An Affirmation and a Gentle Rebuke

Luke 15:31-32

The final scene of the final act of the story of the Father and his two sons. The younger son has come home and the father has thrown a party to demonstrate his unearned, undeserved, unlimited love and acceptance. The older son has come home and has refused to enter the party, forcing the father to go out to him - a huge insult, making the father subservient to the older son, paralleling the insult of the younger son at the beginning of the story. The older son's protest reveals his heart; he was never serving his father out of love for his father but to gain his father's treasures. His heart is the same as that of his younger brother; he is just going about it in a more socially acceptable way.
Here, is the final plea of a father for his son. First, he reminds the son that he is loved and a part of the family. He does this by calling him, "my son". Second, he reminds the son that as part of the family he already has all the father's treasure and blessing; "everything I have is yours." He ends with a gentle rebuke by first reminding the son that the younger son is his brother: "this brother of yours." As his brother he has some obligations and responsibilities to the younger son. I think the father reminds him of his responsibilities when he says, "he was lost and is found." This is a passive sentence and implies, especially in the context of the other parables, that nobody went out looking for him. The implication is that the older brother should have gone out looking for the younger son.
The original audience certainly would have got that. In the previous two parables, when the item is lost it sparks a massive, no holds barred search until it is found. As Jesus starts this story and the younger son is lost, the anticipation would have been that somebody was going to search for him in the same way that the shepherd searched for the lost sheep and the woman searched for the lost coin. I'm sure they expected Jesus to tell them at any moment that the older son went out to search for the lost brother.
Looking at the original audience, I see two groups: 1) tax collectors and sinners - the outcasts of society, those who would have identified with the younger brother in the story - and 2) the Pharisees and teachers of the law (see Luke 15:1-2) - the elite, the responsible, those who would have identified with the elder brother. Jesus' rebuke is huge. First, it is never clear that the elder brother enters the celebration. Jesus leaves us hanging on that one. I think he is saying to the Pharisees that only they can write the end of the story. Second, it is obvious that the elder brother had an obligation to the younger brother which was never fulfilled. Rather than searching for their lost brothers and sisters, the Pharisees sit back with smug smiles and dream about how much more God is going to bless and reward them because they have been so obedient.
This is a rebuke to me. I am an older brother. Not just in position, but in attitude. I am a people pleaser and that has translated to God. I seek to please him, not because I find pleasure in pleasing him but so that I can manipulate him. I make him subservient to my needs and desires. I tell him that because I have been so good, he must be good to me. In regards to my younger brothers and sisters, I don't seek them but look down on them. I am happy to see them go because they never toed the line, only stirred the pot and rocked the boat and, frankly, they don't deserve to be a part of the household. I am afraid that I am going to miss the party because I have missed the point. I don't even know where to start to change. I don't know even know how. God, my Father, just as the father was the initiater in this story, I am depending on you to initiate change in me. I am lost with out you. I want you to change my heart so that pleasing you is my end - not pleasing you so that I can get what I want but pleasing you because I love you and long for nothing more than for you to be pleased.