Big Brother Syndrome

What then, you may be asking, is the purpose of the parable? For that, let us look at its placement in Luke 15. The parable is the third, the pinnacle, of three parables concerning items that have been misplaced. The first two parables, of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin, in and of themselves are redemptive stories and are rightly read as such. Something is lost; it is found, and there is great rejoicing. Such is our story through Christ. But here, Jesus is addressing the Pharisees (Luke 15:2-3). This group of holier-than-thou Jewish priests was criticizing Jesus for eating and spending time with “sinners”, or those whose occupations prevented them from being ceremonially clean and practicing their Jewish faith, such as prostitutes, tax collectors, and shepards.  As a response, Jesus tells these three parables. The first two and the redemptive quality of the prodigal son parable simply set up the contrast to emphasize His larger point. The climax, then, of Luke 15 is found in verses 25-32 when Jesus addresses the reaction of the older brother, who allegorically represents the Pharisees.

When we first meet the older brother, he is working in the fields, faithful to his father like a “good” son. When he hears of his brother’s return and his father’s generous reacceptance of this prodigal, he becomes angry, which is explicitly stated. We can also infer that he is jealous by what he says in verses 29 and 30. He feels that his faithful service should be rewarded over the celebration of the return of his brother. He is self-righteous, just as the Pharisees, and so angry that he does not even acknowledge his brother as such. He feels so slighted by the fact that he is not the one receiving the fattened calf that he simply refers to his brother as “your son” when speaking to his father. He is obviously self-righteous, jealous, and filled with hate and rage. His knee-jerk reaction is to withdraw and to refuse to accept his brother back into the family.

Ok, is anyone else besides me thinking, “Whoa, dude. Back off a little. Don’t’ you think you’re going a bit too far?” by now? This certainly is an extreme response to such a situation. But, what could illicit such a passionate reaction if not for equally as passionate (and misguided, for that matter) motives? You see, the big brother wanted what the little brother had. He wanted his inheritance just as badly, but he was a little more polite by waiting for his father to die than outright saying, “Dad, I wish you were dead. Can I have my inheritance now?” than his younger counterpart. He was jealous that his brother was able to defy his father in such an incredible manner and still receive the father’s love as well as better treatment than he, big brother, felt he ever received. But, let us not ignore greed as a motive as well. By nature of the fact that the younger brother had squandered his inheritance, all that remained in the father’s possession would have traditionally become the older brother’s upon the father’s death. Because of this, our favorite big brother would have viewed anything the father gave to his brother as rightfully his. He would have therefore also been angry that his father was giving away an inheritance that he felt was rightfully his. Some loving sibling, huh?

But, what does this story have to do with us? Although in recent days I personally have begun to identify more closely with the prodigal because of the realization of myself as a disgusting, sinful being, and I continue to do so daily, I realized during my reading this week that I still have some very judgmental and close-minded symptoms of this “Big Brother Syndrome”. Though I happily receive God’s forgiveness and mercy for myself, I am reluctant to see the same grace extended to people “worse than myself”. My knee-jerk reaction to the return of the most prodigal, the “worst” sinners has typically been, “That’s nice, but God, we’re still closer than the two of you, right? I mean, I’ve done some bad stuff and sinned, but nothing that bad… Come on, you know I’m a little higher up there on your list.” In this way, I believe I represent a vast majority of the Western Church, and I think that if we’re all honest with ourselves, we will find many symptoms of this syndrome within our hearts to a much greater degree than we realize or would care to admit. We like the servant in the parable of the unforgiving servant (Matthew 18:21-35) are so quick to receive forgiveness for sins and so reluctant to see the same forgiveness extended to others because “Well, we’re really just not THAT bad…” How ridiculously arrogant is that?! All sin is the same in God’s eyes and results in the same punishment- separation from communion and fellowship with Almighty God. We ought to be more humble like Christ (Philippians 2:1-11) and realize who we each are: depraved human beings, repulsive in our sin to God, and each of us, chief sinner among all sinners throughout history, chief offender against the Lord God Almighty. How ridiculously arrogant to compare our sins to those of another and judge ourselves better than someone else! God HATES that!

And herein lies the primary deterrent to having a missional church in America. We are taught to seek righteousness by avoiding sinners. Really? Is that what Jesus did or what he would be doing? No! Jesus was constantly criticized for hanging out with sinners and not spending time with the religious elite.  He despised the religious, self-righteous, holier-than-thou attitudes of the Pharisees, who most American churchgoers mirror in alarming similarity! Jesus spent his time with the sinners and the ostracized of the community. If Jesus were alive today, he would be hanging out with the inebriated homosexuals walking out of gay bars in downtown Austin, Texas, not hanging out in our beautiful sanctuaries filled with members who more closely resemble the whitewashed tombs of Pharisees who more closely resemble the whitewashed tombs of Pharisees than the disciples Jesus came to create. So why aren’t we following His example? It is so ridiculously clear in the scriptures that God is closest to those the outcasts and the ostracized and that Jesus came to love chiefly sinners (yes, yourself and myself included), but especially those who do not meet the expectations of the religious faithful of their time that I won’t insult you by starting to list examples here. You can read for yourself (if you need a place to start, look no further than the Beatitudes). And it is abundantly clear that you and I, as Christ’s disciples, are called first of all to these outcasts, the poor, and the ones the world takes advantage of.

But if you are not yet convinced, let me give you a few frightening words of prophesy from the dangerous radical himself, Jesus Christ. We learn in Luke 6:37:-38 that if we do not judge others, we will not be judged ourselves. I believe that it is exceedingly clear that the converse is true as well. Logically, it must be. The more harshly we judge God’s other children during our time on earth, the more harshly we well be judged by the Ruler of All when we stand before Him. Again, when speaking to the Pharisees (or the equivalent, I believe, to the average American church member) in Matthew 21:31-32, Jesus says that prostitutes and tax-collectors will enter the kingdom of God before the Pharisees themselves.   To give a modern analogy, many “working girls” on the street who find their way to Jesus’ table will be saved while many church faithful will look to God on their day of judgment and hear, “I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.” (Matthew 7:23, ESV) Wow! Pretty hard hitting words.

I realize that I have come down rather harshly on a large group of people, but please realize that I am including myself, and I make no apologies for speaking the truth. I merely want to spur us all on to the lives Christ has called us to lead. I pray that in sharing with you this prophetic word that God has given me, I have spoken “the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15) and pleased Him alone with this composition. Please do not misunderstand me to say that I advocate the condoning of sinful lifestyles displeasing to the Lord. I certainly do not, but I think very few American Christians are in danger of crossing that line.    In fact, we’ve shied so far away from that line that we do not even pretend to love the gay community, the homeless, the addicted, and the rest of the marginalized in our society. But there is hope, and my challenge for all of us, reveled to me by God himself, is this: Who will join me in praying for the transformation of our minds (Romans 12:2) so that we, like the angles and our Heavenly Father, might rejoice when one of our brothers returns home? Who will be bold enough to step out of our comfort zones and the distant theological boxes we’ve placed Jesus in and reach out to those we’ve previously marginalized and live as Christ intended us to live- filled with love for ALL of His children? Who will join me in seeking a cure from above for this “Big Brother Syndrome”?