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And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends: But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.
Luke 15:29-30
When the father comes out to remonstrate with him, the pride and malignity of his nature are revealed. He dwells upon his own life in his father’s house as a round of unrequited service, and then places in mean contrast the favor shown to the son just returned. He makes it plain that his own service has been that of a servant rather than a son. When he should have found an abiding joy in his father’s presence, his mind has rested upon the profit to accrue from his circumspect life. His words show that it is for this he has foregone the pleasures of sin. Now if this brother is to share in the father’s gifts, the elder son counts that he himself has been wronged. He grudges his brother the favor shown him. He plainly shows that had he been in the father’s place, he would not have received the prodigal. He does not even acknowledge him as a brother, but coldly speaks of him as ‘thy son.’
Yet the father deals tenderly with him. ‘Son,’ he says, ‘thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.’ Through all these years of your brother’s outcast life, have you not had the privilege of companionship with me?
Everything that could minister to the happiness of his children was freely theirs. The son need have no question of gift or reward. ‘All that I have is thine.’ You have only to believe my love, and take the gift that is freely bestowed.
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