"What Does God Look Like?"

Now the tax collectors and "sinners" were all gathering around to hear him. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them." Then Jesus told them this parable: "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.' I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.” (Luke 15:1-7 NIV).

I heard a great story the other day of the mother who notices her four-year-old daughter creeping into her baby brother’s room where he lies sleeping. Curious, the mother watches as the girl whispers to her baby brother, “What does God look like? I forgot.” It’s easy to forget sometimes. Jesus had a solution to that. We call them parables. They really are pictures of his heavenly Father. They are earthly stories with heavenly meanings, each one a snapshot to remind us what God is like. One such snapshot is called “the Parable of the Lost Sheep.” I have recorded it for you in our reading today.

The parable is really humorous in some ways. Jesus was like that. He would tell the story in such a way as to teach a significant principle about the character of the Heaven Father, but it would always both inspire and inform. I always come away from the parables with a smile in my heart and on my face. Here’s the story. “This man receives sinners,” the Pharisees grumped, “and eats with them.” By the way, most legalists are grumpy! He uses this fact to answer a very important question. After all, why did Jesus hang around with sinners? Well, the truth was pretty simple. Just like a doctor cannot fix a broken leg from across the street. God cannot fix human sinfulness from across the sky. You have to go where the need is.

The first message of grace is the incarnation of Jesus Christ. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us,” writes John (1:14). We are lost, and God comes to find us in the person of his Son. The Creator stoops to our level in order to redeem us. In the same way Jesus eats with sinners in order to redeem them. This parable ends on a joyous note. Everyone is happy except the Pharisees, who grumble: “This man receives sinners, and eats with them.” Of course he does. Where else would He be? That’s why He came!

Today, if you’re wondering what God looks like, let me remind you that he has a “yes face” and a beaming smile when he finds you. To find Him again whisper His name and He’ll show up right next to you with His arms open wide to gather you to Himself!