(Recommended Reading: Luke 15:11-32)
Today while reading my devotional, which is the familiar story about the prodigal son, I took a new look at the story. I have always read this story as an example of how our heavenly Father loves us and welcomes us with open arms, even when we return to Him after wrongdoings; and, consequently, it shows how blessed our lives can be because of His love. But I felt I was seeing a couple of different twists and turns in the story this time.
In our Christian walk, some of us stay on the straight and narrow, as the older brother in this story did – or at least how he felt he did. I express it that way because the older brother seemed to have a pretty high opinion of himself. Look at his words in verse 29 (NIV) while speaking with his father – “’…Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.’”
Oh boo-hoo….woe is me! Really?? “..all these years” I’ve been “slaving” for you. Those are pretty extreme words that to me come across as a lot of self-pity. His father seems to have been a man of fairly substantial means, enough so that he had servants to do as he wished. Are we seriously to believe that his father used his son as a “slave”? Okay, yes, it does say that he “was in the field”, but it does not say what he was doing there. Maybe he had a job to do in helping to manage things around their place, but I sincerely doubt that he was “slaving.” After all, his father had already given him his share of the estate. See verse 12 (NLV) where we are told “Then the father divided all that he owned between his two sons.” So when his younger brother asked and received his share of the estate, the older brother also received his share. If he was indeed “slaving”, he was now doing it for his own benefit, because he owned it. (Verse 31 NLT: “His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours.’”) And seriously, he “never” disobeyed? Never is a very long time! And why should his father have had to give him anything in order to celebrate with his friends? He owned it and could have done it all himself! So why was his hand still out wanting to be treated like a selfish, inept child?
Now let us turn our attention to the younger son. He was obviously pretty self-absorbed and problematic. Once he got half of his father’s estate, he did not wait long to just take off. We are told in verse 13 (AMP): “A few days later, the younger son gathered together everything [that he had] and traveled to a distant country, and there he wasted his fortune in reckless and immoral living.”
He apparently was immature and irresponsible and unconcerned about the impact of his behavior on his family – especially his generous father. He then paid dearly for the lifestyle he had chosen by having to become a slave and his job was to feed the pigs. (I would think that this had to be one of the lowest of possible jobs to be had.) He obviously was not compensated much for this work either, because the story talks about how he was so hungry he desired to eat the pig’s food. He soon realized that he was substantially worse off now than even his father’s servants. He recognized how badly he had behaved and was so humbled that he decided to return home with the mindset that he would become a servant to his father.
But, when he returned home, knowing he was going to have to beg for forgiveness and likely serve his father as a servant, how surprised he must’ve been! Verse 20 (AMP) indicates his father was watching for him – “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.” Do you really think that his father just happened to be out there that particular day looking down the road anticipating seeing his wayward son? I really doubt that. I would think that he loved and missed his son so much that he likely watched daily, hoping and praying for his return. When his father greeted him with open arms, the young man confessed and was immediately forgiven. His father did not put him under any condemnation by pointing out all he had done wrong and how hurt he was. There was no shaming to make him feel guilty. He just loved him, welcomed him home and wanted to celebrate!
Then the older son…when he discovered his younger brother had shown up after all his disgraceful behavior and that their father was throwing a party, of all things – what did he do? He pouted and refused to participate.
When you contrast how the younger son was humble and confessed his sins, to that of the behavior of the older son that “became angry and refused to go in” (verse 28 NIV) to celebrate the return of his brother – which one would you say is the problem child?
We all are guilty of falling short (“For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” – Romans 3:23 NLT); but, we should all be aware that we can return to our Father, confess and be totally restored with no condemnation – (“So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.” – Romans 8:1 NLT.) I believe when we go to the Father to confess, no matter how many times we have to do it, that there is celebration as in verse 32 (AMP) where it says “’But it was fitting to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was [as good as] dead and has begun to live. He was lost and has been found.’”
We need to think about these things – do we want to be like the selfish, stubborn, self-pitying, self-absorbed older brother? Or, do we want to be like the self-aware, humbled, contrite younger brother?
The only perfect person to ever walk this earth was Jesus Christ. Therefore, we will all make mistakes – in other words, we will all be problem children to our Father. So, which problem child are you? Think about it – which problem child would you rather be in the long run?
Written by Karran Martin – January 24, 2019 – Revised April 17, 2026
[All bold emphasis is mine]
Karran's Korner 