Our Sunday Message

The Church of the Younger Brother: Luke 15:1-3, 11-32
Rev. Dr. Kenneth A. Corr
March 18, 2007
Fourth Sunday of Lent

  I want to go to church today.
  I want to go to church today, he said,
  As he roused himself out of his bed.
  I want to go to church today so that I can be with God.
  The ones who heard him say it, agreed that it was odd.
  I want to go to church today, but where will I go?
  He was not the type to enjoy a good religious show.
  I want to go to church today because there is this inner nudge.
  But is there a church in town where others will not judge?
  I want to go to church today, one way or the other,
  And I think I will go to the church of the younger brother.
  Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons.” The parable of the prodigal son is a favorite for many because we like to imagine ourselves as the younger brother who finally grows up, pulls his life together, goes home, and falls into the arms of a loving and forgiving father. It’s not hard to imagine because we have all been the prodigal at some point in our lives, like Thomas, who refused to believe in the resurrection and has forever carried the nickname of “doubting.” We know what doubt is like, even when we are trying hard to believe. Or we have been the prodigal like Peter, who denied Jesus three times in the garden. We know what it is like to deny Jesus and even to deny and betray ourselves. Or we have been the prodigal like Euodia and Syntyche, leading women in the church at Philippi, who had some kind of falling out and had to be encouraged by Paul to reconcile. We have all had a falling out with a brother or sister. Or we have been the prodigal like John Mark, who was a failure as a missionary. We certainly have all known failure. We can relate to these early disciples because we’ve been there: doubting and denying, fussing and failing. It is comforting to know that in spite of all of that God is ready to welcome us home.
  There is probably no better picture of grace in all the New Testament than this wonderful story. Maybe that is the reason that we usually stop reading the story after v. 24, “For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found. And they began to celebrate.” It’s a good place to stop. It feels good. It makes for a happy ending. It is sort of like a fairy tale that ends, “And they all lived happily ever after.”
  But that is not the story that Jesus told. Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons.” What about the other brother, the older brother?
  We don’t hear a lot about the older brother because he is so negative, so judgmental, so legalistic, so unhappy, so critical, so angry. It’s not a pretty picture. In fact, the church has entitled this story, “The parable of the prodigal son,” as though there was only one son in the story. But Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons.” Without the older brother, the story is not complete. In order to get the complete picture, we need both brothers. In order to understand grace, we need to look closely and understand the older brother.
  Who is this older brother? It is easy for me to recognize the Pharisees in this attitude. After all, Jesus told this parable to the Pharisees. But as soon as I do that, I give myself away. What I don’t want to see in myself, I most easily recognize in others. What bothers me the most about someone else is what I have not recognized in myself. The minute that I say, “I know who the older brother is. He is the Pharisee, or the mean woman down the street who yells at the children who get in her yard, or the angry fundamentalist preacher who preaches hellfire and brimstone, or the curmudgeon deacon who is always fussing at the young people, or the uptight adult who never learned to have fun, or the morality police who want to enforce their legalistic views on everyone else,” I have given myself way. Just as there is a prodigal son in every one of us, there is an older brother in every one of us. Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons.”
  How do we learn to recognize the older brother in ourselves? Before we become too hard on the older brother, we need to recognize his many strengths. Where do we find the older brother in this story? He was v. 25, “in the field.”
  From the text, we learn that the older brother was a hard worker. He “worked like a slave (for his father),” (v. 29). And we learn that the older brother was obedient. He “never disobeyed a command (of the father),” (v. 29). And we learn that the older brother was responsible. He had never asked for a party with his friends.
  Are there any first-borns in the room? First-borns can recognize this picture of the older brother. They are responsible, compliant, dutiful, caregiving, and obedient. Does that describe you?
  Are there any last-borns in the room? I am a last-born. I won’t describe them, but they are very different from first-borns. Research has shown that marriages of first-borns and last-borns are more likely to succeed than marriages of first-borns or marriages of last-borns. Last-borns do well if they have a first-born to take care of them.
  We need to recognize that the older brother had many strengths. The church of the older brother would be well-organized, efficiently run, orthodox in doctrine, polished in performance, and moral in its ethics. If we didn’t have the older brothers, we would not get much done.
  But there was a shadow side to the older brother. The older brother was also “angry” v. 28. With whom was he angry? The text does not say. You fill in the blank. Was he angry with the younger brother for being so irresponsible and wasting the father’s resources? Was he angry with the father for being so forgiving toward the younger brother, who did not deserve forgiveness? Was he angry at himself for being so compulsively responsible when what he would really have liked is to have a party with his friends? Was he angry with God because life was not fair? The text does not say why he was angry or with whom he was angry. But the text does say that his anger separated him from his brother and his father.
  Jesus is describing a religious attitude that is in all of us. The religious shadow of being a responsible, hard working, faithful servant is that we resent all those who are not also responsible, hard working, and faithful.
  Can you see this in yourself? Is it sometimes hard to say No to others who make demands on you when that is exactly what you need to say? Do you sometimes resent being so faithful when not everyone is faithful? Do you sometimes envy people who are less constrained about their spiritual lives? Do you sometimes enjoy thinking about God’s judgment on sinners? We’ve all been there.
  The church of the older brother would be well-organized and efficient, but it would also be judgmental, rigid, and angry. It is a religious attitude that separates us, not only from our brothers and sisters who need us the most, but also from God. The church of the younger brother will not always start on time, will not be very efficient, will not be too concerned about orthodox thinking, but it will be filled with people who know what it’s like to finally grow up, pull their life together, go home, and fall into the arms of a loving forgiving father.
  I want to go to church today.
  I want to go to church today, he said,
  As he roused himself out of his bed.
  I want to go to church today so that I can be with God.
  The ones who heard him say it, agreed that it was odd.
  I want to go to church today, but where will I go?
  He was not the type to enjoy a good religious show.
  I want to go to church today because there is this inner nudge.
  But is there a church in town where others will not judge?
  I want to go to church today, one way or the other,
  And I think I will go to the church of the younger brother.
  Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons.”
Maybe what we need is a marriage between the first-borns and the last-borns. Maybe what we need is to reconcile these two attitudes that are both within us.