Kerra (my wife), is an English teacher who also teaches several other subjects.  But at heart, she is an English teacher.  Recently she assigned her class to read an incomplete short story.  That was part of the assignment.  The other part of the assignment was to write an ending to the story.  This is essentially what Jesus is doing with those who are listening to the Parable of the Prodigal Son.  The parable consists of two acts, like most Broadway plays today.  Act One is about the lost, wayward, younger son.  The prodigal runs away, squanders his share of the estate, and has to compete with pigs for his food.  Eventually, he comes to himself and returns home, where he is welcomed by his father.  He repents, and the father orders a celebration.  The story is complete. 

This brings us to Act Two, which is about the elder son.  He too was lost and just as far from the father relationally as his brother was.  But the elder son doesn’t realize that.  He doesn’t realize he has strayed far away from his father.  The fact that the younger son has come home doesn’t delight the elder brother one bit.  In fact, it angers him.  And when the father throws a big party to celebrate the homecoming of the younger brother, the elder brother is furious.  And he is jealous.  “Look,” he says, “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!” (Luke 15:29-30). 

The father pleads with his elder son to come to the party.  Will he join in, or will he just pout about the “injustice” of what his father is doing for his brother?  Jesus doesn’t tell us.  He doesn’t finish the story.  Act Two of the story has seven stanzas.  There should be eight.  The final stanza is missing because Jesus invites his audience of scribes and Pharisees to come up on stage and finish the drama.  He invites them to not only write the ending to the story, but to act it out. 

Since you are reading this article, this probably means you can identify with the elder son.  He was the classic good son.  He never ran away.  He stayed home.  He satisfied the conventional expectations of the religious community around him.  He performed admirably.  He’s the one who should be honored, not his prodigal brother.  In his mind, the father was conducting himself in most dishonorable fashion.

It is important in understanding this story to be aware of the fact that these people were highly sensitive to the idea of honor and shame.  Everything you did in your life was basically to sustain your own honor, or to achieve your own honor.  In an honor/shame culture, this was vitally important.  It was very, very important to be an
honorable person.  The honor/shame culture embraced a works righteousness system, meaning you earned your way into favor with God by being good, being religious, and being moral.  This was the standard of behavior in the community.  It was enormously important that you maintained your honor and that you didn’t do anything to shame yourself.

What should the elder son do?  To accept his father’s invitation to join the celebration of the return of his brother’s return would be shameful.  His brother had behaved shamefully.  Celebrating his return would be just as shameful.  But on the one hand, joining in on the celebration would be so much fun.  It would be a shame to refuse to go. 

It seems that there is no way for the elder brother to avoid shame.  What should he do?  You decide.  Write yourself into the story and finish it.