Embrace Your Brother

Articles

Lance Byers
05/24/25 - Biblical Concepts

“A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you.” ~Elbert Hubbard

At the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus spoke about how important the relationship with a brother is to the soul.

“So, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother and then come and offer your gift.” (Matthew 5:23-24)

The day of drafting this article, I attended a funeral for a dear friend and colleague. The funeral at the large church was standing room only by the time it started. Ecclesiastes 7:2 says that, “it is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart.” The mass of humanity in that large room were all reminded the importance of the relationships we have, and how we are connected to each other. Many of us in that audience have grown to care for and love each other like family as we embraced each other and wept together for our common loss.

This world is full of conflict and struggle between individuals regardless of religious ideologies. It is easy to look into the bible and find the spark of sin which ignites conflict. In ministering, it is easy to select a bad, sinful, ungodly behavior, find a series of verses and build an exegesis around them to explain why we should not follow down the path that behavior leads.

What happens when the prodigal son does decide to return home, though? In the parable written in Luke 15, we see an internal struggle with the prodigal son as he came to the realization that he needed to go home. We see him rehearse his lines in which he admits he is not worthy of being his father’s son any longer. Jesus’ story is more vivid if we look at a parallel tale told long before.

As Jacob had decided to come home, he was terrified of Esau. He had taken the birthright and his father’s blessing, and he feared Esau would kill him. He had a directive from God to return, not just to the land of his father’s, but back to his kin, his brother. (Genesis 31:3) As he crossed over toward his brother, who was coming to meet him with 400 men, Jacob was left alone. There on the banks of the Jabbok river, he, physically, wrestled with God. Similarly, the prodigal son wrestled with what was right and what he should do to honor his father, God’s command. Similarly, Jesus’ message on the mount tells us all how important it is to go and reconcile and be with our brethren. It is important enough to go to the extremes to be done; to realize that without it, we may be facing our own loss of salvation.

While Jacob may have physically wrestled with God, we all wrestle with the unknown. Jacob had no way of knowing why his brother was coming with those men, and he suspected it was to kill him. The prodigal son had no way of knowing his father’s reaction to him coming home, but he suspected it would be to reject him. Fear is what keeps us apart, and the one planting that fear in our hearts is the doubt placed there by the devil through the selfish and vengeful world created through the introduction of sin.

Even the most terrible and terrifying of situations are often diffused by reconciliation as Jacob and the prodigal son found out. That connection between human beings is how God created us. It is more vital and powerful than any possession or selfish desire of our hearts. We must hold on for that connection of hearts in this life is a shadow of our, one day, heavenly connection to God.

Lance Byers

May 23, 2025