31 "'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.'"
In our verses for today we find an unavoidable, urgent, compulsory necessity for celebration – the rebel returns repentant and there is indeed great reason for rejoicing! Paul tells us in Romans 12:
15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Romans 12:15-16 (NIV)
He echoes the exact same sentiment in Philippians:
1 If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Phil 2:1-4 (NIV)
The Father pleads with the elder son to be glad over the return of his lost but now found brother. Yet the elder could not justify in his own mind the mercy his Father was now lavishing on his once wayward son. How like human nature for us to keep score of our works and to grumble when one who has done less receives more. Basically, the elder was resentful believing his works so greatly outweighed those of his brothers all the while never realizing how his own actions were weighed and found wanting too. Scripture tells us what God requires of His children:
8 He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8 (NIV)
Of these verses the Bible Knowledge Commentary states:
“Micah then told the nation (O man means any person in Israel) exactly what God did desire from them. God did not want them to be related to Him in only a ritualistic way. God wanted them to be related inwardly—to obey Him because they desired to, not because it was a burden on them. That relationship, which is good (beneficial), involves three things: that individuals (a) act justly (be fair in their dealings with others), (b) love mercy (µese¼, “loyal love”; i.e., carry through on their commitments to meet others needs), and (c) walk humbly with... God (fellowship with Him in modesty, without arrogance). “Humbly” translates the verb ƒ¹na± (which occurs only here in the OT); it means to be modest.”
Mercy, we all need it and we all desire to receive it yet many find, like the elder brother, a very difficult blessing to bestow. As His children, it is God’s desire for us to be merciful. I am reminded of a passage in Jude:
20 But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. 21 Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. 22 Be merciful to those who doubt; 23 snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear--hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh. Jude 1:20-23 (NIV)
“Gratitude is born in hearts that take time to count up past mercies.” Charles Jefferson
“Can the elder son in me come home? Can I be found as the younger son was found? How can I return when I am lost in resentment, when I am caught in jealousy, when I am imprisoned in obedience and duty lived out as slavery? It is clear that alone, by myself, I cannot find myself. More daunting than healing myself as the younger son, is healing myself as the elder son. Confronted here with the impossibility of self redemption, I now understand Jesus’ words to Nicodemus: ‘Do not be surprised when I say; ‘You must be born from above.’’ Indeed, something has to happen that I myself cannot cause to happen. I cannot be reborn from below; that is, with my own strength, with my own mind with my own psychological insights...I can only be healed from above, from where God reaches down. What is impossible for me is possible for God. ‘With God, everything is possible’.” Henri Nouwen, The Return of the Prodigal