Contemplative Bible Reading

Luke 15:13-14 (New Living Translation)

¹³ “A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living. ¹⁴ About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve.

These verses are from what we call The Parable of the Prodigal Son. This past week I read a commentary that showed me something I had never noticed – the role of the famine in this parable.

I have never seen a famine. The closest thing that comes to mind was the dust bowl in America some 80 or 90 years ago. That only affected a part of America. Food was available everywhere else.

In this parable, the younger son was doing okay until the famine swept over the land. Then he began to starve. His wasteful living didn’t help, but the famine brought his hunger.

Again, I’ve never seen a famine. Thank you God.