Jesus told them, “God is like the dad who couldn’t stop loving his boy, And people are like the son who said, “Does my dad really want me to be happy?” Jesus told people this story to show them what God is like. And to show people what they are like. So they could know, however far they ran, however well they hid, however lost they were- it wouldn’t matter. Because God’s children could never run to far, or be too lost, for God to find them.
Sally Lloyd-Jones, The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name