The Waiting Father

Just a caution: if you like Lucado, you may appreciate Thielicke, but you'll have entered a whole different world where the heart is searched with a searing spotlight and the deep secrets of our hypocrisy and sin are exposed through the parables of Jesus as Thielicke leads us to repentance. Lucado and Thielicke are completely different. Here's a typical excerpt from Thielicke, on the parable in Luke 18:9-14: "Many of us are less like the Pharisee, with his uplifted head and his solid moral character, than we are like the publican--but a somewhat different publican from the one described in the parable. Perhaps like a publican who says, "I thank Thee, God, that I am not so proud as this Pharisee; I am an extortioner, unjust, and an adulterer. That's the way human beings are, and that's what I am, but at least I admit it, and therefore I am a little bit better than the rest of the breed. I commit fornication twice a week, and at most ten percent of what I own comes from honest work. I am an honest man, O God, because I don't kid myself, I don't have any illusions about myself. Let your angels sing a hallelujah over this one sinner who is as honest as I am, honest enough to admit that he is a dirty dog and not hide it beneath his robes like these lying Philistines the Pharisees.'"

I expected this to be scolarly and hard to understand. WOW what a joy to find these are excellently researched and prepared yet easy to read. They are right where we live! They relate to our daily lives!

This book is outstanding. Thielicke's sermons place the reader in the middle of the meaning of the parables and of life's journey. Thielicke was a pastor during World War II, and his sermons reflect the depth of his rich experience of what it means to be human and loved by God. If you enjoy Max Lucado, you will enjoy and be blessed by Thielicke.