textual clues which point tot he fact that the “point” of the parable is not the section about the younger brother as we most often take it to be. Luke 15:1-2:
Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.
The section about the Prodigal is preceded by two shorter parables about seeking what has been lost. There is a shepherd who leaves his 99 sheep for one that has been lost and a woman with 10 coins and also loses one. Neither the shepherd nor the woman says “Oh well, I have plenty,” instead they both seek that which has been lost, understanding its inherent value. The obvious point here is that Jesus was seeking and saving the lost (Luke 19:10), represented by the “tax collectors and sinners” that were coming to hear him.
But as much as they, and we, relate to the younger, Prodigal brother, that is not the only point of the parable, as evidenced by the introduction (Luke 15:11): “And he said, “There was a man who had two sons.” We might in fact say that this is a parable about the father more than it is about either one of the sons. But as much and as rightly as we focus in the Prodigal, he is not the only son. Upon hearing the celebration of the younger brother’s return, the older brother comes in from the field to find out what was going on. After being told by a servant, we find that his reaction was not that of the father’s, for he was “angry and refused to go in” (Luke 15:28).
I’m afraid that many within the church relate to the older, begrudging brother as much as we do the younger, prodigal son. Yes, we’ve experienced that gracious moment of repentance, coming home to the Father’s welcoming, warm, loving and strong arms; that moment of forgiveness, but after that, many of us have come to play the role of the begrudging brother as much as we have the younger brother. Obviously, the older brother represented the Pharisees and Scribes who “grumbled, saying, ‘This man receives sinners and eats with them.”
Many of play this role quite blatantly, complaining about people who have seemingly been in the fatih not as long as us yet seem to receive more of God’s blessing and we complain that that’s somehow not fair, we deserve more. I’ve always thought it was interesting that the father not only goes out to meet the younger son, but he also goes out to “entreat” the older brother (Luke 15:28). God truly meets us where we’re at in life. But the older brother wouldn’t have any of it, and so often, neither will we. We’ve been in the faith longer, those blessings should be ours.
Perhaps we don’t play the role so blatantly. Many of are quite good at constructing neat, tidy little coloring books of what we think the faith “ought to look like,” and when someone colors outside of our pre-made lines, when they don’t cross their theological “i’s” and dot their theological “t’s” the way we think they should, we begin to complain to God that we’re doing things the way they ought to be done, not “those other people.”
Perhaps we play this out a bit further and a bit more subtly. The more I’ve meditated on the implications of this, I’ve come to see a lack of evangelism as an outworking of the “begrudging brother” syndrome. The more I’ve thought about it, the more I’ve come to think that tehre is no such thing as a “failure” to evangelize, there is only refusal to evangelize. The truth is that many of us refuse to evangelize because when we open up the doors of the church with the key of the Gospel, we let many of “those” people, “hurting” people and we’re not quite sure we’re up to that challenge, wo we just keep things to ourselves. May we be reminded that our arms need to be as open as God’s.
- Read Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God by J.I. Packer
- Read Let the Nations Be Glad! by John Piper
Good point. I’ve thought a lot about the Fatherhood of God (as my blog would indicate), but have not considered the “begrudging brother syndrome.” It is easy to be jealous of God has given others. It used to manifest itself in other guys having wives. Now, it’s success or notoriety, etc.
Thanks for this post!
Btw, I’m sort of piggy-backing off your “Poetry and Music Friday” idea, except posting my own creative stuff (which isn’t always that creative).
Blessings,
Danny
One of the things you said on Sunday that really struck me was that the Begrudging Brother ought to have been rejoicing in the return of the brother as well, he should have been just as excited. And it made me think, I wonder what the Begrudging Brother’s attitude was like while the Prodigal Brother was gone? If he missed him and was worried about him and hoping for his return, then yeah, he should definitely have been happy to see him come back. He should have been looking forward. And it made me think, what about those people in my life that I am praying for (or should be praying for) that are Prodigals. Am I caught up in today and praying only for right now? Or am I also praying for their return so very hard, and hoping for it so much, that when they finally do, I will rejoice the way the father did and not respond the way the other brother did?
Brent- thank you for these sermon re-dos. I do take notes but some Sundays I can’t write fast enough or have a very distracting grandchild or something you say sends me off on another trail (missing you until I come back). Due to s-l-o-w dial up I have not tried to down load the sermons. It helps me remember all you said or get the missing points.
by His Grace