What are you portraying?

Jesus knows that most people base what they think about God on His representatives. In that day, people viewed God based on how the Pharisees and teachers lived and behaved. Think about it: Our interactions with employees shape our view of a company. I mean, if you walk into Target and a sales representative is rude and cusses at you, you’re not going to be happy. You might complain to him personally, but more likely, you or your parents are going to say, “I’d like to speak to the manager, please.”

That’s what’s behind Jesus’s challenge to these Pharisees. These older brothers lived and worked in the Father’s house. They told the people how to follow the Father. Jesus knew the people were looking to them as a reference point of what the Father is like. And He knew there were a lot of older brothers totally misrepresenting the heart of God. (There still are.) These older bros were portraying God as a Father who is unreasonable, unpleasable, uncaring, and unmerciful. And it’s often the older brothers’ portrayal of God that sends prodigals to the Distant Country in the first place.

But that’s not the kind of Father Jesus described.—AHA Student Edition electronic edition