the older brother

I have a hard time with the story of the Prodigal Son sometimes. It's a very odd place in the Bible to struggle with. It's such a lovely picture of God's love and forgiveness. You can't seem to ever get that image of the Father searching for His Son and running to meet him while he was still "a long ways off." I love love love those parts of the story.

However, there's a whole other aspect of the story that often gets overlooked--the older brother. At times, my heart really goes out to the guy. Here he is, doing what "he's supposed to" and yet he feels like he isn't quite as loved as his younger counterpart who went off and squandered everything. I have to catch myself before I get all defensive of the older brother, recognizing that he had issues with pride and self-righteousness. He was just as sinful as the younger brother but didn't realize his faults. (I think I struggle in part b/c I relate WAY more to the older guy than the younger. I've never been the rebellious, squander your inheritance kind of girl! :))

This weekend I had a different perspective on him than I ever have before (thank You Holy Spirit). All of a sudden, the question hit me: "Where was the older brother when the younger brother ran off?" Was he just going about his day to day routine as usual while his father went out to the road every day to look for the brother's return? Did he try to wipe the memory of his younger brother from his mind? How did he cope?

I have never had a brother before, but I can imagine that "sibling-hood" comes with some sort of responsibility towards each other. There are family ties that cannot be broken. You see siblings sticking up for each other all the time. One of them gets bullied on the bus. The other one comes to their aid. One of them gets thrown in jail. Another is there to bail them out. So, where was this older brother? The younger one finds himself in dire straights (due to his own choices, mind you, but dire nonetheless) and we have no idea what the older brother is up to. Did he not feel compelled to go searching for his brother and "set him straight?" Where was the older brother to bail him out?

Lately, I have been thinking about my own obligations to my brothers and sisters in Christ. Just like the older brother, too many times I have watched my siblings "squander their inheritance." Too many times have they wasted away gifts, talents, and pieces of themselves while I sat by and went about my daily life. Sure, sometimes I may have said some prayers or felt some concern, even said a few words, but what did I do? Did I follow my Father's example and go stand out in the road anxiously awaiting their return? Did I go out searching for them so that I could help them find their way back?

So easily we can get caught up in "our Father's businesss" that we neglect to recognize the obligation we have towards one another. We get caught up in living the "good Christian life" and feel like it's not our business to get involved. So, we don't go out to the pigsty where our brothers and sisters are starving. We don't stand and anxiously wait for their return home, searching, calling and admonishing them to come back. The end result is that our siblings are suffering and we are too. Our sins of pride and self-reliance are just as destructive as our younger brothers'. We wait at home thinking that eventually they will figure it out and find their way back. What if we risked getting a little messy and went out to look for them instead? I wonder what would happen then...