Being A Good NeighborSample

Who God Is

In the Gospels we find that every time Jesus mentioned God, except once, He referred to Him as Father. These days it’s a common thing for us to call God “Father”. But back then this idea of having God as a Father was foreign to the Jews–it was a whole new concept for them. Jesus revealed the Father as someone who could be in your life.

In Luke 15:17-20, after squandering his father’s inheritance and being hired to feed pigs, the prodigal son comes back to his senses and says, “My dad’s workers eat better than this.” He is saying his father was a good man who treated his workers well. He starts his journey back home, practicing in his mind what he would say, wondering how his dad would receive him.

In those times the patriarch of the family never ran. Kids ran, but the father never ran because he would have to pick up his clothes and show his legs, which was disrespectful. But Jesus says that when this father saw his son, he ran to him. Jesus is showing that the father is breaking all the rules here! “You think these rules of respect are important,” Jesus is saying, “but our Father loves, cares, embraces, hugs and kisses us, and runs after us.”

The father embraces the prodigal son and kisses him. Do you know the best part? The son hadn’t even expressed his repentance to him yet. The kiss wasn’t based on words of repentance, it was based on the father’s love for his son. If you are a prodigal son and you are lost, or you know someone who is, you know what sin is. If all of a sudden you feel God’s love, receive it.

This parable is the perfect example of that. The son was lost, messing up. He came back to his senses and was practicing in his mind what to say, but the father embraced and kissed him before he even opened his mouth. Isn’t that beautiful? That is so awesome! Jesus is saying, “I want you to know that God is a Father who loves and cares, and He chases after you.”

It sounds to me like the Lord loves us always. Even when we don’t deserve it and are living in rebellion or sin! God says, “I’m chasing after you. I want to give you a kiss.”