The Mind of Brian

I was translating an excerpt of Helmut Thielicke’s writing on the parable of the prodigial son. It was longer than I was hoping (usually they are 1-2 pages, this is 3), but I enjoyed it. Why? Read this wrong translation (there might be a few errors and I might have taken some liberty with it, but it’s my best efforts right now:)

“But Jesus wants to show us that he is precisely different and that a complete release should be given to us. “You are in the right,” he says, “you were lost, when you looked on yourself. Then who has not lied, murdered, committed adultery? In whom does that not lie as a lurking thought in the heart? You are in the right, if you acknowledge yourself as lost. But see: now something has happened, which you would have never been able to do in your heart, which is simply prepared for you. Now is the kingdom of God in your midst, now the Father’s home is opened wide. And I—I am the door, I am the way, I am the life, I am the hand of the Father. Who sees me, sees the Father. And what then do you see, if you see me? You see someone who has come to you in the depths, whereas you could not go up to the heavens. You see that God has thus loved the world that he gave into this depth me, his son, that he let it cost something to himself, to help you, that it came through the pain of God, that God must undertake something against himself, in order to deal with your guilt, in order to take the abyss between you and me seriously and, nevertheless span it. You see all that, when you look at me!”

What a gem!