In previous weeks, we have redefined sin and redefined lostness.  It is apparent that we are sin-filled lost people, both younger and older sons.  We are so far away from the Father that we can’t even make a way back.  It is not enough to simply confess our sins.  We need someone to search for us, a true elder brother, not named in this parable.  In the previous two parables in Luke 15, what was lost was searched for.  Not in this parable.  The elder brother should have been the one to search for his brother, to bring him home.  But he doesn’t.  The cost to him was not something he was willing to sacrifice.  Our true elder brother is Jesus, who came in search of us to bring us home to his Father, and it came at great cost to him.