usual rejoicing. On
learning that his brother had returned and that the father had prepared
a festival in honor of the event, this elder son grew angry, and
churlishly refused to enter the house even after his father had come out
and entreated him. He cited his own faithfulness and devotion to the
routine labor of the farm, to which claim of excellence the father did
not demur; but the son and heir reproached his father for having failed
to give him so much as a kid with which to make merry with his friends;
while now that the wayward and spendthrift son had come back the father
had killed for him even the fatted calf. There is significance in the
elder one's designation of the penitent as "this thy son," rather than
"my brother." The elder son, deafened by selfish anger, refused to hear
aright the affectionate assurance; "Son, thou art ever with me, and all
that I have is thine," and with heart hardened by unbrotherly resentment
he stood unmoved by the emotional and loving outburst, "this thy brother
was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found."

We are not justified in extolling the virtue of repentance on the part
of the prodigal above the faithful, plodding service of his brother, who
had remained at home, true to the duties required of him. The devoted
son was the heir; the father did not disparage his worth, nor deny his
deserts. His displeasure over the rejoicing incident to the return of
his wayward brother was an exhibition of illiberality and narrowness;
but of the two brothers the elder was the more faithful, whatever his
minor defects may have been. The particular point emphasized in the
Lord's lesson, however, had to do with his uncharitable and selfish
weaknesses.

Pharisees and scribes, to whom this masterpiece of illustrative incident
was delivered, must have taken to themselves its personal application.
They were typified by the elder son, laboriously attentive to routine,
methodically plodding by rule and rote in the multifarious labors of the
field, without interest except that of self, and all unwilling to
welcome a repentant publican or a returned sinner. From all such they
were estranged; such a one might be to the indulgent and forgiving
Father, "this thy son," but never to them, a brother. They cared not who
or how many were lost, so long as they were undisturbed in heirship and
possession by the return of penitent prodigals. But the parable was not
for them alone; it is a living pe