THE PARABLE OF THE LOST SON – THE PRODIGAL
Luke 15:11-32 New International Version (NIV)
‘Jesus continued, “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"’.
Here we see a normal family with a father and by implication a mother, and two
sons. Life is going on as it should in the family. Then suddenly things change; the
younger son wants his inheritance, his share of the estate, his freedom. He feels
grown up enough to branch out on his own, without the censorship and oversight
by his father. This in itself would not be totally out of order, except for what
followed in the story.
‘“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.”’
The son now reveals why he had asked for his inheritance. He felt inhibited by his
father and wanted to be able to do pretty much what he wanted. He intended to
leave home and go off to live an independent life of revelry and extravagance.
From the story it does not appear that he had made his intentions to leave home
clear to the father, until after he got his inheritance.
Now there is nothing wrong with asking for one’s inheritance. It could even be a
good sign of maturity. As a matter of fact many have taunted the elder brother
with lacking wisdom as he never seemed to realize he too could access his
inheritance.
However, the actions of the younger brother, the prodigal, soon after receiving his
inheritance reveal a shocking lack of maturity, ill and misinformed intentions, lack
of wisdom and character. Had he been wiser, mature and of sober character, he