Luke 15: 11-32 11 And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. 13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. 14 And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything. 17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ 20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.
25 “Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ 28 But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, 29 but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ 31 And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’”
Here we are at week number three of our pre-Lenten spiritual makeover. We have already discussed the ambition of Zacchaeus and the humility of the Publican, and now we will consider the parable of the prodigal son. Everyone knows the story-line; the son has a conversion, returns and is welcomed back lavishly by his father. We know, and happily we can trust, that God will welcome all repentant sinners, including ourselves, in this same way. In short, we must trust in His mercy…lesson over, amen. But wait a minute; there is much more that we can derive from the story. There is another brother who portrays an all too common side to our human nature, and his reaction to the conversion of his brother is what we will discuss in today’s lesson.
25 “Now his older son was in the field…he heard music and dancing….But he was angry and refused to go in. ..but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came…you killed the fattened calf for him!
How many brothers and sisters do you have? Have you ever interacted like that? In our house, this kind of ranting and raving can sometimes be observed on a daily basis:
- “She got more ice cream than me!”
- “Last night, he came home fifteen minutes late and you didn’t yell at him!
- “Why does she get to go first?, You always make me go last!”
- “My room is neater than hers and SHE gets to go?!!” etc. etc. etc…
It’s sickening to a parent; but standard behavior for a child. I suppose some of this jealousy among brothers and sisters is probably normal, but it IS envy, and envy IS a sin.
Proverbs 14:30 30 A tranquil heart gives life to the flesh, but envy makes the bones rot.
Mark 7:21-23 21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
Galatians 5:15-26 15 But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another…Now the works of the flesh are evident:…dissensions, divisions, 21 envy,…and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness… 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
The older brother in the parable is angry. He wants the attention his brother is getting, knowing that he would never have even contemplated the sinful lifestyle his brother exhibited, and therefore feels he deserves to be given more than his brother is getting. In short, it isn’t fair. Envy, the desire to undo or destroy any good or praise given to another, is as old as the earth itself. St. Augustine refers to envy as “the diabolical sin” because it goes directly against the nature of God, which is to love and give that which is good. When the enemy saw that Adam and Eve had been made in the image of God, and that God intended to allow them to assist Him in the Incarnation, the Devil grew envious of them.
Wisdom 2:24 But by the envy of the devil, death came into the world
Envy caused the Evil One to inflict harm on one member of the Body of Christ, namely Eve. All of us now bear that scar which is original sin. Now, consider what we learned about the whole of mankind as it is described as the “Body of Christ” in lesson 6.
1 Corinthians 12:26-27 26If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. 27Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
By harming Eve, the enemy sought to harm all mankind. Through mankind in general, he knew he could harm the coming of Christ, and thus, hurt God. Envy leads to a cascade of evil which, like a disease, permeates throughout the entire Body of Christ. We therefore can see very clearly that when we are envious of one brother or sister, we imitate the enemy and harm the entire family.
But let’s take a moment and try to understand what the older brother really wants. Is he not at home? Does he not have what he needs? Is he not happy? Isn’t he lovingly nourished and clothed? Does he require anything that the Father doesn’t already provide? The father in the story clearly explains this reasoning to him when he says,
… ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.
Christ, Himself, tells us that we are to call God “Our Father” and speak to Him endearingly, as if He were the father in the parable. He tells us that we are to believe that He knows what we want and need even before we ask it, and we can depend on Him to answer.
Matthew 6:6-10 … your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. 9 “ Pray, then, in this way:
‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. …
If we consider ourselves to be followers of Christ, we know what awaits us.
John 3:16 16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Scripture also makes it plain that God desires that ALL be saved
1 Timothy 2:3-4 3For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour,
4Who will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
If we love God, and are already a member of the Body of Christ which is the Church, we have all the benefits and blessings due to us. Life with God in His heavenly kingdom is perfection. There is no greater or lesser degree to perfection, to be perfect is, well…perfect! When you have it, you have it. To have it, also means that we must desire what God desires, and He plainly desires all to have it too…that is perfect presence in the heavenly kingdom. This is why we must never, never desire that anyone fall short.
Christ tells us more than once in His parables, exactly what He wants our dispositions to be like regarding His treatment of those who join the Body of Christ, no matter how soon, or how late, they arrive. The parable of the vinedresser who hires workers at various hours of the day to do work in his vineyard comes to mind.
Matthew 20:8-15 … 8 And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them…each received a denarius. 10 Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. 11 And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, 12 saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ 13 But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? 14 Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. 15 Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?
…oh…I never thought of it that way before. Let’s face it, begrudging God His generosity is not something we would knowingly do. We COUNT ON His generosity and would LOVE to see Him be generous in every way, would we not? If we desire for Him to show us mercy, we must first be merciful. If we want him to forgive us, we must first forgive. If we expect that He would rejoice at our return to His goodness and love, WE MUST REJOICE AT EVERYONE’S RETURN! After all, what more do we want, we are already there!
This week, we can launch a fun game which will help our children encourage good behavior in each other. After they listen to the Gospel account at Liturgy on Sunday, and have had a chance to discuss it with you, remind them how this applies to them and their brothers and sisters. Ask them how often they notice the good deeds of their siblings. In order to encourage a spirit of generosity and kindness in our children ask them, whenever they observe their brother or sister doing something good or kind, to write it down on a slip of paper and place it into a special jar. You can have them decorate a jar for this purpose after the Liturgy on Sunday, perhaps with a copy of the icon of the Prodigal Son! At the end of the Fast, your family can review the kind words they had for each other. In our family there are five children; we have decided that if, by the end of the fast, there are 250 entries in the jar, we will have a special meal on Thomas Sunday ( complete with dessert). The one whose name appears most in the jar can select the menu!
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