Luke 15v25-32,   The older brother in the parable of the prodigal son

IN this parable focus is usually concentrated on the prodigal son. He was the one lost, just as earlier int he chapter we have the lost sheep and the lost coin.

And in every case Jesus represented himself as going through whatever was necessary to find what was lost and bring it home safe and well.

But you can be a non-Christian without feeling particularly lost. You can be not far from the kingdom, as Jesus once said to a scribe. You may never have really rebelled, always been a church-goer, always a good husband or wife, and yet not be born again.

You are not a prodigal. You are not an elusive lost coin - you are in church, under the Gospel - every week, while the Lord seems to go after these sinners and publicans.

So tonight we turn to the older brother. In Ephesians 2v17 the Bible speaks about how Jesus

        came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.

So here is the Gospel to them that are nigh; Near the Kingdom; almost persuaded. Here is the Gospel to those who are waiting, wondering why God hasn’t given you the attention that he has given to others much worse than you. Here is the Gospel preached to the older brother. If we miss that, we miss everything in the epilogue to this parable.

The Older Brother is Busy & Bemused, v25-27

I have often been confused over the older brother. Is he saved, backslidden or lost? He is an outwardly decent, evidently moral man, but a man who despite all that is not saved.

What are we to make of the 99 sheep, or the nine coins? Three times Christ has illustrated how he gladly brings the gospel to the lost, the awkward, the rogues. Now, 3 times, he shows how he brings the Gospel to those who are nigh, just as to those who are afar off. This week we look at the first instance.

We first meet the brother as both busy with his jobs and bemused by the commotion he hears. Here is someone out in the field. He was presumably working hard. This is what he did. You could probably depend on him to be in the field.

Now as he gets back home he heard the dancing and the music. And his reaction is telling. He doesn’t go to join in. He is bemused. He is doubtful. He feels instinctively left out, v26. His heart fills with a sense of foreboding.

Now what a perfect picture of some who read articles like this and who go to church every Sabbath. Decent hard working folk. Dependable. But even when you hear with your ears or see with your eyes the joy of the Gospel, you instinctively feel left out. How do you react when you hear of someone converted? Can you join in that dance?

No. You are outside. Just like the older brother.

Now what we need to note well is that the Gospel does indeed still come to this man, v27. He hears the account of a changed life. Christ is teaching that he doesn’t leave you left out. He sends his servants to tell you about it. When a Christian speaks to you about how they were converted, they are on an errand from Christ. In that instance Christ is preaching peace to your soul.