{"id":570,"date":"2021-03-11T08:03:01","date_gmt":"2021-03-11T13:03:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=570"},"modified":"2021-03-11T08:03:01","modified_gmt":"2021-03-11T13:03:01","slug":"the-older-brother","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2021\/03\/11\/the-older-brother\/","title":{"rendered":"The Older Brother"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Throughout Lent, we\u2019re exploring the parables of Jesus \u2013 the two dozen or so stories that were his chief means of describing the reality of God\u2019s rule on earth. <\/strong>

It is \u201ca picture which those who have seen the original in St. Petersburg may be forgiven for claiming as the greatest picture ever painted.\u201d

That’s Kenneth Clark, the art historian.  He was talking about The Return of the Prodigal Son<\/em>, Rembrandt\u2019s 1667 masterpiece.  It captures the moment in Jesus\u2019 famous parable (Luke 15:11-32) when a young man who has utterly sabotaged his relationship with his father falls on his knees before him, seemingly broken beyond repair. 

But the father\u2019s touch is tender.  Instead of drowning his son in a storm surge of shame, he begins the process of restoring this child who is incapable of healing himself.

Soon he will announce, \u201cIt\u2019s party time, everyone.  Let\u2019s celebrate this good news!\u201d

Author and priest Henri Nouwen visited the State Hermitage Museum in Russia, where the picture hangs, in 1986.  He pondered it for hours.  Nouwen was so moved that he later wrote a short book about his experience, reflecting on the power of spiritual homecoming. 

It did not escape his attention that there\u2019s more than one story being played out on the Dutch master\u2019s canvas. 

Notice Rembrandt\u2019s signature use of chiaroscuro \u2013 the dramatic contrast of light and shadow.  Father and son appear to be spotlighted on the left side of the picture.  But who is that standing in the spotlight on the right? 

That\u2019s the older brother.  Many Bible commentators believe that Jesus\u2019 parable isn\u2019t nearly so much about the irresponsible son who ran away as about the hyper-responsible son who stayed home.

Every day that his younger son has been gone, the father has been dreaming that he might return.  The older son has been dreaming, too.  He can\u2019t wait for the day his little brother drags his sorry carcass back across the threshold and gets what\u2019s coming to him. 

But now he feels hurt and confused.  How in the world can his father be talking about a Welcome Home party?  

In this moment of incredulity he makes a crucial decision: He decides not<\/em> to enter the courtyard and participate in the celebration.  This decision has serious cultural implications.  As scholar Kenneth Bailey points out, whenever a Middle Eastern family throws an important party, the eldest son is required to be a sort of headwaiter.  This is the family\u2019s way of saying, \u201cYou, our honored guests, are so important to us that even our sons shall be your servants.\u201d

Big brother is supposed to walk around the party as long as it lasts \u2013 and that might be several days \u2013 shaking hands and slapping backs, making sure that everyone eats and drinks way too much. 

These guests are the most important friends of the family.  And they are all going to be extending congratulations to the big brother, making up little toasts and gushing things like, \u201cIsn\u2019t it wonderful that your darling little brother is safe here at home again?\u201d

But this is too much for him to stomach.  His sense of justice is being violated.  The brat went out and blew a sizable chunk of the family\u2019s net worth.  Why isn\u2019t his father drawing up a repayment plan?

The older brother smells barbecue.  The father has ordered the servants to slaughter the fattened calf.  And who \u201cowns\u201d the fattened calf, at least in the ultimate sense?  Since everything in the estate that would have fallen to the younger son has already been parceled out and squandered, the entire remaining contents of the household will be inherited by the elder son when his father dies.  So everything being consumed in this party actually \u201cbelongs\u201d to him.  This kid is drinking from his<\/u><\/em> cup, reclining on his<\/u><\/em> pillow, eating his<\/u><\/em> rump roast.

\u201cSomething wonderful is happening here, and you need to be part of it!\u201d says the father.  He beckons his older son to plunge into the family celebration.

But big brother is having none of it.

He snaps at his father, \u201cLook!  All these years I\u2019ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders.\u201d (Luke 15:29)  

Like countless religious people over the past twenty centuries, he is proud of his spiritual track record.  He\u2019s not a screw-up.  Why should he welcome back this loser?  Speaking to his father in verse 30 he says, \u201cBut when this son of yours<\/em>\u2026\u201d In other words:  Dad, this kid belongs to you.  He\u2019s no relation or responsibility of mine.

But notice how the father gently turns the tables in verse 32:  \u201cWe had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours<\/em> was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.\u201d 

That\u2019s God\u2019s call to all of us. 

We need to claim each other.  We need to say, concerning other people \u2013 no matter what kind of mess they have made of their lives \u2013 \u201cthis sister of mine<\/em>; this brother of ours<\/em>.\u201d

It\u2019s clear in Jesus\u2019 story that both brothers are in desperate need of the father\u2019s grace \u2013 not just the one who ran away, but the one who stayed home and never missed a day of church.

If we find ourselves thinking, \u201cI wonder which of these two sons I tend to be,\u201d the answer, clearly, is both.  All of us run away from God in matters both large and small.  And there is also something deeply ingrained within each of us that makes us want to stand back and hope that while we will be on the guest list for God\u2019s party, those other (undeserving) people will be left out in the cold.

What\u2019s fascinating about Jesus\u2019 story is that it doesn\u2019t have an ending.  It just hangs there in mid-air. 

The father is left standing outdoors, just beyond the music and laughter of the celebration, pleading with his older son to come join the party. 

It\u2019s as if Jesus himself is appealing to each of us. 

You have to be humble to come back home when you know you\u2019ve made a mess of your life.  And you have to be humble to recognize that you don\u2019t love others the way your heavenly Father loves them.<\/em>

So what will it be?  Will you keep standing up for your rights, because you\u2019re certain you\u2019re in the right?  

Or will you accept your Father\u2019s invitation to take a different kind of stand \u2013 to stand alongside him<\/u>? <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Throughout Lent, we\u2019re exploring the parables of Jesus \u2013 the two dozen or so stories that were his chief means of describing the reality of God\u2019s rule on earth.  It is \u201ca picture which those who have seen the original in St. Petersburg may be forgiven for claiming as the greatest picture ever painted.\u201d That’s Kenneth Clark, the art historian. … Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":571,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[101,177,187],"class_list":["post-570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-grace","tag-parables","tag-self-righteousness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=570"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":572,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570\/revisions\/572"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}