As Guilty as the Prodigal

Growing up as a “PK” (short for “preacher’s kid”), I was the “good boy”. I may have gotten into my share of mischief, but I never rebelled much as a teenager. I was not a partier, never drank a drop of alcohol, nor was even around drugs. I participated actively in my church youth group and went to a Christian college. You get the pristine picture.

Given this background, it is perhaps understandable that the story of the prodigal son never meant that much to me during that period of my life. It never seemed relevant. Like everyone else, I sinned, but I certainly did not consider myself a “wayward prodigal” or “a rebel without a cause”. Frankly, when I read Luke 15, I found myself identifying with the older son, the “good kid” in the story. Perhaps I even secretly rooted for him when he complained to his father upon his brother’s return because the whole situation smacked of being unfair. To me, the older son seemed to get the short end of the stick. After all, why did he not get a party thrown in his honor?

However, as I have matured in my faith over the years, I discovered a truth that was as startling to me as perhaps any other that I’ve encountered in my Christian walk: I began to realize that the older brother was just as guilty as the prodigal son was!

Jesus’ Target Audience

If you study modern communication techniques, you learn that to effectively reach an audience, you target your message at them. Television ads do it all the time, often tailoring an ad campaign directly to a specific age and gender group that they most want to reach. Other people outside that group will watch the ad and be impacted by it, but the advertisement is designed to maximize its effectiveness for a particular audience.

Jesus was a master communicator, and he undoubtedly employed many of these same principles that we use today when he spoke to people of the first century. So, as we look at the prodigal son parable, the first issue to consider is the group of people Jesus was most trying to reach with it.

When pastors preach on this parable today, their message is usually aimed at the “prodigals in the pews” because of the obvious hope that Christ’s teaching contains for them. And while the “sinners” were obviously listening to Jesus speak, they were not his target audience. Rather, Jesus told the story primarily to the Pharisees after they complained to him for eating and socializing with sinners and tax collectors.

Two Hidden Sins of the Older Son

Going one step further, let’s look at parable itself, specifically the role of the older son, who was obviously meant to represent the Pharisees. On quick reading, the older son seems to be a minor player, only coming into the picture at the end of the parable. Yet, if you take into account the cultural norms of the day, his role is far more prominent due to the implicit responsibilities that an eldest son had in any Middle Eastern household. His significance has to do both with what he does and does not do.

First, at the beginning of the story, the older son is introduced, but is noticeably silent when the younger son asks for his inheritance and leaves home. From a Middle Eastern perspective, this silence is deafening, as the older son would always be expected to serve as an active mediator between his brother and father in such a dispute. Even if he despised his brother, the impetus would still be upon him to intercede for the sake of the father. Kenneth Bailey in his book The Cross and the Prodigal speaks to this point:

When I come to this point in a sermon, I always ask, “Who must be the reconciler?” The [Middle Eastern] villagers always answer from their pews, “His brother, of course.” Everybody knows this…But our man is silent. The refusal is a clear indication of a broken relationship. Things are not as they should be between him and his brother and between him and his father.

The older son’s refusal to act as a go-between parallels the Pharisee’s refusal to mediate between the sinners with whom Jesus was eating and their Father in heaven. Clearly, the Pharisees had a broken relationship not only with the sinners but with God as well.

Second, while the older son’s silence is shocking, his even graver mistake occurs when he makes a scene at the end of the story. If you recall, when his younger brother returned home, he was stunned to find that not only had his father welcomed him back but was throwing a party in his honor as well. The older son angrily responded by refusing to go into the celebration. While he was surely upset at the perceived unfairness, there was another reason for his refusal: you see, in Middle Eastern culture, an older son was required to serve as a “chief waiter” for such a formal occasion. Yet, in doing so, not only would he be serving the villagers, but the guest of honor – his brother – as well. The older brother could obviously not stomach that thought! (Again, think of the target audience parallel.)

However, the older son was not just being disagreeable; in fact, in their culture, his snub was a definite slap in the face to his father. Bailey writes:

In any social situation…the male members of the family must come and shake hands with the guests even if they don’t stay and visit…It would be a personal insult to the father and guests if any member of the family refused to fulfill this ritual courtesy…He thereby intentionally insults his father publicly…[In the eyes of the village] the older son’s rebellion is just as serious as the earlier rebellion of the younger son.

The older son viewed his actions as justified, but in reality, he was filled with jealousy, hate, and disrespect. So too, the Pharisees fooled themselves into thinking that their self-righteousness was a sign of purity. Jesus laid the cards on the table and showed that the Pharisees were instead filled with the same venom as that of the older son.

Adjusting the Parable’s Name

Reading the story with one eye on the target audience and the other eye on the cultural backdrop, you begin to realize that the popular name for this parable is incorrect; a far more accurate description would be “The Prodigal Sons”. Each son acted radically different, but their actions were equally damaging and hurtful to the father. Jesus thus depicts two sin patterns – self-righteous, prideful legalism of the older son and wanton, selfish, pleasure-seeking of the younger son. Jesus set out to expose them both in this parable.

As I look back at my life, I realize that my attitude was very much like that of the older son. This parable uncovered my smugness and made me realize that each and every one of us is truly a prodigal – some are simply easier to identify than others. But to God, we are all the same.

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Kenneth Bailey’s excellent book Cross and The Prodigal was my inspiration for this entry and is available from Crossways International. In addition, Dr. Bailey covers the Prodigal Son in an extensive fashion in a scholarly book called Finding the Lost : Cultural Keys to Luke 15 which is available from Amazon.com or Christianbook.com.(Originally posted on Digitalwalk.net in 2001)