Stories

“And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.  And when he had spent it all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want.”  Luke 11:13-14

This short passage from the Prodigal Son parable contains two of my favorite phrases in the Bible.  For reasons I can’t explain other than to say it seems both poetic and efficient (two traits that don’t often interact in writing), I have always liked “wasted his substance on riotous living.”  Any reader is free to and can easily conjure up vivid images of what that “riotous living” looks like – no further description is needed.  Many have in fact painted their depiction of such – just undertake an image search of “riotous living” and you’ll see them.

I also like the phrase “and he began to be in want.”  Again, a subtle phrase full of meaning.  Subtle because while we can all appreciate being “in want,” the reader is allowed to fill in the blank.  What is the younger son “in want” of?  More “riotous living?”  More money and things (that didn’t serve him so well to this point)?  Food (it would appear so from the following verses)?  A place to stay?  A bus ticket home?

That is, of course, the power of the parable.  It provides just enough facts so as to allow us to connect that story to our own story, and allows us to fill in the blanks to connect them – and us — into a single story.