Don't Let Your Brother or Sister Die in a Pig Pen

Go find your brother or your sister and bring them home.

Photo by Nancy Hughes on Unsplash

To my kids:

Last night we read Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son. The son left his father, went off into a faraway country, and lived a wild, sinful life. After a while, all the money ran out, and the young man was reduced to feeding pigs to survive.

Thankfully, he came to his senses and returned home. The father welcomed him with open arms and celebrated his youngest son’s return home.

But the main point of that parable isn’t actually about the younger brother - it’s about the older brother who resented the father’s welcome for his younger brother. The older brother who should have gone out looking for his little brother and brought him home.

The two parables right before the parable of the prodigal son are about a shepherd who goes out to find one lost sheep (Luke 15:4-7) and a woman who searched her entire house to find a lost silver coin (Luke 15:8-10).

What’s noticeably missing in the parable of the prodigal son? The older brother didn’t go looking for his younger brother. He even resented his father for throwing a welcome home party for his once-lost brother.

I hope and pray that you never go “into the faraway country” and live wild, sinful lives. If that ever does happen, I pray my health is good enough to look for you and try to bring you home.

But if I can’t go looking…don’t be like the older brother in Jesus’ parable. Don’t leave your brother or your sister to their fate.

If you ever loved them; if you ever loved your mother and me - go find them.

Don’t leave your brother or sister to die in a pig pen.

Until next time,

Love Dad.