Jesus came to proclaim good news to the poor. That is bad news for the rich, especially when we are rich off the backs of the poor. The gospel of grace is bad news for the sorted out, for the secure and comfortable. The gospel is bad news for you until you become aquainted with your weakness.

If good news for the poor is bad news for your bank account,
Then you're rich and you find yourself on the wrong side of the gospel.

If security, a living wage and dignified life for the poor equal less money in your pocket,
Then you're rich, and you find yourself on the wrong side of the gospel. 

If you've never struggled with failure, always kept the commandments and flinch a little when you see that terrible sinner up front and centre on a Sunday, Then you're rich, and you find yourself on the wrong side of the gospel.

If you never doubted Christ like Thomas or denied him like Peter and your heard prickles at the injustice of the welcomed return of the prodigal,
Then you're rich, and you find yourself on the wrong side of the gospel. 

The truth is, there is a little of the older brother from the parable in each of us. There is that prideful spirit inside each of us that prickles when we see the 'injustice' of God's Kingdom at work in others who are undeserving, who haven't worked hard, haven't earned the right. Yet God's idea of justice is different from our own, being not so worried about the letter of the law, rather animated with concern for every desperate, bedraggled creature in need of help. Yet only find ourselves on the wrong side of the gospel for as long as we continue to delude ourselves. As I come to know myself better, I come to the painful recognition, again and again, that I am not the older brother but the prodigal, in desperate need of rescue, crying out for that fathers hug, the undeserved welcome. So as I become better acquainted with my own desperate need, my attitude as well as my treatment of fellow prodigals is transformed.