It might be said of Thielicke’s preaching of the parables, he does not throw sticks of dynamite, but sets little time bombs which explode, sometimes in unexpected ways, in the minds and hearts of those who hear him.
Thomas G. Long cites Clarence Jordan, paraphraser of the “Cotton Patch” version of the New Testament, saying: “When Jesus delivered His parables, He lit a stick of dynamite [and] covered it with a story.”[1] It might be said of Thielicke’s preaching of the parables, he does not throw sticks of dynamite, but sets little time bombs which explode, sometimes in unexpected ways, in the minds and hearts of those who hear him.
Gathered under the title, The Waiting Father: Sermons on the Parables of Jesus, the book derives its name from two sermons, out of Luke 15:11-24 and 25-32, on the parable of the Prodigal Son. The first sermon proceeds from the perspective of the younger son, the rebel turned repentant, while the second sermon focuses on elder son. However, both sermons are united in centering the proclamation, not in the attitudes or actions of the brothers, but in the long-suffering of the father whose heart was never closed to either of his sons.
The parables of Jesus are neither doctrinal allegories, nor are they moralistic calls for the hearers to imitate the actors in the story. Rather, Thielicke aims for us to see ourselves in the parable. So, he begins his sermon on Luke 15:11-24 by recounting an episode from his own son’s early childhood. He positions the little boy before a large mirror. The child sees an image reflected in the mirror. Then, he is suddenly elated when he recognizes the image is of himself.[2] God intends for us to see ourselves in the parables. We are not observers looking in on a story unfolding about someone else:
“For as long as we fail to recognize ourselves in these people, we fail to recognize the Lord.”[3]
How do we show up? As the renegade son brought to repentance or as the law-loving good brother who was obedient to his father? In the case of both sons, Thielicke narrates the interior reasoning of the old Adam. With the younger son, it is the false belief that real freedom lies in independence from the father’s household. He says:
“The son has a dreadful fear that he will not taste life to the full, that he may miss something.”[4]
There are echoes here of Genesis 3, where Eve covets deity (to paraphrase Luther), thinking God was holding some good back from her. The sermon, though, does not lose focus on the Father as Thielicke paints the pathos of the Father’s undying love:
“Then, wordless, the Father watches the departing son.”[5]
The younger son sought autonomy, but he ends in the most unsatisfying and degrading form of bondage:
“He is bound to his homesickness, so he must amuse himself. He is bound to urges, so he must satisfy them. He is bound to a grand style of living and there he cannot let it go. He would be prepared to lie and cheat and disregard every good resolution, so spellbound is he by his standard of living.”[6]
Caught in a trap from which he cannot free himself, he can only repent:
“Father, I have no claim on you whatsoever.”[7]
Thielicke then goes on to articulate the Gospel. Christ crucified gives access to the open heart and home of the Father:
“The ultimate theme of this story, therefore, is not the prodigal son, but the Father who finds us. The ultimate theme is not the faithlessness of men, but the faithfulness of God.”[8]
The ultimate theme of this story, therefore, is not the prodigal son, but the Father who finds us.-Helmut Thielicke
In the second sermon (Luke 15:25-32), Thielicke would have the hearer see himself in the older son, who outwardly remained at home even though his heart was far from the father’s house. Thielicke portrays a type of captivity here as well. The elder brother lives what he thinks to be an unexciting and drab life, devoid of adventure for the sake of conformity to his father’s expectations. For this son:
“There are no festivals in this life, but only tedious, tiresome, though highly serious monotony.”[9]
When his older brother comes home, there is no rejoicing, only accusation and resentment in the face of the father’s extravagant welcome. For the older brother:
“The wonder of forgiveness has become a banality.”[10]
What happens to the elder brother? Does he come to see and rejoice in the goodness of his father, a generosity which never excluded him, or does he remain sulking in his self-righteousness? Jesus leaves the story open and unfinished. Thielicke, though, offers this striking promise-laden conclusion to the sermon:
“What a wretched thing it is to call oneself a Christian, and yet be a stranger and grumbling servant in the Father’s house. And what a glorious thing it is to become aware every day anew of the miracle that there is Someone who wonderfully sets everything to rights and finds a way out for us when all we can do is to wear ourselves out with worry. Someone who one day, when our last hour comes and we go to the eternal home of the Father, will lead us to the place where we may speak with Jesus forever and ever and where we shall be surrounded by that joy which here we have only begun to taste.”[11]
In a sermon on the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31), Thielicke also aims to locate the hearer in the story. He wants the hearers to not so much identify with either the rich man or Lazarus, but the five brothers who now stand on the borderline between Heaven and Hell. The rich man foolishly pleads with Abraham to be granted a furlough from Hell and return to warn his surviving brothers. The punch line of the parable comes in the final verse: If they do not hear Moses and the prophets they will not be convinced by a resurrection from the dead (Luke 16:31). Again, for Thielicke, the parable is not about the geography of Heaven and Hades, neither is it a moralistic call for more humane treatment of the poor. Rather, the parable is an exposition of God’s work “sub contario,” under opposites. The rich man has all the appearances of blessedness. It seems he is one who has found favor with God, as is evidenced by his wealth. Lazarus, on the other hand, must be under a curse, for he suffers disease and poverty. Yet, the opposite is true. Underneath his misery, Lazarus is the man who has received mercy in the great reversal brought about by Christ Jesus. Thielicke observes how the key to understanding this parable is found in the speech of Abraham. Neither poverty nor wealth determine ones standing before God, but the hearing of God’s Word from Moses and the prophets.
