LESSON SEVEN

THE WASTEFUL SON

Luke 15:11-32

Part 1

Many of the religious leaders didn’t like Jesus. Jesus was kind to very sinful people.  The leaders didn’t like that. The leaders thought they were better than other people.  They even refused to eat with very sinful people. They criticized Jesus for eating with bad people. But God loves every person, no matter how bad he is. Jesus told this story to teach people about God’s love.

There was a rich man who had two sons. The younger son wanted his inheritance right away. He didn’t want to wait for his father to die. So one day he told his father, “Give me my share of my inheritance so I can spend it now.”

The father gave the younger son his inheritance. Soon the son went far away to another country. He wasted all his money on sinful living. While he had a lot of money, he had a lot of friends. But when his money was gone, no one wanted to help him.

Soon the country had a very bad famine. The wasteful son had nothing to eat. Then a farmer hired the son to feed his pigs. The son was so hungry that he wanted to eat the pigs’ food.

One day the son said, “At my father’s house the hired workers have plenty of food to eat. But I am starving to death. I will go back to my Father. I will say, “I have sinned against you. I don’t deserve to be your son anymore. Please hire me and let me work for you.”

So the son went back to his father’s house. While he was still far away from the house, his father saw him. The father ran to his son and hugged him and kissed him.

The son said, “Father, I have sinned against you. I don’t deserve to be your son anymore.”

The father said to the servants, “Quickly!  Bring the best clothes and put them on my son. Bring him an expensive ring. Kill my best calf for a feast. Let’s celebrate. My son was lost and now he is found again!”

VOCABULARY

religious leaders

refuse (v)

criticize (v)

no matter how

rich (adj)

inheritance (n)

share (n)

spend (v)

famine (n)

wasteful (adj)

hired (v & adj)

plenty (n)

starving (adj)

deserve (v)

quickly (adv)

hug (v)

kiss (v)

ring (n)

kill (v)

calf (n)

feast (n)

celebrate (v)

IRREGULAR VERBS

Present        Past              Past Participle         Future

run                  ran                  has run                          will run

QUESTIONS

1. Why didn’t the religious leaders like Jesus?
2. What did the younger son ask his father to do?
3. When did the younger son have a lot of friends?
4. Who wanted to help him when his money was gone?
5. What did the younger son decide to tell his father when he went back home?
6. What did the father give the son when he came home? How did they celebrate?

 

Part 2

At this time the older son was in the field. He came near the house. He heard music and dancing. So he asked one of the servants, “What is happening?”

The servant said, “Your brother has come home. Your father has killed the best calf. He is preparing a feast to celebrate.”

The older brother became very angry. He refused to go into the house and celebrate. His father came out of the house. The father said to the older brother, “Please come inside and celebrate with us.” But no matter how hard the father begged his son to come in, the son refused.

The older brother said, “All of these years I have worked hard for you. I always did what you told me to do. But you never even killed a goat so I could celebrate with my friends. Your youngest son wasted all his inheritance. He lived a very sinful life. But when he came home, you killed your best calf and gave him a feast. It’s not fair!”

The father told the oldest son, “I always have you with me. Everything I own belongs to you. But we needed to celebrate when your brother came home. I thought I would never see him again.”

God is like the father in the story. We are like the younger brother. We sin and do things that hurt God. Though God gives us life, we don’t want to do things His way. We want to live our lives our own way. But God loves us. If we are sorry for our sins and believe in Jesus,God will forgive us. God is glad when we come back to him.

VOCABULARY

dancing (n)

prepare (v)

beg (v)

goat (n)

fair (adj)

hurt (v)

way (n)

sorry (adj)

believe (v)

forgive (v)

IRREGULAR VERBS

Present         Past                Past Participle         Future

hurt                 hurt                 has hurt                     will hurt

forgive            forgave           has forgiven              will forgive

QUESTIONS

7. Was the older son happy when his brother came home?
8. Why did the older son think his father was not being fair?
9. How much of what the father owned belonged to the older son?
10. Who is like the father in the story?
11. Who is like the younger brother?