The Prodigal Son And His Elder
Brother - Was Their Father Unfair Or Not?
When
we read Luke 15:25-33, we see the story of the “bad” son who demanded his
father to give him his share of his dad’s properties. This is quite surprising
because his dad hadn’t even died yet and here is the younger son, not even the
older one demanding his share of the properties. These properties he didn’t
even work for, those were the results of the toils of his father. As kind as
the dad was, he gave him his share and he went off to a far country and squandered
all his money to the last penny! The Bible says he WASTED his possessions! And
here was his elder brother always being the “good” boy of the house-the daddy
pleaser. Amazingly, the father always stands in front of the gate in anxious
expectation of the return of this “rascal” and “disobedient” son. At this point
I thought daddy was being unfair to the elder son. What about him? Is he not
also a son who needs his father’s attention and care? Or is it that daddy
didn’t love him as much as he loved his second son?
