The Prodigal Son's Older Brother and The Ray Lewis Dilemma

As I've said before, most of us imagine ourselves to be the protagonists of our own epic story, when the truth is that we might just be the antagonist in someone else's. Or, if we're lucky, we get to be the comic relief. Either way, we often have a very self-centered view of the world. Not in a selfish sort of way, just in a way that means everything we see or hear or experience revolves around us. See? Totally not selfish.

So this week I've been preparing a lesson for our children's church this Sunday (shameless plug - bring your K-5 kids to Mars Hill Baptist in the Athens/Watkinsville area at 10:30am!) on "The Prodigal Son." You see, we're spending the first three weeks of February talking about some of the small holidays we celebrate in the month of February, and how they can be connected to the Bible. Some of them are admittedly a bit of a stretch, like comparing the story of Lazarus to Groundhog Day (yes, I'm brilliant), but this week we'll talk about God's love for us and how that's evident through the story of the Prodigal Son.

If you're not familiar with this story, I'll let you take a minute to read up on it in Luke 15:11-32.

[INSERT JEOPARDY! MUSIC]

Done? Good. Now let me summarize what you just read. The story of the Prodigal Son is a parable Jesus told. In fact, it's the third parable in a series of three (not a trilogy, though, George Lucas didn't do this one) about lost things being found. There was a missing coin, and a missing sheep, but also a missing son. More accurately, a runaway son. The younger of two brothers asked for his share of the inheritance, essentially telling his father "I wish you were dead," and went off into the world. He spent his money on wild living and whatever similar nonsense, and wound up broke and in the dumps. Quite literally. He was feeding pigs.

He eventually got so desperate that he crawled back to his father. The boy had a script he was going to follow, down to the letter, begging his father to take his son back on as a hired hand so that he could eat something better than what pigs ate. But you know what his father did? Well of course you do, because you just got done reading this story! But let me tell you anyway. He said, "Forget that! You're my son! We're gonna have the biggest party this town's ever seen, because you're back!" (Adam Wynn Translation, AWT)

It wasn't exactly a hard decision for this father to make, either. The story goes that the father saw his son coming from a long way off. That means he was looking for him, waiting for him to return. The father was so excited that his son was back that he never dreamed of treating his son anything other than an honored member of the family.

But not everyone was so excited. There was one character who took great insult at this younger son's return, and that was his very own hermano. That's spanish for brother. That's right, the older brother was enraged when he came back to the casa (in my version, apparently this family is Hispanic) to find that their father had killed the fattened calf and started a real party (or fiesta, for those of you worried about continuity). It was clearly a big deal to this older brother. So much so that he whines like a little girl about it to his father. Look what he says here in verse 29-30:

Luke 15:29-30 (NLT)

"All these years I’ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!"

His father's response is priceless, though. He can't understand why this man is so upset that this younger brother has returned. He just looks at him and says:

Luke 15:31-32 (NLT)

“His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!’”

That's a pretty good reason to celebrate! They assumed he was dead, they assumed this son of his was long gone, but he was finally back! He was alive!

The same is true when we come to Christ in a broken, humbled spirit. He forgives us and he lets us in to the family. That's a reason to celebrate!

So now on to the dilemma I so not-subtlely alluded to in my title. I, like probably 60+ million Americans, watched the Super Bowl this past weekend. It was a boring start, an interesting half-time, and then a power outage. After the power outage, it looked like the down and out 49ers were going to come back and make a miracle run at it...but fell short. So yes, the thing that most of us Atlanta folks had hoped wouldn't happen happened. The Baltimore Ravens and renowned-but-not-convicted murderer Ray Lewis won his final game in the NFL, the Super Bowl.

And of course, the first thing he said when given the microphone was "If God is for us, who can be against us!" My first thought, of course, was, "So it was God who got you off the hook for that murder rap?" Followed by a couple groans of, "Please shut up, Murderer!"

As you can imagine, I don't much care for Ray Lewis. I remember the trial. I remember the fervor over the deaths of two men in Atlanta, possibly at the hands of Ray Lewis. And I was bitter. I was angry. I kept thinking, "Where is the justice that a man like this can be involved in the deaths of two people and still go on to win the Super Bowl?" It doesn't seem right, you know?

And that brings me to today. You know, most of us like to picture ourselves the protagonist in our own story. That means when we read the story of the Prodigal Son, we like to think of ourselves as the reformed younger son, the one who returns from his wild living to sit at the father's feet. Sure, it's not perfect, but we can't be the father, because that's God, and we don't want to be the curmudgeonly older brother, because he's a jerk. But I started to realize. When it comes to this Ray Lewis debacle, aren't I kinda acting like the older brother? Am I not acting like the one who has all the answers and acted like he never received forgiveness for anything ever? Am I not thinking, "Why him, God? Why not me? Or at least someone a little more virtuous?" The truth is, I don't know Ray Lewis' heart. Only God does.

