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but what does that mean?
The Prodigal Son
Even the irreligious have heard of The Prodigal Son and at least vaguely know the story or the gist thereof.
Then Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12The younger son said to him, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
13After a few days, the younger son got everything together and journeyed to a distant country, where he squandered his wealth in wild living.
14After he had spent all he had, a severe famine swept through that country, and he began to be in need. 15So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. 16He longed to fill his belly with the pods the pigs were eating, but no one would give him a thing.
17Finally he came to his senses and said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have plenty of food? But here I am, starving to death! 18I will get up and go back to my father and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.””¯’
20So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still in the distance, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.
21The son declared, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.b‘
22But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let us feast and celebrate. 24For this son of mine was dead and is alive again! He was lost and is found!’ So they began to celebrate.
25Meanwhile the older son was in the field, and as he approached the house, he heard music and dancing. 26So he called one of the servants and asked what was going on.
27‘Your brother has returned,’ he said, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has him back safe and sound.’
28The older son became angry and refused to go in. So his father came out and pleaded with him.
29But he answered his father, ‘Look, all these years I have served you and never disobeyed a commandment of yours. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30But when this son of yours returns from squandering your wealth with prostitutes, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
31‘Son, you are always with me,’ the father said, ‘and all that is mine is yours. 32But it was fitting to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.'”¯”
Luke 15:11-31 (Berean Standard Bible)
I learned this story when I was very young. I have referenced it in sermons and lessons many times. Not once do I recall hauling out a dictionary to confirm the meaning of the word “prodigal.” I guess I always interpreted the word in the story’s context and the young man to whom the word was applied.
He could have easily been called The Impertinent Son. Or, the Impetuous Son. Or, The Strongheaded Son. The Impatient Son, anyone?
But we call him The Prodigal Son, applying a descriptor that is hardly used anymore and one I suggest most of us are unfamiliar with.
I looked around Google and found the word in Shakespeare, in Hamlet to be exact:
Polonius-
Ay, springes to catch woodcocks. I do know
When the blood burns, how prodigal the soul
Lends the tongue vows. These blazes, daughter,
Giving more light than heat, extinct in both
Even in their promise as it is a-making,
You must not take for fire.
We could interpret that statement as follows: “When the blood is hot with passion, the tongue is quick to make promises.” Polonius warns his daughter not to count on promises a young man makes when the fires of lust drive him.
This is a little different use of “prodigal” than that of the King James Bible. It still carries the sense of playing loose with a thing, of carelessness.
Definition and Modern Prodigality
What is the definition of “prodigal?” Cambridge Dictionary1 provides this as the primary definition:
spending or using large amounts of money, time, energy, etc., especially in a way that is not very wise – or – Tending to spend or use something without thinking of the future.
How many prodigals do we have right now spending large amounts of time surfing Facebook or TikTok? How many on PS5? How many are spending inordinate wads of cash on eBay or Amazon, madly filling their carts with the things they are certain will fill whatever void exists in their soul? How many exhaust themselves in endless political and social debates, trying to cancel another lest they be canceled?
The Prodigal Son, we are told, wasted his inheritance on “riotous living.” If he were in 21st Century America, what would that look like?
“What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.”
American consumers are bombarded with daily enticements to waste their wages on riotous living.
Betting has come out of the closet in full regalia and taken center stage. The most trusted and revered athletes in America are pimping for big gambling. Never mind the prodigal whose ruination they spawn”¦
I like Barkley and the Mannings. But I think they followed their baser instincts to pad their pockets at the expense of the less fortunate and more vulnerable – the prodigals. They’re slopping hogs when they ought to use their influence to rescue the prodigal from the pig pen.
Shame on them. Shame. On. Them.
If it isn’t gambling, it is glorifying alcohol to an excessive level. Or it’s Hollywood pushing drugs like a Mexican cartel in their shitty movies.
Can you hear the voice of Beelzebub?
“Come, prodigal. Come and waste your living and your life. We can settle up later.”
One more credit card. A bigger truck. A nicer neighborhood. So what if it is right at or beyond your means? Figure it out later.
Eat, drink, be merry. Tomorrow you die.
Prodigality pimps are everywhere. It’s like Carnivale every damn day in America.
For the Prodigal Son of the New Testament, there was a day of repentance, return, and reconciliation. He “came to his senses.” The father greeted him with open arms and thanksgiving.
How many Prodigals never return from the disaster their appetites drove them towards? How many die ruined and broken in the hog pen of their excesses?
Takeaways
The excessive pursuit of pleasure never results in long-term happiness.
Money is one thing a prodigal has no respect for, but is not the only thing.
Energy – so much wasted energy that could have been invested is gone, leaving behind exhaustion and exasperation.
Time is the commodity no prodigal can retrieve, even the returning prodigal.
It is never too late until it is too late, which I hijacked from Yogi Berra, who said, “It ain’t over ’til it’s over.” But when it is too late, it is too late. When it is over, it is over. You just don’t usually know the expiration date on redemption.