The Prodigal Son: The Lost Older Brother - Richard E. Simmons III

Have you ever thought about the prodigal son's older brother?

From Luke 15:25-28a:
“Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ The older brother became angry and refused to go in..."

In Rembrandt's famous painting of the Prodigal Son, you see there's a darkness to the older brother as he looks down, watching their father embracing the wayward younger son who has returned home. The older brother is angry and jealous.

Luke 15:28b-32 continues:
"...So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

“‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 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.’”

This is part 3 of Richard's series on the Prodigal Son. >>Watch on YouTube