15:25-32 Why was the elder son angry at his brother?
15:25-32 Why was the elder son angry at his brother?
This is the concluding part of the parable of the lost son. Here Jesus describes the attitude of the elder son toward both his repentant brother and his father.
In portraying the elder son as angry, bitter, unforgiving and loveless toward his brother, and resentful and self-righteously indignant toward his father, Jesus was illustrating for the Pharisees and scribes their attitude toward Him and the sinners He fraternised with.
The elder son had the same hardness of heart toward his brother and his father as the Pharisees and the Scribes had toward repentant sinners and Jesus, and his self-righteous claims to having always obeyed his father's commands typified the Pharisees' self-righteous claims to having always obeyed God's commands (cp Mt 23:23-28; Lk 18:9-14).
The elder son had no right to complain - the same privileges his brother was now enjoying were always available to him, but he never availed himself of them, just as the Pharisees and Scribes would not avail themselves of the kingdom benefits Jesus proclaimed.
Like the elder son rejected his father's invitation to take part in the feast, the Pharisees and Scribes rejected Jesus' invitation to be a part of the kingdom and thus disqualified themselves from receiving God's blessings (cp Ac 13:46). See also comments on Lk 17:7-10.