The story of the prodigal son has always been one that has spoken to me. I find so much in it... there is such depth for such a short story.
From Wikipedia:
The Prodigal Son, also known as the Lost Son, is one of the best known parables of Jesus. It appears only in the Gospel of Luke in the New Testament of the Bible.
The story is found in Luke 15:11-32. Jesus tells the story of a man who has two sons. The younger demands his share of his inheritance while his father is still living, and goes off to a distant country where he "waste[s] his substance with riotous living" and eventually has to take work as a swineherd (clearly a low point, since swine are unclean in Judaism). There he comes to his senses and decides to return home and throw himself on his father's mercy, thinking that even if his father does disown him, being one of his servants is still far better than feeding pigs. But when he returns home, his father greets him with open arms and hardly gives him a chance to express his repentance. He kills a fatted calf to celebrate his return. The older brother resents the favored treatment of his faithless brother and complains of the lack of reward for his own faithfulness. But the father responds:
'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 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.'
Apparently I am not the only one who finds much in this story...
Artists of many genres keep returning to this story for inspiration, each one making something from the story their own:
Rembrandt's Return of the Prodigal Son:
John Wilkins playing his father's blues version (which was covered by the Rolling Stones)
It's become part of pub culture:
Rover- Irish Folk Tune:
I've been a wild rover for many's the year,
and I spent all me money on whiskey and beer.
And now I'm returning with gold in great store,
and I never will play the wild rover no more.
(Chorus):
And it's no, nay, never! No, nay, never, no more,
will I play the wild rover. No (nay) never no more!
I went to an alehouse I used to frequent,
and I told the landlady me money was spent.
I asked her for credit, she answered me "nay,
such a custom as yours I could have any day".
(Chorus)
I pulled from me pocket a handful of gold,
and on the round table it glittered and rolled.
She said "I have whiskeys and wines of the best,
and the words that I told you were only in jest".
(Chorus)
I'll have none of your whiskeys nor fine Spanish wines,
For your words show you clearly as no friend of mine.
There's others most willing to open a door,
To a man coming home from a far distant shore.
(Chorus)
I'll go home to me parents, confess what I've done,
and I'll ask them to pardon their prodigal son.
And if they forgive me as oft times before,
I never will play the wild rover no more.
There was a 1929 ballet choreographed by George Balanchine to music written by Sergei Prokofiev.
Bad Religion's "Prodigal Son"- more from the perpective of the faithful son:
Bono draws from this parable for "The First Time":
There are hundreds more examples that I could post... it seems that this story strikes at something for us as humans... forgiveness, reconciliation, coming home.
Please feel free to add your own favorite representations of "The Prodigal Son" in the comments!