The Other Son

This evening I thought about the parable of the prodigal son. When the prodigal returned, Papa threw a party for him, and the older brother was resentful of those attentions. It is Papa’s response that I thought of: "Everything I have is yours."

I thought of this because in the past six months, for what is probably the first time in my life, I am beginning to access some of "everything that I have." It’s pretty cool. No, I’m no prodigal, but neither am I in the "in" crowd—from any human vantage point, at least. I don’t deserve to have a party thrown for me. There is a bit of resentment here and there.

But there were a lot of hard, lonely, painful years that I didn’t (in my opinion) deserve, and I decided a few years ago that if and when the Lord gave me nice stuff I didn’t deserve, I wasn’t going to feel guilty about it. I also am aware that part of the definition of being "blessed" is being enviable. Being enviable means that people envy you because you have a nicer life than they do. Those who are "lucky" get a lot more flack than people who are "unlucky." Such is life.

That brings me back to my original point. What Papa said to his elder son is worth thinking about. At any time during the years of the young son’s absence, the elder son could have thrown a party for himself and his friends. He could have killed a fatted calf every month, and worn rings on his fingers and bells on his toes, and danced the night away to the music of a live band. Everything that belonged to his father belonged to him, remember. It wasn’t being held against the possibility of the young son’s return, because the younger son already had everything that was legally his.

Everything the father had belonged to the elder son.

When the elder experienced resentment, it wasn’t because Papa was taking the elder son’s property and splurging on a party: it was because Papa hadn’t thrown a party for his elder son.

Papa hadn’t thrown a party for the elder son because he expected that his elder son would take possession of whatever he wanted or needed. He expected his son to take responsibility for his desires, and to take advantage of what Papa owned.

It seems to me that there are generally two reasons for envy. One is that you have what I do want and haven’t received yet, but the other is that you have what I secretly desire but have already decided, in the spirit of a martyr, to do without. In other words, if I have resigned myself to poverty, it is a sin for you to be rich.

When our Father owns it all.

When He’s merely waiting for us to open our hearts and our hands to receive of His bountiful blessings.

Because all that He has is ours.

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