Today’s Excerpt:

The Prodigal Son, adapted by Uplift for young readers
For other versions, see the KJV or the NRSV

There once was a father who had two sons.

One day, the younger son asked the father to give him his portion of the family’s property as an early inheritance. The father agreed, and the son took the money and ran off to a distant land where he lavishly wasted it.

Soon enough, the money ran dry. To make matters worse, the land suffered from a famine, and the son was forced to take a job feeding pigs. There were days he felt so desperate and hungry he longed to eat the slop he fed to the swine.

That was when he remembered his family. Embarrassed and humiliated, he returned home, longing to once again find peace.

When the young son’s father saw him walking up the long road toward home, he ran out and gave him a hug. Then he ordered an enormous feast to be made to celebrate his son’s return.

But the older son seethed with anger and jealousy. He couldn’t believe that his father would throw a feast for the younger son who had left them and wasted his inheritance completely. Why hadn’t the father ever made a feast for him, the son who stayed?

The father told the older son that all he had was his, and that it was right to celebrate the younger son’s return. They had thought that the younger son was dead, but now they knew he was alive. And that was cause enough to celebrate.

Discuss:

• Why do you think it was hard for the older son to forgive the younger son?
• If you were the older son, how would you have reacted? What would you do to forgive your younger brother?
• Who is someone that has upset you and were you able to forgive them? Why or why not?