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What Is God Like? A Look At The Parable Of The Prodigal Son.
Author : stefan jagoe
What if I asked you to draw a picture of God. What would you draw?
Would it be the typical white-haired, white-bearded guy with the long white robe and sandals? Kinda like Santa in a bath robe?
Would he be a king on a throne with angels flying around in circles for some reason?
Would he be wearing shades and a light blue t-shirt with white pants, having a lite beer at the corner bar?
Would he even he even be a he? Would "she" even be a being, or rather just a "directing force" for lack of any better words?
Feel free to draw your images of God on the wall in the youth media room. I’d love to see them.
Well, as I grow older and begin to step back from all the preconceived notions I’ve had of God over the years, as I begin to let her out of the box, I find that the God I used to picture as a child - the white beard and sandals guy - is nothing near my current image of God. In fact, when I think of the one who created and sustains this big ball of confusion, beauty, chaos, love, and conflict, I don’t see a face at all. I see, well, an idea, a philosophy, a thought, or a presence. I picture something/someone/him/her/it/may-the-force-be-with-you that no longer fits in the box given to me by childhood understanding of God. And yet it is still as a child that I approach God, it is with the mind of a child that I seek to learn more about her plan, her thoughts, her great love for creating. It is what a priest name Richard Rohr and others call the beginners mind.
One of the major themes of this season of Lent is penitence, which is the conscious act of seeking out new and better ways to live as close as we can to our understanding of what God expects of us. But to do that, it would certainly be helpful to know what God was like, huh? But not so much what she looks like, but how she thinks, feels, and does business.
Well look no further than the Gospel lesson for this Sunday. If you happen to read this before Sunday morning church, pay close attention to Libby when she reads from the Gospel book. If you are reading this after all that, then read the lesson in the 15th chapter of the Gospel of Luke. The story that Jesus tells there is commonly known as the parable (stories used to illustrate a point) of the Prodigal Son. If there is any story in the bible that tells us what God is like, it is this one.
Now I am going to assume that some of you may already know the story, and I am going to hope that the rest of you take the time to read it for yourself - in fact here’s a link to it. And so I’m going to just give you the highlights.
A man has two sons, very different from each other. Like lots of sons are. And so one of them, although he has been promised an inheritance from his father when his much older, decides that he can’t wait that long and insists that dad give him his share now, because he has decided to set out on his own.
And so the father gives it to him. It was, after all, rightfully his, although dad sure would have like to have seen him save it for college or something. But what was dad going to do? Tie him to a chair? What kind of dad would that be? So he watches his son head out of the house and down the road to what was certain to be complete and total failure.
Act two: Dad was right. The son went through the cash and jewels and stuff rather quickly. Some of it he simply blew on stupid stuff, some on illegal stuff, and some he got scammed out of. Anyhoo, he suddenly realized that, although he didn’t always agree with his dad on everything, and sometimes his brother was a pain in the donkey, he had a pretty sweet life. And now? He was homeless. He found work and some crappy place and made just enough money to eat and stay alive.
Meanwhile, dad had never stopped loving his son, and always hoped that he would someday return. In fact, he often walked down the road a little in the evenings, just in case his son was headed home, and he could be there to welcome him. He never disowned him, or “moved on” with his life. He simply waited and stayed ready to accept him back into the family.
Well, one day, the father’s wish came true. He saw his son coming up the road toward the house, ragged and tired looking. He ran from the house to meet his son on the road and threw his arms around him. And despite his son saying stuff like “I don’t deserve to be your son anymore”, the father has this huge party and invites all his friends and says ‘hey, look who’s back! Is this awesome or what?’
A relationship with God isn’t about rules and regulations and having all your freedoms taken away; it is about being truly free. It is about living your life to the fullest, not just in the moment; and it’s about being free to become everything that you’ve always wanted to be, not having to following some mold that’s been set for you by what you’ve read and seen. And this God, the one that many of your friends will say that you have to totally fear or you will find yourself on the express train to hell, this God is willing to allow for your screw ups and imperfections and not-good-enoughs and still offer to show you what life and living and purpose and meaning thing is all about.
And if you find yourself out too late, broke, and among people that you don’t think have your best interest in mind, it’s OK. Just make your way back home. You’ll see.
He’ll leave the light on for you.
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