Luke 15:31-32 - The Pious Party Pooper

Luke 15:31-32 - The Pious Party Pooper

In Luke 15, Jesus confronted the experts: experts in studying the Ten Commandments and experts in applying the Ten Commandments. The were the scribes and Pharisees, respectively. Either way, they didn't think a rabbi like Jesus should be spending time with undesirable sinners, let alone eating with them. (Luke 15:1-2)

So Jesus told them three parables about God restoring relationship with lost people. Like the first two stories of a lost sheep and a lost coin, the third story was about a lost son, the "Prodigal Son."

The Prodigal Son left home, wasted his share of the family fortune, but repented and came back to the forgiving embrace of his father. The lost son had been found. But another component is added to this third parable, especially for the religious experts.

There was on older brother that groused that while his younger brother had been wasting inheritance money on prostitutes, he had been obediently slaving away at home. The Dutiful Son was incensed that their father threw a welcome-home party for his Prodigal Brother. "You never let me have a party with my friends!" he protested.

“His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!’ ” (Luke 15:31–32, New Living Translation)

Jesus included the older brother in the story to expose the judgmentalism and envy of the religious experts. They knew all about the Law of God, but knew nothing of the Love of God.

Our Father in heaven,
You don't forgive grudgingly. You don't give a bare minimum of mercy. "Extravagant" describes Your grace when we come back home to You.
Yet sometimes we start feeling entitled--as if others don't deserve the same, generous compassion. Forgive our stinginess and envy. Teach us to rejoice when the dead come back to life, and the lost are found. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.