When we hear the words, “The Parable of the Prodigal Son,” we normally think of the younger brother who took his inheritance, wasted it, became humbled, and returned home. There is a whole other story, however, involving the older brother.
What kind of a relationship did the two brothers have? Were the brothers constantly squabbling? Did the younger brother push his elder siblings buttons? Did the older one condescend to his younger brother? Were they both glad when the younger brother finally decided he’d had enough and ran off?
Or were they the best of friends, working side by side on their father’s land? Perhaps the older brother worked just a bit harder than his younger sibling, who hated the life they led. Did the younger brother often voice his desires to break free of the world he felt trapped in, daydreaming of what wonderful things he could discover if he were to experience more of the world?
Try to imagine how hard it must have been to watch his younger brother walk off with all that money, knowing he’d be dipping into the pleasures of the world. Imagine watching your father’s face grow pale with worry as day after day there came no word of his wayward offspring. I would imagine as time went by the older brother came to resent everything his younger sibling put the family through. Slowly his heart would have hardened toward the young man he once considered family.
After all this, how would you feel if one night, after a long day in the fields, you came up to the house where music and dancing could be seen and heard. The older brother asked one of the servants what was going on.
“Your brother’s come back,” he says. “Your dad has put together a party because he’s so happy!”
Is it any wonder the older brother felt angry? Here he’d been, slaving away day after day, watching his father grieve, trying to make up for his brother’s absence, doing everything he could to be the good son. In one moment all that changed. Not only had the younger brother had a great time out in the world, now he even got a party just because he’d come back. It was not fair.
The older brother refused to come into the house. After a time, his father came looking for him. By this time he’d probably built up a good amount of steam, and the moment his father came out he let all the angry feelings vent.
It is difficult for youth to understand what it means for a parent to have a wayward child come home. Though at times parents may rant and rave when bad choices are made, it doesn’t decrease our love even a bit. So when his son who had been lost was finally found, he rejoiced.
The older brother isn’t thinking about all the repentance that will have to take place, the awful memories he will have to live with, how hard it will be to gain everyone’s trust again. Was the young man addicted to drugs, to alcohol, or gambling? If so he still had such a long road to travel. Not only that, but his inheritance was gone. There was nothing for him to begin a new life with. He would have to work for everything for the rest of his life.
Their father wanted to grant his youngest son a little party to impart how happy he is to have his son back. But tomorrow is another day, and tomorrow the younger brother will have to begin this long and difficult journey.
The father tries to impart this by saying in verse thirty-one and thirty-two, “…Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.”
In other words, “You’ve done everything I could have asked for and more, and everything I have is yours. You will get your rewards and your blessings, and will be better for choosing to live right.
“For tonight, He will have his own rewards, but oh that he didn’t have to come back so scarred to find the light of home.”
As Jeffrey R. Holland, apostle in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church) explained:
“Feeling unappreciated and perhaps more than a little self-pity, this dutiful son—and he is wonderfully dutiful—forgets for a moment that he has never had to know filth or despair, fear or self-loathing. He forgets for a moment that every calf on the ranch is already his and so are all the robes in the closet and every ring in the drawer. He forgets for a moment that his faithfulness has been and always will be rewarded” (‘The Other Prodigal,’ Ensign, May 2002).
The elder son has his own road to travel. He must find compassion, and Christ-like love, for a lack of each can lead us away from those things that are truly to be treasured.
I like to think that within a few months the brothers were friends again. Within a few years they were truly like brothers again, and when their father dies, he knows the elder brother will continue to look after his sibling.
