I\u2019d defend the father\u2019s example, and, informed by a reading of Timothy Keller\u2019s outstanding book \u201cThe Prodigal God,\u201d\u009d I\u2019d even apply the father\u2019s wisdom to social policy-making today.<\/p>\n
We live in a divided society in which many of us in the middle- and upper-middle classes are like the older brother and many of the people who drop out of school, commit crimes and abandon their children are like the younger brother. In many cases, we have a governing class of elder brothers legislating programs on behalf of the younger brothers. The great danger in this situation is that we in the elder brother class will end up self-righteously lecturing the poor: \u201cYou need to be more like us: graduate from school, practice a little sexual discipline, work harder.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
But the father in this parable exposes the truth that people in the elder brother class are stained, too. The elder brother is self-righteous, smug, cold and shrewd. The elder brother wasn\u2019t really working to honor his father; he was working for material reward and out of a fear-based moralism. The father reminds us of the old truth that the line between good and evil doesn\u2019t run between people or classes; it runs straight through every human heart.<\/p>\n