“…While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him.” – Luke 15:20

Most people are familiar with “The Parable of the Prodigal Son” or “The Parable of the Lost Son”. It is a story chosen by Jesus to illustrate the mind of God at the redemption of even one of His children. As a good friend pointed out to me once, it is strange we title the story after the lost son, when the point of the story is, in fact, the Emotional God. In the parable we learn that God Himself sometimes acts on simple emotion, the best kind.

In Luke 15:25 we discover that the Father of the lost son celebrates his return with music and dancing. This kind of image of God was shocking to the religious of the time. First of all, most people’s initial reaction to a “lost son” returning is to criticize and “rub their noses” in their mistakes. Second, such displays of emotion, with the Father “running” to his son and then throwing a loud party would have seemed quite inappropriate to the culture since “that’s what pagans did”.

In this story, the Father greets his son with a completely clean emotional plate. The Father, after all the son did, immediately offers his son a guilt-free warm and loving reception. Here Jesus Christ tells us that God’s reason for offering redemption is His pure emotional desire to have us return. It is reassuring to think of God as an emotional being. It is even more reassuring to know His conduct toward us is often based out of simple (yet powerful) emotions such as hope and love.

The other beautiful aspect of the story is the nature of freewill. When the son makes up his mind to leave, (and screw up his life), the Father offers no resistance whatsoever. It is a sobering look at how selfless the love of God really is. Despite the pain we cause God by our own decisions, God does not try to control or force us to do anything. He simply waits on the front porch, gazing into the distance, waiting for us to return and greet us with a giant bear hug… apparently He also throws pretty wild parties too. One of the tenets for Christian Mysticism is that understanding and enlightenment cannot be attained through study or the intellect alone. The concept of God doing something from an emotional motivation, rather than an intellectual one, reinforces the need to pursue and emotional connection with God. I hear a lot of talk about “world-views” and trying to construct an intellectual perspective that “matches up” with God. What about learning to FEEL the way God feels about others? What about learning to FEEL about ourselves the way God feels about us?

BTW, to read the whole story of “The Lost Son”, and give yourself a refresher, it starts at Luke 15:11

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