While still a long way off, his father caught sight of him and was filled with compassion. The parable of the prodigal son is one of those teachings of Christ that sometimes appear unrealistic and beyond our comprehension. "I just can't buy that," we might find ourselves saying, "how else will the young man learn his lesson when, after all the things he has done, the father welcomes him with open arms without requiring any reparation?" As with the majority of Jesus parables, the parable of the prodigal son is a teaching that requires that we stop thinking in human terms and instead start thinking as God does. But can we realistically do that? Is that even possible? One of the suggestions has been that we stop reading (or hearing) the parable from the perspective of the two sons and instead approach it from the point of view of the father. It has also been suggested that it be renamed "the parable of the compassionate father" rather than the parable of the prodigal son. And rightly so, because it is the compassion of the Father that Jesus wanted to talk about. 
Switching the focus from the son to the father allows us to reap the richness of the parable’s teaching, as can be seen in some of the visual renditions of this parable. What captures the imagination of many artists seems to be the attitude of the father towards the son. One of such works depict the father standing in a porch as he stares into the distance hoping to catch a glimpse of his son coming back home. Another artist chooses to help us visualize what the father did when he finally spotted his son returning home: instead of sitting down and wait for the son to come to him, the father makes a run towards the son. And when the two come face to face, the father throws himself onto the son in a tight and fatherly embrace. No word is spoken as both father and son shed tears of gladness at their reunion. The father is overjoyed at the sight of his son having come back to him alive. The father was not going to let anything spoil this wonderful moment, not even the speech that the son had prepared beforehand. The father deemed the speech non-consequential and didn’t allow the son to remain kneeling as he addressed him. He promptly raised him up in order to see his son who was hidden behind the tattered and smelly clothes. All that the father wanted to see was the son who was concealed in the thin and emaciated figure that was crouching before him. He wanted to see him for who he was: his son. He did not let the knowledge of the amount of wealth that the son had squandered prevent him from showing him compassion. He did not want the guilt of his son to prevent him from giving him a fatherly embrace. He wanted his son to be free so that he could love him.
The compassionate attitude of the father towards the prodigal son mirrors that of God the Father. The manner in which the father acted towards the prodigal son is the very way in which God treats us when we come to him while repenting of our sins. In the same manner that the father forgot all the past waywardness of the prodigal son, so does God forget our sins whenever we humble ourselves before him. While oftentimes we get stuck at the actions of the prodigal son, Jesus wants us to know that it is not what the son did that becomes the focal point of the teaching but rather what the father did. The father gave back to the son his life. God gives us back our lives when we ask for it whenever we repent of our sins and ask for forgiveness.