Time To Come Home

Instead of celebrating the return of his brother, he immediately starts a pity party for himself!

· He becomes angry. He loses his cool. He blows his top. This the ultimate indignation. His brother returns home looking terrible and smelling like a pig and he gets a party?! “I’m not going in there!” he snorts. The self-righteous smugness of the older brother not only mirrors the Pharisees but also many in our culture today.

I lived in Mississippi when the Monica Lewenski scandal became public. The radio station I listened to became a twenty-four hour tirade of religious ranting and raving, all in the name of Jesus of course. My heart grieved as these mean-spirited Pharisees used their platform to pound the parties involved. I couldn’t take it anymore and turned the dial The older brother’s wrath was still alive and well.

Christians are angry with people who sin. Just remember cows don’t lay eggs. Sinners sin because they are sinners. It is their nature. One of my favorite Brian Bill-isms is that we often do not like people who sin differently than we do. A well-known pastor who had been asked to mentor president Clinton was approached by one of his church members after a service. This man interrupted the pastor’s conversation with another person and blurted out, “How can you minister to such an immoral man?” The quick-witted pastor replied, “ I know…you are pretty irritating…but I’m doing the best I can to love you any way.” They will know we are Christians by our…boycotting? judgmental bantering? Self-righteous slandering? No, no, no! A thousand times no! This lost a dying world will know we are Christians by our radical, unconditional love for lost people!

· He got an attititude with his father. I’ve been slaving for you. You never let me have a party with my friends. This is the attitude of legalism. I have done for you and what do I get for it. It is an attitude of pride. I once sat in a different place at a church Maxine and I attended. We had invited someone who does not feel comfortable sitting up front so we looked for a place in the back. I sat down and soon found myself being given the evil eye by the couple sitting beside me. I explained to them that there would be another couple joining me. It was Easter after all and the church of 7000 was packed. They moved over but sighed loudly. When it came time to shake people’s hand the man actually turned his back to me. His wife said loudly to a neighbor that I had “taken their seats.” I wrote the man a letter during service, which attempted to apologize but also challenge his view of church, but he would not accept it. He literally ran away from me. I am embarrassed to say that I chased him down the aisle, out the door, and down the steps and shoved the note in his coat pocket. He would probably tell you that he was a good religious person and was in church every Sunday. But his attitude betrayed his heart ­ “my seats are more important than your soul.”

· He revealed his own spiritual apathy

The Pharisees could not imagine God being this gracious. There are really two prodigals in the story. The younger brother abandoned his father physically. The older abandoned him in heart. He was there the whole time, working and serving, but his heart was far from the father. All the sins of the younger brother could not keep him out of heaven due to his repentance. All the virtue of the older brother couldn’t get him into heaven because of his pride. He was just as lost as his brother but he was too self-righteous to admit it.