The Prodigal Son Bible story for kids

Do you remember those grumbling people? The ones who didn't like Jesus welcoming people who had done wrong things, and even eating with them?

Jesus told them about a shepherd who went after one lost sheep. And about a woman who lost one of her ten silver coins, and swept the whole house until she found it.

And then he told them one more story.

He said, "A certain man had two sons."

A big brother and a little brother. Both of them grown up.

One day the younger son said, "Father, give me my share of your property."

His share of everything. Now, not later.

And the father divided everything he had between them. A share for each son.

Not many days after, the younger son packed up everything and went far, far away. Jesus called it "a far country."

And there he wasted it. All of it. Every last coin, on wild, foolish living.

And when it was all gone, the food ran out, all over that land. A famine, the Bible calls it.

So he went to work for a man there, who sent him into his fields... to feed the pigs.

Pigs! Snuffling, grunting, muddy pigs. For Jesus's people, who never ate pigs, that was about as far from home as you could get.

The pigs were eating dry bean pods. And the young man was so hungry... he wished he could eat them too.

Imagine wanting pig food for supper!

But Jesus said, "no one gave him any."

And then something happened inside him. Jesus said, "when he came to himself."

It's like waking up, on the inside.

He thought about home. Even the workers at his father's house had more bread than they could eat. And here he was, so hungry.

So he made a plan. "I will get up and go to my father, and will tell him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight. I am no more worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired servants.'"

I've done wrong, he meant, against God and against you. Let me be one of your workers.

Maybe he practised it, over and over, all the way down that long road. Father, I have sinned... Father, I have sinned...

And he got up, and set off for home.

Now listen. This is the best part.

Jesus said, "while he was still far off, his father saw him."

Just a small shape, way down the road. Maybe the father had been looking for a long, long time. Jesus didn't say. But the father saw him.

And he "was moved with compassion." There are those words again, from the Samaritan story. His heart went out to him, all the way.

And then... the father ran.

A grown-up father, running! Maybe as fast as his legs would go.

And he "fell on his neck, and kissed him." That's the old way of saying he hugged him tight.

Remember Esau, running to hug his brother Jacob? Nearly the very same words.

And the son hadn't said a single thing yet.

Then the son began his speech. "Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son."

Did you notice? He never said the last part. The part about being a worker.

Jesus didn't tell us why. He went straight on: "But the father said to his servants,"

"Bring out the best robe, and put it on him. Put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet."

Count them with me. A robe. A ring. Shoes. One, two, three.

And bring the calf they'd been fattening up for a special feast. "Let us eat, and celebrate," the father said. "For this, my son... He was lost, and is found."

So they began to celebrate. Imagine the smell of the feast cooking, and the music playing.

But remember, the man had two sons.

The older son was out in the field. As he came near the house, Jesus said, "he heard music and dancing."

Can you hear dancing? Maybe you can. Stamping feet. Clapping hands.

He asked one of the servants what was going on.

Your brother is home, safe and sound, the servant said. And your father is having a feast.

"But he was angry, and would not go in."

And Jesus said, "Therefore his father came out, and begged him."

The father left his own party. He came out to this son, too.

And the older son told him how he felt. All these years I've worked for you, he said. I've always done what you told me. "But you never gave me a goat, that I might celebrate with my friends."

Not even a goat! And now this son of yours comes home, and you have a feast for him.

This son of yours, he called him. He didn't say "my brother."

The father didn't scold him. He said, "Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours."

We had to be glad, the father said. We had to celebrate. And then he gave back the word the older son hadn't used. "This, your brother," he called him.

"He was lost, and is found."

And that's where Jesus stopped his story. He never said if the big brother went in. I wonder if those grumbling people were listening very hard.

And the last we see of that father, he is still outside with his older son. Still calling him "Son."

And God was with him. God was with her. God is with you, too.

You're home now, little one. May the same God who is like a father calling for the best robe, a ring for his hand, and shoes for his feet... cover you in His love, from the top of your head to the tips of your toes.