We had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead but has come back to life — he was lost but has been found
The older son has some resentment. The younger son has his problems, but we see his change of heart. I find it interesting that the older claims to know what the younger spent his money on in the far-off country. I suspect he is projecting. I used to think about being one brother or the other and what that would be like. As a father I have a different perspective on the parable of the man with two sons. He has lost his younger son in more ways than one. He has to worry about the emptiness this son is pursuing and how it will destroy his soul as well as his body if he doesn’t return. The return of the younger son means the father has a chance to see him live a life worth living. My heart resonates with the compassion and pity as I imagine my children each struggling to find their way in life. I pray that I am the kind of father they know they can return to if they choose the path of life.
