The True Elder Brother

Preached at St. John the Baptist, Walpole Island, Ontario, and St. Stephen's, Courtright, Ontario on November 13 as part of a pulpit exchange with Rev'd Paul Woolley


Like you, in Sarnia at Canon Davis, we’ve been following this alternative lectionary, which began with the Parable of the Prodigal Son and has continued to explore related themes.

The purpose of the Purpose of the Prodigal God study is to shift the focus of our Diocese and its parishes to a more outward looking mission and ministry.

Now you may wonder what that has to do with the parable of the prodigal son. The reason the parable was chosen is that neither the younger brother or the older brother has followed the right path, but both have been cared for, forgiven and treated with generosity and respect by the father in the parable---who we identify with God in this many layered parable.

In the parable the elder brother refuses to go into the feast to welcome his younger brother back. He refuses even though his father comes out to ask him to come in.

Many of us can probably sympathize with the older brother. We’ve done the best we can. We’ve followed the rules. We’ve honoured our family obligations.

Yet we see younger brothers welcomed back after making a mess of things, whether they deserve it or not—at least in our view.

That is exactly what our Gospel reading today is about. Jesus is not telling us that we have to hate our families. He’s teaching us that we have to first love God, our creator and redeemer, and then love for our fellow human beings will follow.

To be followers of Christ we have to do more than the elder brother did. We have to forgive others, as we have been forgiven, but we also have to go the extra mile.

For the elder brother that would have meant not being content with having the younger brother go and squander the family inheritance, but actually taking the initiative, like the shepherd with the lost sheep, and going out to find his brother and bring him home.

This outward focus is what built our churches. We set up Christian communities, built buildings and developed mission which included word, sacrament, education for people of all ages, and outreach—care for those less fortunate.

The problem is that in many congregations we are just trying to survive, keep the doors open, serve our own members, and our focus, as a result, has turned inward. We have lost that mission impulse which brought about our existence.

It isn’t too late to change. We still have many dedicated parishioners. We have the richness of our Anglican tradition, our worship, our music.

And above all we have our true elder brother, Jesus, who
gave his life for us.

This Remembrance day weekend we are
conscious of the sacrifices made for all of us by a whole generation
during the second world war, and of the sacrifices made during
wars before that, and since.

That willingness to sacrifice, at great cost, even the cost of
life itself, is what Jesus shows us by example.

We all won’t be called to sacrifice our lives. But we are
called to be followers of Christ as a cost---the cost being putting
others ahead of ourselves, doing what is right, rather than
worshipping the God of money.

Jesus teaches us that everything he has to give is ours—
blessing, foregiveness, love, community, peace, joy and ultimately
salvation.

To follow Jesus, however, means being willing to look
outward; to meet the needs of those who are marginalized as Jesus
did.

It is in serving others that we serve God. Our ongoing task
as followers of Christ is figuring out how to do that, as individuals
and as communities of faith.

There are no easy answers. Where we are is not an easy
place to be in. We need to remember that our Christian faith is not
a destination, but a journey. And we don’t know where it will take
us in the coming years.

But we can’t do it alone. We are part of the larger body of
Christ and we believe in a loving God, who cares for us so much
he sent his son to come among us in human form, and blesses us
with the enlivening breath of the Holy Spirit.