Source Channel · retold from Luke 15:11–32
Jesus tells a parable. A certain man has two sons. The younger one does not want to wait.
Leaving Home
The younger son says to his father: Give me the portion of goods that falls to me. The father divides his living between the two. Not many days later the son gathers everything together and travels into a far country.
There he wastes his substance. Then a mighty famine comes over that land, and he begins to be in want. He joins himself to a citizen of that country, who sends him into his fields to feed swine.
He would gladly have filled his belly with the husks that the swine eat. But no one gives him any.
The Way Back
Then he comes to himself. He thinks of his father's hired servants, who have bread enough and to spare, while he is perishing here with hunger. He makes a decision.
“I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee”
– Luke 15:18
He no longer wants to be called a son. He wants to ask to be taken on as a hired servant. Then he sets out on the way.
“But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.”
– Luke 15:20
The Feast
The son speaks his confession. But the father says to his servants: Bring the best robe, a ring for his hand and shoes for his feet. Bring the fatted calf; let us eat and be merry.
“For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.”
– Luke 15:24
The elder son is in the field. When he comes home, he hears music and dancing. He is angry and will not go in.
The father comes out and entreats him. The son says: These many years I have served you, and you never gave me a kid so that I could make merry with my friends.
“And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.”
– Luke 15:31
It was right to make merry, the father says, for your brother was dead and is alive again. Here the parable ends. Whether the elder son goes in, Jesus does not tell.
What This Has to Do with You Today
Maybe you know the moment when you come to yourself and notice how far you have drifted away. In this parable the father sees the son while he is still a long way off, and runs to meet him. And the one who stayed also hears: You are ever with me.
Never Alone Guide: When it hurts →
Bible quotes: King James Version (public domain). This retelling stays with the Bible text and adds no events. Photos: Unsplash.