If you want my personal opinion, I think Ray Lewis is fake. I think he's using the Gospel as a cloak to make him more palatable to people, hoping they'll forget about his prior issues. But you know what the beauty of grace is? My opinion means nothing. The only opinion that matters is what God thinks of Ray Lewis. And I will yield that there is every possibility that Ray Lewis is a changed man. I may not believe it, but I don't have to.

And the same goes for each of us. No one's opinion of me matters except that what God thinks of me. When He looks at me, He sees a man saved by grace, covered by His Son. That's it. He doesn't see my past, he doesn't see my future mistakes. He just sees a soul saved by grace. So even when I start acting like the "older brother" I can sometimes be, God doesn't see that. He forgives it, and He moves on, and He loves me anyway, just like the forgiving Father He is.

If Ray Lewis is fake, then him and God are going to have a not-so-pleasant conversation one day. But. If he's not? Then Heaven celebrates for him, just like it did for me, and for anyone who calls on the name of Christ. I honestly don't know if I can ever get beyond what he did. It's something I'll probably hold a grudge for in the back of my mind for years to come, any time that someone mentions the career of the "Great Ray Lewis."

But it doesn't matter.

To quote the ever incredible Relient K, "the beauty of grace is that it makes life not fair." I always tell myself that if he would just come out and admit to what he did, or if he would just talk about it to the media and give us a clearer picture, maybe I'd forgive him. But he doesn't have to. It doesn't change anything. Do I have to go to the media and talk about all of my past mistakes? I mean, not that they would really care, but seriously? What does it change? If he's for real, then God accepts him and forgives him. And that's good enough for me.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Adam Wynn is a fan of most Georgia sports teams, and as a result was very bitter about this year's Super Bowl all around. When he's not crying due to his unfortunate lot in life to be a fan of teams that will always come so close and yet never win a title, he is the Children's Ministry Coordinator at Mars Hill Baptist Church in Watkinsville, GA and a Part-Time Campus Minister at the Baptist Collegiate Ministries for both the University of Georgia and the University of North Georgia - Oconee. That's a long couple of titles. He is also engaged to the beautiful and intelligent Ivey Nash, the smartest nurse in Rome, GA. He is also the author of the internet sensation Will Baker is Dead. If you've never heard of it...well, that's okay. It really isn't that big of a sensation yet, anyway. He is also currently working on other writing projects that are due out sometime later than today. If you're into that whole social media scene, you can find Adam on Twitter (@42Cobras...go figure) or on Facebook (you don't need help with that one, too, do you?). Adam also has published a short story "Have Souls, Will Travel," available for $1.99 from Amazon for Kindle. He appreciates your business and your readership, but mostly, he appreciates it if you brush your teeth before talking to him, given his low tolerance for bad breath.

Wonka Was Right

Remember how in the original Willy Wonka movie he kept saying, "So much time so little to do!  Strike that.  Reverse it?" 
Well if not...he totally did. 
People (and preachers) usually like to say that, "We have so little time on this earth, so we should make every moment count!"  I gotta be honest with y'all.  When we really think about it, this is kinda wrong.  Sure, we have a ridiculously small time on earth...when you compare it to eternity!  But when we consider just plain averages, we see that we're doing pretty good.  The life expectancy for people in America is something like 150 years [citation needed].  We have quite a bit of time to do whatever we want with it.  If that weren't true, then why do you think we have 300 tv channels with 24 hours of crap programming just to fill our boring lives, especially when you consider that half of these shows are made up of watching other people's boring lives? 
We have an insane amount of time.  Not that we're promised all of it, mind you, but if all of us just live to the average life expectancy, we can expect to lead long and (questionably) fulfilling lives.  The problem seems to be, however, that we have so much time and little to do!  (See, told you he was right)  So some people go to work.  I guess they've gotten used to eating.  And so have their kids.  Some people go to school so they can learn and then one day go to work.  At this point, most of them aren't all that used to eating quite yet.  Some people meditate.  Others just watch wrestling and women's football (yes, it's a thing).  So many options! 
Now let me ask you a question.  When you were a kid and you wanted to go stay over at your friend's house for the night, how did you ask your parents?  Let me take a guess, here.  I'll bet 9/10 (conservative estimate) of you would have said, "Mom?  Dad?  Can I go spend the night at Jenny's?"  If you were a little boy, this question probably got a no.  If you were 15, it probably got you grounded.  And what did you do this weekend?  "I spent this weekend watching football?"  If you had one day left to live, what would you do?  "I'd spend time with the people I love...and write an angry letter to CBS for cancelling 'The Unit' in the fourth season." 
We have this concept that "spending time" is how we're supposed to look at our lives.  I had a Sunday School teacher once ask us how we would spend $86,400 in a single day if we had to, and there was no saving allowed.  The general conceit of the question was that there are 86,400 seconds in a day and that we should plan to spend them all wisely.  It was a great question and provided some real thought, but there's that nagging concept again.  That we should spend our time like a thing we're given and just have to throw away on junk food and bad movies (which is exactly how I like to spend my Saturday nights, oddly enough). 
In Ephesians 5, the same chapter responsible for bringing us the question, "What's the wise thing to do?" we see someone offer a slightly different concept of time.  Of our time.

