WITH: A Parable

Author:  Quentin Clark

Main Characters

Pop
A man of much talent in fatherhood and in business.  He has two grown sons.  His wife passed away in childbirth leaving him to raise the boys.  He's managed the family business, a ranching operation, since he was a young man. 

Ben
The older son.  He's his father's right-hand-man and obvious heir to the family business.

Jake
The young son.  He has little interest in the family business, but enjoys the wealth and status of his father's position. 

INTRO

It's early, Pop and Ben are at the kitchen table with the ranch foreman eating breakfast.  Pop stares out the window to where the driveway would be visible if the sun was up.

Ben:  What are you looking at, Pop?

Pop:  Nothing.  Just thinking.

Ben:  He ain't coming back.

The foreman gets up and excuses himself with a nod to Pop on the way out the door. 

Ben:  He's probably dead by now.  You heard what the Mason boy said.  He seen him in Vegas with strippers and hookers and hanger-on all around him.  He said he looked like he'd been up for days.  Probably on drugs.  Dead or not, he's dead to me for what he done to you. 

Pop stares out the window.

Ben:  How could you give him his portion of the ranch now?  He asked for his inheritance before you were even died!  He was all but saying he wished you were dead!

Pop:  We've been through this.  I thought giving him his part of the ranch would make him happy and draw us closer together.  He's a good man.  He may not always know it or act like it, but he is.  I figured if he owned those three sections, he'd take more of an interest in the ranch. 

Ben:  He took an interest alright!  An interest in how quickly he could sell it! 

Pop continues to stare as the sun just begins to light up the long driveway that disappears over the hill a half-mile or so away.

Ben:  He ain't coming back.  It's been over a year!  He's gone.  He probably dead.

SCENE 1

Pop and a group of ranch hands are working on a fence. 

Pop glances down the driveway every minute or so. 

Pop:  Buddy!  you got that post out of line.  Back it up a little and put a level on it.  No.  The other way.  There.  Now put the level on it. 

Pop glances down the driveway again, and turns at the sight of a cloud of dust.  He squints into the sun as a beat up Ford makes its way up the drive.  The truck pulls up and stops. 

Ben (from inside the truck):  You look like you seen a ghost. 

Pop:  What are you doing in Jake's truck? 

Ben:  I couldn't stand to see it rotting away over there on Jake's sections.  Well, not Jake's, but the Howard's now.  Mr. Howard said I could have it, but I wouldn't just take it.  I gave him a $1000 for it.  You got a lot of good use out of this truck.  You remember that time I drove it through the back of the barn.  I thought I was hitting the brake, but I just slammed on the gas. 

Ben roars with laughter and Pop smiles at the memory.

Pop:  You come close to running right through the garden before you finally found the brake.  You should have seen the look on your face.  And Jake was just laughing the whole time from the passenger seat.

Ben:  Well.  It's good to have it back. 

Pop:  I'm not sure it was Mr. Howard's to sell. 

Ben:  Mr. Howard asked Jake about it, and Jake told him he could have it.  He said Jake hollered, "Pink slip is in the glove box!" and drove off in his new Mercedes. 

Pop:  Well, what are you going to do with it? 

Ben: I figure I'll head up the mountain and bring the herd back down. 

Pop:  Take Buddy with you.  He ain't much for building fence, but he sure can bring the herd in. 

Buddy hops in the passenger seat with a big smile on his face, and Ben drives away. 

Pop looks down the drive again and puts a level on the post Buddy was trying to set. 

Another ranch hand comes over and helps. 

Pop:  Thanks, Sam. 

As Pop turns and looks down the drive, he spots a man walking.

Pop:  Sam!  Run inside and fetch a pair of jeans, a shirt, and my good boots from my closet!

Pop takes off running! 

Sam (to a nearby hand):  I ain't never seen Pop run!

SCENE 2

Jake hangs his head as his dad runs toward him.  Pop is out of breath and struggling,  but he keeps running. 

Jake:  Pop, I'm sorry.  He falls down to his knees.  I never should have treated you that way.  I never should have sold my part of the ranch!  I never should have asked for it!  I shouldn't have run off and blown all that money you worked so hard for!  I failed you!  I failed the family!  I failed the God you taught me to honor!  I want to come back and work for you.  You don't even have to pay me.  I'll do it for room and board.  Sleep out in the bunk.  Or the barn.  I don't care. 

Winded and smiling from ear to ear.  Pop grabs Jake and kisses his cheek and forehead.  He wraps him in a giant hug, and pulls him up to his feet.

