Don't Back Down

Last week in our Sunday School class, we reviewed the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32, some versions call it the parable of the lost son). This is a story with which most anyone - even non-Christians - are familiar (though they are perhaps less familiar with it). The story is a simple one. A wealthy man has two sons. One of these sons, being impatient as most of us are, wants his inheritance up-front. He's waited too long and is ready to get on with the process of spending it.

The man, who wishes to please his son, gives him what he asks. The son then takes his inheritance and spends it wildly (really - the Bible says he spent it on wild living). He finds himself working as a servant for a famer, realizing how the pigs he is feeding are eating better than he. So the son realizes that his father's servants eat better than this, and decides he will return home, not to be a son but to be a servant, so that he may be treated better than the pigs in this strange land.

While he is still a ways out, his father ran to him and welcomed him home, giving him robes to wear, rings for his fingers and even bringing in the fattened calf for a feast. The son, naturally, was amazed, but nonetheless enjoyed this welcome.

After reading this, you might be likely to think that the lesson is a simple one: Don't waste your resources. You may even take it a step further and get from the story that you shouldn't waste your time holding a grudge. Open your arms to them, don't get caught up in the little things. The image may very well be an illustration of serving and eventually reaping the reward. And you might be right on any - or all - of these counts. But there's another part to the story that I never particularly noticed until now.

While all this was going on, the man's other son decided that this was too much. The younger son had squandered everything given to him, come crawling back, and was still being welcomed as a prince. Why did he feel this way? Because he felt that he had stayed the course, that he had done The Right Thing and that he had never received the fattened calf for his efforts!

Does the moral of the story change for you now? It did for me. There are so many times in my life that I see this. And I'm not pointing the finger at anyone. I do this all the time. When I'm driving and point out how the other idiots aren't paying attention (while I'm obviously not either, since I am watching them). When I look down the street and see the larger houses and newer cars and harbor ill will that we work and save and can't afford such things. I do it all the time.

And I think that might be the true meaning of the story. Don't spend your time worrying about what other people are receiving for their efforts. If nothing else, you are then not tending to your own worries. More often, you have more than you know and simply don't see it because you are so used to things the way they are. There is an old saying that says something like you don't know what you've got until it's gone. The younger brother didn't know. The funny thing is, neither did the older brother. While you might think he was the responsible one, he was, in fact, taking the exact same road taken by his younger brother. He might have just been travelling along this road a little bit slower, but he was still on the same path.