The Prodigal Pizza Place

There was a woman who had sons. At the pizza place, knowing that their mother had a small purse of silver coins, the #2 son said to his mother, “Mother, we need quarters to play games.”
So the mother divided the contents of her purse evenly among her sons.

It wasn’t long before the sons were in the game room, spending the money their mother had allotted each of them. #3 kept a tight grip on his money. #2 spent his money on a machine with a large mechanical claw-like hand which promised instant gratification, but, in truth, took his money and left him empty handed. #1 used his coins wisely and, with them, accrued small paper tickets to redeem prizes.

After the silver coins were gone and the gaming was over, the sons returned to their parents. Son #2 asked, “Mother, may we get our prizes now?” The mother, observing the results of her sons’ spending choices, said, “Sons, the only one of you who has tickets to buy prizes is your eldest brother, therefore, only he can buy something from the prize counter.” With sadness in his eyes, #2 followed his family to the prize counter, knowing that he had squandered his coins.

At the prize counter, #1—being wise and careful—spent many minutes, without a word, determining how best he could allocate his 14 orange tickets. For 5 tickets, a single piece of sugary confection could be bought. Seeing this boy to be a savvy consumer, the girl behind the prize counter allowed #1 to choose 3 sugary confections, though he only had enough for 2. With thanksgiving, #1 smiled at this special favor and graciously accepted the 3 pieces in exchange for his hard earned tickets.

On the walk from the pizza place to the car, #1 quietly offered both of his brothers a share in his prize, though they had not earned it. He allowed his brothers to choose which piece they wanted before taking the left-over piece for himself.

Seeing this beautiful act of charity, the parents of the boys were moved. The mother turned to her eldest and said, “Son, I am very proud of you. You could have kept all your candy for yourself, but you shared it with your brothers. That is exactly what Jesus would have done.” To which her eldest replied in humility and earnest:

“No, he would have given everything.”