“It all depends upon ones identifying oneself with one of the five brothers and taking a right attitude toward the Word of God. This is the point of the story. Only as we start with this point will the story be unlocked.”[12]
Thielicke is especially apt in accenting the “sub contario” nature of God’s work in his preaching on the parables. For example, in his sermon on Luke 8:4-15 (the sower and the seed), Thielicke lingers over the apparent fate of the Word of God, as so much of the seed appears wasted, choked out by the weeds of human worry or contradicted by the Devil. Yet, in “the quiet fields, far more is happening than at the great crossroads, where read and green traffic lights flash their busy signals.”[13] The seed which finds its way into the fertile soil yields a harvest in unexpected places. In a similar way, in a sermon on the parable of the mustard seed (Matthew 13:31-33), Thielicke notes how God uses the seemingly insignificant to bring about His Kingdom, which will endure when royal dynasties collapse and proud empires crumble.
Again, we see this “sub contario” aspect in Thielicke’s work on the parable of the Pharisee and the publican (Luke 18:9-14). Here, the Pharisee appears to be the holy person, the man whose life is marked by piety and integrity, and the tax collector is nothing but a common swindler. But Thielicke does not move too quickly to characterize the Pharisee as the villain and the tax collector as the victim. He says:
“We see this story has its depths. It is not all a simple thing to understand the judgment Jesus makes. So, the best thing to do is to ask how these two men arrived at their self-knowledge and their different confessions. And the fact is this is where we hit upon the salient point.”[14]
Likewise, Thielicke does not moralize or sentimentalize the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) but makes the point that Jesus Himself, the One who was judged by priests and Levites to be outside God’s Law, is actually the One who fulfills it by making Himself neighbor in our neediness. Only then can we move to answer the question: “To whom am I a neighbor?”[15]
Likewise, Thielicke does not moralize or sentimentalize the parable of the Good Samaritan but makes the point that Jesus Himself, the One who was judged by priests and Levites to be outside God’s Law, is actually the One who fulfills it by making Himself neighbor in our neediness.
Preaching on the parable of the dishonest steward (Luke 16:1-9), a text that has often put preachers in a quandary as they attempt to explain why the Lord of justice would commend a crook, Thielicke reminds his hearers:
“In all the parables of Jesus one must find the salient point, and they by no means may be interpreted as moral-example stories. This would certainly lead one up a blind alley.”[16]
Rather than getting sidetracked by the details of the parable, Thielicke urges hearers to latch on to the point that Jesus is making in the parable. In the case of this parable, Thielicke forcefully makes the point in the last paragraph of the sermon:
“Let us, therefore, hallow the unrighteous mammon not by the use we make of it as a god, an idol, but a servant.”
He then comes to this abrupt but forceful conclusion:
“Our pocketbooks can have more to do with Heaven, and also with Hell than our hymnbooks. He who has hears to hear, let him hear!”[17]
Thielicke’s preaching of the parables recognizes they are proclamations of the King, and they have to do with His Kingdom. They demonstrate God’s judgment and grace. They reflect both God’s alien and proper work. The Lord who speaks in parables is the Savior who came to seek and save the lost by His vicarious suffering and His victorious resurrection from the dead. In other words, Christology is always in, with, and under the parables, even if there is no explicit mention of the incarnation, atonement, or resurrection of Jesus. In the parables, Jesus proclaims He is God with us in the midst of a world of despair and death. He calls us out of the dark house ruled by the Devil into the bright sunshine and fresh air of the Spirit. Repentance becomes the occasion for joy:
“Whenever the New Testament speaks of repentance, always great joy is in the background. It does not say, ‘Repent, or Hell will swallow you up.’ But ‘Repent, the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”[18]
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[1] Thomas G. Long. Proclaiming the Parables. Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 2024. xi.
[2] The American homiletics professor, Eugene Lowry, uses this as an example of how Thielicke “upsets the equilibrium” of his hearers by means of a story which does not have a direct connection with the biblical text. See Thomas Lowry. The Homiletical Plot: The Sermon as Narrative Art Form. Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 2001. 33.
[3] Helmut Thielicke. The Waiting Father: Sermons on the Parables of Jesus, trans. John W. Doberstein. New York: Harper & Row, 1959. 18.
[4] Thielicke. The Waiting Father. 20.
[5] Thielicke. The Waiting Father. 22.
[6] Thielicke. The Waiting Father. 25.
[7] Thielicke. The Waiting Father. 27.
[8] Thielicke. The Waiting Father. 29.
[9] Thielicke. The Waiting Father. 33.
[10] Thielicke. The Waiting Father. 34.
[11] Thielicke. The Waiting Father. 40.
[12] Thielicke. The Waiting Father. 42.
[13] Thielicke. The Waiting Father. 60.
[14] Thielicke. The Waiting Father. 131.
[15] Thielicke. The Waiting Father. 168.
[16] Thielicke. The Waiting Father. 94.
[17] Thielicke. The Waiting Father. 104.
[18] Thielicke. The Waiting Father. 26.
