"Father has sent me to bring you home."
The youngest lifted his eyes to see the face of his oldest brother. "You have come for us!" he shouted. For a long time the two embraced.
"And your brothers?" the eldest finally asked.
"One has made a home here. Another is watching him. The third is building a path up the river."
And so Firstborn set out to find his siblings. He went first to the thatched hut in the valley.
"Go away, stranger!" screamed the brother through the window. "You are not welcome here!"
"I have come to take you home."
"You have not. You have come to take my mansion."
"This is no mansion," Firstborn countered. "This is a hut."
"It is a mansion! The finest in the lowlands. I built it with my own hands. Now, go away. You cannot have my mansion."
"Don't you remember the house of your father?"
"I have no father."
"You were born in a castle in a distant land where the air is warm and the fruit is plentiful. You disobeyed your father and ended up in this strange land. I have come to take you home."
The brother peered through the window at Firstborn as if recognizing a face he'd remembered from a dream. But the pause was brief, for suddenly the savages in the house filled the window as well. "Go away, intruder!" they demanded. "This is not your home."
"You are right," responded the firstborn son, "but neither is it his."
The eyes of the two brothers met again. Once more the hut building brother felt a tug at his heart, but the savages had won his trust. "He just wants your mansion," they cried. "Send him away!"
And so he did.
*******************
Does that bother you as much as it does me? The first brother (not Firstborn) had rejected the Truth for a lie. And when the Truth came to shine light on the lie, he was angered by it. The parable makes it clear that this brother sensed something in Firstborn, and whatever stirred his mind and heart touched him somewhere deep beneath the surface. Sadly, the response required to reach out and grasp was what being offered was too great. So he sent the Truth away. The part where he says, "This is no mansion. This is a hut" also strikes a chord in me. It's so matter-of-fact but poignant at the same time. Somewhere along the line, the brother began to view his hut as something of great value. It mad him furious when someone suggested otherwise. I don't know about you, but I know people who act this way. They see their lives - as empty and dismal as they may be - as something that is THEIRS to do with as they please, so everyone else better just back off. I don't want to be this person.
Tomorrow is part three. Stay tuned; I'd love to hear your thoughts/reactions so far. Just post a comment below.
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