Christian or not, it’s safe to assume that most people know the story of the prodigal son. It’s one of Jesus’ infamous parables. It’s the story of a young man who asks his father to give him his inheritance; a premature, and possibly hurtful, request considering his dad was still alive and considerably healthy. The guy receives the lump sum from his dad and subsequently morphs into the poster child of the Y.O.L.O movement. Quick aside, I’ve never understood why people use “Y.O.L.O!” as a prelude to engaging in recklessness; surely if you acknowledge that You Only Live Once, the priority is to optimize that one chance at life to make it last as long as possible…not shorten its duration. ANYWAY, so ‘prodigal’ (or ‘reckless and extravagant’ for those not fluent in Christianese) son gets his money and proceeds to lavish his dad’s hard-earned cash on bottle-popping and groupie-loving. He finally returns home broke and broken, to a father who embraces him, forgives him AND forgets his foolishness.

In addition to the story of God forgiving David and Bathsheba, this was one of my most hated bible stories. I’m like the older brother in this Prodigal Son story; the one who goes to his forgiving father and demands to know why exactly this stupid and arrogant and extravagant and… (you get my point) child was forgiven. I’m the child who thinks, “Here I am serving you every day, never have I gone out and gone crazy, never have I wasted, never have I disobeyed you, never have I …(fill in the blanks).” Like this older brother in Luke 15:11, I am PISSED OFF when I realise that my irresponsible brother has returned home after living the life that I am perhaps too considerate of dad’s hardwork, too cautious, too good to live…and yet he receives the exact same reward I will receive for my steadfastness?!?!

I had this discussion with my aunty one day and after listening to me rant and rage at the unfairness of being a good girl, a good person, a straight-line-trekking-christian, she asked me one question.

“How come the older brother never went after, or even went out to look, for his baby brother?”

I never thought about that.

The ‘prodigal’ son was lost. Although he enjoyed life to its perceived fullness, the bible records his monumental loss of wealth through wastefulness. He soon found himself alone. He was probably afraid, broke and broken, depressed and tired, hungry and thirsty for a love freely given and formerly taken for granted. Despite the discouragement of his constant companions, guilt and shame, he manages to scrape all he has left; shreds of dignity, dregs of wisdom, bits of a torn heart; each piece heavy with repentance, full of guilt, aware of its failings, and returns home willing to receive the condemnation so richly deserved. Yet he isn’t castigated, but received by his father with a love, forgiveness and joy that washes away the guilt and shame. So potent is this unexpected love’s power that the ‘prodigal’ son slowly begins to feel better about himself until…

*Enter older brother*

His older brother arrives running from the field as soon as he hears the news of his brother’s return home. Older brother is manic, not with joy that his brother is found alive after years in the wild, but with outrage, hurt and condemnation. Swathed in his cloak of self-righteousness and virtue he pronounces judgment on this truant brother, reminding everyone including the now cowering prodigal brother and silent father, of his brother’s many failures. “Remember”, he screams, “this guy is a shameless idiot who has wasted all he has by making foolish choices and has now come to pollute our house with a body ridden with justly-deserved diseases and a pocket emptied by liquor and gaming. A real born fool.”

Well not in those words exactly, but you get my drift.

Sounds harsh…and rather melodramatic but this is what so many of us Christians are  like.

Jesus got it right when he said, “But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.”(Luke 7:36) We’re so mean to people that are struggling to stand-up after falling. If Older Brother had ever gone or even periodically gone out to search for his lost brother, his reaction to his brother’s return would have mirrored their father’s; his brother’s return would have been a thing of joy.

“Christianity is the only army that kills its wounded soldiers” – Pastor Isi @The Waterbrook Church.

We don’t look out for the hurting, the broken, the falling AND the fallen. If anything, we hurt them more, break them harder and kick them when they’re already down, with the hard boots of condemnation and shame…all while simultaneously decorating our mansions in our father’s heaven. “Nope, we don’t want no unclean neighbours on this street, no bueno!”

Yet this sort of arrogance, this self-centeredness and oppressive righteousness are in direct contravention to everything our loving father stands for. So technically speaking, are we bastards? Whose children are we…because we don’t have any qualities of the father whose kids we claim to be? Yesterday, an evangelist came up to me; hair covered, gypsy skirt grazing tired toes, she looked at my trousers and shamelessly long hair and sought to save my soul from the clutches of hell. The pamphlet she handed to me eloquently screamed, “THERE IS NO PURE WATER IN HELL!!!!!!!!!!

After laughing, I quickly informed her that I only drink bottled water anyways, so I’m good.

Sarcasm aside, perhaps her headline should have pithily said, “He loves you. He wants you. Regardless”, instead of trying to scare me out of perceived sin.

It makes you think really, whose gospel are we preaching? This popular gospel of condemnation is not God’s because the literal translation of the word ‘gospel’ is not “Good news!” but “News-that-is-so-good-it-could-not-possibly-be-true news!” Logically, what sort of gospel is likely to be so totally radical, so different from human logic of action and consequence, of the vengeful laws of karma, to be borderline unbelievable? A gospel that says you’re loved, you are wanted, REGARDLESS! That’s the gospel of grace.