Preacher’s Corner: From the Older Brother’s Room

For the past several months I have been directing our attention to Jesus’ parable in Luke 15.  The parable that is commonly referred to as the Parable of the Prodigal Son.  Recently, pastor and author, Tim Keller, took that title and turned it on its head saying this parable is about the prodigal God.  He wrote, “The word ‘prodigal’ does not mean ‘wayward’ but, according to Merriam-Webster’s collegiate Dictionary, ‘recklessly spendthrift.’  It means to spend until you have nothing left.  This term is therefore as appropriate for describing the father in the story as his younger son…Jesus is showing us the God of Great Expenditure, who is nothing if not prodigal toward us, his children.  God’s reckless grace is our greatest hope, a life-changing experience.”

That “reckless grace” is seen in how easily the father receives his son and for some, this teaches something new.  They say that it teaches a new way of understanding the gospel. No longer is faith in Christ acknowledging one’s sin, understanding that Jesus’ blood atoned or paid the debt for one’s sin, and that following him means we must repent or turn from our sin to Christ and believe in Him.  They say, this passage teaches that no sacrifice, no atonement, is required for the younger brother to be restored.  He has simply chosen to come home.  It cost him his pride and that is enough.  Humble yourself and come home to the Father because the Father’s grace is reckless.

Others are concerned by these implications.  They are uncomfortable that this passage seems to teach forgiveness without cost, restoration without payment, salvation without atonement.  They say, “This will lead to ‘cheap grace’ or ‘easy believism.’”  Cheap grace is the idea that someone could call him or herself a Christian, yet have no understanding of the cross of Christ and its implications for their life.  It is built upon the belief that God accepts me because I come to Him rather than because of Jesus’ death and resurrection.  They say this leads to a host of people who call themselves Christians, but live no differently than the world.  They live reckless lives apart from God’s grace.

I believe the solution to both of these concerns is found in the text.  Because we live some 2,000 years removed from Ancient Near Eastern culture, we often miss significant cultural details when reading the Scriptures.  These cultural details often unlock the meaning or point of a passage.  In this parable, the first detail that is important on this topic is perhaps obvious to many of you.  When the Father tells the older brother, “All that I have is yours.”  He is not simply communicating his generous heart for his son.  He is stating a fact.  All that the family owns is legally the older brother’s because his younger brother had the father divide up the inheritance.  This means the ring, the robe, the fattened calf are all technically the older brother’s.

The second detail is a little more hidden.  In the Ancient Near East, the older brother would have been expected to find his younger brother.  It was his familial duty; it is his calling as the older brother.  When he doesn’t, everyone listening to the parable would have wondered, “Why isn’t he going?”  Jesus is creating a longing in His hearers for an ideal elder brother.  So as the story unfolds, Jesus’ audience would be waiting for the older brother to fulfill his duty.  They would be longing for a self-sacrificing, elder brother.  Jesus is saying, “The Father has sent me to pay for your sin.”  As Sinclair Ferguson, the Scottish pastor and scholar says, “Jesus is our elder brother.”

The parable teaches us that the restoration of the younger son was costly indeed.  He cost the older brother a great deal, but not nearly what it cost our elder brother for us to come home.  The cost for us to be reconciled to God is a cost that our elder brother, Jesus, gladly paid on our behalf.  It is the robe of His righteous life and death that are a substitutionary atoning sacrifice for those who believe.  It is as we are moved by what it cost Him to bring us home that our hearts are changed from fear and anger, to joy, hope and gratitude.  It is as we taste God’s reckless grace to us in Christ that we live with purpose, joy, hope and gratitude.  As Jonathan Edwards’ once said, “The difference between believing that God is gracious and tasting that God is gracious is as different as having a rational belief that honey is sweet and having the actual sense of its sweetness.”

May the sweetness of God’s reckless grace to us in Jesus grow in our hearts and lives.  From one older brother to another…