All That I Have Is Yours. (Luke 15:31)

There are few of our Lord's parables more beloved than the parable of the "Prodigal Son". And perhaps no parable has been more open to widely variable emphasis and interpretation.

Indeed this parable has been used to preach at least three separate conclusions over the centuries – and probably more.

There is little doubt that at the most basic level Jesus was speaking of Jews and Gentiles (represented by the two brothers) and their relationship to God (the loving father in the parable). Martin Luther preferred this, original take and used it to savage the Jews.

Evangelicals have traditionally stressed bringing the lost home – with lots of space devoted to the degradations of sin into which the elder son falls. As an afterthought preachers then remind the hearers of the sermon not to act like the older brother, but to welcome repentant sinners back into the fold.

Pastors in the Reformed tradition have tended to stress that the parable is in fact misnamed. It is really not about the prodigal son as much as it is about the older brother and his selfish heartedness and self-righteousness.

In the 1960's and 70's it was common to hear this parable twisted into a neo-Marxist interpretation via liberation theology. The basic assumption of liberation theology was that there were oppressed and there were oppressors, and that Christ came to liberate the oppressed. The only problem was that this quasi-Marxist analysis tended to result in the Church and mainstream society as the oppressors – and tried to load us up with guilt. Much of our entitlement mentality with an ever growing list of so-called "rights" for the downtrodden by robbing the productive parts of society have grown out of this kind of mentality.

Certainly today most of the hearers of any sermon preached on this passage are more likely to fall into the "elder brother" pattern rather than the younger son." This parable is taught and preached to those "on the inside," those who have been faithful members of churches for years and decades. The primary hearers of this text in our day are the faithful workers, are the ones who haven't squandered their money in loose living, are the ones who tithe, give of their time and talent, get there early to turn on the coffee and stay late to make sure the kitchen is cleaned up. The church is made up of more elder sons than prodigal sons.

How can this passage speak to those Christians who are active in the church since it seemingly is written to emphasize the grace of the father towards the wayward son?

If we only concentrate on the younger brother (if the message is that we are all prodigals) it leads to the question of who the older brother represents. If we all are prodigals, then the older brother is just some kind of curmudgeonly old guy – who is just trying to protect his "rights" in a mean spirited way. In fact we are all also potentially the elder brother. We are to a degree both.

I think the proper approach is to compare and contrast the two brothers and what attitudes they represent and draw some conclusions from how they both end up in their relationship with the father (who is clearly representative of God.)

Like the two men in another parable who went to pray. The Pharisee said "I thank God I am not like this other man – this sinner. He then lists all his own righteous works. The publican, the sinner cries out "have mercy on me a miserable sinner." Jesus said one was justified the other was not and leaves no doubt as to which is which.

In this morning's parable, the plight of the younger, prodigal son is easy for us to understand. The little Jewish boy chafes at life on the farm and demands his inheritance now. The father lets him go his own way and the boy squanders daddy's money – wine, women and song. He gets so desperate he signs on to work for a gentile slopping his pigs. He gets so hungry he wallows in the filth with the pigs and eats with them. About as low as you can imagine even for us, and we don't see pigs as ritually unclean like the Jews did. Imagine how revolting that story sounded to Jesus' hearers.

That's the boy who comes home at last and begs for his father to take him back, not as a son, but as a hired servant. That is pretty humble.

So daddy throws a party – a barbeque with the fatted calf and gives him a ring – calls him a son again. The boy is reconciled to his father and reincorporated into the family. Now let's look at the older brother. The Greek word used to describe the elder son is presbuteros huios, literally the "presbyter son."

I think the elder son is the more interesting of the two sons and the most relevant for us. What was it like to "stay on the farm," to do the right thing, to be at the father's beck and call while little brother was out having a great time with no thought for tomorrow?

What kind of things does that tend to do in one's mind, to work into a person's character?

Two things that leap out to me regarding the older brother's character are in v. 29. Indeed, the first 10 words in the Greek open up a world of hurt and entitlement that is the assumed world of the older brother. First he says, "Behold I have slaved for you so many years..." The Greek word used is douleuo, the typical term for slavery in the Greek world. This one word captures the elder son's world view. He is a son but feels like a slave. Isn't that a message that can go right to the heart of our hearers, and ourselves, today? It mirrors the tendency and capacity of the human mind to interpret its condition in the most negative terms. We in America are rich, but many people live their lives thinking of how poor they are. We are blessed, but feel that someone else always has a better deal than we do. The older brother sees himself in this way. Second, he says, "I have not once transgressed your commandment." Ah, that is what is on his mind. Life is all about following commandments and keeping them. Indeed, he interprets his younger brother's action in demanding a share of the inheritance to be an example of breaking a commandment. But it really isn't. It is an insult to the father, but it isn't a breaking of the law. Nevertheless, since law and duty and slavery are the major mental categories of the older brother, he tends to see everything in life through those lenses. The younger brother has broken commandments, unlike the elder brother. And, the implication is, he has gotten off scot-free! How unjust is that!

It is almost as if the notion of his brother being "safe and sound" – being forgiven – evoked the anger in the elder son. What thoughts had he been entertaining while his brother was away? He had probably indulged in pleasant thoughts about his brother's destruction and how he, the older son, would take pleasure in the younger brother's comeuppance. After all, the older brother was quite invested in his view of the world. To him forgiveness for such a lifestyle just doesn't fit into his "world view." Thus, he is angry. He reminds me of Jonah, whom God asks, "Is it right for you to be angry"? when the Ninevites have repented and God decides not to destroy them.

The Father's Reaction – The heart of the message will be how the father responds to the elder son. How does the father respond? He says "All that I have is yours" (15:31). The problem of the older son is that he has forgotten that he himself lives at the mercy of God. He tends to see his life as one of service that has, over the years, become interpreted as a burden – literally as slavery. In seeing one's life in this way we lose the capacity to understand mercy.

One is left with the suspicion that the elder brother secretly wishes he could have gone and lived the way his little brother had lived if he had known daddy would be so generous. It never occurs to him that in living the life he has lived on the farm as daddy's heir he has been blessed by not having the life of degradation his little brother has lived. He hasn't missed anything. He has been blessed.

We lose the capacity to recognize the riches that we do have because we are always focusing on what we don't have. The father's response to the Son in v. 31 stresses the fact that the son always had what the prodigal is getting now. " you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours."

The problem at the end is that the elder brother, full of self-righteous indignation now refuses to come to the party.

In his own self-righteousness he is unable to love his brother and thus is himself now estranged from the father. In rejecting his brother, he has rejected the father – even though he still lives on the farm. (Clearly this is a reference to the Jews and their resentment to the idea that Christ came for the gentiles as well as Israel – but also to that mentality in our own time.

The last word is that the prodigal son is really "your brother". That is the last word to the hearers. They are really our brothers. Recognize the riches that we have, that have always been available to us and welcome the repentant.

All That I Have Is Yours.