Analysis of The Older Son
Luke 15: 25-32 The Older Son
Now his elder son was in the field; and as he came and drew near the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the young boys and asked what this meant. And he said to him, “Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has received him with peace.” But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him.
But he answered his father, “Lo, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command; yet you never gave me a kid that I might make merry with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your living with harlots, you killed the fatted calf!”
And he said to him, “Son you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to make merry and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.”
Early in the story, when the younger son causes strife with his request, the older son—as was the Middle Eastern custom—would mediate between the father and the younger son. Unexpectedly, the older son remains quiet. Yet anger lurks which doesn't become apparent until later in the story.
Now the fatted calf has been killed and it's time for the banquet. Customarily, it's the responsibility of the older son to serve the guests. The guests are made to feel special by the father’s oldest son who serves them. Unexpectedly the older son, not only does not accept this responsibility but he doesn't fulfill the minimal requirement of greeting the guests. He remains in the courtyard.
Earlier in the day, the father demonstrated costly, unexpected love by running to and embracing the younger son. Now the father shows costly love once again by leaving the banquet—a humiliating act in the Middle East—to entreat his older son.
Now the older son points out how he has served the father as a slave never disobeying his commandments. Yet even in this moment, the older son is refusing his responsibility at the celebration as he earlier refused to mediate when the younger son was leaving for the far country...Anger blinds him.
In The Cross & the Prodigal, an insightful contrast is drawn between how the older son and the father approach each situation. When the older son calls on one of the boys after returning from the fields, the Greek preposition suggests that they were “facing one another,” in an adversarial position. Yet, the father (as the preposition suggests) asks the older son to “stand parallel to him”—not in an adversarial position, but asking the older son to see the situation from the father’s perspective.
Furthermore, when the father addresses the older son, he does so with the Greek word teknon, a special word for son that indicates love and affection. It is the word Mary uses when Jesus is found in the temple and she says, “Son, why have you treated us so?” (Luke 2:48) The father goes on, gently to remind his son that the prodigal is “your brother.” And the rest of the speech is a defense of joy.
To this defense of joy, there is no response by the older son—the end of the story is missing. This parable, like many of Jesus’ parables, uses inverted step parallelism but, in this case, the last section is missing on purpose. (If you want to find out more about Hebrew step parallelism, see Ken Bailey’s Finding the Lost: Cultural Keys to Luke 15. See resources.) The last missing section is to be written by the Pharisees. How would the Pharisees complete this story? The father wishes that the two brothers would embrace and enter into the celebration with joy.
Throughout Jesus' ministry, the Pharisees expressed seething anger toward him. And the Pharisees finish was to crucify Jesus. Yet, Jesus finish was to express costly, unexpected love which lead the way to Paul's conversion, a previously seething, anger filled Pharisee.
For a powerful image of Jesus saving grace, see the one page overview of The Lost Sheep parable. (Jesus told the Prodigal Son, The Lost Sheep, and The Lost Coin as one inter-related parable.)