One of the most well-known parables Jesus taught is that of the Prodigal Son. It tells of a man with two sons, the younger of whom ruthlessly and disrespectfully demands to be given his inheritance even as his father still lives. He goes off to a foreign country and squanders all of it on fast living. He ends up completely destitute, and when a famine hits the land, he even longs to eat the pods of food given to the pigs he is disgracefully tending. When the young man finally realizes that even his father’s servants live much better than he does, he resolves to go back to his father’s house to beg for forgiveness and to even be taken in as a slave. However, when the father sees his son coming from a distance, he runs out to greet and embrace him. He tells the servants to get his finest robe, and shoes, and a ring and put them on the boy, and to get the fatted calf and slaughter it for a feast. When the older brother comes in from the fields, he becomes indignant that his younger brother should be celebrated after what he had done. However, his father explained to him that he still deserved what was given him, but he should rejoice for his brother, who had been lost but now was found.
Luke 15: 11-32
Illustration by: Colton Rompala