Jeff Becker
About sixty years ago a Bible scholar and translator by the name of J. B. Phillips made the observation that for the majority of Christians, their 'God was too small.' He was not wishing to indicate something about God in some mechanical way, but was rather endeavoring to say something about our reduction of his greatness in the theological sense. For centuries, the church had managed to put God in a box. They formulated conceptions of Him which limited people’s thinking about Him. As it was, Nietschze was in one sense correct when he pronounced that 'God is dead.' If God were 'dead,' it would not be a stretch to say it was because the church had killed Him! In his parable, which has come to be known as 'The Prodigal Son,' Jesus obliterates the more diminutive conception of God’s greatness, specifically in terms of the boundlessness of his grace. It was quite the revelation, especially to Jesus’ religious opponents. As you read this parable and what I have to say about it, the question will be, with whom do you most readily and accurately identify, with the younger son, the older son, or with the father, and with reference to the latter, with his own 'Prodigal Love'? That’s the question we must answer if we would respond to J. B. Phillips’ challenge. And it will tell us everything we need to know as to whether God is both large and alive in us!