Pop:  Can it be?  The thing I have prayed for for over a year?  The prodigal come home?  What a sight?  The image of you here and now back home.  My cup runneth over! 

Jake:  Pop.  I'm so sorry.  I'm just,,,so sorry. 

Pop:  You are here.  WITH us.  That is what matters. 

Sam pulls up and hands the clothes to Pop.  Brand new pair of Lucchese boots in crocodile leather, starched Ariat shirt, and starched Wranglers. 

Pop:  Here Jake.  Hop in the truck and change into these.  You're filthy! 

Jake just stand and stares at Pop, but Pop hardly notices.

Pop:  Sam!  Run over and get Frank.  Have him get the barn ready for a dance.  We rent that thing out all the time, and we haven't ever used it for ourselves.  It's high time we did.  What's the name of that steer we've been saving to eat on Easter? 

Sam:  T-Bone.

Pop:  Yeah, T-Bone.  Get Jimmy on the phone to come slaughter T-Bone and get him cut up for barbecue tonight.  And, Sam, get Cookie to get the grill and smoker ready for all  that meat. 

Sam:  Who all you inviting over?

Pop:  The whole valley, of course.  Just call Miss Rita.  Tell her Jake's home, and we're having a party.  Tell her I asked if she would call everybody and get them here around sundown. 

Pop:  Jake.  What are you doing? 

Jake:  Uh.

Pop:  Go on.  Get dressed. 

SCENE 3

It's dark, but light spills from the barn as do music and laughter. 

Ben pulls up in Jake's old truck with Buddy. 

Sam is walking toward the barn with his arms full. 

Ben:  Sam!  What in tarnation is going on here? 

Sam:  Your brother!  Jake!  He's home!

Sam heads inside

Ben:  Buddy!  Can you believe this?  I ain't never had a dance here.  I ain't never had a party here.  Jake the Land Grabber comes home, and we throw the biggest party the valley's every seen.  I'm going to bed.

Pop pokes his head out of the barn.

Pop:  Ben!  Come on!  Jake's home!  Come see! 

Ben turns and walks toward the house.

Pop comes out.

Pop:  Ben, what are you doing?

Ben:  Going to bed.  I've been working all day.  I'm tired.  I'm going to sleep.

Pop:  But Ben, your brother.

Ben:  Is dead to me.

Pop:  Don't say that. 

Ben:  How can you celebrate that selfish jerk who squandered everything we've worked for?

Pop:  He's my son.

Ben: Look, Pop, I've worked every day for you.  I've never disobeyed you.  I've given you everything I have.  For what?  Room and board?  You've never let me throw a party.  I've never got to use the barn for a dance.  I've never so much as been given a scraggly calf to barbecue with my friends.

Pop:  But, Ben.  You have always been WITH me.  Don't you see?  None of the rest of this matters.  It's just a way we can be together.  Everything I have is yours anyways.  How could I not celebrate?  Your brother--my son--was dead and now he's alive.  He was lost out there.  Now he's found.  He's WITH us. 

END

The Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15: 11-32) is the story of WITH.  Why else would a father respond to a request for the inheritance by splitting his property unless he was trying to communicate that WITH is more important than STUFF?  When the older brother came complaining about the celebration and demanding to know where his reward was, the father says, "My son, you are always with me."  WITH is the great reward that the father had to give his sons.  Both sons would trade son-ship to be slaves.  The prodigal son asks to be a slave out of guilt and shame after he sacrifice WITH for STUFF.  The older son makes himself a slave when he equates his position with heir of STUFF that he isn't getting, rather than recognizing that the gift of WITH is readily available and infinitely more valuable. 

Jesus simply invites us to come WITH Him.  Forget what you think you know about what God wants from you.  Forget what you think you have to do to earn His favor.  Because it's all rubbish!  WITH is the essence of what God is offering and asking of us.  He is simply saying, "Come WITH me."  It's there in Genesis 1-3 as God walked WITH Adam and Eve in the garden.  It's there in the Prodigal story.  It's there in the Gospels as God comes WITH us in the flesh as Jesus Christ.  It's there in Acts as the Holy Spirit is poured out on those who believe as God comes WITH us in the form of the Holy Spirit.  It's there in Revelation 22. 

The Spirit and the Bride say, "Come."  And let the one who hears say, "Come."  Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes to take the free gift of the water of life.  (Revelation 22:17) 

It's a simple request that requires a simple response.  He says, "Come."  And we come.  There's a million ways to say it, but it all comes down to WITH. 

Won't you come WITH Him. 

Humbly,
Q