Our God is one who searches after His people and loves His people, this is what Jesus is trying to explain to the Pharisees. No Pharisee had ever dreamed of a God like that. Jesus tells them the most dramatic of the parables, telling them of the one son, the younger of two. The story of the prodigal son. You may know the story, the son demands his inheritance early from his father, and his dad gives it to him. Then, he runs away and blows through all his cash on gambling, prostitution, and drinking. Once the son hits rock bottom, he realizes that he can go back and work for his dad as hired hand. So he practices what he’s going to say over and over on his way back home, but to his surprise, his father is overjoyed to see him. He immediately runs to his son, exclaiming, “My son has returned home!” And there is a party thrown in his honor. With this story Jesus is trying to make this point: That young man, when he’s home, is the son. He belongs. He cannot be a servant and be under his father’s house. If he’s in his father’s house, he has belonging, he has dignity, he has love, he has authority, and he has joy. It’s an amazing symbol. The Pharisees can’t imagine a God who would be this way towards those that have sinned. But Jesus is telling them: This is how God looks at the tax collectors and sinners.