Jun
29
Older Brother
Filed Under Devotional
Schadenfreude is the German word for deriving pleasure from someone else’s misfortune. It’s a selfish feeling and it doesn’t surprise me in the least that human beings are not only capable of it, but experience it regularly. This happens when we see the unlikable co-worker get demoted or fired. This happens when we see the playground bully get expelled. This happens when we see a politician from the “other” party caught up in a scandal. This is more than the joy at seeing justice. This is actually being happy at misfortune. What makes this feeling so cruel is that the observer gets no actual benefit from the misfortune. He just enjoys seeing someone else’s pain and trouble because he doesn’t like that person.
“Do not gloat when your enemy falls;
when he stumbles, do not let your heart rejoice,
or the LORD will see and disapprove
and turn his wrath away from him.” Proverbs 24:17-18
There’s an opposite feeling, too, of being unhappy at someone else’s good fortune. That’s just plain envy. Again, the observer has had no change in his situation, it’s just anger that someone else had something good happen.
Do you think the older brother of the prodigal son felt these feelings? I can only imagine that he felt schadenfreude when hearing about his little brother’s downfall. We know how he felt upon his brother’s return:
“The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ ” Luke 15:28-32
For the lost in the world, Jesus is telling them that they are like the prodigal son and can be welcomed back. For those who are saved, Jesus is warning us to not be like the older brother. If you are more than a couple of years into your walk, you are in danger of becoming the older brother. We need to watch our expectations for recognition and rewards for serving God.
We serve our God because He is God. We don’t serve to earn anything. We don’t serve to receive accolades. We serve out of gratitude that He saved us when we didn’t deserve it.
The truth is that we were all the prodigal son at one point. If He was willing to welcome you back, you certainly can’t argue that He should accept anyone else.