Felix, The Older Brother

If you read my devotional last night, you know it centered around my juniors rewriting one of the three lost parables of Luke 15  from the perspective of one of  the main characters. Yesterday, it was from the shepherd who lost one of his sheep. Today, we are going to consider the point of view of the older brother in the Prodigal Son who had a legitimate beef, according to most of my students. This was written by Felix, one of our terrific WCS all-round students, and used with permission.

Sometimes I think that I have one of the worst brothers ever and my dad doesn’t even see it. We are complete opposites. He is young and foolish and I am hard-working and mature. It makes it really hard to live with him sometimes, especially when he messes up and doesn’t even get punished for it. Let me tell you what he did this time.

My brother asked my dad to give him his inheritance because he wanted to go make his own life. He didn’t want to follow my father’s orders anymore; typical him, always being disobedient. My father didn’t even tell him no,- he gave him the money. Meanwhile, I didn’t ask for anything. I just got back to work. Then one day, while I’m in the fields in the scorching sun, I hear noise coming from the house so I go to check it out. You will never believe this! My brother came back from his wild living tour where he blew out all his money. He had been drinking and partying with prostitutes. He wasted everything my father had given him. To make matters worse, Dad didn’t rebuke him or even punish him. Instead, my dad ordered the servants to make a big feast for him. They even killed the fattened calf that we were saving for my birthday! After years of putting all the hard work in, I had never been rewarded like this! But when my brother comes back after acting like a fool, he gets a party!

 I was furious. I felt insulted. My dad tried to calm me down by telling me that we should be happy my brother is back, but I just don’t know what to feel, I have too many mixed emotions. I guess I’m glad he’s still alive and that he’s home, but a party in his favor is a bit much. I wish my father treated me like , too. However he did say that all that he has is mine, and that made sense to me. Maybe I shouldn’t be mad! At the end of the day, what matters is that my brother was lost but now he is found.

Applicable quote of  the day:“The true adventurer goes forth aimless and uncalculating to meet and greet unknown fate. A fine example was the Prodigal Son — when he started back home.”
O. Henry, The Green Door


God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1
E-mail me at shawley@westburychristian.org