Luk 15:29-30, 29 but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’
The older brother in the prodigal son story is often neglected. Here we see him addressing his father after the younger brother came back. He believed that the rule of fairness was neglected. He was trying to earn the father’s approval, seeking to be justified by works. He served his father but not in the newness of the Spirit. He painted his brother as the worst of the worst in comparison to himself, and almost felt like his brother was being rewarded for being bad.
The attitude of the big brother plagues many of us today when we feel we are better deserving than those who may have messed up. If we fail to recognize our brother’s acceptance, we shut ourselves out of His joy, because of some pharisaic pride, we miss our own truest blessedness.