At the moment I have 332 entries in the Notes app on my phone. A few months into the deconstruction of my faith (which you can read all about in my blog post titled ”Deconstructing Sandcastles”) I began to opt for unriddling my thoughts using my phone rather than pen and paper. My hand was starting to hurt from so much writing! Anyway, the thoughts you are about to read are from two years ago when we were all just a few weeks into the covid pandemic. I came across this today and it made me smile so I decided to give the passage new life here on the blog. Enjoy the deep dive and give me your thoughts!
Father.
Have you ever noticed how Jesus was the first person to consistently refer to God as “Father?” No one had ever really done that until He came along. He was always talking about His Father, praying to Him, or making random remarks to Him. He seemed to want humanity to experience this aspect of God because frankly, they hadn’t up until then.
Previously, God was seen as many things. He is many things. Until Jesus, humans knew God as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The Great I am. The faithful God of Abraham. He is all of these. And He is more. I’d venture to say that no one in history ever quite experienced God as a Father until Jesus Christ. Before the death of Christ, God was partially revealed and partially understood. People had great fear of God. He still was known in His classic upside down-ness as mighty King and gentle shepherd.
But we all know that there is a mystical difference between the bonds parents have with their children, and the bonds Kings have with subjects. There is a deeper knowing, a richer love that is meant for FAMILY. God seems to really love the design of family. It shows in how His identity is essentially comprised of a family. It’s why we copy the model so naturally down here on earth. We’re image bearers, after all!
Humanity did not know God as Father until Jesus revealed Him to us as just that. His entire life, He modeled what relationship with God should look like. Interestingly enough, it looked less religious and more personal. No one had done it like that before. Yet over and over, Jesus seemed to be begging His followers to interact with this “Father.”
He urged them to seek God, ask Him things, and metaphorically never stop banging on His door! He was even controversial enough to discourage idolizing Scripture, as if IT were the Source of life. He taught them to pray to the very God that Scripture had always been pointing to!
He talked about oneness with God. They weren’t used to this! His disciples must have felt like they were in a constant state of not understanding. They didn’t know God fully yet. They didn’t have the kind of access this man called Jesus of Nazareth had. They clearly wanted it though. He was a man worth following. People either loved Him or hated Him, it seems.
While many devout and religious people called His teachings heresy, Jesus never wavered. He never changed His message, and never seemed to be bothered about being rejected. (It’s almost as if He’d already experienced CENTURIES of rejection🤔) He just kept offering this Way of radical closeness with God to whoever wanted to hear it.
Nearing His death, He tried to explain that He was going to make a way for us to connect to this Father and actually become one with Him…just like Jesus was. Amazing news! He was going to redeem His people, rescue the lost, and finally reveal the sheer magnitude of His power. How?!
He was going to die.
Wait, WHAT?!!! I’m pretty sure most Jews up until this point had been expecting their long-awaited Savior to look more like a King, and less like a carpenter who spoke calmly about His own impending death at the dinner table.
Jesus’ entire purpose was His death. He knew that if He could make it through being crucified…He would undo humanity’s curse. He would BECOME the curse. For us.
What evil could not account for, since it can only seek to please itself, was the possibility of the King of Kings sacrificing Himself because He “so loved.” There can be no greater act of love than to die for your enemy’s freedom. And that’s exactly what He did!!
When God looked at the world through the eyes of a human being, did He seem disgusted with people? Disappointed? Did He ever try to justify Himself or lash out at the people who rejected Him? Was He constantly on the defense, ready to judge and nitpick them? No.
He healed them. He ate meals with them. He went to festivals with them. He taught them. He wept with them. He sang with them.
And I bet He loved every minute of being down here among us because THAT is why He made us! To be with us.
The climax of the story is beautiful. He made it to the cross. His death tore the curtain (from top to bottom!) that had kept humanity at a certain distance from His Father. The gates to Heaven flung wide open with the invitation for ANYONE to come and be reconciled to God.
The result of that reconciliation would be for humanity to know God on a deeper level than they had ever known Him…as Father. It is His will (and I believe our inherent purpose) that we are one with Him. He has come down to our level to lift us to His.
I understand that many people with many worldviews do not believe that Jesus was God. The only reason I call myself a Christian is this: if God was actually perfectly revealed in this Christ-man, this is the only God I would ever want to follow. The story of this God suffering as we do has gripped my heart and will not let go. I will not follow any other God, for they could never be as kind and compassionate as Jesus. It is not the name of Jesus that saves us, it is the revelation that God is like Jesus that saves us.
The greatest love that can ever be known is right in front of us. It is like water that satisfies your thirst once and for all. Nothing you can do will earn it. No earthly treasures or status will buy you access to the Father’s presence. In fact, believing you can be “good enough” for His approval is a massive hindrance in getting to God. We must be childlike to know Him as Jesus knew Him. He loved God in a much deeper, radical way than a servant loves his king. He bought our adoption into the ultimate family and His father is GOOD.
Run freely to Him. He has cleared the way.
Have no shame. He has forgiven you.
Accept His gift. You could never pay for it.
Don’t be afraid. He loves you.