After all, it is good to be the prodigal son returned to his father. Everyone is glad to see you, except the older brother, of course, and the father arranges a festive banquet in honor of your return, one that at another time you would never...
After all, it is good to be the prodigal son returned to his father. Everyone is glad to see you, except the older brother, of course, and the father arranges a festive banquet in honor of your return, one that at another time you would never have seen. The older brother is not upset by accident, and he complains: such merriment has never once fallen to him in his whole life, even though he was always faithful to his father and devoted to the house.
But really, why is that? Why not let the older son rejoice? Is the calf too precious? The calf is not the issue. It is simply the time - one could say wartime. After all, this is about our times, the times when the Kingdom is only just entering the world, and the triumph still lies ahead: that real triumph when the Kingdom will unfold in all its fullness. That fullness will surely be the feast of all feasts, and the triumph will be for the whole world. But for now, it is too early.
The younger son is another matter: he "was lost and is found," and here the joy is not about the triumph of the Kingdom but about the salvation of one particular soul. And such salvation is worth the triumph of the Kingdom. At least because every saved soul brings that triumph closer. But here too everyone in the household can take part. Only desire is needed. And if you are not the main person at the feast, in the Kingdom that is not so important.
15
15:31 Thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine - This suggests a strong reason against murmuring at the indulgence shown to the greatest of sinners. As the father's receiving the younger son did not cause him to disinherit the elder; so God's receiving notorious sinners will be no loss to those who have always served him; neither will he raise these to a state of glory equal to that of those who have always served him, if they have, upon the whole, made a greater progress in inward as well as outward holiness.