"This book is a masterpiece that proves that the era of preaching is not over yet!"
· Helmut Thielicke's masterpiece, the first complete German translation in Korea
·Recommended by Kang Young-an, Park Il-young, and Kim Young-bong

"The Waiting Father" is a representative collection of sermons by Helmut Thielicke, a prominent theologian and preacher, providing insights into the core messages contained in Jesus' eighteen major parables.
As a theologian, Tillich rigorously analyzes and interprets Jesus' parables, but as a preacher, he meditates and prays, penetrating their spiritual core to guide readers into the deeper meaning of the text.

This book exposes the self-justification and self-centeredness of modern people through Jesus' seemingly simple parables.
It disarms us by revealing before our eyes the lies and hypocrisy that we have been hiding because we cannot even admit it to ourselves.
Therefore, this book does not allow us to hear Jesus' parables from a third-person perspective; it asks us to step into the parables and take the place of the characters in them, participating in the unfolding of the story.
Tillich's sermons are deep waters drawn from pious faith, and they are a hammer that mercilessly destroys the hardened walls of our consciousness.

This book, which has been loved by countless readers since its publication, still delivers a powerful and challenging message that is theologically and religiously relevant to us today, even after so many years.
This book is clearly different from other sermon collections.
We cannot simply read it with the intention of receiving grace easily; it demands the full mobilization of our intellect, emotions, and will.
This book will not only serve as a model for pastors to preach, but will also be a valuable resource for all Christians to read and reread.

As we read Jesus' parables, we are surrounded by the bustling stage of the world that is very close to us, our own world.
Therefore, it is really important to have a clear starting point from which to elucidate the meaning of this parable.
We must not forget that these pictures do not guide us to the textbook, but that the textbook interprets the pictures for us.
It is the essence of all things that opens things to us, not the things that open their essence.
Yes, that's right.
What really matters is not “any picture book,” but “God’s picture book.”
--- p.19, from “To the Reader”

Likewise, we too must find the right place where we can see the Lord accurately and without any distortion.
We must find a place where we can avoid mistaking the Lord for some powerful figure, hero, moral preacher, or religious founder.
To do this, it would be best to approach the place where one of the characters we meet with the Lord or one of His parables stands.
For example, we can stand where John, imprisoned and desperately questioning the Lord, where the Canaanite woman who desired nothing but the crumbs that fell from her master's table stood, and where the rich young man who was unable to drive out Mammon from God's place and unfortunately left it behind stood.
--- p.25, from “The Return of the Prodigal Son I”

It doesn't take a tremendous amount of insight to realize that "faith" is no longer joy or liberation.
If we forget that being able to say, “Abba, Father,” and “My Lord and my God,” is a true miracle and a gift, and not something we can take for granted, we will never experience all of this again.
To wander with a sore and tormented conscience, to suffer the emptiness of meaninglessness, to be watched by accident and fate, to be bound by duties unknown to others, and then to lift up your eyes again to the heart of the Father and the living Savior—all this you will no longer experience.
To forget that all this is not a given can be the death of our faith.
--- p.55, from “The Return of the Prodigal Son II”

Perhaps we are inherently rich, intellectually inclined, enjoying good books and biographies of major figures.
So perhaps we despise those boys and girls who give off a soft impression, whose lives are oscillating between movies and sex, magazines and that idiot box of television.
But have you ever considered how miserable and empty these people are, barely scraping by? Have you ever considered that, in the guise of our rich and profound Christian and spiritual lives, we may be driving them further into misery, leaving them behind?
--- p.72, from “The Rich and the Poor Lazarus”

There are no beings happier than transformed Christians.
There is nothing more corrupt than Christians who have been “gently touched,” Christians who have had thousands of seeds sown but have no roots in their lives.
So, such Christians fall apart even in the first whirlwind.
Half-Christians are people who wither and die immediately when the first disaster strikes.
Because their dry intellect and superficial emotions cannot endure it.
So they will end up losing what they thought they owned.
--- p.97, from “The Four Fields”

We need to see if we have the explosive power.
And we must examine whether even the small influence entrusted to us is discernible in our immediate surroundings.
We must ensure that in our homes and workplaces, there are at least one or two people who can live under the branches of the tree planted in our hearts or in the hearts of others.
We must make sure that they gain strength and vitality in the shade of that tree.
Then we will soon know in our piety whom we have denied three times before the rooster crows.
We will turn around and repent.

--- p.114, from “Mustard Seed”