Killing the fatted calf marks the celebration of unconfined joy
Posted in Animals, Bible, Interesting Words, Language, Religion on Thursday, 22 August 2013
This edited article about the language of the Bible originally appeared in Look and Learn issue number 381 published on 3 May 1969.
It is Michael’s twenty-first birthday. He has been away from home for the past few months, working overseas to gain experience in his job. But he has come back for this great day. A splendid party is being held, and in the course of it someone says: “This is a great party, Michael! They’ve certainly killed the fatted calf for you!”
He means, of course, that Michael’s parents have gone to a great deal of trouble and expense to provide such splendid things to eat and drink. But why, you may wonder, should he say so in this way?
For the answer, we must turn to St. Luke’s Gospel, chapter fifteen, verses 11 to 32, and read there the story of another boy who left home, many centuries ago.
This boy was restless and not very considerate. He asked if he could have right away the inheritance to which he would be entitled on his father’s death.
This request rather upset the boy’s father, but he agreed, hoping no doubt that this would make his son more content and help him to settle down. Instead of doing this, however, the boy packed his belongings, took his inheritance, and set off.
Soon he had spent every penny he had, and, to make matters worse, a great famine made food very scarce, so that it was impossible to get any even by begging. The boy did manage to find a job of sorts, minding pigs, but as he worked at that very humble task, he felt so hungry that he would gladly have eaten the food on which the pigs were fed. He began to realise how foolish he had been, and how much better off the humblest servant in his father’s house was. In the end, he set off home, ready to tell his father how sorry he was, and to ask if he could be taken back, not as a son, but as a servant.
All this time, the father had been waiting anxiously for news of his son, and when he saw the boy coming, he could not wait for him to reach the house. Instead, he ran along the road to meet him, flung his arms around him, and, before more than a few faltering words had escaped the boy’s lips, called to the servants – “Quick! A new coat for him! And some shoes! Make a feast! Kill the fatted calf! My son, whom I thought was dead, is alive again; he was lost, and is found!”
This story, or “parable,” is often called the “Parable of the Prodigal Son.”