Luke 15:11-32 (NIV)

Jesus [told this parable]: "There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, 'Father give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them.

"Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

"When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' So he got up and went to his father.

"But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

"The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'

"But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate.

"Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 'Your brother has come,' he replied, 'and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.'

"The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, 'Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!'

"'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.'"

When I read this parable, I can't help but side with the older brother, the "good" one.  The entire situation seems terribly unfair.  His brother misbehaved, wasted his half of the estate, and now gets rewarded for his sinfulness with a party?  Where's the justice in that?  I know I'd be angry if I were in his place.

This story is often called "the parable of the prodigal son."  (Prodigal, if you didn't know, is a word that means wasteful, referring to the younger brother's lifestyle.)  But it probably should have been called "the parable of the unfair father," since that's really what it's about - a father who is loving, but painfully unfair.

Of course, like all of Jesus' parables, this one has a point.  The father in this story represents God.  And as weird as it might seem, this is a story designed to prove to us just how unfair God is.

I've had long conversations with non-Christians who just can't believe in the Christian God's unfairness.  "You mean to tell me," they ask, "that someone could live a horrible, sinful life, committing every kind of crime and misdeed known to humanity, and then repent on their deathbed and be saved?"

"Yup," I say.  "As long as their repentance was genuine, and as long as they trusted Christ."

"But if that's the case, why not just live your life however you want, and then repent at the last moment?  That seems horribly unfair."

Of course, we could always respond that no one knows when they'll die, but putting that aside for the moment, doesn't it seem wrong that God should be so unfair?  Shouldn't we get a special reward for being good Christians instead of being one of those last-minute conversions?  Why is our Father having celebrations for the prodigal son when we've been here, being so faithful all this time?

At least... that sort of thinking would make sense if we were the older brother in the story.  But I believe we're missing the point of the parable until we realize that we aren't the older brother.  We are the younger brother, the prodigal brother.  We are the sinful ones who took the riches God gave us and wasted them on worldly pleasures, seeking our own selfish ends and winding up with nothing but regrets.  We're the ones who come stumbling back to God, not just once but over and over again, having to ask forgiveness for things we knew were wrong to begin with but did anyway.  And every time, we see our Heavenly Father running towards us, with arms outstretched, ready to take us back.

Unfair?  Of course.  And thank God for that.