Furthermore…

One of the recurring points of difference in our weekly reconsideration of the past Sunday’s readings is the wide range of interpretations of the ‘older brother’ who took a burn when the Prodigal Son returned and was so royally received by the gracious father, so happy to have his beloved son home again. It had never occurred to me that certain people would align their sympathies with the older brother, whom I had always taken as an example of someone not to be imitated, a mean spirited sourpuss fixated on the splinter in his brother’s eye, unaware of how the condemnatory log blinded his own eye.

I suppose one’s own past history, especially with one’s siblings, determines how these brothers’ contrasting personalities are seen, along with the way the father behaves. Not everyone sees the father as a type of God, acting perfectly, manifesting  the magnificence of mercy.

It seems to boil down to differing resolutions of the old tension between justice and mercy. The parable about the laborers who were paid the same for an hour’s work as were those who bore the burdens of the entire day evokes almost the same dissent. “That’s not fair!” seems to be the cry at the core of the criticism.