The son who never left home
Most people know the story of the son who took his inheritance and wasted it. Fewer remember that Jesus told it about two sons, and ended it with the one who stayed.
When the younger son came home, his father saw him a long way off and ran to him. A party started. The older brother came in from the field, heard the music, and would not go in.
Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends.Luke 15:29
Faithful and far away
He had done everything right. He never left, never wasted anything, and never broke a rule. Yet he spoke about his own father like an employer who owed him something. He had lived in the house his whole life and still thought of himself as staff.
People who have served in church for years often know that feeling. The work gets done, the calendar stays full, and somewhere along the way the joy goes quiet.
What the father said
The father didn’t argue with him or list what he had got wrong. He came out to him, the same way he had run out to the younger son, and told him who he was.
Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.Luke 15:31
Jesus left the story open. We never find out whether the older brother went inside to the party.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.