For reader’s theatre
Cast of Characters
Mother: A woman in her late 50s
Eldest Daughter: The mother’s daughter in her 30s
Youngest Daughter: The mother’s daughter in her 20s
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Eldest Daughter: My sister has never really appreciated all of the things that our mother has done for us over the years. Mom has always given us everything we need, but today my sister went too far.
Youngest Daughter: OK. I just got sick of it – my mom telling me she loves me and that she has all of these hopes for me. She keeps acting like we’re a happy family when we’re not. Whatever! It was just too much. I told my mom that it was time for us to part ways forever. Since I was never coming back again, I told her I’d like my inheritance now since I won’t be around to collect it when she’s dead. I mean, she’s got more money than she’ll ever be able to spend. That’s only fair, right?
Eldest Daughter: That spoiled brat!
Mother: I considered what she asked of me, and even though it broke my heart, I decided it was best to give my youngest what she wanted. She said she felt like a prisoner even though that was never what I wanted for her.
Youngest Daughter: Wow! I knew my mom could be reasonable, but that went way better than I thought!
Eldest Daughter: Mom had always spoiled her, but this was beyond belief!
Eldest Daughter: So my ungrateful and selfish sister gathered her belongings and her newly inherited riches and set off to live it up in a distant playground for the rich and famous.
Youngest Daughter: My dreams of being free from my past and my hypocritical family were finally coming true! Goodbye!
Eldest Daughter: And good riddance!
Mother: I knew my oldest was glad to see her sister leave. They played together and loved each other when they were children, but had not gotten along for many years. It broke my heart to see how they had grown apart. My eldest thought I was wrong to give her sister the inheritance. Even though my youngest had made her intentions clear, I hoped with all my heart that she would come back to us. I prayed for her every day, just as I had when she was with me.
Youngest Daughter: I was finally free! I bought whatever I wanted, lived where I wanted, ate what I wanted. I smoked, drank, and took whatever drugs I wanted. I could afford whatever entertainment I wanted. I slept with whoever I wanted. I was sooo happy! Life was so good. I was free and having so much fun!
Eldest Daughter: I remember hearing years later that my sister’s country experienced a major recession.
Youngest Daughter: The money ran out, and my “friends” disappeared. No one would help me. I became homeless and the only job I could get was working in the city’s sewers.
Eldest Daughter: She had never been any good with money or taking care of herself. If she didn’t find someone to take care of her when the money ran out, I knew she was going to have a really hard time. It would serve her right.
Mother: I heard about the recession in my daughter’s country. I continued to pray for her.
Youngest Daughter: It got to the point where people wouldn’t even let me couch surf anymore. I smelled so bad. I was living out of my car. I had to take showers at the shelter. The money I was making wasn’t enough to pay for my food, let alone anything else I needed.
Eldest Daughter: Every day I saw my mom staring toward the horizon. I knew she was thinking about my sister. Even after several years, I was still fuming over how my sister had treated her. I couldn’t bring myself to talk to my mother about my sister for fear that I would lose my temper.
Youngest Daughter: Things were sooo bad for sooo long. Finally, I realized that my mother had entry-level employees who were living way better than me. Maybe she would take me back as her daughter. So I scrimped and saved so I could make the trip home. I came up with a nice speech about coming back as an employee that would hopefully get her to take me back. I didn’t want to be her employee, but I was desperate and would take whatever she would give me. It had to be better than this!
Mother: I was watching the sun go down one evening still hoping that my daughter would come home.
Youngest Daughter: I realized that I could make it home before nightfall if I hurried. I had run out of money and hitchhiking had only gotten me to the interstate. As I picked up my pace, I practiced what I would say to my mother so the words would come out right.
Eldest Daughter: On the evening my sister arrived home, I was in town closing a business deal. That is what I did, what I was supposed to do.
Mother: It was twilight. I saw my youngest coming toward the house. I started running toward her and tripped because of my shoes. I took them off so I could run faster to reach her.
Youngest Daughter: I saw someone running toward me. When she got close enough, I realized it was my mother. She looked like she had lost her mind. Her gray hair was out of control. She was in her bare feet, and she was hiking up her skirt. She was scraped up and dirty. Then I saw a smile and tears on face.
