‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’
- Luke 15:31-32

The festivities in the house arouse joy in the servants’ hearts but bitterness in the heart of this family’s older son.

While the father’s patient forgiveness of the younger son is obvious, it’s important that we not miss that he’s just as generous with the older, self-righteous son. The father shows tremendous compassion for him. He leaves the party and goes out into the field looking for his son. He listens to him.

And as part of his patient, loving pursuit of the pouting, self-righteous son, he lovingly offers a rebuke. Every sentence of the father’s response is an efficient, gentle correction to the older son’s rant just previous to the quote above.

“My son”—that’s how the father starts his response. The older son has described himself as “slaving away.” That’s how he thinks of himself—as a slave. While the older son has been paying attention to how much he’s earning in the field, the father has been focused on their relationship. The father starts by gently but firmly re-establishing their relationship: “my son.”

“You are always with me.” This son who stayed would have been a tremendous comfort to his father, a source of strength and joy. And the father desired for their relational connection to be the central blessing that the older son received from him.

After dividing the property between his sons, the father would have been speaking literally when he said to the older son: “Everything I have is yours.” The older son already had been granted the gift of the father’s “stuff.” But he wanted to share more than his property with his son.

Finally, the father wanted his son to share his heart, to share his values. When the older son tries to distance himself linguistically from his brother – “This son of yours” – the father corrects him – “this brother of yours.” If the father had his say, their family would be a family of faithfulness, of forgiveness, of generosity.

How has your heavenly Father been at work in you to correct the story you’re telling about your relationship with him? Where is he needing to correct the story you’re telling about your lost brothers and sisters?