The prodigal son

In Luke 15 Jesus tells of a younger son who asked his father for his share of the estate. By Israelite law the elder son received a double portion, so the younger could expect about a third. In a distant country he “squandered his wealth in wild living”. When famine came, he was hired to feed pigs — for a Jew about the lowest work there was, since pigs were unclean animals and were not raised by Jews — and longed to eat “the pods the pigs were eating”, most likely the pods of the carob tree, fed to animals and eaten by the very poor. He went home to ask to be a hired servant, but his father ran to meet him, gave him the best robe, a ring and sandals, and had the fattened calf killed for a feast.

“Prodigal” is an old word for wasteful; the BSB itself says “squandered”. Today “a prodigal son” or daughter is someone who leaves home or a group, wastes money or chances, and later comes back. “The return of the prodigal” is said of any welcome homecoming — even of a player returning to an old club.