With some regularity, I listen to Garrison Keillor recite the parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32) as the Fairfield Four provides “Amazing Grace” in the backdrop. It is quite good. As Keillor’s comforting voice recites “A certain man had two sons” I prepare to listen to the story again, but for the first time each time.
Anyway, listening today I was drawn to that first line and thought, for some reason, how the story would be different if there wasn’t a second son. I mean, in verses 11-24, the only thing that would change would be replacing “two sons” with “a son.” Still, the addition of the second son, who dominates verses 25-32, is meaningful. Today, it occurs to me that for all the elder son’s efforts to distinguish himself from the younger son (“Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time, thy commandment? v. “thy son was come, which hath devoured they living with harlots”), he has much in common with his younger brother. Perhaps that is why the elder son protesteth so much. Their common ground, beyond their father, is of course that it is all about them, or at least they want it to be so. Is “give me the portion that falleth to me” from the younger son really different from the elder son’s “thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends?”
All of which points me to the memory of flipping open a book at a bookstore in Memphis years ago, Rick Warren’s The Purpose Driven Life, and reading that first paragraph:
“It’s not all about you. The purpose of your life is far greater than your own personal fulfillment, your peace of mind, or even your happiness. It’s far greater than your family, your career, or even your wildest dreams and ambitions. If you want to know why you were placed on this planet you must begin with God. You were born by his purpose and for his purpose.”
I may well be the long lost sibling of the two brothers in the parable.
It occurs to me... 