“Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, 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. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes; you killed the fattened calf for him!’
When
the prodigal’s elder brother perceived (wrongly) that his father was showing
favoritism toward his younger brother, he became angry. Since siblings are
different, they should be treated as individuals. The standard, however, by
which each child is evaluated and by which parents respond to each child should be identical, a point the elder
brother did not understand and so he misinterpreted his father’s motive.
Consider
a thermometer as an illustration – When placed in a refrigerator, it may read
38 degrees, when placed on the kitchen table – 72 degrees, when placed in an
oven however, it may read 400 degrees! Did the thermometer ever change? Did it
ever stop faithfully measuring temperature? Did it ever stop being a
thermometer and become a wrist watch? Of course not! What changed is not the
thermometer, but rather its environment or circumstances. Likewise, when a
child observes a certain parental treatment sibling is receiving while in a
different set of circumstances than himself, he needs to be assured that he or
she will not be treated in a similar manner (with justice) by his parent(s)
should he find himself in the same or similar set of circumstances.
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