Luke 15:   MSG
11  Then he said, “There was once a man who had two sons.
12  The younger said to his father, ‘Father, I want right now what’s coming to me.’ “So the father divided the property between them.
13  It wasn’t long before the younger son packed his bags and left for a distant country. There, undisciplined and dissipated, he wasted everything he had.
14  After he had gone through all his money, there was a bad famine all through that country and he began to hurt.
15  He signed on with a citizen there who assigned him to his fields to slop the pigs.
16  He was so hungry he would have eaten the corncobs in the pig slop, but no one would give him any.
17  “That brought him to his senses. He said, ‘All those farmhands working for my father sit down to three meals a day, and here I am starving to death.
18  I’m going back to my father. I’ll say to him, Father, I’ve sinned against God, I’ve sinned before you;
19  I don’t deserve to be called your son. Take me on as a hired hand.’
20  He got right up and went home to his father. “When he was still a long way off, his father saw him. His heart pounding, he ran out, embraced him, and kissed him.
21  The son started his speech: ‘Father, I’ve sinned against God, I’ve sinned before you; I don’t deserve to be called your son ever again.’
22  “But the father wasn’t listening. He was calling to the servants, ‘Quick. Bring a clean set of clothes and dress him. Put the family ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.
23  Then get a grain-fed heifer and roast it. We’re going to feast! We’re going to have a wonderful time!
24  My son is here—given up for dead and now alive! Given up for lost and now found!’ And they began to have a wonderful time.
25  “All this time his older son was out in the field. When the day’s work was done he came in. As he approached the house, he heard the music and dancing.
26  Calling over one of the houseboys, he asked what was going on.
27  He told him, ‘Your brother came home. Your father has ordered a feast—barbecued beef!—because he has him home safe and sound.’
28  “The older brother stalked off in an angry sulk and refused to join in. His father came out and tried to talk to him, but he wouldn’t listen.
29  The son said, ‘Look how many years I’ve stayed here serving you, never giving you one moment of grief, but have you ever thrown a party for me and my friends?
30  Then this son of yours who has thrown away your money on whores shows up and you go all out with a feast!’
31  “His father said, ‘Son, you don’t understand. You’re with me all the time, and everything that is mine is yours—
32  but this is a wonderful time, and we had to celebrate. This brother of yours was dead, and he’s alive! He was lost, and he’s found!’”

There is hidden story withing this parble about the son wandering away from his father.  The story I would like to take a look at is the son who stayed with his father.  The son who was faithful taking care of his father’s farm.

The hidden story is about the character of the older son and his total jealousy of his younger brother.

Now the character flaw of jealousy has been around since Cain and Abel.  It has a close relative, envy.  Jealousy can make someone rage with anger, that anger turning into murder.

It was jealousy that caused Joseph’s brothers to sell him into slavery.  Caused King Saul to put out an order to kill David.

One would think that the older brother would be joyous about his younger brother was home again.  Instead he was enraged that his father put on a feast and celebrated that his lost son came back to the fold.

Yes, jealousy is an ugly charater trait that arises in some of us.

I have seen church members get jealous when another member seems to have the favor of the pastor.  It has ripped apart choirs because someone was chosen to sing solo.  I have had musicians get down right angry with me because I may have been able to play in more key signatures than them.

Christ gave us examples of how we should act towards the one who was lost returns to the father’s house.

Luke 15:  MSG

1  By this time a lot of men and women of doubtful reputation were hanging around Jesus, listening intently.
2  The Pharisees and religion scholars were not pleased, not at all pleased. They growled, “He takes in sinners and eats meals with them, treating them like old friends.”
3  Their grumbling triggered this story.
4  “Suppose one of you had a hundred sheep and lost one. Wouldn’t you leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the lost one until you found it?
5  When found, you can be sure you would put it across your shoulders, rejoicing,
6  and when you got home call in your friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Celebrate with me! I’ve found my lost sheep!’
7  Count on it—there’s more joy in heaven over one sinner’s rescued life than over ninety-nine good people in no need of rescue.

Jealousy comes with a price.  It can lead to a high cost of living!