A Recklessly Extravagant LoveSample

The Older Son

The Story Unpacked

On first impression, it may seem that the older son has a point. He never disobeyed his father and now his disrespectful brother gets a party for his return. However, as we dig deeper, we begin to see the true motive behind the older son’s statements. The younger son didn’t show love towards his father, he was only interested in his wealth. As it turns out, the same could be said of the older son. He may not have done the wrong things like his younger brother, but he was doing the right things for the wrong reasons.

His complaint was that he had been slaving away for years but his father had done nothing special for him. Like his brother, his heart was also not in the right place. His focus was not on delighting in his father and sharing in the joy of their relationship, but instead he was trying to earn his way to a place where he felt his father owed him. The irony is, the father tells the older son that everything he owns was already his.

The older son was missing the point. The father’s desire was a loving relationship. The older son’s desire was repayment. The father wanted his older son to understand how much he was already loved and to join him in his joy by celebrating the return of the younger son. But at least for the moment, he would not.

The father wanted his sons to understand that their relationship with him was more precious than anything else. He wanted to be with them. Both sons were in need of the father’s forgiveness. Thankfully, like the father in the parable, God is always ready to forgive and accept us, no matter what we have done.

Questions

1. Who do you think the older son represents in this parable (both to the crowd who were listening and also today)?
2. How do you think the ‘older sons’ who heard this parable would have responded? Why?
3. How do you think the father wanted the older son to respond to the return of the younger son? Why?
4. Can you think of an example where we could be doing the right thing for the wrong reason?
5. In verse 31, the father says that everything he has already belongs to the older son. What are some things that God freely gives His children that we may sometimes still be trying to earn?