All that is mine is yours ...

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“Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’”

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Act III of the prodigal's story begins (see the last two days for Acts I and II) with the return of another son. This elder brother returns from his work in the fields to the sounds of merriment and laughter. His reaction to his brother's return was so different than that of his father. He was angry and maybe, from a human perspective, rightly so. He was the one who had to take on extra duties when the young son left. How could the father throw him a party?

Though this son had never left his father he seems to have never really known the father at all. It is as if both of these sons never really knew the father's heart. One son felt that he needed to grovel to get the father to take him back while the other felt that he was right in challenging the father's love. The story paints a dark picture of humanity and a spectacular image of our Heavenly Father. We are all lost prodigals in need of his embrace.

Cause all jealousy and envy to depart from me Lord. I repent of it. Help me to celebrate with others.

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