The Other Brother

“Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.” – Luke 15:1-2

“Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.” – Matthew 18:21-22

“Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” – Ephesians 4:32

Scripture Reading: Luke 15:25-32

I’ve been struggling with a heart problem lately. Things have been bothering me – things that aren’t my problem, my business, or my job to worry about. So let’s cut right to the heart of the matter. I could make excuses all day (I have them in abundance), or I can get on my knees (something I just did, thank God) and confess my heart problem to the Great Physician.

In Luke 15, heart problems are abundant. The chapter starts with the real-life heart problems of the scribes and Pharisees, who are constantly taking note of the company that Jesus keeps (Verses 1-2). Frankly, they can’t believe the audacity of Jesus. He claims to be the Son of God, and yet, He has no desire to rub shoulders with the temple’s finest, the people who work so hard to prove their own worth before God and man (Luke 5:30-32). As a matter of fact, He regularly snubs them (in their minds, anyway) in favor of the defiled, the unclean, and the people who have never gotten anything right or done anything good a day in their lives.

He is turning their world upside down, giving the dregs of society the idea that they are loved by God, and the scribes and Pharisees hate Him for it (Matthew 5:20, 18:1-4, Luke 14:11, John 3:16-17, James 1:27).

Jesus responds with three parables that all picture the longsuffering love of God and His desire to redeem the lost (Romans 5:8, II Peter 3:9). The lost sheep (Luke 15:3-7), the coin (Verses 8-10), and the prodigal son are all clearly in need of finding and clearly treasured once they are found. But at the end of the prodigal son’s story (Luke 15:11-32), we find the most distant and drifting of all the lost treasures – the other brother.

Like the Pharisees, the other brother has a debilitating heart problem. He measures worthiness by works, and all he knows is that he has been working all his life for his dad (Ephesians 2:8-9). His worthless younger brother, on the other hand, has shamed the family, squandered part of the estate, and I’m guessing was probably less than a contributor to the family’s success before he ever even decided to up and leave.

The other brother is indignant. He’s done everything right. He’s the one worth celebrating, and he’s the only one who should have any claim here.

If you’re like me, you fight “Other Brother” tendencies all the time. We give up praying for and witnessing to people who seem too far gone. We write off our prodigal brothers and people in our everyday lives as hopelessly unworthy. We tire of waiting for them to come around, and we let insult, offense, and bitterness drive us away from the very people that God has called us to reach (Ephesians 2:10, I Peter 2:9).

And we can even play the “Other Brother” in the church. We know who needs to change, and it sure isn’t us. We know what everyone else needs to be doing, and we’re somehow oblivious to all of the foolish pride that is wrapped up in that mindset (Proverbs 11:2, 16:18). We think we’ve earned some position that gives us the right to rule others, when the truth is that we’re incapable of earning anything in God’s Kingdom. We forget how God’s economy works, and we forget that our Savior and our Example walked this earth in humility – not honor (Philippians 2:3, 7-9).

Today, I am praying for an ever-growing spiritual self-awareness. I’ve figured this much out. I am wretched in my own right, plagued with heart problems, and I am the prodigal son and the other brother all rolled into one. But by God’s grace, I long to be more like their Dad. I want to humble myself, run to others, and never stop welcoming them the way that God welcomed me.

YOUR PRESCRIPTION

Are you suffering from a heart problem today? Have you lost sight of how lost you were when God found you? Ask God to give you a greater spiritual self-awareness so you can humbly seek the lost and serve the saved for His glory.