Aren't these two sons representations of two different sorts of people? The younger son representing anyone who didn't know the Lord or strayed away and then ended up in His presenece and forgiven of their sins, and the older representing the folks who maybe never physically strayed away from the church, but are obsessed with following the rules and look at the folks who don't with contempt. Most folks tend to fall into one catagory or the other. Who are you? [Every Tomorrow: The Blog]I think we all fall into both categories, with tendencies to be in one or the other. The longer we are in the Christian life, the more we are tempted to be like the older brother: judging, measuring, condemning.
I love Robert Farrar Capon's take on this: the goal of the Christian life is to dance down the street in a wild party with the Father and the Prodigal, calling the Elder Brothers out of the dark rooms they are sulking in to join us. (From memory: I don't even remember which book this is from.)
Posted by ronlusk at October 27, 2003 08:34 PM