Mother: I hugged her so tightly. The tears of joy wouldn’t stop. I stroked her hair and laughed for joy. My Child! My Child was home!
Youngest Daughter: I tried to recite the speech I had rehearsed for her to take me back, but my mom told me that she had been hoping that I would come back even before I had left all those years ago.
Mother: I called one of my assistants and asked her to make preparations for a party to celebrate my daughter’s safe return. New clothes were on her bed waiting for her after her bath.
Eldest Daughter: When I came home, all of the lights were on, there was loud music playing, and people were eating, laughing, and dancing. I asked one of the staff what was going on, and she told me the whole story. I had never been so angry in all my life. After everything she had done, my mother welcomed my sister with open arms and threw her a party!
Then I thought about how I had been faithful to my mother both before and after my sister left. My anger shifted from my poor excuse for a sister to my sucker of a mother. She threw my selfish sister a party and had done nothing for me. My mother made my sister the spoiled brat she had become. She indulged her and gave her whatever she wanted every single time! She had made her into a selfish and self-centered bitch and was rewarding her for being that way again!
Mother: One of my staff came to let me know that my eldest had returned, but had become upset and wouldn’t join the party. I searched the grounds and found her by herself. She turned on me and vented wrath unlike anything I had ever seen. I tried to express my love for her, but she wouldn’t hear me.
Youngest Daughter: I was feeling pretty uncomfortable at the party. It made no sense to me how my mother acted as if I had never treated her badly. I didn’t feel comfortable in my own skin. When my mother left the party, I followed her. I needed to get out of there anyways. It was all too much to handle.
My mother approached my sister and I watched as she verbally attacked our mother. Her face was contorted with ugliness and spit flew out of her mouth. I could see the love in my mother’s eyes for my sister. Until that moment I had no idea who my mother really was or how much she loved me and my sister. The words coming out of my sister’s mouth were very much like my own past thoughts of my mother. I saw my own dark heart reflected in my sister’s rage as she heaped insults and obscenities upon our mother. I was beginning to understand how wrong I had been. Tears streamed down my face. I felt a painful ache in my heart that I’d never felt before.
Eldest Daughter: After I’d given my mother a piece of my mind, I had to get away from her. I never wanted to see her again!
Youngest Daughter: When my sister ran away, I went after her. I screamed her name as she disappeared around a corner. I told her I was sorry. I told her I was wrong. I begged her to come back. I don’t know if she heard me. I searched for her all night and for several days after that. I prayed with all my heart that she would come home to us. I was beginning to feel my mother’s love for me which gave me comfort, but my sister was missing, and it broke my heart not to have her in my life.
Secrets of the Story
This is a script that I developed to explore the motivations of the characters in the story of the Lost Sons told by Jesus in Luke’s Gospel (15:11-32). I changed the gender of the characters because an earlier version of this script was written for a women’s spiritual retreat led by my partner. I also enjoy changing the male characters in Jesus’s parables (which are understandable given his own historical context) into female characters whenever it can make sense to do so. I also wrote this script to play with some of the possibilities within Jesus’s original short story.
In this retelling, we see somewhat how the daughters are at war within themselves, with each other, and with their mother – even if they are unaware of their inner conflicts. The ending is partially inspired by Amy-Jill Levine’s Short Stories by Jesus, pp. 29- 76. In her book, Dr. Levine proposes the idea that the story of the Lost Children has something to do with the recognition of who is missing.
In this version, the eldest sister does not feel anything is missing when her sister is gone because of her jealousy and rage. The mother’s love for the youngest daughter creates an invitation for her to reconsider how she might have been wrong. Because she has begun to accept her mother’s love, the younger sister recognizes that her life is now incomplete without her older sister.
We are siblings of our Divine Parent. Through our way of being and living in this world we can become open invitations to the people we encounter, just as the mother’s unconditional love invites he youngest to change. We can invite people to accept the Gift of God’s Holy Love only by doing our best to live it ourselves.
We are each needed. We need each other. We are each desperately wanted by God. God knows each and every precious child through and through, and knows how lost each of us actually is.
May we each be found by Love Divine. My precious and beloved sibling, please join me in the celebration of our Heavenly Parent’s Love for each of us. May we share our love with each other and with all of our siblings now and forevermore.
