The Older Brother

The first time I heard someone say we needed to repent of our good deeds as well as our sin, I was highly skeptical. It is true, I thought, that before salvation we are told that all our righteousness is as filthy rags (Is 64:6). But Revelation tells us that in the end we are clothed in linen, clean and white which are the righteous acts of the saints (Rev 19:8). And really, it doesn’t make sense to be coming to God saying “I’m sorry God, I did something good today” when we are told that we are created for good works (Eph 2:10).

I think I was on the wrong track.

I was thinking of the righteous acts that we perform through the power of God. We definitely don’t need to repent of those. But we do need to repent of our self-righteousness. Big difference. Monday night we watched a video called “Prodigal God” that brought this home. (Note: Prodigal can also mean bountiful or lavish, not just wasteful)

In the parable of the Prodigal Son, we all know how the younger son was in the wrong. In asking for his share of the inheritance (1/3), he was saying he wished his father dead. He wanted his father’s stuff without the father, to use the words from the film. Shockingly, the father gives it to him, selling his land so the son can get what he wants. In the end, we know the younger son comes back and is welcomed by the father. Yay! But that isn’t really the end.

See, there’s another player in the story. The older son. He’s the good kid, the one who always did what the father told him to do. The one who now stands to inherit everything left to the father. We know he was being a bit of a snob when he refuses to go in to the party being thrown for the younger son. But his problems go deeper than that.

The simple fact that the older son stayed at home when the younger son took off showed in him the same attitude as the younger. He wanted the father’s stuff without the father. Apparently, part of the reason the oldest sons received double the inheritance of their younger siblings was to enable them to keep the family together. Therefore, the older should have gone after the younger endeavoring to bring him back at whatever cost. He didn’t. He just stayed at home and played the good child. Then when his brother shows up and dad throws a huge party, he pitches a fit at the money—his money, he thinks—being spent on this fool of a brother. He feels that he had earned the right because of his good deeds.

I’m the older brother. I’ve always been the good child, the one who doesn’t cause a stir, who does what she’s supposed to do. I haven’t been a sinner like them. And so, I often feel entitled to God’s mercy. Not that I’ve ever admitted it to myself before. But I think there is a root of pride that needs to be dug up.

And then there’s the other side to the story. On one hand there is the way in which we can identify with either the older or younger brother’s sin and see God as the father that goes out to both to bring them back in. On the other hand, there is a way in which we are all like the younger son who spurned the father in pursuit of his own pleasure. But where the so-called prodigal son’s older brother stayed at home, our Older Brother went out after us and paid the ultimate price—His life—to bring us back. That is love.


Another subject for the night was the interaction between the Law and the Cross. Essentially, it came down to how the Law drives us to despair in our own righteousness and to throw ourselves on Christ as our only hope. In turn, Christ’s abundant, steadfast love and unmitigated power inspires us to follow the Law out of love for Him and through His power.

A funny quote from the night came from our leader, Jean when mentioning how we often think we can't do what God wants us to do.  Roughly it was like this:

Me:  Please no, God!  It'll kill me to do that!
God:  How convenient.  You're supposed to die to yourself

There was more to ithe night's discussions but it was the older/younger brother dynamic that stuck with me after the night was over and so I give to you my thoughts on that aspect of the lessons.