Luke 15

vs 21

This was his plan, remember - he was going to be happier as a servant in his father's house than as a servant in a strange foreigner's house. That's all he wanted.

vs 22

Man, his son had gotten so poor that he didn't even have shoes! These are not things that you do for your servants, not even your best servant. A ring is s great symbol of family value.

vs 23

I make this point a lot, but eating meat was not a common thing for all but the richest of people. Meat was something you ate at a religious feast (if you were poor, that would be a lamb stew once a year at passover), or a few times for several feasts if you were richer. Or at weddings and great celebrations. And this guy's son returning to him is cause enough to kill a fattened calf. It's a big deal.

vs 24

The reason for the celebration - as far as he was concerned, his son was dead. It didn't really matter whether he was or not - he may as well have been since he had more or less dropped off the face of the earth. It's obvious he hadn't just gone for the weekend. At least a full season of famine had passed. Probably a few years. Of course, we will never know the exact time, because it's just a story. The point of him asking for his inheritance early is that he was leaving and never coming back.

vs 25

And he thought "Strange, karaoke night isn't until Wednesday. What is father celebrating about?" Just to make a quick point here, all the people celebrating is probably the father and son, the servants, other family members, and quite possibly some neighbours and friends - I mean, you always invite people around for a party.

vs 26

Fair enough: too much partying to just walk in and shout "What's going on?"

vs 27

The servant tells it like it is, and probably goes back to blowing on his party whistle and dancing the Safety Dance. He probably doesn't even think this news will cause any different reaction from brother to father.

vs 28

Of course it does, though. The brother feels indignant - his dropkick failure of a brother has returned, and he's being welcomed with a party? Of course, the father wants to see reconciliation between his two sons, but the older son won't have a bar of it.

vs 29-30

The older brother has an air of righteousness about him, as if there had been some injustice perpetrated, but really, it's just selfishness. He doesn't care that his brother is home - what he cares about is that he never gets to celebrate with meat. His brother gets 'rewarded' with the fat calf (the prize choice of meat livestock) for screwing himself over, losing his whole inheritance, and then returning a shameful failure. And on the face of it, that seems like an injustice for the good brother, who is diligent and works hard for his father. But he's not really upset about that - he just wants to know why he was never rewarded for his good works.

vs 31

The fact is, though, that sons were meant to work their asses off for their father. They weren't meant to disrespect him or disobey him. In common parlance, this guy is saying "But Dad, I go to work, and I work hard, and I I don't get any special recognition for it!" What is our response to such people in Australia? I believe it goes something like "Well, what do you want, a friggin' medal? Everyone works hard." And the truth is that his younger son has already taken his inheritance, so everything the Father has really does belong to the older son now. Even if he is a whinger.

vs 32

The celebration is not for a son that has lived the good life of ale 'n' whores. It is for a son thought dead, but now found to be living. For unexpected joy. for the lost being found. We know that it's human nature to be happier about and reward something that is good but unexpected, but that we tend to get blazé about things that we expect to be good and right. We don't go up to policemen and say "Wow, I am so glad you're not taking bribes and shooting strangers and causing mayhem! Thanks!" because we expect them to be good. When we hear about someone taking justice into their own hands and kicking ass and taking names, we think "Wow, there's someone who's doing something above and beyond the call of duty!" (or perhaps you think "What a terrible criminal" because of course vigilantism is against the law, but it's also very cool - what a conundrum!). So it's interesting to hear that the Kingdom of God is not really much different - God delights in the repentance of a sinner (what a unique and joyous event!) but when good people do what they are supposed to do, he might say "Well done, here's a cookie" but we shouldn't be expected to be hugely rewarded for doing basically what we're meant to do anyway. Because the Kingdom of God isn't about good people doing good. It's about sinners coming to repentance. So God is more interested in a person (good or not) realising that they need salvation, than a hundred people who think they are doing good not making that realisation. So don't feel too bad next time you aren't set on fire by someone doing something they are expected to do. But feel free to give them a cookie.