Prodigal Brother Sermon 3/10 Lk. 15:11-32

March 10 Lk. 15:11-32
Most of us have heard about birth order in families, at least some of the features of the eldest, the middle, and the youngest. This morning let’s treat those positions more as types of people. OK,we handle the prodigal side of ourselves early in the serv ice with a private and public confession of sin and a declaration of pardon. We fully expect the God of forgiveness to do so.

How do we approach this great story in a fresh way? One way to get something out of parable stories is to put oneself in the place of the different characters. Today I wish to emphasize the elder brother, as that is the position many of us are in. In birth order, I am the elder brother, but in attitude I fall into its power as well.Everybody has a soft spot for the prodigal in their lives. We seek to date prodigals but marry elder brothers and sisters.

Most of us are not prodigal in our spending or our sins. Most of us lack the powerful living forgiveness of this father. Most of us work hard, try our best and are resentful.
We are sure that the younger brothers of the world  have all sorts of fun and are not held accountable. (see Craig Barnes article in Christian Century last year).  We work hard and we do not get acknowledged for it. So we feel put upon.the elder brother types are the ones who perform the bulk of church work.  Here the choir is behind a lot of good things, such as providing set-up for the Mardi gras party, or being there to do readings. It is a burden being the responsible one.Why are we always the designated driver at the party? Why don’t we have stories to share about the weekend at work? How do we get the role of taking care of aging parents. why is the family dinner at our house, but the younger prodigal gets to buy the drinks afterward? We are punctual;we eat our vegetables; we do not eat our dessert first. In her fine memoir Rosanne Cash says that her birth mother gave her stability, but her stepmother gave her wings.

Elder brothers hate, hate the idea of grace as a gift. It should be earned. They think that a St. peter figure should be at the gate of heaven and that heaven should have levels. they secretly wonder if hell will be more fun. The elder brother in us is not a big fan of reconciliation either. If it does happen, it is because we feel hurt by others and expect an apology. Further, we elder types expect someone to bow before our position and expect them to say that we are right.

Jesus Christ lived, died, and rose again with elder brothers in mind too. the father goes to him, just a she did the younger brother.The elder brother sees the world in the polarity of reward and punishment. He reflects our typical suspicion that the evil have all of the fun, and that the good are slaves to the commandments of God and their own sense of obligation and even self. His good deeds have not brought a sense of well-being, but instead seething resentment.The elder brother is lost too, and at a loss.His self righteous, judging nature is putting himself in danger of a great sin, the death of relationships. His own attitude is going to place him in a far country that will make the prodigal’s desperate return look like child’s play.More than anything, right now, the elder needs to be recognized, appreciated so that the elder brother can begin to taste the celebration of god’s prodigal love and goodness for elder brothers, prodigals and middle child parents alike.