Jim Putman - Hope for the Prodigal: Bringing the Lost, Wandering, and Rebellious Home

The Story of Three Sons

I t all starts with a story about three sons.

Yes, three. But in Luke 15, the biblical account of the prodigal, we see a father who had two sons. So where does the third son come into play? And what does this have to do with us and what were going through? Chances are good youve heard the story. Heres a paraphrase to refresh your memory.

A wealthy father had two sons who looked and acted quite differently from each other. The older boy was considered the good son. The younger boy was considered the not-so-good son. One day the younger son said to his dad, Im tired of waiting for you to die so I can get my inheritance, I want what will be mine, and I want it now. Give me all Ive got coming to me! What an insult. In that culture, a son received an inheritance only after a parent had died, or at the earliest when a father could no longer manage his estate. For the younger son to demand his inheritance up front was the same as saying, I wish you would drop dead, Dad. Get out of my way, Dad. It was deeply hurtful.

But the father was both strong and loving. He said something like, Okay, son, if thats how you feel. If you really want what you think you want, then you can have it, but I know it wont make you happy. So the father gave the younger son what he asked for.

It didnt take long for the younger son to leave. He hightailed it out of his fathers house and headed for the ancient equivalent of Las Vegas. He was hell-bent on going far away from home. The money burned a hole in his pocket, and as soon as he reached that faraway country, he spent all he had on wild living. His money vanished like morning dew on a hot summers day. In no time at all, he was broke. Dead broke. But he hadnt reached rock bottom yet.

Right about then, the young mans stomach began to rumble. Oops. Hed forgotten to save money to eat. None of his friends seemed to have any extra food to spare, or if they did, they were not willing to share. To make matters more complicated, a famine hit that faraway land. Jobs grew scarcer. People grew hungrier. Eventually the younger son took the only job he could find: tending pigs. In that culture, tending pigs was the lowest of the low. Even today pigs cannot be found in Israel. They are considered filthy animals that a Jew wont touch. But even that job was a bust. The young man grew so hungry, he found himself seriously considering eating the pigs food. Picture that scene. There was the rich mans son who at one time had lived in luxury, now in the muck and mire, starving, miserable, broke, desolate, friendless, thinking about wrestling food away from pigs. Thats rock bottom. But in that horrible and desperate and pressure-filled place, a marvelous thing happened.