Spiritual Survival Guide
8: Bible Studies for Inside and Out
his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your broth- er has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ 28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ 31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’” ~Luke 15:11-32
2. What made the younger son return? What made him come to his senses? a. Desperation, pure and simple. b. He saw through the emptiness of the life he had chosen. c. He finally realized how good it was back home. d. He finally hit bottom. Before that happened, he was never going to turn around. e. He thought he could bargain with the old man. 3. If you had been the father in this story, what would you have been thinking and feeling? a. I would have been furious that my son asked me for his inheri- tance – he couldn’t wait for me to die! b. I would have been worried sick while my son was gone. c. I would have felt sad that my son was trying to bargain with me when he returned. d. I would have made him learn a lesson by making him stay in the dog house for a while. e. I would have felt frustrated and sad that my older son wouldn’t come in to celebrate. f. I would have felt joy – my son is alive again! 4. If you had been the older son in this story, what would you have been thinking and feeling? a. I hate the little punk for shaming our family. b. I’m furious with my father for enabling my little brother and then celebrating his return. c. I feel taken for granted. d. I feel torn: glad my brother survived, but unhappy that he’s back. e. Resentful: It’s going to take a long time for me to let this go.
DISCUSS
We offer suggestions for some possible answers, but don’t feel confined by them. 1.Why do you think the younger son left home? a. It was boring and confining. b. He wanted to walk on the wild side. c.To be free of his family’s values.
d. He was self-centered. e. He was self-destructive.
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