Christian Faith: The Basics, Part 24

We've been talking about what it means to speak of "God the Father" and have been taking cues from what is probably Jesus' most famous parable, that of the Prodigal Son.

In yesterday's post, we said that the father in Jesus' story, representative of God the Father, lavishes blessings on his undeserving children. The parable tells us that this is what God does for us through Christ.

Here's a second thing that Jesus' story tells us: God the Father isn't overly concerned with His dignity.

Yes, God is to be reverenced above everything and anything. But God isn't afraid to cast aside propriety in order to pursue His passionate mission.

That mission, quite simply, is to woo His rebel children back into a relationship with Him. In Jesus' parable, the father, grateful for the return of his formerly rebellious boy, is then upbraided by the older son. How could he be so forgiving? the older son wonders. Undaunted, the father literally begs this son to join the party going on inside.

I'll have more to say on the significance of the older brother in a later post. The point to focus on at this point, though, is how heedless the father, our Father, is of things like dignity or of what the others might think. He's bound to love and welcome his children no matter what! So long as we're willing to turn away from sin (repent) and turn to Him, He is always ready to receive us.

No self-respecting Semitic father would have done what the father in Jesus' tale does. Lets' consider briefly what he does.

• First, contrary to the customs of first-century Judea where Jesus tells this story for the first time, he gives the younger son an inheritance.
• Next, he gives the inheritance even though this kid is unworthy of it.
• Then, after he's gotten reports that the son has wasted everything on prostitutes and loose living, he still yearns for the son's return. One can picture him anxiously scanning the horizon all the time for any sign of the boy's return.
• When the younger boy does return, the father lays all thoughts of dignity aside. He runs out to greet the boy and squeeze him in a bear hug long before the boy can even apologize.
• Then the father throws a party for the boy!
• And when the older son, filled with rectitude and indignation, learns that his father is throwing a party for the younger son, who he refuses to acknowledge as "my brother," he stands outside his father's house. But unwilling to give up on this goodie two-shoes, the father comes out and begs the older boy to come inside too.

This is the perfect representation of the God Who casts dignity aside out of consideration of His love for us. He's so anxious to call us back to Himself that He becomes one of us, dies on a cross for us, and rises among us to give all with faith in Him new life!

In fact, many people recoil in horror at such a picture of God. My late seminary mentor, Bruce Schein, served for twelve years as pastor of Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in Jerusalem. Some of the members of his congregation were Palestinians and often, he said, when those Palestinian-Christians tried to tell their Muslim friends and family about Christ, they couldn't get past their revulsion against a God Who would willingly and voluntarily make Himself weak to win us.

But it isn't just Muslims who obsess on this business of dignity and God. A man I know used to deride his daughter's faith, particularly whenever she wore a chain around her neck with a cross attached to it. "Don't you know what that means?" he would ask her. "It's the symbol of a God Who refused to be strong." The cross does symbolize a God Who refuses to force faith upon us, but lovingly woos us back to Him, even begging us to be with Him.

The God proclaimed by the Bible always arouses mixed reactions and it always will. Speaking of the reactions of many of his fellow Jews and of many non-Jews (referred to as Greeks or Gentiles) to Jesus' cross, the instrument by which God wins those with faith in Christ back to Him, the first-century preacher Paul writes:

...the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (First Corinthians 1:18)

God the Father lays what we call dignity aside and begs to surrender to the Savior Who died on a cross. He will not force us to follow. But when we do follow Christ, a celebration will begin that lasts for all eternity!