Who is the Prodigal Son? - The Rev. Philip DeVaul

 One of the truths of this story, though, is that if that younger brother is prodigal, if he is wasteful, if he doesn't have a sense of what he's been given, then the older brother is prodigal two. The one who is dutiful and observant is also wasteful and does not understand what he's been given. And we know this to be true because not only of his behavior, but because of his own words. This young man who is the, who is the firstborn son of the father, who is family.

He comes to his dad and says, I've worked for you like a slave my whole life. Well, who asked you to do that? He puts himself in the story. The older son puts himself in relation to his own father: the wrong kind of relationship. Sees his father as the overseer and the boss rather than flesh and blood, rather than the one who has made him, to whom he belongs.

The older brother is dutiful. He does the right thing. He does the hard work, thinking he's supposed to because that's how he earns his keep and proves his belonging. And it puts him in a place of judgment of others. We heard language in the second reading from Second Corinthians about us taking on God's righteousness, being God's righteousness, and we must understand the difference between God's righteousness and self-righteousness.