Luke 15:30 + Matt 20:12

In Didache this week, we read the parable of the prodigal son. At the end of the story, the older brother resented the party for the younger brother. He complained that he had never transgressed the father's commandment at any time, while the younger brother had wasted the inheritance on harlots. Why had the older brother "wasted" his obedience to the father, without receiving a pat on the back, a young goat to make merry, or any other reward?

The Septuagesima gospel was the parable of the workers in the vineyard. Those who worked all day resented getting the same pay as those who began work at 5:00 in the afternoon. Why should they have "wasted" their whole day of labor when they could've been goofing off most of the day like those other dudes? Shouldn't there have been some reward for denying themselves the lazy indulgence the other guys enjoyed?

When Christians respond that way, it is evidence that they think they missed something. They "did their duty" and were obedient. But if they think they missed out on the fun, if they missed out on "living it up," then that shows that they didn't really want to be obedient. Their hearts weren't in it. They were obedient out of duty, out of desire for a reward. Their hearts were not caught up in love for the Father; their hearts were not desiring the same thing He desired. (I might even venture to say that they were trying to be good.) The focus was on the obeying instead of the focus being on the job that needed to be done or on the relationship with the people around them.

"Yea, heaven itself were void and bare
If Thou, Lord, wert not near me."

If we long for Jesus, then there is no loss in "missing out" on the hedonistic pleasures of the world. Rather, we are receiving the exact thing we want -- Jesus. "Thou art the Portion I have sought."