Ephesians 5:15-16 (NKJV)

See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, for the days are evil.

What's this?  We have to...redeem...the time?  We can't just spend it?  There's this natural conflict at work between redeeming and spending.  If I give you $500, you can just go off and do whatever you want with it.  Sounds nice, right?  But what if I give you a ticket good for $500 no questions asked?  You could just walk up to any bank and hand it to them.  What's the difference here?  Is the end result any different?  Just what's the big idea? 
If I give you $500 (and don't hold your breath), you've got all this money right there in your hand.  Piece of cake.  Just run off and spend it however you wish because it's good for anything.  But if I give you a ticket worth $500 at a cash register, how much good does that do you?  Can you give that ticket to your grocer and ask for change?  No.  You've gotta go and redeem that ticket first.  What you've been given is inherently worthless.  It means absolutely nothing until you get it redeemed.  Until you take that meaningless paper and turn it into something of value. 
That is the difference between how we view time and how scripture viewed time.  How God views time.  Some translations, the NLT for instance, translate this particular phrase "redeem the time" as "Make the most of every opportunity.." because that is what it truly means to redeem the time.  It's like we've been given something that is inherently of no good to anyone.  However, with that gift of time, we have the immense opportunity to make something beautiful.  Something valuable.  We can take what is given us and give it back to God, or the people around us, and even ourselves, as something that will actually be worthwhile.  If you really want to know what a man is all about, give him 24 hours.  Give him a day off to use however he sees fit.  What he does with that time is perhaps the most telling indicator of what kind of man he is.  You can tell what kinds of things are important to him and what people he sees worth being around.  You can tell what kind of civic or social responsibility he feels.  Does this man understand the value of time? 
We have been given the chance to use our vast allotment of time in whatever manner we choose.  Shall we spend it?  Or shall we redeem it?  We must take control of the hours and redeem them for noble and worthy purposes.  We cannot squander the time we are given when there is still so much to be done and so many ways we can redeem our time that will improve this world and will glorify the Kingdom of God. 
Now today is Labor Day, so feel free to spend it relaxing and preparing for a week of hard work.  Watch some movies on TBS/Peachtree TV, they put good stuff on today.  Grill out and eat some burgers.  But as you rest up for the days to come, don't forget to redeem the time with family and loved ones around you.  Consider how you might redeem the week ahead.  Think of ways to redeem your time otherwise spent wasting away in languid boredom. 
There is not a single day that comes with the promise of being worthwhile.  We are given so much time on this Earth that every second we spend wondering what to do or not caring about what we do is another minute we could have redeemed making this world a better place, help the people around us, or just help ourselves to live better, more meaningful and useful lives.  And when we really think about it, we're kind of fools to spend our time wasting such a magnificent gift that we've been blessed with. 
And with every hour we've already spent on this earth, maybe it's time to redeem some.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Adam Wynn likes to spend his time making people think about words they probably don't fully comprehend, like "redeem."  When he's not doing this, he works as an intern at the Baptist Collegiate Ministries at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia.  And other times he spends less time by typing abbreviations.  He is the author of the wildly popular, as of yet unpublished novel, Will Baker is Dead.  In case you weren't sure, it's about someone dying.  He also has to keep his emotional complexes in check by reading nice comments from the blogosphere and shunning individuals who deign to question his literary and meta-literary (?) genius.  You can follow him on Twitter (but not in real life) at @42Cobras or find him on Facebook (but not at work/home) as Adam Wynn, in case you happened to miss the obvious conclusion of such circumstances.  His Alma Mater is the University of Georgia (Go Dawgs) in Athens, he is from Dacula, Georgia, and currently lives in Atlanta.  He's also grown rather fond of Rome, GA and a lovely young lady who lives there (Ivey shout-out).  If you want to buy his book, write your congressman and tell them to write their lawyers to write their literary agent friends they made fun of in law school and get them to represent it.